Correcting The Previous Post

See here and the comment.

The first cinematic Wonder Woman meets the second cinematic Superman and the third cinematic Batman. That's what I thought before I was misled by thinking of a Wonder Woman TV film as a cinematic film.

I said that 10 films formed a continuity:

5 Superman;
1 Supergirl;
4 Batman.

However, the 5th Superman film follows the 2nd Superman film disregarding the 3rd and 4th Superman films so there is a split in continuity here. I think.

DC Cinematic Continuities

When I say "cinematic," I mean original feature films, not either cinema serials or a feature film based on a TV series.

This is a "correct me if I am wrong" situation, especially since I have not checked every detail.

In Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, the second cinematic Superman meets the second cinematic Wonder Woman and the third cinematic Batman:

the first cinematic Superman had a tetralogy;
the second cinematic Superman is appearing for the second time;

the first cinematic Wonder Woman had a single feature film;
the second cinematic Wonder Woman is appearing for the first time;

the first cinematic Batman had a tetralogy;
the second cinematic Batman had a trilogy;
the third cinematic Batman is appearing for the first time.

The Robin of the Batman tetralogy referred to a Metropolis. That must have been the Metropolis of the Superman tetralogy.

The first Batman referred to a Superman. That must have been the first Superman.

The Supergirl feature film referred to the first Superman.

Thus, nine films formed a cinematic continuity.

Batman v Superman

The trailer looks really good:

the Superman from the recent film;
Kent interviewing Wayne;
Olsen (?) introducing them;
the Bat costume recognizable from previous films;
likewise the Batmobile;
conflict between the costumed identities;
a line from Frank Miller;
Diana showing up;
the Big Three - the start of the Justice League.

They know how to do it nowadays. What's not to like?

Modesty Blaise And Superman

See here.

In A Taste For Death (London, 2014), Willie Garvin, handcuffed to a radiator and forced to hold up a bomb that will detonate as soon as he lowers it, wonders whether he can jerk the bomb from the wire to which it is attached and throw it through the shuttered window before it explodes, then thinks:

"Just as well send for Superman." (p. 99)

Here, Superman is clearly a fictitious character although there is no reference to any particular medium.

Later, when Willie claims to be one of only two men who have had sex hanging upside down from a trapeze, Modesty asks:

"'Who was the other bat-man?'" (p. 206)

Modesty Blaise And Batman

In I, Lucifer by Peter O'Donnell, Modesty Blaise's right hand man, Willie Garvin, watches Batman on television. Thus, a novel about characters who originated in a British newspaper comic strip refers to a TV series about a character who originated in an American comic book.

Three media:

prose fiction;
sequential art;
screen drama.

Two kinds of sequential art:

serial episodes of a few black and while panels in a daily newspaper;
full stories in colored panels in a monthly comic book.

DC Superhero Films

DC Superhero Films So Far

a Superman trilogy
3 sequels: 2 Superman films; 1 Supergirl
a Superman reboot

a Batman tetralogy
a Batman trilogy

Green Lantern

+ some lesser known/lower budget productions

Wonder Woman (in her non-super powered period)
2 Swamp Thing films
Steel (a Superman spin-off)
Catwoman (a Batman villainess)
Justice League (post-Crisis team) (I have merely been told about this one)

Next to come is a Superman-Batman team-up in which the rebooted Superman (see above) meets a rebooted Batman. This would have made more sense as a trilogy. After that, I believe that we expect the Justice League which would be Superman, Batman,Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and three others. It would have made more sense if they had each had at least one film first. Marvel is way ahead with its Movieverse.

In the Batman tetralogy (see above), Metropolis is mentioned and Robin appears in the third installment, Superman is mentioned and Batgirl appears in the fourth. It takes a lot longer for everything to happen on the big screen.

The Manor

In our collective imagination, there is a Manor house where a hidden staircase descends to a secret headquarters in a cave beneath the Manor. The occupant of the Manor leads a double life as a notorious but anonymous vigilante whose costume, equipment, gadgets, vehicles, computer, archives, laboratory, gymnasium etc are housed in the Cave.

