Summer 1992 - My post on the Batman movie magazine two weeks ago garnered such a response that it didn't take me long to go out and find more mags of that type to talk about.Of course, the best place to start is with the Batman sequel, Batman Returns. At the time, I absolutely loved the movie, and was completely buying into the idea that these Bat-Movies were the best comic book film adaptations, ever.
With the benefit of hindsight(and approximately forty million comic book movies having been produced since), I can see the Burton Bat-Films for what they are--solid attempts at presenting Batman to a mass audience not as a buffoonish clown with a gut, but a grim avenger of the night.
But I also see that the characters and concepts get crushed under Burton's obsessive focus on the same themes that are in nearly all his films--loneliness, sadness, missed chances. Oh, and clowns. Lots of clowns.
After the massive success of the first film, it seems Warner Bros. pretty much let Burton do what he wanted for the second film, and he went a tad overboard.
Danny Devito as the Penguin was great casting, but the design of what is normally a goofy character was so hideous and dark that its just too much. Indeed, this magazine is actually just a giant poster folded up. There were three issues in the series, and when you fold this one out, you get the Penguin "teaser" poster:
Audiences felt the same, and while Batman Returns was a hit, it fell far short of the first film. And indeed, with the next film, both Burton and Michael Keaton were gone, turning the franchise over to Joel Schumacher.
But the less said about that, the better.
P.S.: The last page features an ad for the third and final issue, featuring lots of photos of Michelle Pfeiffer in her skin-tight Catwoman costume. Crap! Why didn't I buy that one?!?
3 comments:
With the first Batman movie, I thought Burton missed the mark a bit. With the second, I felt he had gone off the rails. Ultimately, Batman is a detective, but where was the detecting? Where was the story for that matter? I read an article where Burton actually bragged that there was no story. So why do a movie? And so much was made about Burton dissing Sean Young for the Catwoman role, but I think she would've been so much better. I mean, c'mon, a blond Catwoman? What a fiasco, with 2 more fiascos to come! Ugh!!
You nailed it Rob. This one is "Burton Gone Wild" for sure. It's almost as if Batman wandered into a Tim Burton movie. When I watch it now I keep waiting for Wynona Ryder or Jonny Depp to show up!
I had these "magazines". I think they did an "official magazine" that actually had some meat to it like the original Batman film. I'm pretty sure I have a copy. Heck, I probably have two. I was such a mark back then!
Chris
"But I also see that the characters and concepts get crushed under Burton's obsessive focus on the same themes that are in nearly all his films--loneliness, sadness, missed chances. Oh, and clowns. Lots of clowns."
Those sound like the themes of Batman to me!
Batman Returns is my favorite movie of all time...I used to have all of these poster magazines (Catty was on my wall for many, many years) but now I only have the Penguin one left :( Thanks for the post!
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