Anchorage Daily News

Drive by the Century 16 theaters late Thursday and you'll see a line of frenzied fans vying for tickets to see the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight," the next installment in the Batman saga. In Anchorage as elsewhere, cinema crews are bracing for the movie, starring Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, to be this summer's biggest blockbuster.

The Batman, after all, is not just another comic book character. The man, the mask, the legend have become woven into the American psyche and mythology in ways that few other fictionalized crime fighters have, generating scholarly dissertations and quasi-serious philosophical ramblings (like this column) that seem to have escaped the likes of Superman, Spider-Man, The Green Lantern or The Fantastic Four.

Into this discussion I would like to insert the following thesis: The Batman is Dead. His grave is marked by a simple plaque in the turf of a cemetery in north Seattle known to locals as "Dead Town."

Consider the scant but telling information contained in this photo.

Ted R. Batman

1905-1954

"Ted" is certainly short for Theodore, and Theodore also may be abbreviated as "The."

In the character's famous debut in Detective Comics No. 27, and for some time after that, he is always referred to as "The Batman." More recent versions still have older bad guys include the article when they speak his name and shudder. "Arrest me, officer! Don't let The Batman get me!"

"R." is, as any text-messager will tell you, is vernacular shorthand for "are" or "is." It tells the reader that two nouns identify the same person, place or thing, as in "Toys R Us." Ted, or at least his epitaph maker, wanted us to know that he was, indeed, The Batman.

Look at the dates. Ted would have been 34 when he debuted in Detective Comics, in prime shape and full maturity, having had plenty of time to accumulate the education, money and physical prowess The Batman is said to have possessed in abundance. And he would have perished at the age of 49, just about the point when said prowess might no longer be quick enough to beat a fast bad guy in a clinch.

Gotham City, The Batman's hangout, is often associated with New York, though recent movies have attempted to move it inland. ("The Dark Knight" was filmed in Chicago.) But oceanside dockyards and persistent rain are recurring features in original Batmanology. A constant low cloud cover is necessary for the Bat Signal to even work properly.

Seattle is famous for just such conditions.

Look at the cover of that first comic book appearance, which can be viewed on Wikipedia. The buildings here, and in other early depictions, strongly resemble those of Seattle in the late Depression era. The Emerald City was noted for its bleak, Gothic look, replete with gargoyles, before the Century 21 World's Fair in the early 1960s began to change to town's look. Much of this can still be seen among older buildings downtown, along the waterfront and at the University of Washington.

The crooks assailing the hero on the cover of the issue wear fedoras suitable for rainy weather. One of them even sports an unmistakable Pacific Northwest plaid jacket.

Finally, The Batman's exploits nearly always take place at night in an urban setting that is basically devoid of citizens. Seattle, of course, is the city where almost everyone goes to bed at 6 p.m.

These facts I present in the interest of furthering academic understanding of this mythic figure. Readers are free to draw their own conclusions and add them to the comments under this story at adn.com.

Enjoy the movie.

Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.

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