• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

  • Reading Orders
    • Marvel
    • My Marvelous Year
    • DC Comics
    • All Comic Book Publishers
    • Most Recent
  • Beginner Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide To Comics In 2023
    • Marvel 2023: Where to Start?
    • DC 2023: Where to Start?
    • Best of Lists
    • Tablets for Comics
    • Guides for Digital Readers
  • Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
    • DC Comics
    • Comic Book Movies
    • Comic Book TV
    • Video Games
  • Podcasts & Video
    • My Marvelous Year
    • Best Comics Ever (CBH)
    • CBH on Youtube!
  • About Me
    • My Favorite Comics of All Time
    • Columns
    • CBH Email Newsletter
  • Support Comic Book Herald
    • Ways to support
You are here: Home / Reviews / DC Reviews / Book Review!: “The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture”

Book Review!: “The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture”

March 15, 2016 by Dave Leave a Comment

In the age of the internet (slightly fewer cullings than the Age of Apocalypse), there’s an inversion of an old TV trope. Whereas we’ve all known the old “1,000 channels but nothing good on TV,” we now have 1,000,000 tweeted articles, but nothing to read. As always, this is an overstatement, but the value of intelligent, witty, interesting articles increasingly stands out.

It’s a joy to stumble upon (TM) that rare piece of literary finesse that reaffirms the joy of reading, and better yet, teaches you something.

It’s even better when that “something” is Batman, and that’s exactly what we have in Glen Weldon’s “The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture.” The new book is equal parts history of the Bat, and informative, insightful, often humorous dig into fan reaction to the Bat-Man’s many incarnations and rebirths.

Simply put, “The Caped Crusade” is the best book I’ve read this year. (Well, at least best book without pictures, but semantics.)

It’s worth disclosing that Simon & Schuster sent me a review copy of “The Caped Crusade.” While this often becomes a chore (I know, I know, comic book blogger problems), I found myself completely engrossed. At the expense of reading actual comics! Holy time management sacrifices, Batman!

Support For Comic Book Herald:

Comic Book Herald is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a qualifying affiliate commission.

Comic Book Herald’s reading orders and guides are also made possible by reader support on Patreon, and generous reader donations.

Any size contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards, or Donate here! Thank you for reading!

At its best, “The Caped Crusade” is a thorough history of Batman, from his origins and influences all the way through Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s New 52 Batman. Weldon deftly navigates both the comic book and pop culture appearances of Batman, exploring the reality that Batman wasn’t always the uniformly golden ticket he is now for DC Comics.

What saves this book from the trappings of snoozy history is Weldon’s keen eye for the big picture. Throughout each era of Batman’s history in the comics, and later in television and film, Weldon smoothly shows how Batman ties into pop culture, society, and well, nerds at large. The end product is a thought provoking blend of the factual (Bob Kane took way too much credit for Batman’s creation) and the provocative (Why all the ‘Batman is gay’ jokes?).

Weldon divides the world into nerds and normals, balancing his perspective appropriately between the two. The dive into “nerd culture” as promised by the subtitle is typically fascinating, if ultimately the most uneven portion of the book. Weldon makes a strong effort to chronicle fan reaction to the different phases of Batman, from Chuck Dixon’s youthful outrage at the campy Batman of the 1960’s (“That’s not my Batman”) to the less youthful outrage of every 90’s early internet adopter during Joel “Nipples” Schumacher’s Dark Reign.

The Bat-nerd chronicles are a welcome additional layer, if clearly supplemental to the thorough and well-researched history. In my view, the tales of the Bat-nerds become increasingly less compelling as they progress from self-published fanzines in the 60’s to more modern hateful internet comments, but this could just be the power of nostalgia. The modern rise of nerd culture particularly suffers, as Weldon’s analysis is confined to the realm of Batman, and the influence of the Nolan-verse Dark Knight Trilogy.

Speaking of the influence of the perceived Dark Knight (popularized most emphatically in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns




), Weldon’s core thesis seems to be that this Dark Knight is only one version of Batman. Sure, the brooding, strategic mastermind is the fan-favorite Batman of many, but Weldon makes a case for the value of the Adam West Batman ’66 as well. To Weldon, “The Court of Owls” is what happens when Batman gets depressed; what’s so wrong with the Batusi and a little bit of joy?

