HOLY HEIMAT, BATMAN!

This is a bonus newsletter for those of you looking for something to read on a quiet Sunday.

The following is an essay I presented at Batman Day - a conference celebrating Batman’s 75th birthday - on November 21, 2014, in Wroclaw, Poland. It’s also one of the essays from my recent book NOTES FROM PARASPACE.

INTRODUCTION

One of the common themes for the majority of DC’s superheroes is the Jewish immigrant experience, whether literally within their own respective stories or metaphorically based on the conditions placed upon them by their Jewish creators. DC’s trinity of heroes, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, are all immigrants – Superman and Wonder Woman’s origins share the immigrant experience of having to leave their homes and acclimating themselves within a world that is not their own. While Wonder Woman’s immigrant experience is not particularly Jewish, Superman’s extensively documented experience certainly is. Batman, on the other hand, represents a different kind of Jewish immigrant altogether, one that most accurately imitates that of the real-life Jewish immigrants in the United States around the time of World War II. This paper will be examining Batman within the context of the DC universe as a Jewish immigrant from the beginning of the Golden Age of comic books until today, the so-called Modern Age. 

The exodus of Jews from Europe prior to World War II to the United States consisted of specific stages: 1) Repression, 2) Acclimation, and 3) Heimat. Repression refers to the conscious or unconscious act of a Jewish immigrant hiding his/her Jewishness in order to appear more American, or “privately Jewish, publicly American” (Weinstein). Acclimation refers to the Jewish immigrant’s process of adjustment and acceptance into his/her new environment and identity. And Heimat, while it is often associated with homeland or home, “resists definition: words are rarely adequate to define its emotional, geographical, and mythical aspects” (Lieber). It is paradoxical, as it is “defined as something small and intimate – the space of childhood or the family farm” (Lieber), Heimat also “designate(s) the future world” (Lieber). But to put it simply for the aims of this research, Heimat is a longing for a time and place where one belongs, whether that be geographical or mythical, as determined by the emotional ties one has. Heimat could be home or the idea of home, whether it is a nostalgic home from your past or the one you hope to have in the future. This longing for something vague and unobtainable is a feeling most displaced and exiled immigrants possess.

Also, for the purposes of this paper, the specific ages of comic books will be defined accordingly: The Golden Age begins in 1938 (specifically with the publication of Action Comics #1); the Silver Age begins in 1956 (with DC’s Showcase #4, which introduced the modern Flash1); the Bronze Age begins roughly 1970 with the return of the darker elements that were a hallmark in the Golden Age stories (while one could choose a specific comic book to highlight the shift into the Bronze Age, Jack Kirby’s exit from Marvel Comics easily represents the seismic shift into new territory); the Modern Age begins roughly 1986 (from a technical standpoint, one could argue DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 marks the definite ending of the Bronze Age, but most would probably cite Watchmen #1 or The Dark Knight Returns #1) and continues today.

While the comic book ages are easily identifiable benchmarks, this paper is following writer Grant Morrison’s approach to the character of Batman, meaning that the 75-year history of the Dark Knight is to be considered his complete biography2:

This analysis of Batman’s Jewish immigrant experience follows the aforementioned Repression, Acclimation, and Heimat model. Repression is represented in Batman’s “weird figure of the dark” beginnings in the Golden Age, Acclimation is attributed to Batman as the “paternal figure” in the Silver Age, and Heimat is established as the “globetrotting” and “snarling, paranoid soldier” Batman from the Bronze Age into the Modern Age. Through this exploration, this paper will highlight what makes Batman both the typical and unique Jewish immigrant and why the circumstances regarding his Heimat are tragic.

GOLDEN AGE: REPRESSION

With the Golden Age of comic books beginning with the publication of Action Comics #1 in June of 1938 and the introduction of Superman, it is unsurprising that many comic books published at the time referenced the events of World War II. The heroes of Timely Comics – which would eventually evolve into Marvel Comics – were actively involved in the war effort. Images and stories of Captain America, the Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner fighting alongside the Allied Forces and occasionally even punching Hitler were fairly commonplace at the time. 

By comparison, the superheroes within the DC universe were surprisingly lackadaisical with the growing global threat. While Superman would appear in covers fighting with and supporting American troops, Superman would not actively confront Hitler until creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster put him in the two-page story "What If Superman Ended the War?" in the February 27, 1940 edition of Look Magazine:

Because many of the Timely Comics characters and Superman were created by children of European Jewish immigrants, it is not unreasonable to assume that creating stories where the larger-than-life superheroes directly confronted the growing atrocities in Europe satisfied a kind of wish fulfillment on their part:

The wish-fulfillment aspect of superhero storytelling is hardly new. Will Eisner, the Jewish creator of the Golden Age hero Spirit, traced it back to the Golem from Jewish folklore. "The Golem was very much the precursor of the super-hero in that in every society there's a need for mythological characters, wish fulfillment. And the wish-fulfillment in the Jewish case of the hero would be someone who could protect us. This kind of storytelling seems to dominate in Jewish culture" (Aron). 

