It’s Batman’s 80th birthday and on Saturday night for Batman Day, the bat signal was projected in New York City and twelve other cities around the world. In the comic series, the bat signal is lit when Gotham City Police needed to reach the Dark Knight. On Saturday in the city that inspired Gotham, the bat signal went up onto the exterior of the Domino Sugar Factory, on the main refinery building. It was viewable from across the East River as well. It’s timely for the DC Comics franchise, with the movie Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix opening on October 4th.
The Batman signal also lit up Paris, London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Barcelona, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Rome, Mexico City, Montreal, Berlin, and São Paulo. Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 on March 29, 1939 and the celebration is year-long for DC Comics, with events including a Batman 5K in Washington D.C., a new book Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight in Comics, Film, and Beyondand pop-up shops in Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Fun fact: the co-creator of Batman, Bill Finger, lived in the Bronx, and has an honorary street named after him on 192nd Street and the Grand Concourse. While most Batman fans know Bob Kane as the creator of the character, it was Finger who designed almost everything we know about the character today: his signature look, traits, and identity as Bruce Wayne. “Bill Finger Way” came as a long over due recognition for the work of a man who created Gotham’s most well known resident.
Michelle is the founder of Untapped New York and the author of The Art Spy (HarperOne, forthcoming) Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York Hidden Bars & Restaurants, and Broadway. michelleyoungwriter.com