Weldon never commits quite as singularly, but “The Caped Crusade” reminds me a fair amount of Chuck Klosterman’s “Fargo Rock City.” Both defend the indefensible with gusto (“Fargo Rock City”=80’s Hair Metal, “The Caped Crusade”=Batman ’66), albeit at a time when cultural perception has already started to accept that the “indefensible” is actually cool again, if still a mainstream joke. Weldon is hardly fighting for the right to enjoy Batman ’66 without ridicule, but there’s a clear perceived need to broaden our scope of Batman.

The best comparison I can make, though, is Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunleavy’s “The Comic Book History of Comics.” If you find comics (and in this case Batman) endlessly fascinating, this is a read worthy of the esteemed Caped Crusader himself.

Filed Under: DC Reviews, Featured Tagged With: Batman

Heroically Support Comic Book Herald!

If you like Comic Book Herald, and are able to donate, any small contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Donate here! Or, support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards! Thank you for reading!

Become a Patron!

About Dave

Dave is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Comic Book Herald, and also the Boss of assigning himself fancy titles. He's a long-time comic book fan, and can be seen most evenings in Batman pajama pants. Contact Dave @comicbookherald on Twitter or via email at dave@comicbookherald.com.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Comic Book Herald Podcast!

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsRSS
My Marvelous Year Podcast and Reading Club 1

Recent Posts

  • Fall of X Teasers & Al Ewing’s Sins of Sinister | Comic Book Herald Live! March 24, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 6: Immoral X-Men #2—in Review! March 23, 2023
  • DESTINY OF X | The Krakoan Empire Divided March 22, 2023
  • “Secret Identity” with Alex Segura | CBH Interviews #107 March 21, 2023
  • 2002 Pt. 3: Daredevil & Elektra March 20, 2023
  • Immoral X-Men #2 and Wolverine vs. Dark Beast! | Comic Book Herald Live! March 17, 2023
  • X-Men: The Animated Series Season 2 Rewatch! March 16, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 5: Nightcrawlers #2—in Review! March 15, 2023
  • My Marvelous Interview: Paul Jenkins on Wolverine Origin, Inhumans, Spectacular Spider-Man, & More! March 13, 2023
  • The Dark Knight Trilogy 15 Years Later: Film & Comic Influences! March 11, 2023
  • Sins of Sinister: Nightcrawlers, X-Men #20, New Mutants: Lethal Legion #1 | Comic Book Herald Live! March 10, 2023
  • 2002 Variant A: Ant-Man & Wasp Quantumania TAKEDOWN! March 6, 2023
  • Steve Orlando’s Marauders #1-5—Annotated! March 4, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 4: Immoral X-Men #1 in Review! March 3, 2023
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 3: Nightcrawlers #1—in Review! March 1, 2023

Popular Articles

DC Rebirth Guide

Batman Reading Order

DC New 52 Reading Order

Marvel Ultimate Universe Guide

Civil War Reading Order

Marvel Cosmic Reading Order

The Best Comics of All Time!

Deadpool Reading Order

Justice League Reading Order

Complete Thanos Reading Order

X-Men Reading Guide (Modern Era)

Age of Apocalypse Reading Order

Modern Marvel Universe in 25 Trades

Best Tablet For Digital Comics

Is Marvel Unlimited Worth It?

Footer

New to Comic Book Herald?

Hey there - my name's Dave and this is my comic book blog. It's my way of sharing my borderline obsessive addiction to the comic book medium, and I hope you like some of what's going on here.

Most people that come here are looking for my (WIP) Marvel reading order guide. You can probably also get a sense if CBH is for you by taking a look at some of my columns.

If you like what you see, let's connect on Facebook or Twitter. Or, leave a comment on the blog here, I'm always looking for new awesome people in the comic book community.

More on Comic Book Herald

  • Home
  • About
  • Support CBH
  • My Marvelous Year
  • Join!
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Recent Posts

  • Fall of X Teasers & Al Ewing’s Sins of Sinister | Comic Book Herald Live!
  • “Sins of Sinister” Part 6: Immoral X-Men #2—in Review!
  • DESTINY OF X | The Krakoan Empire Divided
  • “Secret Identity” with Alex Segura | CBH Interviews #107
  • 2002 Pt. 3: Daredevil & Elektra

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in