Cripping the Bat: Troubling Images of Batman

Abstract

In the following chapter I examine two Batman narratives through the theoretical lens of disability studies in order to demonstrate how comics continue to influence ways we think about disability and difference. Specifically, I argue that while the narratives of Batman: KnightFall and Batman—Vampire provide readers with representations of disability informed by both the medical and social models, these representations are often too reductive to push disability discourse beyond existing limits. Instead, when examined only within their own contexts, the conventions used in these stories succeed only in (re)establishing standardized and accepted ideas in a comfortable format. Focusing first on the ways that the sequence of events presented in KnightFall creates a problematic and abbreviated narrative of healing, I emphasize medical representations of disability in order to show how this narrative ignores many aspects of physical disability so that Bruce Wayne’s character and activities remain recognizable to readers. Second, I examine Batman—Vampire, and note that the narrative is driven by addiction and images reminiscent of monsters and freaks. The use of the addiction device in the narrative is an important step toward the recognition of disabilities constructed from social perception rather than physical impairment; however, the storyline and imagery effectively extend freak show discourse and reinforce outdated and problematic representations.