Batman

In the last week he has been analyzed by prominent psychiatrists, declared liable for the most pervasive syndrome since post-traumatic stress was found in returning Vietnam vets and has surprised a nation by earning $42 million in less than 72 hours. The diagnosis of Harvey Greenberg, professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, is that "it's reasonably clear that this poor bugger is reliving the catastrophic death of his parents. " That "poor bugger," for those two or three of you who have failed to guess the identity of our mystery guest, is Batman.

The Caped Crusader is a hit in the movie theaters - and on the streets of the city. All around town, people are spreading their wings and showing the spirit in clothing and accessories.

CBS Television has paid upward of $20 million for the television broadcast rights to Warner Bros.' megahit "Batman," sources said yesterday. Insiders said the blockbuster film could begin the first of several televised showings as early as May 1991. One source said the $20 million price tag comes with an escalator clause which could hike the price to about $30 million. CBS was not immediately avaiable for comment. To date, "Batman" has grossed $251 million in theatrical revenues and is the fastest selling videocassette in the country.

With Batman Begins, it looks as if the future of the Caped Crusader is in good hands. Director Christopher Nolan's first foray into the legend of the Dark Knight lends some grit to the franchise, which had become an over-the-top and downright cartoony take on Bob Kane's character. This turning point in Batman's theatrical portfolio (a sequel is planned for 2008) is only one of the many reasons to grab the DVD, which is full of great extras. "You couldn't pull it off properly unless you become a beast when you were inside of that suit," Christian Bale says in the special features.

Criminals are a "superstitious, cowardly lot," according to millionaire Bruce Wayne in Detective Comics #27, published in 1939. That's why he chose the bat as his costumed symbol. But in "The Dark Knight," things are more complicated in 21st century Gotham City, and director Christopher Nolan fine-tunes the character he created in 2005's "Batman Begins. " Gone is the childhood trauma of seeing his parents Thomas and Martha Wayne gunned down in cold blood. "The origin story is a very heavy story, but it very much binds you to the past," Nolan said.

That Batman is incredible. In two-plus hours of lavish Hollywood fantasy, the Caped Crusader takes care of what ails Gotham City, blurs the distinction between good and evil, and gets the girl besides. Now Batman - or, more accurately, Batman, the film that has grossed more than $200 million - is credited for reviving Prince's career as well. Faster than you can say "comeback," Prince, the funk visionary whose popularity had waned in recent years - has been vindicated by the marketplace, his status as pop idol restored.

Just as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom prompted Hollywood to come up with a new rating (PG-13) aimed at discouraging young patrons, Batman has sparked a change in the rating system in the land where it was made. British censors announced yesterday that the Board of Film Classification had employed a new rating category to inform parents that Batman was unsuitable for children under 12. Film board director James Ferman, who screened the film, said, "Some of it was very dark, unlike the television series or the comics I read as a boy. Jack Nicholson as the Joker is increasingly sadistic, and at one point he scars Jerry Hall's face with acid, which he thinks is a joke.

Batman, a superhero created by Bob Kane in 1939 and spoofed as the Caped Crusader in the 1964-66 television show, is about to become a 1989 movie star with the scheduled release of a new Batman movie on June 23. Although the movie was shot in London and the story is set in fictional Gotham City, area comic-book store owner Frank Link said Delaware County comic fans have been caught up in Batman fever for months. In fact, he said, comics featuring Batman have been selling at his three stores at more than 1,000 a month.

Batman is a father. Indeed, the Dark Knight gets one of the shocks of his life at the end of "Batman" No. 656, when he comes face to face with his son, whose first words to him are, "Father. I imagined you taller. " While this revelation comes as a surprise to Bruce Wayne and numerous Bat-fans, writer Grant Morrison is simply following up on a nearly two-decades old story that has inexplicably been ignored until now. Reprinted to coincide with the current story arc, "Batman: Son of the Demon" was released in 1987 and had Batman join forces with arch-enemy Ra's Al Ghul and his daughter Talia to stop a madman.

Ghosts and goblins are passe: This Halloween belongs to Batman. Delaware County retailers say they are cashing in on the popularity of the Caped Crusader, who earned millions at the box office for Warner Bros. Batman costumes, they say, are selling like the proverbial hot cake. "There's going to be thousands of Batmans on the street Halloween night," said Kim Eck, a saleswoman at the Halloween Adventure shop in the Marple/ Springfield Shopping Center in Springfield Township.

