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Brochure published in 1966 to help buyers identify the changes to the Volkswagen over the past two decades. Of course, the real purpose was to show customers all the improvements that make buying a brand new one the best idea.
There are three parts, and the years are not in order.
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Character Creation
Batman[b] is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book Detective Comics on March 30, 1939.
In the DC Universe, Batman is the alias of Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, and industrialist who resides in the fictional Gotham City. His origin story features him swearing vengeance against criminals after witnessing the murder of his parents, Thomas and Martha, as a child, a vendetta tempered by the ideal of justice. He trains himself physically and intellectually, crafts a bat-inspired persona, and monitors the Gotham streets at night. Kane, Finger, and other creators accompanied Batman with supporting characters, including his sidekicks Robin and Batgirl; allies Alfred Pennyworth and James Gordon; love interest and occasional adversary Catwoman; as well as foes such as the Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, and his archenemy, the Joker, among others.
Kane conceived Batman in early 1939 to capitalize on the popularity of Superman. Along with Kane, Finger substantially developed the concept from a generic superhero into something more bat-like. They drew inspiration from pulp fiction characters like the Shadow, Sherlock Holmes, & The Green Hornet. Batman received a spin-off publication, Batman, in 1940.
Kane and Finger introduced Batman as a ruthless vigilante who frequently killed or maimed criminals, but he evolved into a just, tempered superhero with a stringent moral code that prohibits killing during the 1940s. Unlike most superheroes, Batman does not possess any superpowers, instead relying on his intellect, fighting skills, and wealth.
The 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic, which continued to be associated with Batman for years after it ended. Various creators worked to return Batman to his darker roots in the 1970s and 1980s, culminating with the 1986 miniseries The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.
DC has featured Batman in many comic books, including comics published under its imprints such as Vertigo and Black Label; he has been considered DC's flagship character since the 1990s. The longest-running Batman comic, Detective Comics, is the longest-running comic book in the United States. Batman is frequently depicted alongside other DC superheroes, such as Superman and Wonder Woman, as a member of organizations such as the Justice League and the Outsiders.
In addition to Bruce Wayne, other characters used the Batman persona, such as Jean-Paul Valley / Azrael in the 1993–1994 "Knightfall" story arc; Dick Grayson, the first Robin, from 2009 to 2011; and Jace Fox, the son of Wayne's ally Lucius, since 2021. DC has also published comics featuring alternate versions of Batman, including the incarnation seen in The Dark Knight Returns and its successors, the incarnation from the Flashpoint (2011) event, and numerous interpretations in comics published under the Elseworlds label.
Batman is one of the most iconic characters in popular culture and has been listed among the greatest comic book superheroes and characters ever created. He is one of the most commercially successful superheroes, and his likeness has been licensed and featured in various media and merchandise sold around the world; this includes toy lines such as Lego Batman and video games such as the Batman: Arkham series.
Batman has been adapted in many live-action and animated television series and films. Adam West portrayed him in the 1960s Batman television series, and he has been portrayed in film by Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, and Robert Pattinson. Many actors, most prolifically Kevin Conroy, have provided Batman's voice in animation and video games. In September 2024, Batman was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, being the first superhero to receive the honor.
Publication History
Creation and early history
In early 1939, following the success of Superman, DC Comics' editors requested more superheroes.[7] Bob Kane created Batman, initially drawing a character with red tights, bat wings, and a domino mask. Bill Finger, a collaborator, made significant contributions by suggesting a cowl, cape, gloves, and a darker costume.[8] The character's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, was inspired by historical figures Robert the Bruce and Mad Anthony Wayne.[9] Batman's early adventures drew inspiration from contemporary pulp fiction and characters like Zorro and the Shadow, establishing Batman as a master detective with a dark, brooding persona driven by the murder of his parents.[10][11]
Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages
Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27 in 1939. Early stories were dark, featuring a Batman who did not shy away from killing. The character quickly became popular, leading to his own solo title in 1940. Robin, Batman's sidekick, was introduced in 1940, lightening the tone and boosting sales. Over the next few years, Batman's rogues' gallery expanded with iconic villains like the Joker and Catwoman.
The 1950s saw Batman in lighter, science fiction-influenced stories. However, declining sales led to a 1964 revamp by editor Julius Schwartz, who returned Batman to his detective roots and updated his appearance. The 1966 Batman TV series introduced a campy, humorous tone, which was reflected in the comics until its cancellation in 1968. In the 1970s, writers Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams restored Batman's dark, gritty nature, a trend that continued despite fluctuating sales.
Modern Age and reboots
In the Modern Age of Comic Books Batman comics have undergone significant transformations, reflecting changing storytelling trends and audience interests. Beginning with seminal works like The Dark Knight Returns in the 1980s, which reintroduced Batman in a grittier, more mature context, the character's narrative evolved to explore deeper themes and darker tones. This period also saw the exploration of Batman's origins and psyche through works like Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Killing Joke, which delved into the complexities of heroism and villainy.
