"Gay Batman" SOTI books discovered

[MrBedrock]

The guy was like McCarthy; he could find a communist everywhere.

 

What was that quote about "Kids can find it, if they look long enough"? Something like that. They blew up some inking in a man's shoulder that looked like a female form.

 

wait, that's supposed to be a vag? Give me a frickin break

 

agreed; i've looked at it from every angle, and with a magnifying glass, and i see absolutely no resemblance to bedrock.

Touche, Mr. Parker.

I knew if anyone around here would have a magnifying glass it would be you.

[Straw-Man]

The guy was like McCarthy; he could find a communist everywhere.

 

What was that quote about "Kids can find it, if they look long enough"? Something like that. They blew up some inking in a man's shoulder that looked like a female form.

 

wait, that's supposed to be a vag? Give me a frickin break

 

agreed; i've looked at it from every angle, and with a magnifying glass, and i see absolutely no resemblance to bedrock.

Touche, Mr. Parker.

I knew if anyone around here would have a magnifying glass it would be you.

 

i need it to read the really small print on my reader copies.

[SOTIcollector]

Well, here's the latest "gay Batman" book posted at SeductionOfTheInnocent.org . In trying to bolster his claim that Batman & Robin were gay, he wrote, "Like the girls in other stories, Robin is sometimes held captive by the villains and Batman has to give in or 'Robin gets killed.'"

 

This description matches Batman #67, in which Joker kidnaps Robin and threatens to kill Robin if Batman doesn't obey. Although Wertham's reference COULD have come from elsewhere, it seems highly likely that Batman #67 is a SOTI book.

[Doohickamabob]

Wow, so if a guy tries to save another guy from death, clearly that first guy is gay. Any red-blooded, woman-loving heterosexual would let his friend die!

 

[SOTIcollector]

One of the many mysteries surrounding Wertham's work is what I call the "origin of the Gay Batman". Wertham starts his discussion of Batman with this, "Several years ago a California psychiatrist pointed out that the Batman stories are psychologically homosexual. Our researches confirm this entirely. Only someone ignorant of the fundamentals of psychiatry and of the psychopathology of sex can fail to realize a subtle atmosphere of homoerotism which pervades the adventures of the mature 'Batman' and his young friend 'Robin.'"

 

Who is this California psychiatrist who seems to have started the "Gay Batman" discussion? I don't know. The information is probably out there in a psychology journal from the late 40's or early 50's, but I have not yet tried to hunt it down. Anybody else have any suggestions where to look for "The Secret Origin of the Gay Batman"?

[Hepcat]

Actually it's pretty hard to ignore all the evidence DC provided over the years for the gay Batman hypothesis: Batman and Robin certainly shared a lot together:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, the relationship of Batman and Robin provided psychoanalysts everywhere with raw material for learned treatises. Robin, an orphan, seemed to have serious abandonment issues. This imaginary tale was evidently a recurring nightmare for Robin:

 

 

He didn't see Batwoman as a potential beautiful and loving stepmother who could administer to his every need as a growing boy. He saw her instead as a dangerous competitor for Batman's affections! Luckily for us young comic book readers at the time that Batman and Robin strove manfully to continue on the straight and narrow superhero path and resisted the corrupting blandishments of all those temptresses positively determined to lead them away from the path of true righteousness:

 

 

 

 

And notice that women took to marching in the streets when they realized how it was that Batman could resist the blandishments of such luscious temptresses as Vicki Vale, Catwoman and Batwoman:

 

 

Get a load of the smug confident grin on Robin's face!

 

It wouldn't be until the end of the eighties that Talia al Ghul would lure Batman into her boudoir and introduce him to the hitherto unknown pleasures of a woman's loving embrace:

 

 

Dr. Wertheim could finally rest in peace.

 

[Offbeat Archives]

Actually it's pretty hard to ignore all the evidence DC provided over the years for the gay Batman hypothesis: Batman and Robin certainly shared a lot together:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, the relationship of Batman and Robin provided psychoanalysts everywhere with raw material for learned treatises. Robin, an orphan, seemed to have serious abandonment issues. This imaginary tale was evidently a recurring nightmare for Robin:

 

 

He didn't see Batwoman as a potential beautiful and loving stepmother who could administer to his every need as a growing boy. He saw her instead as a dangerous competitor for Batman's affections! Luckily for us young comic book readers at the time that Batman and Robin strove manfully to continue on the straight and narrow superhero path and resisted the corrupting blandishments of all those temptresses positively determined to lead them away from the path of true righteousness:

 

 

 

 

And notice that women took to marching in the streets:when they realized how it was that Batman could resist the blandishments of luscious temptresses such as Vicki Vale, Catwoman and Batwoman, women took to marching in the streets:

 

 

Get a load of the smug confident grin on Robin's face!

 

It wouldn't be until the end of the eighties that Talia al Ghul would lure Batman into her boudoir and introduce him to the hitherto unknown pleasures of a woman's loving embrace:

 

 

Dr. Wertheim could finally rest in peace.

 

 

AWESOME post!

[Scrooge]

You don't want to delve into academic publications about comics from the '40's. You might come away scarred.

 

Here's a nice one:

 

Comics in the Classroom from issue # 2 of 1943 of School Executive.

 

Take a look at the abstract

 

"Since people "read what they are interested in, and reading matter is best understood if it has a setting in the pictured situation," the schools should make greater use of the comic book. The author describes 25 ways of using the comics for the retarded, nonacademic, unsocial, or disinterested pupil."

 

Stereotypes have a loooong life.

[Hepcat]

It could of course be argued that it's actually the Joker who is to blame for Batman's subsequent sexual identity problems. After all, they may date from the day Batman found himself on the wrong end of the Joker's boner. The seeds of the whole lurid saga are planted when the Joker's pathetic boner makes front page news:

 

 

Determined to never be caught short again, the Joker first bones up on the subject:

 

 

The awesome boners he then unleashes soon draw rave headlines:

 

 

Batman responds by valiantly matching the Joker boner for boner:

 

 

 

 

The Joker then raises the ante by making Batman himself the target of his next boner:

 

 

 

This unexpected development seems to have Batman at a loss. His heavy handed approach to crime fighting isn't the answer. The solution may of course be to enlist a woman's tender touch, specifically that of Catwoman who's known right across the breadth of Gotham City for more than just lipservice when action is needed. But could Catwoman really now be expected to lend a helping hand when Batman has spent so many years rejecting her advances preferring instead to humiliate her by sending her off to jail?

 

 

 

Of course not! Batman would have to MANUP and face up to what was coming from the Joker himself. The experience probably left poor Bats with deep and abiding emotional scars.

 

[Doohickamabob]

great stuff

[Dark Knight]

I'm having a boner just by reading all the excerpts!

[Silver Surfer]

The guy was like McCarthy; he could find a communist everywhere.

 

What was that quote about "Kids can find it, if they look long enough"? Something like that. They blew up some inking in a man's shoulder that looked like a female form.

 

wait, that's supposed to be a vag? Give me a frickin break

 

agreed; i've looked at it from every angle, and with a magnifying glass, and i see absolutely no resemblance to bedrock.

 

That's because your suppose to be looking for an arse!