This is why Batman, created by Bob Kane (Robert Kahn) and Bill Finger (Milton Finger), both children of European Jewish immigrants, is such an anomaly when it comes to wish-fulfillment storytelling. “Batman barely fought Nazis at all. In one comic, Nazi saboteurs come to Gotham City and Batman does take them down. But Batman's only confrontation with Adolf Hitler himself happens on the cover of World's Finest #9 — where Batman and his friends throw tennis balls at Der Fuhrer” (Anders). 

As Batman initially appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939, he reflected the pulp heroes of the time. His origin, as detailed in the first two pages of the comic book, shows a young Bruce Wayne witnessing the death of his parents in a botched street robbery. Days later, seemingly during bedtime prayer, Bruce vows to avenge their death by spending the rest of his life fighting criminals. Over the next fifteen years, Bruce becomes a master scientist and trains his body to physical perfection until he is finally ready. Knowing that he needs a disguise that will terrify criminals, Bruce is uncertain how to proceed until a bat appears through his open window. Bruce takes this as an omen and becomes Batman. Considering the countless revisions and details that will be added to the character in the next 75 years, the origin is refreshingly simple. When comparing it to Superman’s origin, it shares the basic traits of loss and reinvention but lacks any Biblical allusions. 

This is not to say there are not any allusions to be found. The loss of Bruce’s entire family to an unexpected tragedy mirrors what was happening to millions of Jews in Europe. And while Bruce did not emigrate to a new homeland, his transformation yields similar results. Jewish immigrants in America were often forced to hide their culture and heritage in an attempt to appear American. Whereas Superman embraced Clark Kent as a way to appear more human (American), Bruce Wayne becomes Batman to overcome being a victim (Jewish). “The real Jewish hero is Batman. With his driven work ethic, high intellect, body hair, and survivor’s guilt, just call him Bruce Wayneovitz” (Selman). Like Clark Kent, Batman is designed to mask the pain and tragedy that came before and to facilitate the process of reinvention. “Superman’s superiority lay in the offense, Batman’s lay in the rebound” (Brod).

However, Bruce Wayne’s reinvention sets the stage for repression: 

Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego is in many ways problematic because the tragedy that forced his displacement is both the cause of his reinvention and subsequent repression. And while Clark Kent is clearly the secret identity of Superman, the ambiguity of Batman (who is he really pretending to be?) allows his repression to manifest his identity as both victim and victor, prey and hunter, injured and unscathed.

SILVER AGE: ACCLIMATION

The Silver Age Batman stories, especially when compared to the ages that preceded and followed it, are colorful and silly. DC’s Silver Age is a response to the increasing demand for new or revitalized superheroes while at the same time dealing with the restrictions of the 1954 instated Comics Code Authority – a self-regulated group that curbed violence and adult content in comic books. 

Batman’s stories moved away from crime-specific narratives and became more comedic, often wallowing in the realm of science fiction. Gone were the stories revolving around murder and tragedy and in their place were stories about Batman turning into a fish, traveling in time, and meeting women3: 

The most important aspect of the Silver Age stories is that they introduced Batman’s extended family, including the aforementioned Batwoman, Batgirl, Ace the Bat-Hound, Bat-Mite, and Aunt Harriet. While there is a lot of back and forth between the characters, Batman fundamentally embraces this family (particularly one outside of his ward Dick Grayson). The presence of Batwoman, Batgirl, and Ace the Bat-Hound created “a wife figure…a daughter surrogate…the family pet” (Kaplan) for Batman4. This is not the Golden Age loner, the repressed, unsmiling dark avenger, but rather a man who is acclimating and accepting his role within his new environment.  

What happens to Batman then after he is “married with kids”? What happens to the Jewish immigrant as he gets older? 

BRONZE AND MODERN AGES: HEIMAT

The Modern Age of Batman culminated in writer Grant Morrison’s seven-year run on the title. His approach to the character – as detailed in this paper’s introduction – is not only revelatory but helps establish Batman’s approach to Heimat:

Considering the Modern Age Batman as a man “who had tamed and mastered his demons” and transformed the very nature of his personal tragedy into something new, we now have a man beyond acclimation. He has evolved past his role as the husband and father5 and has reached a place where he can reflect, where “Jewish immigrants build their ethnic distinctiveness on a gradual idealization of Heimat” (Schwarz). 

“To contemplate Heimat means to imagine an uncontaminated space, a realm of innocence and immediacy... a longing for wholeness and unity” (Ludewig). What exactly would Heimat mean to Batman: the resurrection of his parents (“the space of childhood”) or a world where a child could never lose a parent to an unspeakable tragedy (“the future world”)? Because this paper is discussing comic books, both of these scenarios are equally possible. 

Condensing the idea of Bruce Wayne’s parents returning to life to simply returning home, Batman – like most immigrants who were forced to leave their home – would discover another unsettling truth:

Bruce Wayne’s return home – return to innocence – would probably yield the same results. He would be a stranger, as he is already a stranger to himself. And even if home was exactly as he remembered it because Batman is the ultimate reaction to Wayne’s trauma, the “American” he became in order to repress the victim, would there be a Bruce Wayne to enjoy it? Probably not, especially when you take an example like Batman #600. In this issue, after being accused of murder and escaping from jail, Batman decides to get rid of Bruce Wayne once and for all. He says, “There is no Bruce Wayne…Bruce Wayne is a mask I wear, that I’ve been wearing since I was a child.”

