Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Evolution of the Batmobile

original batmobile


This was, according to Brian Kronner of Bam! Kapow!, was the first Batmobile. It appeared in a 1941 issue of the comic. Konner's picture-filled post describes how the Batmobile changed over time, and ranks them according to his aesthetic taste. My favorite will always be the classy, elegant, yet fierce Art Deco Batmobile of The Animated Series:

batmobile2


Of which someone once built a live-action version:

batmobile3

3 comments:

Jeff the Baptist said...

I was a bigger fan of the batcycle in TAS. Really neat deco design.

Johnny Cat said...

I am such a huge fan of the new one, particularly when Bruce test drives it in BB ("Does it come in black?"), that all the past examples feel wrong. Not a huge fan of Tim Burton's entry, but your art deco darling is a lot better.

I grew up on the series, so I'll give a shout out to that bubbly beauty.

John said...

Jeff -- yes, the Batcycle was really good. It made a strong appearance in the episode "The Mechanic" -- one of my favorites.

JC -- The modular Batmobile in the earlier movies was just silly and made for stunts. But the Tumbler, thought not pretty, was comparatively realistic for an actual vehicle. I approve of that line of thinking.