Batman: This movie vampire inspired The Dark Knight

Did the most famous vampire in cinema inspire Batman’s aesthetic? If the superhero was for a long time a very positive character in the comics of the 1960s, in the 70s it radically changed its face and tone.

This change is the designer Neal Adams and screenwriter Dennis O’Neill who bring it. Abandoning the “new look” Batman that debuted in 1964, the duo suggest a return to the Dark Knight’s dark roots. Compare the character on the cover Detective comics No. 329 (1964) and Batman No. 227 (1970).

in the sign Batman: The Complete StoryAdams says: “As soon as the script called for a day scene, I went through that night.”

Then Addams and O’Neill’s influence disrupts the status quo with a decidedly chilling gothic horror influence. Most Batman covers show night scenes, strange characters, and focus on mystery and “how did we get here?”

This appearance of Batman, much more “bat” and menacing, was especially inspired by the authors of vampires, and then very fashionable in cinema. From the late 1950s to the 1970s, Dracula made many appearances in neighborhood theaters, notably in Christopher Lee’s guise, from A Nightmare on Dracula (1958) to Dracula Lives in London (1973).

It was while watching “Dracula Rises from the Grave” (Dracula and the Women in France) with Christopher Lee that he noticed that the actor has the ability to move with his cape, which breathes into Batman’s adventures.

Adams also creates two notable Batman supervillains: Man-Bat (resembling a giant bat) and Ra’s al Ghul, a man immortalized by magical water from a well he is immersed in. Replace the well with a coffin and you have everything vampire.

Screenwriters Gerry Conway and Paul Levitz invoke the myth directly in an early ’80s narrative arc in which Batman transforms into… a bloodthirsty human!

in number 79 Brave and boldIn his first story with Batman, Neal Adams, he was not paired with Deadman, a character of his creation, clearly inspired by vampires (the “D” in his outfit clearly recalls Dracula).

It’s this gothic aesthetic and these stories, often inspired by Lovecraft, Poe or spooky legends and myths, that also mark Tim Burton for his Batman challenge as well as the aesthetic of the 90s Batman animated series. attached to the superhero in the collective imagination.