Usually, the house is called "Wayne Manor". However, it has counterparts on other fictitious Earths. Zorro's grandfather clock concealed the hidden staircase before Bruce Wayne's did. However, this is not a coincidence because a Zorro film inspired the young Wayne.

Two members of a super powered police force arrest a dog-themed vigilante in the cave beneath his Manor in Alan Moore's Top Ten and I am currently rereading Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's The Boys, Vol 2, Get Some (London, 2008), in which Butcher and Hughie of the CIA superhero watchdog team interrogate the vigilante Tek-Knight in the cave beneath his Manor.

"Old money" is mentioned in both Top Ten and The Boys. This is familiar territory to the reader even though the names and incidental details of the characters have changed as they always do on different parallel Earths.

When Tek-Knight cannot understand something, he expresses his mystification thus:

"It's a mystery. A grade one, primo, full-on, even the world's greatest detective couldn't solve this motherfucker, mystery...", (Chapter Eight, Get Some, Part Two)

And, of course, in the DC Universe, the world's greatest detective is none other than the Batman - unless we count Holmes who, I think, is still alive in the Himalayas.

Later: As I reread, I realise that Tek-Knight resembles Iron Man in that he is super powered only when wearing his armour. But this also makes him similar to the Batman who fought Kent at the end of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Parodic super heroes are derived from diverse sources.

The Versatility Of The Batman II

Earlier this month, I wrote a very brief note called "The Versatility of the Batman," (see here) which mainly listed the various genres to which any given Batman story might belong. Seeing from the stats that this post had been viewed, I reread it and then expanded it a bit with a few examples. I think that this is a significant point.

Most series in popular fiction belong to a single genre. Sherlock Holmes, who is just one of the Batman's many precursors, is exclusively a Detective. Doyle wrote about the supernatural but kept it out of his Holmes series. Holmes investigated an apparent vampire case with emphasis on the "apparent." A recent Holmes film preserved its status as a detective story right at the end when Holmes proved that the supernatural events had been faked.

Wayne can solve mysteries and fight vampires as well as alien invaders and can do this alone or in alliance with superheroes. Another composite format is the X Files TV series where any episode can be fantasy, sf or mystery but the Batman's range is broader. The greatest contrast is between the Adam Ward TV series and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight mini-series, collected as The Dark Knight Returns. The cover of Miller's Batman Year One Part 1 (see image) also displays a serious treatment of the character's origin and motivation. 

The Versatility Of The Batman

A Batman story can be:

a detective story;
action-adventure;
science fiction, eg, alien invasion or technological innovation;
fantasy, eg, ghosts or demons;
horror, eg, vampires or serial killers;
social realism, eg, street crime or urban decay;
a psychological study of the title character or of one of his opponents;
romance, with, eg, Wayne's original fiancee, Selina Kyle or Talia;
super heroes, eg, guest starring Superman;
alternative reality fiction, eg, Gotham By Gaslight where the Batman was around at the same time as the Ripper;
humour, with, eg, the Penguin or the Riddler treated as comical rather than horrific.

It can address any age range from children looking at pictures and learning to read ("Batman is chasing the Penguin") to entirely mature content:

Selina Kyle as a prostitute with an under age partner in Batman: Year One;
a mass murder in a pornographic cinema in The Dark Knight Returns;
"Some crimes frighten even the Batman" advertising Batman: Night Cries, about child abuse.

Like many characters, the Batman has become multi-media but his two main media remain graphic novels and feature films.

Poul Anderson On Comics

Poul Anderson wrote many works of fiction in prose but not in the visual media of cinema or comic books. I have found three references to comics in his novels.

(i) In There Will Be Time, time traveller Jack Havig comments that, despite Superman's telephone kiosk, the most convenient place in a modern city for a time traveller to disappear is a public toilet cubicle.

