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This is a collage series deep dive I made exploring the long history of moral panics against Batman. Long before the '80s Dungeons & Dragons Satanic panic to the Barbie (2023) movie moral panic, there was moral panics over Batman in comics, that extended to Batman on TV and Batman movies.

The ninth Batman moral panic was from Jean Torkelson's The Times Leader [June 28th 1989] newspaper article called "The blockbuster that hype built," against the violence and the sleezy pedo prostitute in the Batman (1989) movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, with Jean Torkelson complaining, "Everything is grim and dark. It's violent. People are shot point-blank by grinning thugs. There's a fleeting reference to the (pleasurable) murder of a child. A hooker walking down the street doesn't hit on a young father -- she makes a subtle play for the man's son, who looks about 7. Some may say I'm looking for commies under beds (that's commies, not comics) but I stand by my instinct: There is something subtly depraved and anti-children about this movie 'Batman.'"

www.newspapers.com/image/41054…

Jean Torkelson is a former Times Leader columnist, former Rocky Mountain News columnist, religious writer of Catholic books Colorado's Sanctuaries (2001), Called to Fix America: How One American Took God's Message (2015), Julia Greeley: Secret Angel of the Poor (2022), etc., communications advisor for the Julia Greeley Home Inc.

Jean Torkelson is still alive.

www.ncregister.com/blog/julia-…

www.linkedin.com/in/jean-torke…

Batman (1989) shocked a lot of boomers who were only familiar with Batman (1966). Batman (1989) broke all the rules set by Batman (1966) and Superman (1978) superhero movies. Batman (1989) was heavily influenced by horror films [The Shining (1980), The Man Who Laughs (1928), Dracula (1931), The Bat (1926), The Phantom of the Opera (1925)] instead and really broke the boundaries of what was considered appropriate and acceptable for a comic book movie. Batman (1989) is not harmful at all to kids. Adults forget what it was like when they were children. Kids enjoy the rush of adrenaline kids feel from getting a little scared, the same reason why kids enjoy amusement park rides and spooky Halloween stuff. Kids don't need to be coddled.

Description

This is a collage series deep dive I made exploring the long history of moral panics against Batman. Long before the '80s Dungeons & Dragons Satanic panic to the Barbie (2023) movie moral panic, there was moral panics over Batman in comics, that extended to Batman on TV and Batman movies.

The ninth Batman moral panic was from Jean Torkelson's The Times Leader [June 28th 1989] newspaper article called "The blockbuster that hype built," against the violence and the sleezy pedo prostitute in the Batman (1989) movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, with Jean Torkelson complaining, "Everything is grim and dark. It's violent. People are shot point-blank by grinning thugs. There's a fleeting reference to the (pleasurable) murder of a child. A hooker walking down the street doesn't hit on a young father -- she makes a subtle play for the man's son, who looks about 7. Some may say I'm looking for commies under beds (that's commies, not comics) but I stand by my instinct: There is something subtly depraved and anti-children about this movie 'Batman.'"

www.newspapers.com/image/41054…

Jean Torkelson is a former Times Leader columnist, former Rocky Mountain News columnist, religious writer of Catholic books Colorado's Sanctuaries (2001), Called to Fix America: How One American Took God's Message (2015), Julia Greeley: Secret Angel of the Poor (2022), etc., communications advisor for the Julia Greeley Home Inc.

Jean Torkelson is still alive.

www.ncregister.com/blog/julia-…

www.linkedin.com/in/jean-torke…

Batman (1989) shocked a lot of boomers who were only familiar with Batman (1966). Batman (1989) broke all the rules set by Batman (1966) and Superman (1978) superhero movies. Batman (1989) was heavily influenced by horror films [The Shining (1980), The Man Who Laughs (1928), Dracula (1931), The Bat (1926), The Phantom of the Opera (1925)] instead and really broke the boundaries of what was considered appropriate and acceptable for a comic book movie. Batman (1989) is not harmful at all to kids. Adults forget what it was like when they were children. Kids enjoy the rush of adrenaline kids feel from getting a little scared, the same reason why kids enjoy amusement park rides and spooky Halloween stuff. Kids don't need to be coddled.