Michael Uslan
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Michael E. Uslan is the originator of the Batman movies and was the first professor to teach "Comic Book Folklore" at an accredited university. Uslan is a native of Cedar Grove, New Jersey.
Life with comics
Michael Uslan was born on June 2, 1951 and was an avid comic book collector from a very young age, and is now able to boast a collection that contains the second Batman and first Superman comic, among others. After Uslan graduated from Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington and after repeated attempts to break into the film industry by sending off over 130 resumés (typed on a typewriter), Uslan became a professor at IU. When challenged by the Dean about the nature of his course ("You can't be serious... a class on comic books?"), Uslan received approval to teach his comic book folklore class by having the Dean recall the beginning of Superman and then pointing out that the Dean just recited the story of Moses. The dean replied, "Michael, your course is accredited."[citation needed]
Uslan won fame for his comic book class by anonymously calling the local newspapers and when a reporter got on the phone, Uslan shouted, "There is a comic book class at IU! What Communist is responsible for this garbage?! Are you telling me my tax dollars are going towards THIS?" and then hung up. Uslan had a reporter in his classroom every day until the semester ended. The press led to some phone calls by Stan Lee and eventually to a job offer with DC Comics.
Michael was the honorary speaker at the 2006 Indiana University commencement ceremonies, on May 5, 2006.
Batman
Uslan envisioned a dark Batman, not the sort of Batman that came from the "funny books," reflected by Adam West. Uslan's Batman is disturbed. He does not fight bad guys because he is a hero and that is what heroes do; rather, Uslan's perception of Batman was that Batman sought vengeance on those that commit crime. This vengeance came from the death of Bruce Wayne's parents as the result of a gunpoint robbery.
See also: Batman (TV series) and Batman (film series)
When Uslan initially pitched the idea to producers, he was turned down. The justification from producers was that Batman was based on a comic book, and it did not have much success in the box office. Uslan's legacy may be that he showed the world that not all "funny books" are merely two dimensional.
Uslan views the 1989 Batman film directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader as being most representive of the earliest take of the character by Bob Kane and Bill Finger from 1939[3]. Meanwhile, Uslan considers the second Tim Burton/Michael Keaton Batman film, Batman Returns (1992) as serving more as an embodiment of the "almost souless, very dark, almost vampiric"[4] comics of the 1990s. Uslan considers the Joel Schumacher directed Batman Forever (1995) starring Val Kilmer taking over for Michael Keaton as being the closest in spirit of the Dick Sprang drawn, Bill Finger-written stories (featuring not only Batman, but also Robin as played by Chris O'Donnell in Batman Forever) of the 1940s and 1950s[5]. Finally, Uslan sees the second Joel Schumacher directed Batman film (this time, starring George Clooney as the Dark Knight instead of Val Kilmer or Michael Keaton), Batman & Robin (1997) as being most representive of the Batman of the mid-1960s[6] (a la the campy TV series starring Adam West).
