Man Behind the Mask

Who is that masked man?

Briefly, the saga of Batman--subject of one of this summer’s most-talked-about movies--goes like this:

* It is 1938, and Superman is the most popular character at DC Comics. But, they’d like another . . . Bob Kane, an 18-year-old artist who once worked for Max Fleisher Studios (home of Popeye and Betty Boop), is asked to come up with one. Kane thinks about a Leonardo da Vinci drawing he once saw, of a man wearing bat-like wings. And he recalls favorite childhood movies, “The Mark of Zorro” and “The Bat.” He gets to drawing.

* The Batman debuts in May of 1939, in Detective Comics 27. The cover shows the caped figure chasing a bad guy across rooftops. Inside: a six-page story about “bored young socialite” Bruce Wayne, who is--by night--”a weird menace to crime.” Later that year, another Detective Comics story explores The Batman’s past: His parents were killed before his eyes when he was just a lad. Now, he constantly seeks revenge.

* In April of 1940, Robin the Boy Wonder-sidekick appears. And Batman, who’s also acquired an adversary named The Joker, gets his own comic.

* In 1943, “Batman” becomes a Columbia serial. Lewis Wilson stars opposite J. Carrol Naish who plays a Japanese agent. Six years later, there’s a sequel. In “Batman and Robin,” Robert Lowery, who plays Batman, has a tough time seeing through the little eye slits in his bat mask.

* Flash forward a decade. Batman is now the scoutmaster-type. He’s also taken a back seat to DC “stars” like The Green Lantern and Flash.

* Jan. 12, 1966: ABC airs a campy new Wednesday night TV series. “Batman,” starring Adam West, becomes a phenomenon and generates $150 million in assorted merchandising. As a result of all this, the Batman of the comics goes campy, too.

* 1970: The TV series is history, but Batman continues, with some help from artist Neal Adams and writer Denny O’Neil, who restore him to his past glory. That is: once again he’s a dark avenger.

* August 1981: Producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber announce they plan to make the “Batman” movie. Peters is asked, “Will Adam West be involved?” His response: “Who’s Adam West?”

* In 1986, the sleepy world of comics awakens with a start--as “The Dark Knight Returns.” The Warner Books trade paperback (today in its seventh printing), which was originally a four-comic series, is by Frank Miller. Miller has an aging and embittered Batman coming out of retirement in a decaying Gotham City. It is, says one critic, “a comic literature for the Age of Anxiety.”

* September, 1988: Warner Bros. officially announces that production will begin on “Batman,” starring Nicholson as The Joker and Michael Keaton as Batman. Michael Keaton? Produced by Guber-Peters, the film will be directed by comedy meister Tim Burton (“Beetlejuice”). Tim Burton? Ardent Batfans begin worrying.

* Immediately following Warner’s announcement, the Comic Buyer’s Guide--the industry trade, which reaches everyone from creators to retailers--is deluged with mail protesting the movie.

* On November 29, 1988, a Wall Street Journal headline reads: “Batman Fans Fear the Joke’s on Them.” To counteract the concerns, Warner sends Batman creator Kane, now 68, on the road. At comics conventions, Kane cheerleads the movie, “which will be a serious ‘Batman.’ ” And he asks the fans to “give Keaton a chance.”

* February 1989: Shooting wraps. Warner’s massive PR campaign gets under way. As for the protesting Batfans: Maggie Thompson, co-editor of Comic Buyer’s Guide, says they’ve had a change of heart. She credits Warner’s special promos at comics conventions with “turning the thing around.” Now, said Thompson, “We’re just biting our nails in concern over the quality of the execution.”

* April 1989: Kane predicts Batman, which opens June 23, will make “$250 million worldwide or better . . . I feel it.” Some industry analysts have a similar feeling. Meanwhile, because the film’s massive sets are still intact at Pinewood Studios in London, talk of a sequel persists.