Fast Forward 52 Years

This tiny little cutout, from Batman 695 (March 2010) has quite a lot to tell us about how much things have changed since issue #117 in 1958. First of all, printing advancements mean that newsprint limitations on color have been left behind. Second, although the Spandex fetish still reigns (Batman is on the same page in the background art looking ridiculously buffed as usual), there is a lot more emphasis on folds in the clothes. A coat like this would never have appeared back in the 1950's. Third, there are quite a few graphic enhancements, which are partly due to the computer-assisted nature of the process and partly due to the fact that, unlike the 1950's, when big publishers like Marvel and DC demanded that everyone draw basically the same way, LOTS of individualism creeps into frozen moments like these. You really didn't see this start until the 1980's, when of course we saw "Dark Knight" appear. Artists all over demanded the right to play with frames like you see here, among other graphic stylings. In the daily strips, Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame demanded the same thing and was able to pull off some truly brilliant moments of expansion and contraction in the adventures of 6-year-old Calvin.

Last, but certainly not least, this may not be at first instantly recognizable as a woman, which makes the caption more than permissible. And a woman holding a gun in such a menacing, aggressive way? Hell, guns themselves were almost useless back in the 1950's comic book world. You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with one, especially if you were a bad guy. And Batman's Batarang was always somehow faster than the bullets they fired. Sure, you had female icons like Wonderwoman, Mary Marvel, and the original Batgirl, but their powers always seemed passive and defensive in nature (and I was never able to figure out how Wonder Woman's gauntlets attracted bullets, when most of them contain no ferrous metal). Even the male superheroes tended to depend on fists (wouldn't you if you could swing at three guys and lay them out unconscious with one punch?).

Depth of field, more emphasis on pure anatomy, the list just goes on and on. There is an innocent charm to the early comic books, but me I prefer the gritty realism. Unless it comes to a choice between watching Adam West or Christian Bale...:)