One of Batman’s most intense and colorful sagas in modern years may have David Lynch to thank for its creation. In an old interview with MTV, writer Grant Morrison credits Lynch as one of the biggest influences to their work in Batman and Robin.
Grant Morrison’s “Bat-Epic” largely refers to the work they did featuring Batman over the course of seven years. Beginning with Batman, Morrison wrote a story that incorporated decades worth of material from Bruce Wayne’s earliest stories to some of his most outlandish adventures in the Silver Age. One crucial chapter of the “Bat-Epic” took place shortly after Batman’s death in Final Crisis, which was followed up on in Batman and Robin. Following Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin, the story featured the two stepping into the role as Gotham’s lead protectors as the city becomes inundated with some of its most outrageous villains ever.
As it turns out, the bizarre chapter of the “Bat-Epic” was influenced by a couple of interesting sources. In an old interview with MTV, Morrison discussed the tone for the then-new development for the Dark Knight with Batman and Robin. When asked about the niche they see the comic fitting in the overall Batman mythos, Morrison responded saying “When I first described it, I said it was David Lynch directing the ’60s television show with Adam West. That was kind of my goal for it, to give it a pop-art feel.” Morrison also acknowledged that they liked the darker aspects of Batman but searched for “a way to combine that kind of creepy fairytale quality of some of the Batman villains and the Gotham setting.“
Truly, no villain captures a “creepy fairytale quality” more than the first antagonist introduced in Batman and Robin, Professor Pyg. And true to their word, the “Batman Reborn” arc feels exactly like a nightmarish episode of the the 1966 Batman show if David Lynch were at the helm. Speaking in bizarre metaphors dripping with symbolism, Pyg projects a frighteningly uncomfortable presence that one would expect to find in the Black Lodge of Twin Peaks. Like Lynch, Morrison’s ability to craft villains so taboo in nature could only come from a willingness to veer into an experimental direction.
David Lynch’s works have been lauded for their surreal nature and often unsettling atmospheres. From Blue Velvet, to the eerie world of Twin Peaks, the director constructs beautiful worlds filled with antagonists that perturb on a spiritual or psychological level. Morrison’s vision for Batman and Robin was a world full of color and whimsy mixed with some of the most deranged terrors the Dark Knight had ever encountered. Villains like Professor Pyg, Flamingo and Dr. Hurt gave the comfortable world of comic books a new level of disturbing with their introduction. Grant Morrison set out to achieve a mixture of Batman and David Lynch with their work on Batman and Robin, and looking back, it’s no doubt that they succeeded.
Source: MTV