In the 1990s, storylines such as "Knightfall" introduced new adversaries like Bane, who physically and mentally challenged Batman, leading to a temporary replacement by Jean-Paul Valley. The aftermath of an earthquake in "No Man's Land" depicted Gotham City in chaos, further pushing Batman to new limits of heroism and survival.
Entering the 21st century, Grant Morrison's influential run introduced Damian Wayne as Batman's son and heir, bringing familial dynamics and a new generation of challenges to the forefront. Morrison's storytelling also delved into surreal and existential themes, such as in Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis, which tested Batman's resolve and sanity against cosmic threats and personal demons.
The New 52 reboot in 2011 refreshed Batman's continuity while preserving core elements of his character. This era introduced modern interpretations of classic storylines, like Night of the Owls, where Batman confronts the Court of Owls, a clandestine society controlling Gotham for centuries. The chilling return of the Joker in "Death of the Family" explored the intricate relationships within Batman's extended family of allies and adversaries. More recent developments under DC Rebirth and Infinite Frontier have continued to evolve Batman's universe, exploring new characters like Gotham and Gotham Girl, and tackling contemporary issues within the context of Gotham City's ever-evolving landscape of crime and heroism.
Bruce Wayne
Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American industrialist. As a child, Bruce witnessed the murder of his parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne, which ultimately led him to craft the Batman persona and seek justice against criminals. He resides on the outskirts of Gotham City in his personal residence, Wayne Manor.
Wayne averts suspicion by acting the part of a superficial playboy idly living off his family's fortune and the profits of Wayne Enterprises, his inherited conglomerate. He supports philanthropic causes through his nonprofit Wayne Foundation, which in part addresses social issues encouraging crime as well as assisting victims of it, but is more widely known as a celebrity socialite.
In public, he frequently appears in the company of high-status women, which encourages tabloid gossip while feigning near-drunkenness with consuming large quantities of disguised ginger ale since Wayne is actually a strict teetotaler to maintain his physical and mental prowess. Although Bruce Wayne leads an active romantic life, his vigilante activities as Batman account for most of his time. While Bruce Wayne is never depicted as being especially religious, he is ethnically Jewish on his mother's side; his maternal cousin Batwoman (Kate Kane) is practising. His father, Thomas, raised Bruce as a Christian.
Various modern stories have portrayed the extravagant, playboy image of Bruce Wayne as a facade. In Batman Unmasked, a television documentary about the psychology of the character, behavioral scientist Benjamin Karney notes that Batman's personality is driven by Bruce Wayne's inherent humanity; that "Batman, for all its benefits and for all of the time Bruce Wayne devotes to it, is ultimately a tool for Bruce Wayne's efforts to make the world better". Bruce Wayne's principles include the desire to prevent future harm and a vow not to kill. Bruce Wayne believes that our actions define us, we fail for a reason, and anything is possible.
Writers of Batman and Superman stories have often compared and contrasted the two. Interpretations vary depending on the writer, the story, and the timing. Grant Morrison notes that both heroes "believe in the same kind of things" despite the day/night contrast their heroic roles display. Morrison notes an equally stark contrast in their real identities. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent belong to different social classes: "Bruce has a butler, Clark has a boss." T. James Musler's book Unleashing the Superhero in Us All explores the extent to which Bruce Wayne's vast personal wealth is important in his life story, and the crucial role it plays in his efforts as Batman.
Will Brooker notes in his book Batman Unmasked that "the confirmation of the Batman's identity lies with the young audience ...he doesn't have to be Bruce Wayne; he just needs the suit and gadgets, the abilities, and most importantly the morality, the humanity."
Personality
Batman's primary character traits can be summarized as "wealth; physical prowess; deductive abilities and obsession". The details and tone of Batman comic books have varied over the years with different creative teams. Dennis O'Neil noted that character consistency was not a major concern during early editorial regimes: "Julie Schwartz did a Batman in Batman and Detective and Murray Boltinoff did a Batman in the Brave and the Bold and apart from the costume they bore very little resemblance to each other. Julie and Murray did not want to coordinate their efforts, nor were they asked to do so. Continuity was not important in those days."
The driving force behind Bruce Wayne's character is his parents' murder and their absence. Bob Kane and Bill Finger discussed Batman's background and decided that "there's nothing more traumatic than having your parents murdered before your eyes". Despite his trauma, he sets his mind on studying to become a scientist and to train his body into physical perfection to fight crime in Gotham City as Batman, an inspired idea from Wayne's insight into the criminal mind. He also speaks over 40 languages.
Another of Batman's characterizations is that of a vigilante; in order to stop evil that started with the death of his parents, he must sometimes break the law himself. Although manifested differently by being re-told by different artists, it is nevertheless that the details and the prime components of Batman's origin have never varied at all in the comic books, the "reiteration of the basic origin events holds together otherwise divergent expressions".
The origin is the source of the character's traits and attributes, which play out in many of the character's adventures.