Consider then Batman foregoing nostalgia and reaching for the future instead: a world where a child could never lose a parent to an unspeakable tragedy. The idea alone – Morrison’s “relentless humanitarian crusade” – presses up against the concept of utopia. But this version of Heimat poses a completely new problem for Batman. Just as his return home would be foreign to Bruce Wayne, a world without crime – or even a safe Gotham City for that matter – would be just as foreign to Batman. And such a world would inevitably cancel out the need for a Batman.

Such is the conundrum of the modern Batman, the repressed and acclimated Jewish immigrant longing for Heimat, where returning home abolishes Bruce Wayne and obtaining an optimistic future destroys Batman. The only logical solution for Batman to find peace is death, for “if return is not an option, [there are] two possible outcomes: death or a lifetime of pining over the lost Heimat . . . being caught in an endless cycle of grieving” (Vansant). 

But Batman is the one “who never dies” (Nagorski) within his own story, which reveals the true tragedy of the Dark Knight. He will forever be caught in the “endless cycle” due to the sliding scale of comic book time. Batman will be here long after today’s readers are dead, fighting the good fight, in a world where “he feels like a stranger.” As the world celebrates his 75th anniversary, it is understood that Batman is forever, sadly for him.

CONCLUSION

By sampling Grant Morrison’s approach to Batman where every story is “true and biographical” (Nagorski), it is possible to reconsider Batman as a Jewish immigrant metaphor through the Repression, Acclimation, and Heimat model; with the Heimat aspect being the most revealing. Bruce Wayne was repressed in his transformation into Batman. Over the years, Batman accepted his new identity and environment and created a family. Eventually, Batman sought Heimat, either a return to who he once was or the ultimate end to his lifelong goal, but either possibility brings with it the death of one of his identities. This paradox mirrors the exiled Jewish immigrant in America seeking Heimat, where returning to the homeland as he remembers it is impossible and would inexorably compromise his new identity, and accepting the promise of the future means the death of who he once was. There is no resolution that will satisfy both identities.

While it would be easy to consider the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents as tragic, the true tragedy of Batman is something far more complex and horrifying. As an amplified metaphor of the Jewish immigrant trapped in the confines of a sliding scale of comic book agelessness, the elusiveness of his Heimat is never-ending. He will never find death and he will most certainly never find peace.  

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REFERENCES

Anders, Charlie Jane. “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Batman” iO9. 22 February 2011. 7 November 2114. < http://io9.com/5759535/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-batman>

Aron, Lewis and Karen Star. A Psychotherapy for the People: Toward a Progressive Psychoanalysis. Routledge Publishing. 2013.

Brod, Harry. Superman is Jewish? Free Press. 2012.

Brubaker, Ed (w), Scott McDaniel (p), and Andy Owens (i). “The Scene of the Crime.” Batman #600 (April 2002), DC Comics.

Grinberg, Leon and Rebecca Grinberg. Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Migration and Exile. Yale University Press. 1989.

Harrington, Wallace. “Superman and the War Years.” The Superman Homepage. 7 November 2014. < http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/comics.php?topic=articles/supes-war>

Kaplan, Arie. From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books. Jewish Publication Society. 2010.

Katz, Lisa. “The Effects of the Holocaust on the Children of Survivors.” About. 11 November 2014. <http://judaism.about.com/od/holocaust/a/hol_gens.htm>

Lieber, Constance L. Representations of Heimat and Trauma in Selected German and Polish Poetry. Proquest. 2008.

Ludewig, Alexandra. Screening Nostalgia: 100 Years of German Heimat Film. Transcript Verlag. 2014.

Minkel, JR. “Dark Knight Shift: Why Batman Could Exist--But Not for Long” Scientific America. 14 July 2008. 13 November 2014. < www.scientificamerican.com/article/dark-knight-shift-why-bat/>

Nagorski, Alex. “Grant Morrison on His Legendary Batman Run.” DC Comics. 25 February 2013. 11 November 2014. <http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2013/02/25/grant-morrison-on-his-legendary-batman-run>

Scolnic, Benjamin Edidin. “Zap! Pow! Bam!” Temple Beth Sholom. 31 December 2007. 7 November 2014. <http://tbshamden.com/images/TBScontent/zap!%20pow!%20bam!.txt>

Selman, Matt. “Jewperman Returns” TIME. 20 November 2007. 7 November 2014. < http://techland.time.com/2007/11/20/jewperman_returns/>

Schwarz, Jan. Imagining Lives: Autobiographical Fiction of Yiddish Writers. University of Wisconsin Press. 2005.

Vansant, Jacqueline. Reclaiming Heimat: Trauma and Mourning in Memoirs by Jewish Austrian Reémigrés. Wayne State University Press. 2001.

Weinstein, Simcha. Up, Up and Oy Vey How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero. Barricade Books. 2009.

White, Mark D. and Robert Arp. Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul. John Wiley & Sons. 2008.