Batman is moody. This may be the greatest understatement about a superhero ever, but not only is Batman as a character a moody person, but his aesthetic origins are also full of melancholic imagery and spookiness. Part of this is because Batman wasn’t a wholly original creation. While the first iteration of Batman appeared in Detective Comics #27 in 1939 and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Batman’s direct precursor was floating around nine years earlier. A pulp vigilante known as the Shadow hit the radio waves in 1930, and then starred in his own magazine starting in 1931. Make no mistake, the Shadow is Batman’s direct pop culture parent. And in the new Prime Video series, Batman: Caped Crusader, a direct reference to this inspiration is made very, very clear. Mild spoilers ahead.
