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JOURNAL OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE INTRODUCTION PAGE 66
Left: Frank Miller's vision; DC Comics. Right: Christian Bale as the Dark Knight in Batman Begins, 2005, Warner Brothers Pictures.
In late 1950 the Batman stories were becoming more science fiction-oriented, repeating the success of other DC characters that had appeared in the genre. Batman has adventures involving bizarre transformations, dealing with space aliens, and timelines. In the 1960 comic book The Brave and the Bold #28, Batman debuts as a member of the Justice League of America. When sales of the Batman comic series began to decline, writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams returned the character to his original concept: Grim avenger of the night. O'Neil said, "I went to the DC library and read some of the early stories. I tried to get a sense of what Kane and Finger were after." In 1986, Frank Miller's limited series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns started a revolution in comic books and returned Batman to his harsher roots. Miller reinvents Batman as a sad figure in a world that seems to no longer need costumed Super-Heroes. A rebirth of his popularity followed, with a new series of movies, novels, and new comic book/graphic novel interpretations.
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