Greek dramatists sometimes commented on and corrected errors or implausibilities in the works of their predecessors. In this vein, in the first Superman film, Clark Kent, responding to an emergency, approaches a public telephone that is not even enclosed in a kiosk, realises that it would afford him no privacy for a costume change and instead uses a revolving door at super speed.

Thus, the film, like Anderson, commented on a familiar scene from earlier Superman comics.

(ii) In Operation Luna (New York, 2000), Steve Matuchek remarks:

"It's only comic-book heroes and their ilk who bounce directly from one brush with death to the next, wisecracking along the way. Real humans react to such things." (pp. 158-159)

Yes, real humans in real life and in realistically written novels or comics. There is nothing in the latter medium that obliges that it be written unrealistically.

(iii) Matuchek also speaks against vigilantism even if conducted in "...comic-book costumes" (p. 140). Right. Again, comics comment on earlier comics. Frank Miller's Batman is a vigilante wanted for assault, breaking and entering, child endangerment and, when the Joker's dead body has been found, murder. In Alan Moore's Watchmen, the public demonstrates and the police strike ("Badges, not Masks") until anonymous vigilantism is banned. In Garth Ennis' The Boys, superheroes are untrained and get a lot of people killed on 9/11. So the critique of comic book implausibilities is conducted in comics.

I would like to see high quality film and graphic adaptations of Anderson's works.

Batman Titles

How do titles convey beginnings, endings, returns and new beginnings? The Return Of Sherlock Holmes tells us that it is a sequel, thus that there was at least one previous volume, and His Last Bow tells us that this volume was intended to be a conclusion. (In fact, there were four volumes before The Return and there is one after His Last Bow.)

Batman titles can vary because an alternative phrase, "the Dark Knight," also refers to the central character. Batman comics written by Frank Miller give us:

a beginning, Batman: Year One;
a return, The Dark Knight Returns;
an ending, The Dark Knight Falls;
a second return, The Dark Knight Strikes Again.

I regard ...Strikes Again as a text book case of how not to write a sequel, throwing away all the subtleties of the original and adding content completely out of tune with the original. I really would have liked to read a sequel that simply followed from the Dark Knight mini-series, showing us:

Bruce and his survivalist army getting organized in the "endless Cave";
Gotham City continuing to decline above them;
Bruce spying on the world above but keeping out of sight;
no superheroes, apart from the flawed Kent (they were kept out of the original, which got it just right).

However, since I am here primarily considering titles, it has to be acknowledged that ...Strikes Again, like ...Rides Again, Return Of.., ...Returns, Son Of... and Children Of..., is a recognized kind of sequel title.

The Batman film tetralogy gives us:

a beginning, simply Batman;
a return, Batman Returns;
an on-going title, Batman Forever;
a new beginning, Batman And Robin

- although it would have made more sense if the third and fourth titles had been reversed.

The Batman film trilogy gives us a beginning, Batman Begins, then two titles that look as if they belong to a different series, albeit about the same character:

another beginning, The Dark Knight;
a sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, the exact opposite of Miller's "ending" title above.

However, these films follow Miller's lead in switching from a "Batman" title to some "Dark Knight" titles. When they are explained, the titles in the trilogy make sense. The anonymous vigilante, whose career begins in the first film, has to become the Dark Knight of Gotham City because its District Attorney has failed to be its White Knight. The Dark Knight, having fallen out of Gothamites' favor, rises again in their esteem in the concluding film. Thus, these titles, when explained, are fully coherent.

Trilogies: Final Year?

Certain DC comics are classics, including these three "trilogies" (I am calling them that but they do fit together, as I will show):

The Man Of Tomorrow by Alan Moore;
The Man Of Steel by John Byrne;
Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography by James D Hudnall.

Batman: Year One by Frank Miller;
The Killing Joke by Alan Moore;
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.

The Longbow Hunters by Mike Grell;
Green Arrow: Year One (GAY1) by Andy Diggle;
Batman: Rules Of Engagement by Andy Diggle.

(By The Man Of Tomorrow, I mean a collection of Alan Moore's three Superman stories, which include a two parter. Titan Books collected them under this title albeit in black and white.)

