There is a section in the show bible for Batman: The Animated Series that focuses on two key pieces of Batman geography, Gotham City and the Batcave. It’s understandable why they would focus on the Batcave. Arguably the most famous superhero HQ, the Batcave is part of our culture. I’m pretty sure every “man cave” in America owes it’s existence to Bruce Wayne’s hideaway, while kids have their own Fortress Of Solitude, which is really a Batcave but a bit more remote.
Gotham being listed (first, in fact) may only make sense to Bat-fans. Many writers in the comics have tried to make the City itself feel like a character (or slutty girlfriend if your Frank Miller). It’s only natural that Timm and company, who really wanted to form their own world, would also form their own vision for Gotham City and the Batcave. What was that vision and did anything change as the show went on?
Gotham is a spralwing, industrial, crime-ridden city, rife with political corruption and served by an understaffed police department. Modeled loosely after New York, it has a large central park, museums, universities, opera house, and countless skyscrapers. When in doubt, writers are advised to keep New York in mind…and then exaggerate it.
That’s in keeping with how Gotham was created back in the day and how the best depictions of Gotham in the comics work. It’s like New York gone wrong. The fact that DC actually created a worse place, namely Bludhaven is astounding. That place should have collapsed under it’s own failings. Instead they dropped Chemo on it.
A caste-like system exists in terms of Gotham’s skyscrapers, with the rich and powerful living high above the squalor of the city. In these lower depths can be found Gotham’s notorious Crime Alley, where Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered.
Any depictions of this system beyond the usual class division were subtle, but that’s partly what a show bible does; it keeps minor details in the minds of the writers, leading to less confusion for the viewers when continuity errors pop up. With so many writers they’re bound to happen. The bible keeps them to a minimum and keeps the world consistent, just allowing us to further be drawn into the world without being drawn out.
With the active shipping port in Gotham Harbor, the city’s wharfs (my spell check claims it should be wharves but Merriam-Webster claims either is right) promise safe exit and entry to a steady stream of international criminals seeking sanctuary. Whereas New York Harbor welcomes visitors with the Statue Of Liberty, Gotham’s welcoming structure is the rocky island housing Stonegate Penitentiary.
Actually, there is a stand-in for the Statue Of Liberty in Gotham City. The Statue Of Justice did pop up in the show and in Mystery Of The Batwoman. While the wiki claims it first showed up in Batman Forever, the first Joel Schumacher film that came out well after this bible, it actually appeared (if not named) in early Detective Comics or Batman stories. At least I’m pretty sure it was.
Despite this ominous visual warning, corrupt city bosses have turned certain districts into gangland strongholds and a constant war is being waged for control of the Gotham’s gambling business. On the outskirts of town can be found Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, where such dangerous criminals as the Joker and Two-Face reside.
I’m surprised Arkham doesn’t have it’s own entry in the bible, considering it’s a setpiece on it’s own and a rather important one. Plus I wanted to make fun of how terrible it is as a sanitarium. Who would be calm in Dracula’s boarding house? The last paragraph states that most stories will take place in Gotham with the occasional “glove-trotting” (I don’t know if that was a typo or a pun on their part–a rather bad pun if it was) adventure. Then there are sample images of Gotham that I won’t show here. They look like photocopies (which they might have been) and they certainly don’t do justice to the beautiful backgrounds of the series.
The next part of this section focuses on the Batcave. While I think the Burton film and this series have created a modern idea of the Batcave, there have been many depictions since it debuted as a cave with a desk in the first Batman serial. There are some uniform ideas, however. The “garage” for his vehicles, the lab and computer, and the artifacts of his various cases–a sort of treasure house of victories and (in the case of Jason Todd, who was never acknowledge in any TV show I’ve seen) the occasional failure. What did the showrunners want to do with it?
Resting below Wayne Manor, via elevator or gigantic, winding staircase, the Bat Cave is comprised of several enormous caverns beneath the 150-acre Wayne estate. Smaller caves connect the caverns and provide several disguised “exit caves” at various ends of the Wayne estate. This network of caves extends to the edge of Gotham City and Batman has constructed a contuit that allows him to travel into the catacomb-like sewers of Gotham City. An underground river that empties into Gotham Harbor allows quick access to the ocean via the sleek Bat Boat.
I don’t recall seeing this cave network, at least for vehicles. There have been stories in both the show and tie-in comic that had different areas of the cave that were unused but I love the idea of a network allowing Batman and Robin to sneak out and keep their base secret. It also finally explains where the Bat Boat is stored.
The Bat Cave houses a chemical/forensics laboratory, mechanical garage, engineering area, trophy room, and a sophisticated video surveillance system where the Batman can watch not only Wayne Manor, but the streets of Gotham. This allows him to often catch crimes in progress, and with the speed of Batman, nab the crooks before they finish.
Wait, Batman put cameras all over the city before England did? I don’t recall evidence of that, which is why they were always on patrol. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with even Bat security cameras all over the place. Being able to hack into other security video records I’m oddly fine with.
But that’s enough of the tour. Next week we begin with the villains. I don’t know how many villains I’ll look at per installment but we’ll start getting to them next week.
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