The many incarnations of Batman via Warren Ellis' Planetary

This is the first post of the Spacetime Dossier, and what better way to herald the birth of a fairly ambitious blog than to focus on the history of Batman from his different visual incarnations! You may ask why I find this interesting - in truth, I love comic book/sci fi/fantasy history and can talk shit with comic book shop staff for hours on topics as arcane as...well, arcane as comic book topics can get. So the goal of this blog is to visually chart the incarnations of a fantasy icon,cultural figure or just outright oddity as it jumps through the myriad of incarnations through history or media.

One of the best visual representatives is how Batman has looked throughout the ages - and a special edition of Planetary by Warren Ellis has the intrepid "Archeologists of the Impossible" tracking the secret history of their world (kind of like mixing the X-Files with the Fantastic Four) going to their Gotham City to track down a wanted fugitive with quantum shaping powers. Now in their world, there is no Batman. But thanks to the out-of-control abilities of their quarry, they find themselves facing different versions of Bruce Wayne as how different writers and artists have interpreted him over the last 50 years or so. You can't help but smile at the current version of Batman that you would see written by 1) Grant Morrison or Jeph Loeb, grim, intolerant and paranoid, 2) fascist and monstrously brutal a la Frank Miller's The Dark Night Returns, 3) the patient and lawful Batman of Neal Adams of the 1970s, the one comic book geeks probably remember the most fondly, 4) the gun-welding original version by the creator of Batman, Bob Kane, and even 5) Adam West, complete with pudge and Anti-Female Villain Spray. Lastly, I think the artist (John Cassaday) decided to throw in his own version of Batman, as is his right.

I'll do a follow-up of how people interpret Batman in real life in terms of what Batman costumes there are out there another day. But in the meantime, if you want to read this story, it's a real catch, the writing is top-notch (come on, it's written by Warren Ellis!) and it's full title is Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth