What comic book reader has never dreamed of walking through the Dark Knight's Landmark? With Batcave, Urban comics offers us a complete tour. Follow the guide. Batcave is the first title in the new Batman Mythology collection, which brings together different anthological stories around the myth of the knight of Gotham. Six more books are planned about Gotham City, Bruce Wayne, the Batmobile, allies and the dead of Batman.
An exhaustive visit of the Batcave
This volume is divided into three parts: the origins of the Batcave, the trophy room and the tales around the landmark. It is therefore a great way to discover the first steps of the myth in the 40s. In the interwar period, the Wayne refuge was a fairly simple suburban house in the countryside and, under the barn, we find the base. Far from being a detail, the choice of departure comes from a negative vision of the city, a fear of the urban. The plans of the different Batcaves show its evolution over time. Initially, it was mainly a trophy room before hosting the hero's various vehicles, a scientific lab, archives on criminals… Over time, the house became a neo-Gothic mansion larger and larger. We finally discover the origin of the giant piece, the T-Rex and other bases such as a flying lair built to keep a promise. Not everything happens in Gotham like visiting a parallel universe. Very concrete elements make it possible to explain the construction of this immense base. The Dynamique Duo put their hands to the dough for the electrical work… But that was before child labor laws. During a trip back in time, they discover that the cellar dates from the trappers fighting against the cruel Indians which allows Batman to root in the origins of the country. This volume also displays the contradictions of the different versions of the cave – in the 50s, Bruce discovers it adult under a barn but it happens as a child from the 80s – or the successive additions. The link of these episodes with the Batcave is sometimes loose – a simple object is the starting point of a story. Indeed, in a room with 1001 trophies, these memories are a good excuse for the writers to narrate the origin of the criminals: the Red Hood helmet helps explain the appearance of the Joker. 
A river of talent flows through the Batcave
Although we often find the screenwriter Bill Finger, the reader navigates through the very different styles but often created by great artists. Gene Colan's very gothic drawing perfectly suited to a story of animal possession precedes a pretty children's tale by Jay Stephens. In the early days, we can note the refined drawings of Lew Sayre Schwartz or Sheldon Moldoff. An episode of Moldoff is reminiscent of a certain Riverdale-based series. The volume ends with two more recent episodes from The Court of Owls and The Badge. It is visually beautiful and incomplete which pushes to read these volumes. The reader may be shocked when an episode from 1989 follows a chapter from 1954: the literate screenwriter Dennis O'Neil arrives after Bill Finger, the expressionist cartoonist Dick Giordano after Sheldon Moldoff. Not everything is perfect of course – Jim Mooney's drawings are close to sketches. But that doesn't mean that old episodes are outdated.
A magnificent journey back in time
Immerse yourself in these many episodes as a one-way trip into the past. We smile at certain clothing fashions. The reader not only sees the evolution of drawing style and scriptwriting techniques, but one perceives the context of the time. In the 40s, Batman and Robin are primarily vigilantes in the fight against organized crime where evil is always punished at the end. So we enjoy a mix between popular crime stories, pulps, and children's stories, between very clear morals and bloody acts. Many criminals die atrociously: asphyxiated in a sarcophagus, drowned… This refreshing cocktail may seem strange today compared to current narratives certainly more nuanced but also sanitized. In fact, these stories reflect their time: in the 40s, the mafia emerges stronger from the end of Prohibition. 
In the 50s, even if the dynamic Duo still confronts agents of the underworld, the atmosphere is more crazy. The writers have fun starting with a striking image of Batman and Robin in an impossible situation – Bruce Wayne has to wait for Batman with Commissioner Gordon, for example. Some chapters can be brilliant successes like an entire episode tracing a parallel path between Bruce's unconscious and that of a criminal. Batman Mythology is therefore a great way for a new reader to read episodes that are sometimes very old and not found in France. In this first volume, the amusing or moral figures of the fifties acquire a more complex psychology. The first steps of the myth of Batman are imbued with a touching naivety but also with a very strong suggested violence. Through these eighteen episodes this immense room becomes human, the cave filled with mysteries is illuminated, the heterogeneous collection is organized. You can discover the more recent developments of Batman in Joker War on this link but, if you want to know more about the origins of the comics, you can check out this article.
