Review of "Batman in the Fifties," introduction by Michael Uslan

Review of

Batman in the Fifties, introduction by Michael Uslan ISBN 1563898101

Four out of five stars

 When the Batman television series burst into the entertainment world in the 1960s, the word most commonly used to describe it was “camp.” It had many silly, nonsensical visual aspects and the dialog was simplistic. Even the theme song was minimal, catchy tune with no real lyrics. Media critics panned it, but people that followed the character knew that what appeared in the show was in many ways a continuation of the aspects of the comic book.

 That view is solidified when reading this collection of stories that appeared in the Batman comic of the 1950s. The characters, both good and evil, are shallow and the dialog shows little imagination. It is easy to see the continuous thread from these stories to the television show.

 Some of the oddest characters in these stories are Bat-Mite, the Batman of the year 3054, the Batman of Planet X and Bat-Hound. People knowledgeable in the history of comics will understand that the taming down of the stories was a reaction to the national hysteria that blamed comics for the rise in juvenile delinquency. This book is a demonstration that censorship is often equivalent to a dumbing down of the quality.