Mark Chamberlain
Untitled, 2005
Watercolor on paper
7.5" x 6"
Collection of the artist

Mark Chamberlain
Untitled, 2005
Watercolor on paper
7.5" x 6"
Collection of the artist

Bigots Bash Batman

By Douglas Blair Turnbaugh

“A handsome athletic boy, usually shown in his uniform with bare legs...” who often stands with those bare gams spread apart, the genital area “discreetly evident,” lives with a handsome butch billionaire bachelor in “sumptuous quarters” (actually a manor house with underground parking for their custom-made coupe), “with beautiful flowers in large vases and a butler, Alfred.”

This domestic partnership is “like a wish dream of two homosexuals living together.” No kidding, Dr. Wertham! Guess whom the Psychiatric Consultant to the Chief Censor of the United States Treasury Department is lusciously portraying in his 400-page soft-porn classic, Seduction of the Innocent, published in 1954? Clue: not Mike Bloomberg. It was philanthropist Bruce Wayne and his young ward Dick Grayson. Dr. Wertham found Bruce particularly subversive (those wicked fleurs du mal in the large vases of Wayne Manor and Robin’s hair style, originally parted in the middle with spit curls on each side of his forehead). Dr. Wertham claimed that comic books caused violence, delinquency and deviant behavior in children, and were to be blamed for the rise of homosexuality in society. Well, I am here as evidence he was absolutely right re: deviant behavior. Was it the green gloves that hooked me?

It wasn’t easy, but I actually saw this Seduction Report, hidden like the A-bomb formula in the restricted vaults of the library of the University of Washington (thanks to a referral from my graduate advisor, for scholarly research, don’t you know) some fifty years ago. I was staggered to see a panel showing Al Capp’s comic strip character Li’l Abner with a nice penis indicated under his salopette (bib overalls to you). A fan of the big lunk, I had noticed Li’l Abner always left one strap unfastened so it fell down, exposing his magnificent shoulder and pectoral muscle. But to discover a basket on him! Well, the government has always produced great porn (see Kenneth Starr’s lubricous report of Bill and Monica, never mind postings on the Internet where vice squadders pose as lonely abused gay children looking for a friend—“please, meet me in the Kmart parking lot”—where a secret police SWAT team will be waiting to pounce.

But to return to our story. 1954. The US Senate, that bastion of decency, ordered a crack-down on suspect florists and hairdressers. No, no, but did hold hearings, and the Comic Books Code Authority was established to “self-censor” the industry. We know how effective self-censoring in commerce can be. Robin’s coiffure was cute but a little fey, so he was taken to an old-
fashioned barber to get a trim, with a straight part on the side. (Batman kept the shorn curls in a locket.)

It is fifty years since Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder were outed, and by the Treasury Department’s own psychiatric consultant. So EVERYBODY KNEW who wasn’t brain dead (well, yes, of course, we have a lot of those and they vote). Yet being known as the dream gay couple did not diminish the immense popularity of the dynamic duo, did it?

So, when early this year cutting-edge art dealer Kathleen Cullen showed a wall full of delicate and tender little watercolors by artist Mark Chamberlain of Batman and Robin in flagrante delicto, who could be surprised by the subject matter? Rapturous delight greeted the exhibition, especially when the art pages of The New York Times showed a large reproduction of our heroes sucking face, hot stuff anywhere, but in the Times! This publicity created a near riotous run on the gallery, bringing in dealers, museum curators and B&R lovers from all over the world. The artist’s prices have soared. An art star was born: Mark Chamberlain.

News of the World: The New York Times reported that BBC News reported that DC Comics threatened legal action, citing copyright violation, if Kathleen Cullen did not remove the watercolors, and wanted all unsold work handed over to the company, and further they wanted to recover all work that had been sold. Try to get a drawing back from a collector! When pigs fly, DC Comics! In the meantime, Kathleen Cullen presented a second Batman show, Outlawed and On the Run, in which Mark Chamberlain illustrates the caped crusaders, reaction to harassment by the corporate giant. Also, Batman tries a new color, rose pink, for his leotard. Très chic! And randy Robin turns promiscuous....I hated that!

Chamberlain is a wonderful watercolorist, witty and wonderfully subversive in this period of emboldened thought-control. A huge amount of press coverage (cover of Time Out, for example) has been generated, mostly appreciative, often concerned with the revived boldness of censorship. And a well-meaning but evidently blind journalist, in the Madison Observer, missed the mark in stating “There are nudes and kissing but nothing ‘pornographic.’” The article is accompanied by a picture showing the Boy Wonder’s massive organ deep in Batman’s mouth.

Of course our “moral” charlatans draped in the national flag are always on the watch for fresh offal to sell. New York Post headline: “Comic War on ‘Superqueero.’” And a Raymond J. Keating presents his musings in “Queer Batman?” Mr. Keating should have read Dr. Wertham’s study for the answer to his rhetorical question.“I was skimming the Times...when a rather large photo caught me off guard...a painting of Batman kissing Robin. Ugh, another pop-culture icon under assault from the Left.” Educational tip for parents from Mr. Keating: While comics are no longer appropriate for younger readers “Some of the superhero cartoons on television offer adventure and messages that can be all right for children. I often use television versions of Batman [!], Superman, Spider-Man and the Justice League to reinforce with my own kids [Oscar Wilde had children too] that evil exists in the world. There are bad guys, if you will, and we have an obligation to oppose them.” [Kill the fags, kids.] Then he remembers something: “After all, if I recall correctly, isn’t Robin a boy or teenager when Batman takes him under his wing? You know, the Boy Wonder. What does this art exhibit say not only about homosexuality then, but also about pedophilia?” What indeed. Well, I say DC Comics’ solution to the “boy” thing was to give poor Robin a sex change to turn him into Bat Girl. So did Dick Grayson become a Nancy?