Holy 1960s Batman, Batman! is currently playing Saturdays at 8pm. Every show features a guest villain, and the seventh guest is Justin Davis. Justin is a Hideout staple, performing in numerous shows, including Maestro. He is also a huge comic book nerd, in the best tradition of the word. He also has one ear, which makes me suspicious. So let’s talk to Justin!
Roy: You’re **REALLY** into comics. If you can remember back that far, what got you hooked? What are some of your favorite comics now?
Justin: I remember my first real dip into the giant ocean of comic books, besides random comics bought for me during hospital stays, pretty clearly actually. My grandparents took me with them on a shopping trip about an hour or so away from our home when I spotted my first comic book store. I’d never been to one before, but I felt an instinctual urge to go inside. I had limited funds, so the bag of comic books I found that said “10 books for a buck!” was perfect. Luckily, it had a bit of everything from classic superhero books like The Flash and Daredevil to more indie books like Zot!, so I had a nice introduction to a wide range of books.
My favorite books are a bit all over the place as well. From Superman to American Vampire to Invincible to Locke & Key to Green Lantern Corps to Echo to X-Factor to House of Mystery to DMZ, I tend to go with whatever I like and not any one genre or company. These are all currently published books too. The list gets much longer when I add in completed series like Ex Machina. With the big relaunch of DC Comics coming in September, it looks like I may add quite a few more books to my monthly purchases too. Also, there are a lot of writers I follow like Grant Morrison, Rick Remender, Ed Brubaker, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Alex Robinson, and sometimes people like Jeff Parker, Jeff Lemire, Peter Tomasi, and Scott Snyder. Okay, I’ll stop now because this is already a ridiculously long answer.
Roy: What about the Batman comics? I imagine you have some pretty strong opinions. Do you have any favorite titles, past or present? And what impact do you think the 1960s TV show had on the Batman canon, for better or worse?
Justin: I was never really a big reader of Batman comics, so most of the stuff I’ve read with him in it comes from his appearances in other books like any of the incarnations of Justice League. I’ve always liked Nightwing though. Nightwing is the first Robin, Dick Grayson, all grown up. He’s currently acting as one of the Batmen (way too complicated to get into here) and he’ll go back to being Nightwing come September. Nightwing always felt to me like what Batman would be if he was a well-adjusted person. The last few years’ worth of Batman stories by Grant Morrison and a couple of other writers have ranged from good to amazing though.
The 1960s Batman show was good for comics as a whole at the time they came out for a lot of reasons, but its impact on the medium didn’t seem to leave until long afterward. On the one hand, it’s great because it helped make Batman a better known character worldwide. On the other hand, it’s frustrating because people associated all comic books with the TV show, which was most definitely on the far side of camp, even when those books were nothing like that. That labeling forced a whole period of comics starting in the late 70s but really felt in the 80s to rebel hard against that campy label, which resulted in a whole lot stories that got the “grim and gritty” label instead. It’s only recently that writers have tried to find a way to have all of that count and work together instead of against each other.
It was exponentially annoying though every time I saw an article about comic books with the words POW!, BAM!, or BIFF! In the title. Thankfully, that doesn’t really happen anymore.
Roy: Do you think your knowledge of comics will come into play in your performance this weekend? I have this vision of you busting out some arcane knowledge of Batman’s past, and everyone stopping the show to check Wikipedia. Do you have a favorite villain, Batman-related or otherwise?
Justin: I’m not sure I’d bring too much comic knowledge with me to Improvised 1960s Batman, because I’d be afraid it would take people out of the show. It’s likely I might say something like I stole tech from Ted Kord Industries, mention eating at Big Belly Burger, or throw out a mention about the Ventriloquist or KGBeast (a name that’s both stupid and awesome). The trick to me would be to give a nod to the comic book knowledgeable people so they can have a laugh (or groan), but in a way where the people who don’t get the reference won’t feel as if they’re missing something.
For Batman-related villains, I like characters like Clayface and Mr. Freeze. Their concepts and identities are easily summed up, plus they both have tragedy linked to them. That tragedy then links them to Batman too. You’re frightened of them, but feel some sort of sympathy for them too. Clayface is a fame-hungry shapeshifter who can’t hold his human form for too long and Mr. Freeze is regularly finding illegal ways to raise money for his terminally-ill, cryogenically frozen wife or seeking revenge on Gotham for something connected to that. Lesser known to the public characters like Deadshot are also great, because they more fully fleshed out stories. For non-Batman villains, I like characters like Lex Luthor and Sinestro (Green Lantern villain). They both do the most heinous crimes, but do so because they think they’re doing it for the greater good. They think their way is the right way, and it helps if it humiliates anyone who opposes them. That last line may make me sound a bit psychotic. Oh, well.
Roy: As hard as it’ll be to beat KGBeast, if you could game the system and pick your own made-up villain name for the show, what would it be, and what would be your plan to capture Batman and Robin?
Justin: I’d want a character whose name immediately made me think of a hook for the character: what his personality might be like, the weapons he’d use, what his motif would be, etc. I’m not sure why, but the first name that comes to mind is Chess King. I’m also not sure how I’d capture Batman and Robin, but the deathtrap seems obvious to me. Each hero would be strapped into a chair on the opposite side of a giant chess board (everything was giant-sized on the TV show for some reason) and would be forced to play chess against the other. Whenever one of them takes the other character’s chess piece, the loser would receive a shock. They have to make a move every 30 seconds or both of them receive shocks of regularly increasing magnitude, and whoever makes the last move of checkmate kills the other with a final fatal shock.
Um, I kind of scared myself there.
Roy: We’ll stop there before you get any scarier. Thanks, Justin! See you Saturday.
This Saturday’s show is *sold out*, but never fear. We’ve just extended the run, and added 3 more shows! For times and tickets, click here.