Mother Mary and bed linens have a long and storied history. You may recall that a few years ago, she refused to use the sheets that Brother Frank bought her, because there were bats printed on the fitted sheet and a life-size Batman on the flat sheet. Mother Mary couldn't picture Batman lying on top of her. Neither can I. Visualize among yourselves. Frank had gotten the sheets because they were on sale, which gives you an idea of how the Flying Scottolines roll.

DALLAS - The bulk of a man's childhood comic-book collection, including many of the most prized issues ever published, sold at auction Wednesday for about $3.5 million. A copy of Detective Comics No. 27, which sold for 10 cents in 1939 and features the debut of Batman, got the top bid at the New York City auction. It sold for about $523,000 with a buyer's premium, said Lon Allen, managing director of comics for Heritage Auctions, the Dallas-based auction house overseeing the sale.

Sitting in a tall wooden chair with his feet hanging a foot above the floor, 4-year-old Sameen Abdul-Haqq proudly held up his Batman painting - a blend of black and blue lines on white paper - and fielded questions from his preschool classmates at the John S. and James L. Knight Early Learning Research Academy. Sameen answered all queries the same: "Batman. " The lesson was meant to get children comfortable presenting thoughts to their peers, their teacher later explained.

Comic book industry pioneer Jerry Robinson, 89, who helped create Batman sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder and their arch-nemesis, The Joker, died Wednesday at a hospice in New York where he lived. He was a native of Trenton, N.J. Mr. Robinson was different from most artists in the field because he worked on every kind of comic genre, from political cartoons to theater illustrations, said Charles Kochman, his editor at Abrams Comic Arts. He used his fame and position to help artists win credit for their work.

"OUR DEFENSE was trying to stop their huge running backs and their wide receivers by hugging them," snarled Dave Romanofski, 40, a South Philly radiologist, celebrating his 20th year of tailgating with his 15-diehard group at the Eagles' home opener yesterday. "HUGGING THEM!" he said. "Dream team, my ass. " Broad Street Birdy, aching for an Eagles-green parade down the main drag, watched the Birds snatch defeat from the beak of victory against the New York Giants yesterday on friendly tailgaters' TVs, and had to agree.

FRANK TALENT sat silently in a wheelchair, in a pleasant apartment in the Northeast that had been rented for him to die in. I saw him a week ago and he was supposed to have a few weeks or months left. The cheerful dynamo who had for decades joyfully played Batman - in full costume at countless children's parties (for free) - was in and out of consciousness. Seeing the effervescent quipster pale and drained was hard, but worse was his silence. As doctors lost their battle with his brain cancer, as the tumor grew, it rendered him speechless.

PITTSBURGH - Steeler Nation went "rogue" Saturday inside Heinz Field as thousands of extras played the fans of a fictional team in a scene from a new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises . In the fictional game, the Gotham Rogues played the Rapid City Monuments, and after a morning of filming several takes of a kickoff scene, the mayhem started. Fans who spent hours donning coats and cheering, then waiting while scenes were set, got a chance to play a panicked crowd as an attack on the field took place.

Last week, Mayor Nutter sputtered in attempting to sway even nine former friends on City Council to see the schools crisis his way. He craved a soda tax to plug a budget hole and, critics allege, polish his national reputation. Council members balked, grudgingly hiking property taxes (again), but raising far less than the mayor sought. Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Republican Gov. Christie's strategic romance with Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney is wowing the overtaxed masses. Together, the ambitious odd couple raised each other's profiles even higher after persuading some otherwise pro-labor Democrats to impose stiff pension and health-care reform upon furious state unions.

TWO YEARS AGO it looked as if Wizard World Philly was a goner. All the regional Wizard shows - including ours - were in danger of cancellation. Then earlier this year, Wizard's print magazine - comics' most prestigious mag for two decades and from which the conventions sprang - was another victim of online publishing and went kaput. Fans wondered whether the conventions were down for the count, but, like Rocky Balboa, they have come back stronger. "Things are going extremely well for us in a lot of different areas," Wizard Entertainment President Gareb Shamus said.