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Stephen King has a soft spot for comic books and superheroes. “The Dark Tower” series features the Wolves of the Calla, who wear outfits right out of Doctor Doom’s closet. King’s 1980 novel “Firestarter” features a psychic father on the run with his fire-starting daughter, like “The Fugitive” mixed with “X-Men.” (King later wrote the actual X-Men in the 1985 special issue “Heroes for Hope.”)
In 2010, King wrote a back-up story in the first five issues of Scott Snyder’s horror comic “American Vampire.” (These days, Snyder is writing a new “Absolute” take on Batman, a character King also has plenty of affection for.) But in 1986, King penned a foreword for the landmark 400th issue of “Batman” delving into his love for the Caped Crusader.
The actual story, written by Doug Moench, runs a super-sized 60 pages. Presumably to keep production efficient, different pages of the book were drawn by many different artists and stuck together. The issue is divided into about a dozen chapters and, usually, when a new chapter begins, a new artist steps in. Bill Sienkiewicz did the cover and pages 15-21, while Brian Bolland (future artist of “The Killing Joke”) drew climactic pages 52-60, and so on.
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The issue begins on the anniversary of the day that Bruce Wayne became Batman. He’s got no time to relax, though. Ra’s Al Ghul bombs Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary, unleashing every single super-villain in Gotham City, from foes as fearsome as the Joker all the way down to ones as lacking as the Cluemaster an the Cavalier. Batman is forced to take on all his costumed enemies at once; to be sure, a more fitting commemoration to his crime-fighting career than a holiday.
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1986 was a monumental year for Batman; Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” redefined its hero. Then, the crossover-reboot “Crisis on Infinite Earths” paved the way for Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s new beginning, “Batman: Year One,” in 1987. “Batman” #400 closes out its era on the Dark Knight with a bang, and King’s essay explains how Batman became such an enduring and adaptable icon.
Why Stephen King’s favorite superhero was Batman as a kid
King’s essay is titled “Why I Chose Batman” and it echoes many of the common praises for Batman that set him apart from other Justice Leaguers.
The essay begins by noting that young boys will think up and debate questions like who their favorite fictional heroes are. During King’s childhood, that question was always whether Superman or Batman was better. King, as the title implies, would always answer Batman.
He soon clarifies that he never disliked Superman, but found his character and adventures “preordained.” King refers to the famous tagline for the 1978 “Superman” film, “You Will Believe A Man Can Fly,” deadpanning: “Well, I didn’t.” Superman was always “too strong” and “too capable,” whereas Batman “was just a guy. A rich guy, yes. A strong guy, granted. A smart guy, you bet. But… he couldn’t fly.”
King most associates his childhood Batman with “Detective Comics” — Batman as a detective is another sign of his humanity because he needs to win with wits, not superpowers. Well, wits and fear. That, too, is something Stephen King (the most famous living horror novelist) found resonant about Batman: “There was something sinister about him.” He continued:
“You saw him fighting crime in the day once in a while, but mostly he was a shape in the shadows or a grim-faced man-thing crashing through a window at some small hour of the morning, his cape floating around him like a great shadow. In those Batman-busts-in panels, you almost always saw a horrid species of fear on the faces of the hoods… Yeah, that’s right, they should look scared, I’d sure be scared if something like that busted in on me. I’d be scared even if I wasn’t doing something wrong.”
Reading this, one can only wonder if King has seen Matt Reeves’ 2022 “The Batman,” which introduces Batman on Halloween night and explores why criminals are so scared of him. It’s not just because so many have seen him burst through a window and taken a beating. In fact, most haven’t. But every night, every criminal knows Batman is out there and they could wind up his prey. In the hands of the right storyteller, Batman can be as terrifying a force as any monster from Stephen King’s nightmares.
