The history of the gay subtext of Batman and Robin.

 

 

"Let’s get one thing absolutely clear: Robin isn’t gay.

Don’t let the green Speedo and the pixie boots steer you wrong; Dick Grayson is as straight as uncooked spaghetti. In fact, there have been several Robins over the years, and not one of them has exhibited any trace of same-sex attraction or evinced anything resembling a queer self-identity.

Neither, it feels important to note here at the start, has Batman.

Don’t take my word for it. Ask anyone who’s written a Batman and Robin comic. Or, you know what, you don’t have to: Dollars to donuts they’ve already been asked that question, and have gone on record asserting the Dynamic Duo’s he-man, red-blooded, eterosexual bona fides. Batman’s co-creators, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, both firmly swatted the question down. So have writers like Frank Miller, Denny O’Neil, Alan Grant, and Devin Grayson—though Grayson admitted that she could “understand the gay readings.”

So there you have it. After all, if a character isn’t written as gay, then that character can’t possibly be gay, right? We all agree on that? Good, then we can move on to more important matters, and…

… Sorry? Was there a comment in the back?

… Yes, you, Grant Morrison, writer of several Batman comics (Arkham Asylum, JLA, Batman, Batman Inc.) over the course of the past three decades? You had something you wish to add? Something you said to Playboy magazine in 2012?

Gayness is built into Batman.

… Um.

Batman is VERY, very gay.  

OK great super helpful thanks for that—

Obviously as a fictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual…

Yes! My point! THANK you. Now—

… but the whole basis of the concept is utterly gay.

I see. Well look, Grant, we really have to move on, so—

I think that’s why people like it. All these women fancy him and they all wear fetish clothes and jump around rooftops to get him. He doesn’t care—he’s more interested in hanging out with [Alfred] and [Robin].

Security? Please escort that bald, nattily dressed Glaswegian out of the hall. Sorry about that, folks.

Now, where was I …

Why Is Dick the Butt of so Many Jokes?"

 READ ARTICLE BY GLEN WELDON

The history of the gay subtext of Batman and Robin.