The History of the Batmobile

BatmobileHistory.com News:   Site Update November 3, 2008 Two new "alternate timeline" Batmobiles have been added: the first from 1944's Batman #26 Year 3000 story, and the second from a recent Booster Gold   Site Update October 22, 2008 Continuing to fill in the late 1960s/early 1970s, four more Batmobiles have been added to the main timeline. One from 1968, two from 1970, and one from 1975   Site Update October 15, 2008 Four more Batmobiles have been added to the main timeline: 1972, two from 1973, and 1975   Site Update October 8, 2008 Four more Batmobiles have just been added to the main timeline: cars from 1955, 1966, 1968, and 1974   "[Batman] has two primary modes of transportation: swinging from gothic clock towers on his Batline, and cruising around Gotham in the Batmobile. Sure, he¬¼s got a Batwing and a Batjet and a Batcopter and even a Bat-Segway, but mostly Batman relies on his ride to get from point A to point B. "Now, the Batmobile is a seriously tricked-out car, and you can¬¼t blame the guy for wanting to drive it, but it must be a serious pain in the ass dealing with the Batmobile every night. "As anyone who lives in or near a big North American city knows, urban driving can be a maddening experience. Heavy traffic, one-way streets, swerving buses, crazy-ass taxi drivers, potholes, inadequate signage, kamikaze bike messengers, oblivious pedestrians — don¬¼t even get me going about parking...Now just imagine trying to navigate Gotham City¬¼s rat nest of streets and alleys in an extra-wide custom hot rod with a wonky torque converter and limited visibility. "Okay, the actual driving itself would probably not be an issue, as Batman probably has advanced defensive driving skills and an intimate knowledge of the street layout of Gotham. Plus, people would get the hell out of the Batmobile¬¼s way. If Batman wants to change lanes, you will let him into your lane. "But what about parking? Can that thing even fit into a standard parking spot? Have you ever tried to parallel park a car that has huge scalloped bat wings on the back while wearing a rubber cowl that prevents you from moving your neck more than five degrees in any direction? I want to see a director¬¼s cut of Tim Burton¬¼s Batman where Michael Keaton tries to slide that beast into a parking spot without scraping the curb or bumping into another car." Excerpt from The Batmobile: What a Pain in the Ass, by David Campbell. Read the full essay here     Batman first appeared in May of 1939 in Detective Comics #27, and although the first true Batmobile did not appear for another two years, it has become one of the Dark Knight's best known weapons. The Batmobile made its career debut in Batman #5, then appeared on a comic cover for the first time for Batman #20. Because of different artists' interpretations of what the car should be, it changed size, shape, and features frequently. Later, as the car was marketed beyond the comics, more forms appeared based on practical or aesthetic considerations. In the 1960s, the first full size, fully operational Batmobile was built for the TV show Batman, and had to face financial and functional questions. A few years later the design of this car would be modified for use in the Superfriends cartoon series, with the unique considerations of making a car that could be easily drawn repeatedly for animation. Then, nearly three decades after the TV series, Batman returned to live action with Warner Brothers Batman movies. At about the same time, Batman: The Animated series came out, with a whole new take on the design of Batman and his universe. All of this was on top of the natural evolution of the car over 60+ years, taking into account new technological features like the jet engine and the computer. I started collecting data on the Batmobiles a few years ago while trying to research a model project I was working on (you can visit my scale model site here). I discovered that there were very few reference guides to the Batmobile, and none of them covered the complete history of the car. Many focused only on a single generation (such as the Futura Batmobile), or they covered a particular genre (TV, cartoons, movies, etc.). As I collected information from all of these sources, I decided to put together my own history of the Batmobile. Before I started this project, I had no idea how convoluted the history of the Batmobile could be. For example, the Batmobile was subject to the interpretation and skills of the current artist throughout the comic series, often resulting in completely different cars from one issue to the next. The overlapping of different styles and formats made a continuous evolution of the car impossible to document. Instead, I have the Batmobiles on this site organized by their debut year, and then (if possible) any information about when the car was "officially" retired. If you have any pictures of Batmobiles that you think I should include, or if you have any info about any I have listed, please let me know at spencer1984@yahoo.com.   BATMOBILEHISTORY.COM IN THE NEWS AskMen.com | AutoBlog | ComicGeekSpeak (MP3) Forbes Auto | Detroit News | L.A. Times New York Times (as BYTB) | The Schenectady Daily Gazette | Washington Times | WNBC   BatmobileHistory.com chosen as one of the Yahoo! Top 25 Picks for 2005 JUNE 24, 2005

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