The fashionable Batman (CBG #1670, Oct. 2010)

Dear Mr. Silver Age,
I hear that Bruce Wayne is being revived to become The Batman again! Oh, goodie! Do you think he’ll update his costume when he returns?

Janet V.D.
Avengers Mansion

Mr. Silver Age says: It would be hard to improve on Batman’s classic look, Jan. His combination of gray and shiny black (I assume it’s the same blue as Superman’s hair) creates just enough contrast without drawing attention in the shadows. We can quibble over the oval and that bright yellow belt, but the rest isn’t going to be improved.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried, of course. Back in the day, Batman used to jolt readers with all kinds of oddball costumes that took the basics and turned them on their head for one mercifully brief tale. Today’s action-figure variations have nothing on the actual oddball suits he used to don way back when.

The costume changes typically resulted for one of three reasons: Batman needed a specialized costume for a particular activity; he was adapting to a distinct culture; or he was exposed to an experiment gone horribly awry (at least couture-wise). The costumes often created a snazzy cover image, which no doubt played a key role in why they appeared so often.

Quite a few of these tales took place prior to the Silver Age. By the time that halcyon period commenced, Batman was battling aliens and other science-fiction menaces, which led directly into his New Look. Neither approach lent itself so well to playing dress-up. But Silver Age fans learned of Batman’s prior crimes against fashion through those fabulous annuals and 80-Page Giants that sucked the quarters out of our pockets like a vacuum cleaner.

So let’s hope that DC’s current bat-creators know when to leave well enough alone. Oh, who am I kidding? Let’s just hope that they don’t mess with the suit, since experience shows that’s never a good thing. To prove it, here are my choices for the 15 options that we are most likely not to see revived — in ranked order leading up to those with the most, um, possibilities.

15. “Batman Becomes Bat-Baby!” in Batman #147 (May 62), which has not yet been reprinted! Nails Finney got revenge on The Caped Crusader by ambushing Batman with a growth-reversing ray he’d paid a scientist to invent. You’d think a ray like that could make you so many jillions that you wouldn’t have to commit crimes, but let’s not go there.
Instead, let’s focus on the new costume Bats created to accommodate his infant size (while, oddly enough, retaining his intellect and strength). It featured black overall-shorts, a gray T-shirt, gray socks, and black booties. Oh, the humanity! Unless Bruce loses about four feet in height, I don’t think we have to worry about this look returning.

14. “The Bewitched Batman” in World’s Finest #109 (May 60), reprinted in Batman Annual #5 (Sum 63). Batman stumbled into an ancient curse that compelled him to complete three medieval-based tasks. The second was to dress as a jester and perform any duties asked of him — which was easy, since Superman gave him super-powers (long story).
Bat-Jester’s outfit consisted of his usual fighting togs accessorized with a two-pointed red cap (with bells on the ends) and a pointed, bell-bedecked ruff. That may be a good look for battling The Joker, but those bells would not help a lot to scare superstitious, cowardly criminals.

13. “Ride, Bat-Hombre Ride!” in Batman #56 (Dec 49), reprinted in Batman #193 (Aug 67). During a Gotham City visit, the president of the tiny Latin-American country of Mantegua asked The Caped Crusader to train a Manteguan Batman. So The Dynamic Duo found a cave, created a bat-horse (no, really), and auditioned candidates to become Bat-Hombre!
When Batman had to disguise himself as Bat-Hombre (long story), he got to wear the uniform, consisting of a bat-suit with a red and yellow serape thrown over the shoulder to replace the cape. And, oh, yes, a huge handlebar mustache. Aye carumba!

12. “Batman, Indian Chief!” in Batman #86 (Sep 54), reprinted in Giant Batman Annual #2 (1961). Alerted by a smoke signal as they flew overhead in The Bat-plane, The Dynamic Duo spotted people dressed as them in the forest below. They discovered Great Eagle (aka Chief Man-of-the-Bats) and Little Eagle (aka Little Raven) fighting crime in versions of their costumes. Batman aided CMOTB by wearing his costume, consisting of a bat-suit with a war bonnet and feathered shield featuring a bat emblem. That’s probably not the most aerodynamic look for a guy who swings around on ropes.

11. “The Jungle Batman!” in Batman #72 (Aug 52), reprinted in Giant Batman Annual #2. While transporting international criminals known as “The Sinister 8” to Satan’s Island, Batman and Robin were shipwrecked. To survive, they stripped down to their masks and jungle togs. Robin went with your basic leopard-skin loincloth, while Batman donned a one-shoulder outfit made from the pelt of a black panther he killed. T’challa would have rolled over in his grave, if he’d been dead.

10. “Lord of Batmanor!” in Detective #198 (Aug 53), reprinted in Giant Batman Annual #2. To solve a four-centuries-old mystery, the dying Scottish laird of Batmanor (named for the bats that flew over the castle) bequeathed his castle to Batman. To fit in while they resolved things, The Dynamic Duo replaced their pants with kilts in the Batmanor tartan. The look was not helped by the bagpipes Robin tried to learn to play, if that’s possible.

9. “Batman and Robin — The Mummy Crime-Fighters” in Detective #320 (Oct 63), not yet reprinted! Every time I see this story, I can’t help but think of Melvin Monster’s mother, Mummy, who had the same look: tight bandages wrapped head to toe. In Batman’s case, he wore his cape, cowl, and utility belt over the bandages. The cover alone keeps me in stitches (pun intended).

Bruce and Dick were caught in an accident that turned their skin green. Knowing Batman and Robin couldn’t show up with green skin, The Dynamic Duo announced they had to wear bandages because their bodies had been irradiated. Needless to say, Vicki Vale was skeptical. Our boys fooled her by painting their skin after the pigment wore off, so they still looked green after Batman and Robin had returned to normal. Bazinga!