The common themes here are high quality writing and art, beginnings and endings:

Moore concludes and Byrne re-creates Superman;
Hudnall writes the origin of the new Luthor;
thus, an end for Superman followed by new beginnings for him and his main opponent.

Miller begins and ends a new Batman;
Moore rewrites the origin of the Joker;
thus, new beginnings and an end for the Batman and his main opponent.

Grell presents a mid-life crisis for the then current Green Arrow and slightly revises his origin;
Diggle presents the origins of a new Green Arrow, the Batplane and Wayne Charities;
thus, a middle age, a retold beginning and a new beginning for Green Arrow and some beginnings for the Batman.

These lists refer to three continuities:

the first began with Action Comics no 1, June 1938, and ended with Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?, 1986;

the second began with The Man Of Steel and Batman: Year One and ended with The Dark Knight Returns;

the third began with GAY1 (many other works are involved but here I highlight a few peaks of quality).

Byrne's Superman, Grell's Green Arrow and the Joker come together with Miller's Batman and Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Returns. Mindy Newell's Catwoman miniseries continued the character of Selina directly from Batman: Year One.

Since Batman: Year One begins the Batman's career and since The Dark Knight Returns describes his return from a ten year retirement, it has been suggested that Miller could also have written a Batman: The Final Year, describing the build up to retirement.

This would have disclosed events only hinted at, like what had happened (something bad) to Jason, the second Robin. In later comics set in current continuity, the Joker brutally murdered Jason but there is no hint in Miller's story that whatever had happened to Jason had been done by the Joker. Also, whatever it was had caused the Batman to cover it up, then retire, while superhero activity was governmentally banned or covered up as in Watchmen, but this did not happen in continuity, except for the temporary superhero ban in Legends, so there is still a different story to be told here. The Dark Knight Returns, no longer a possible future, becomes an alternative timeline.

Batman Continuities

We have learned to live without a single continuity. Not only do the comics, if you read them, change:

Golden Age;
Silver Age;
multiverse;
DCU;
52;
New 52

+ Imaginary stories & Elseworlds

(please don't worry if you don't understand any of that)

but also there are four screen continuities:

the cinema serials of the 1940's;
the TV series, with accompanying feature film, of the 1960's;
the film tetralogy of the concluding decades of the 20th century;
the film trilogy of the opening decades of the 21st century.

In Greek drama, as in Pantomime, the story was already known but audience interest was in a new presentation. Will this dramatist make better sense of the sequence of events and of the characters' motivations? In the Batman mythology, the characters are already known but their relationships can change.

Usually, Joe Chill kills Bruce Wayne's parents and the Red Hood becomes the Joker but, in the 1989 film, a new character, Jack Napier, played by Jack Nicholson, kills the Waynes and becomes the Joker, thus unifying the film somewhat. In the execrable 1992 film, one new character was Selina Kyle's employer, Oswald Cobblepot's political backer and a business contact of Bruce Wayne, thus unifying that plot even more. In the 1997 film, a Batgirl who is not Gordon's daughter but Alfred's niece keeps the Bat team within the Wayne household.

The Dark Knight (2008) really made me think that Jim Gordon had been killed at an early stage, thus contradicting continuity, but, of course, his death had been faked. Heath Ledger powerfully played a completely different and original version of the Joker. It looked as if he was falling to his death as Jack Nicholson's Joker had done. Of course, the Batman, who does not take life, had to save him but, ironically, the actor died before he could have re-played the part - and I don't think that anyone else will match it.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) made us think that Bane was Ra's al Ghul's son, then revealed that not Bane but Ra's' daughter Talia, helped by Bane, had escaped from literally life long imprisonment. In different continuities, Dick Grayson has become the first Robin either as a young boy or as a teenager. In The Dark Knight Rises, Robin, already a young man and not yet in costume, first appears after Wayne's career as Batman has ended. Since the story is well told and powerful, we appreciate, instead of resenting, these new perspectives on established characters.