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Gay Batman
BTW, Keaton was the Best Gay Batman Evar
Just like with certain emails, there are message board and blog posts I just can't walk away from. Case in point, a blog post [local backup] about an attempt by DC Comics to suppress the artwork of Mark Chamberlain who painted some homoerotic pictures of Batman.
It wasn't the blog post that got my attention, rather it was the first post in the comments:
AS USUALL THE FUCKING QUEERS HAVE TO FUCKIN RUIN IT FOR EVER ONE ELSE. BATMAN HAS NEVER BEEN GAY SO WHY IS HE BEING PROTRAYED GAY...MAYBE IT THE INSURCURITY THAT COMES WITH THE GAY PEOPLE...ME I CANT STAND GAYS AND NO IT HOMOPHOBIC WHICH BY THE WAY IS ANOTHER THE GAYS CAME UP WITH FOR PPL LIKE ME THAT BELEIVE MAN AND WOMEN WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER
Another sad attempt to blame it on the gays. Usually I just let a post like this slide but this time I couldn't. The poster's use of all caps, little punctuation, and no sense, cried out to me for rebuttal. The phrase "Batman has never been gay" stuck in my mind. How does he know that for sure? I put my imaginary encyclopaedic knowledge of comic books to work.
"BATMAN HAS NEVER BEEN GAY"
Sorry Larry, as any hard-core DC comic collector knows, Batman has flirted with homosexuality on three different occasions:
Detective Comics #43, Sept 1940: Batman's new affiliation with Robin sparks a flashback to Wayne's youth when he attended the Gotham Academy for Boys. He and four other boys, with the aid of large rubber bands and a jar of cold cream, explore their sexuality. Many collectors believe that one of the boys was Harry Dent. (See DC #52).
World's Finest Comics #18, May 1956: Batman becomes fixated on seeing Superman naked and his proposition is cruelly rejected.
Batman #44, Nov 1968: Batman infiltrates a communist worker's organization but is exposed by the Green Arrow, who sympathizes with their cause. Forced to ingest LSD and rum, Batman generally acts silly and is totally out of it during an orgy. (I can't believe nobody took pictures!)
Of course, I won't even mention the plots of several issues of the Dark Night Returns as it borders on alternate reality, anyway.
The trouble with authoritative sounding hoax posts is some moron might actually believe them. (OK, OK, it's a feature not a bug.) In my case a UK journalist got wind of my post and believed it.
Sent: Aug 20, 2005
To: Matthew Lewis Carroll Smith
From: JJ @ Sunday Herald
Subject: URGENT, BATMAN COMMENTS
Hi, is this your post?
[snip] (my post) [snip]
if so, I would really like to talk to you for an article my newspaper is running tomorrow about the controversy over the Batman art. We are a UK based newspaper, and you really seem to know your stuff!
Many thanks!
JJ
Silly journaist, I kid. Gay Batman post is a trick.
Sent: Aug 20, 2005
To: JJ @ Sunday Herald
From: Matthew Lewis Carroll Smith
Subject: URGENT, BATMAN COMMENTS
Hey JJ,
I'd like to help you out but I can't. I am currently working on my own novel about gay superheroes called Superman on Man Action and I cannot give interviews without my publisher's approval.
-m
Never heard back.
P.S. Yes I know Dent's first name is Harvey, not Harry. I was rushed. Gimme a break.