8. “Batman of the Mounties!” in Batman #78 (Aug 53), reprinted in Batman #223 (Aug 70). I know you’re envisioning Batman in a jaunty flat-brimmed Stetson hat and red tunic, but it was not to be. Instead, while visiting Canada, Batman and Robin donned white uniforms to camouflage themselves while tracking criminals through mountain snow. The black semi-oval over Batman’s face and black trunks seem to negate the benefits, but it sure saved the colorist a lot of work.

7. “The Negative Batman” in Detective #284 (Oct 60), not yet reprinted! OK, if pure white doesn’t suit Batman, how about … pure black? We got to see how that would look (prior to the Batman movie, that is) when a mad scientist turned his experimental camera on Bats. It turned him into a negative, which (in this case) meant solid black where the gray had been and pure white where the blue-black had been. A black-suited Batman with pure-white trunks and cape? Not a good idea.

6. “The Zebra Batman” in Detective #275 (Jan 60), reprinted in Batman Annual #5. So, if pure white doesn’t work and pure black doesn’t work, what about … black-and-white stripes? Is it too late to gouge out my eyes? Zebra-Man was on a one-man crime spree, aided by being able to discharge lines of force. (Hence the black-and-white lines across his costume, see? You do? Can you explain it to me?)
Batman stumbled into range of the machine that caused these lines of force to impregnate ZM, becoming The Zebra Batman. He used his forces to battle ZM’s forces and, thankfully, after he won, he discharged the forces and lost his zebra look.

5. “The Armored Batman” in Batman #111 (Nov 57), reprinted in Batman #193 (Aug 67). The Dynamic Duo suddenly showed up in knights’ armor, astounding everyone (especially Vicki Vale). Batman’s outfit consisted of a full suit of armor (emblazoned with his bat-emblem) accessorized with his cape, while his cowl was covered by a visored helmet with a big red plume. Not really the best outfit in which to be swinging around the top of skyscrapers, but that’s what he did (from a chain).
Pluses: Bulletproof, plus it had a radiation suit underneath (which was the disguised purpose). Minuses: Everything else.

4. “The First Batman” in Detective #235 (Sep 56), reprinted in Giant Batman Annual #4 (Win 63). This semi-famous tale showed Batman discovering his dad had once dressed up in a “bat-man” costume for a “Flying Creatures” masquerade ball. Sure. It was basically a bat-suit with a bat-style mask and wing-like projections instead of a cape. Batman found the costume and used it to confront an amnesiac Lew Moxon, who (Bats learned) had hired Joe Chill to kill Bruce’s father. The shock restored Moxon’s memory and he ran in front of a truck. Bummer.
The suit wasn’t bad, resembling an homage to Batman’s earliest days. But it didn’t bring anything new that was beneficial to the costume party, so to speak.

3. “Villain of 100 Elements” in Detective #294 (Aug 61), reprinted in Batman #182 (Jul-Aug 66). You say you want more variety than just one stinking costume change per story? No sooner said than done! Our costume cornucopia began when a lab assistant discovered the machine that could alter molecular structures had been leaking onto him for weeks. Oops. The leak allowed him to change into any element, becoming the appropriate color and gaining the requisite, Metamorpho-like powers.
Batman tried to lure him into a trap, but it backfired when The Caped Crusader was caught in the machine’s ray. In quick order, his costume (and body) became reddish-yellow (copper), yellow (sulphur), silver (mercury), and then gray (iron), in which form he confronted The Elemental Man. But EM used his control belt to change Bats white (calcium). Batman finally tricked him and negated his power, and the rainbow Batman went with him — at least until the next item on our list.

2. “The Rainbow Batman” in Detective #241 (Mar 57), reprinted in Batman #182. To distract everyone from noticing Robin had hurt his arm as Dick Grayson (which we didn’t learn until the very end), Batman dressed in bright costumes. The hues switched from red to light blue to yellow to orange to green. Then he wore a white suit with a giant black bullseye across his chest (under which he wore a steel plate).
In the grand finale, to capture the crook he’d been tracking throughout the story, Batman donned a multi-hued costume of vivid vertical stripes (with horizontal stripes on his trunks). It was the gaudiest thing you can imagine, especially since the colorist didn’t even try to keep it consistent. A veritable psychedelic kaleidoscope of polychromatic effulgence! To coin a phrase.

1. “The Strange Costumes of Batman!” in Detective #165 (Nov 50), reprinted in Giant Batman Annual #1 (1961). In this tale, Batman reviewed the costumes he had stored in the Bat-Cave’s Costume Room, explaining each to Robin as if he hadn’t been there on each adventure.
They included: solid-white costumes from “The Case of the North Pole Crimes,” just like his Canadian costume mentioned earlier; a gold-cloth costume from “The Case of the Midas Touch”; and a super-thin cellophane costume that Bats hid in his shoe when he went to prison. We also saw a lime-green luminous costume that glowed in the dark to scare criminals (sure) and a bat-spacesuit used to battle space-pirates. I wish I’d seen that one.
As The Dynamic Duo went into action, Batman used his asbestos bat-suit to help at a fire, the glider-suit to take on helicopter crooks, an underwater suit to sneak up on coastal crooks, and one final secret emergency suit that allowed Robin to disguise himself as Batman (via foam-rubber interior padding).
After all that activity, they no doubt had to dig out a bit more of the cave to store all the suits in the Costume Room. Frankly, by the time Batman’s outfit finally settled down when he got his New Look, they probably needed an annex.

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