# Origin of the Bat Signal **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922 "2010-03-26T19:08:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/1 "2010-03-26T19:08:47Z")
Wikipedia places the introduction of the Bat Signal in Detective Comics #60, February 1942. Is this right? Anybody know anything about this issue? Did Batman introduce it or the Commissioner? Do they give any details about how it’s used? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/2 "2010-03-26T19:15:06Z")
I bet it is in my copy of [Batman: The Complete History](http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Complete-History-Daniels/dp/B000A1ETTC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269630723&sr=1-1#noop)…at home ☹ - although a quick look at the inside pages from that Amazon link does NOT have a listing for the Bat Signal in the index, near as I can tell…hmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/3 "2010-03-26T19:28:32Z")
All the internet wikis give the same response of Detective Comics #60 that you cite. I’m not familiar with it myself. My copy of The Batman Encyclopedia is at home, so I can’t check it now. one thing I found to be fascinating (as you no doubt are aware) is the claim that the 1926 film **The Bat** features several things suspiciously similar to things that would later show up in the Batman strip, including something very much like the Bat Signal. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/4 "2010-03-26T19:29:37Z")
I’ve got the story in a reprint - ‘The Case of the Costume-Clad Killers’. The actual origin isn’t really explored in the story - the commissioner just uses it, but nobody seems to recognize it, so it does seem to be new - though even a couple random bystanders do figure out the cops are calling Batman and Robin. [Here’s a scan of the panels in question.](http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9287/batsignal.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/5 "2010-03-26T19:51:47Z")
Stills from “The Bat”, including the “Bat Signal”-like thing. [http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article32.htm](http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article32.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/6 "2010-03-26T19:54:38Z")
FTR, the reprint is in Batman Archives 2, if you want to find it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/7 "2010-03-26T19:58:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Stills from “The Bat”, including the “Bat Signal”-like thing. > [http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article32.htm](http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article32.htm) Oh, man, that is one horrible, horrible bat-costume… But, frankly, the idea that Kane swiped the idea is far from shocking…the guy was a thief of the highest order. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/8 "2010-03-26T20:00:33Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I’ve got the story in a reprint - ‘The Case of the Costume-Clad Killers’. > > The actual origin isn’t really explored in the story - the commissioner just uses it, but nobody seems to recognize it, so it does seem to be new - though even a couple random bystanders do figure out the cops are calling Batman and Robin. > > [Here’s a scan of the panels in question.](http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9287/batsignal.jpg) Holy unneeded exposition, Batman! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/9 "2010-03-26T20:05:25Z")
Tengu, thanks for the panel scan. That’s exactly what I was looking for. Cal, Bob Kane in _Batman & Me_ mentions that he took the bat costume from _The Bat Whispers_, which turns out to be the 1930 sound remake of _The Bat_. (And from the pulp figure the Bat, who exclaimed “That’s it! I’ll call myself the Bat!” when “the shadow of a trapped bat appeared on the wall.”) I hadn’t known about the bat-shadow in the film, and that’s a great find, but I knew that advertising searchlight devices for throwing words onto buildings and clouds were in use in the 1930s. I guess almost any combination of these could have been the inspiration. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/10 "2010-03-26T20:29:59Z")
What Tengu showed was more of the first appearence of the Bat-Signal, but when you’re talking pre-Crisis DC, “origin” doesn’t mean “Where it first appeared” like it does everywhere else, it means “What is the backstory of the thing/person”. I think that there was a Silver-Age (1960s, or so) “The Origin Of The Bat-Signal” story somewhere (as per “The Origin of Superman’s Costume” (Ma Kent sewed it out of Kryptonian blankets) or “The Origin of Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet” (which I don’t remember)). If you care, I’ll see if I can dig it up. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/11 "2010-03-26T20:32:13Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Oh, man, that is one horrible, horrible bat-costume… > > But, frankly, the idea that Kane swiped the idea is far from shocking…the guy was a thief of the highest order. Have you ever seen the stills from “The Man Who Laughed” (1928)? [For years, Kane said that he got the inspiration for The Joker from a playing card. Until this silent movie was remembered](http://www.nostalgiaholic.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/themanwholaughs.png) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/12 "2010-03-26T20:46:13Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Have you ever seen the stills from “The Man Who Laughed” (1928)? Yep…that was one of the incidents I had in mind when calling Kane a thief. (Also included was his screwing over Finger, but that’s ‘being a SOB’, not ‘borderline plagiarism’. Reading about golden age comics creators can be depressing - and Kane was one of the worst in an industry that was full of SOBs.) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/13 "2010-03-26T20:47:28Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > What Tengu showed was more of the first appearence of the Bat-Signal, but when you’re talking pre-Crisis DC, “origin” doesn’t mean “Where it first appeared” like it does everywhere else, it means “What is the backstory of the thing/person”. Maybe usually, but this time I was really asking first appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/14 "2010-03-26T20:56:32Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Have you ever seen the stills from “The Man Who Laughed” (1928)? > > [For years, Kane said that he got the inspiration for The Joker from a playing card. Until this silent movie was remembered](http://www.nostalgiaholic.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/themanwholaughs.png) I was under the impression that the Joker was created by Jerry Robinson and/or Bill Finger, depending on which one you believe. I don’t have a cite, but I remember reading about their disagreement in an article several years ago, probably in CBG or something. From what I recall, Bob Kane himself credited Finger. I’m also curious as to why Kane is considered such an SOB. If it’s just because he stole ideas, images, and character traits from other media, hell, what comic book artist _doesn’t_ do that? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-bat-signal/533922/15 "2010-03-26T21:11:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Stills from “The Bat”, including the “Bat Signal”-like thing. > [http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article32.htm](http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article32.htm) That’s absolutely fascinating. I’d read of the influence of _The Bat_ on the Batman’s origins, but I had no idea there was a bat-signal prototype in there too. I’d assumed that the idea for the Bat Signal came from the early 1930’s demonstations in New York of Harry Grindell Matthews’ “Sky Projector” which could project images onto buildings and low cloud. [Matthews,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Grindell_Matthews) of course, should be familiar to all Dopers for his work on energy projection weapons in the previous decade. 😉