Batman is often treated as a vigilante by other characters in his stories. Frank Miller views the character as "a dionysian figure, a force for anarchy that imposes an individual order". Dressed as a bat, Batman deliberately cultivates a frightening persona in order to aid him in crime-fighting, a fear that originates from the criminals' own guilty conscience.
Miller is often credited with reintroducing anti-heroic traits into Batman's characterization, such as his brooding personality, willingness to use violence and torture, and increasingly alienated behavior. Batman, shortly a year after his debut and the introduction of Robin, was changed in 1940 after DC editor Whitney Ellsworth felt the character would be tainted by his lethal methods and DC established their own ethical code, subsequently he was retconned to have a stringent moral code, which has stayed with the character of Batman ever since. Miller's Batman was closer to the original pre-Robin version, who was willing to kill criminals if necessary.
Others as Batman
On several occasions former Robin Dick Grayson has served as Batman; most notably in 2009 while Wayne was believed dead, and served as a second Batman even after Wayne returned in 2010. As part of DC's 2011 continuity relaunch, Grayson returned to being Nightwing following the Flashpoint crossover event.
In an interview with IGN, Morrison detailed that having Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin represented a "reverse" of the normal dynamic between Batman and Robin, with, "a more light-hearted and spontaneous Batman and a scowling, badass Robin". Morrison explained their intentions for the new characterization of Batman: "Dick Grayson is kind of this consummate superhero.
The guy has been Batman's partner since he was a kid, he's led the Teen Titans, and he's trained with everybody in the DC Universe. So he's a very different kind of Batman. He's a lot easier; He's a lot looser and more relaxed."
Over the years, there have been numerous others to assume the name of Batman, or to officially take over for Bruce during his leaves of absence. Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael, assumed the cowl after the events of the Knightfall saga. Jim Gordon donned a mecha-suit after the events of Batman: Endgame, and served as Batman in 2015 and 2016. In 2021, as part of the Fear State crossover event, Lucius Fox's son Jace Fox succeeds Bruce as Batman in a 2021 storyline, depicted in the series I Am Batman, after Batman was declared dead.
Additionally, members of the group Batman Incorporated, Bruce Wayne's experiment at franchising his brand of vigilantism, have at times stood in as the official Batman in cities around the world. Various others have also taken up the role of Batman in stories set in alternative universes and possible futures, including, among them, various former proteges of Bruce Wayne.
Enemies
Batman faces a variety of foes ranging from common criminals to outlandish supervillains. Many of them mirror aspects of the Batman's character and development, often having tragic origin stories that lead them to a life of crime. These foes are commonly referred to as Batman's rogues gallery. Batman's "most implacable foe" is the Joker, a homicidal maniac with a clown-like appearance. The Joker is considered by critics to be his perfect adversary, since he is the antithesis of Batman in personality and appearance; the Joker has a maniacal demeanor with a colorful appearance, while Batman has a serious and resolute demeanor with a dark appearance. As a "personification of the irrational", the Joker represents "everything Batman opposes".
Other long-time recurring foes that are part of Batman's rogues gallery include Catwoman (a cat burglar anti-heroine who is variously an ally and romantic interest), the Penguin, Ra's al Ghul, Two-Face (Harvey Dent), the Riddler, the Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Bane, Clayface, and Killer Croc, among others. Many of Batman's adversaries are often psychiatric patients at Arkham Asylum.
Allies
Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's loyal butler and father figure, first appeared in Batman #16 (1943). After Bruce Wayne's parents were killed, Alfred raised Bruce and became one of the few people to know his secret identity. He is often portrayed as a steadying presence in Bruce's life, offering both emotional support and practical assistance in Batman's crime-fighting endeavors. More than just a caretaker, Alfred is a trusted ally and sometimes sidekick, sharing Wayne Manor with Bruce and contributing to Batman's mission.
One of Batman's most crucial allies is Commissioner James Gordon. Their relationship is built on mutual respect and a shared commitment to justice in Gotham City. In Batman: Year One, Gordon and Batman learn to trust each other, which transforms their efforts against crime into a more effective partnership. Gordon's perspective as a police officer complements Batman's vigilantism, allowing them to tackle Gotham's challenges together. Another important ally is the Justice League, which further emphasizes the importance of collaboration. Batman's relationship with Superman showcases how their contrasting ideologies can complement each other. In stories like World's Finest, their friendship highlights how Batman's methods benefit from Superman's optimism and strength.
Sidekicks
Robin, Batman's vigilante partner, has been a widely recognized supporting character for many years; each iteration of the Robin character, of which there have been five in the mainstream continuity, function as members of the Batman family, but additionally, as Batman's "central" sidekick in various media.
Bill Finger stated that he wanted to include Robin because "Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking." The first Robin, Dick Grayson, was introduced in 1940. In the 1970s he finally grew up, went off to college and became the hero Nightwing. A second Robin, Jason Todd was introduced in the 1980s, following Dick Grayson's departure from the role. Initially impulsive and rebellious, Jason's tenure as Robin was controversial among fans. In 1988, DC held a fan vote to determine his fate in the iconic A Death in the Family storyline, where the Joker brutally beat Jason with a crowbar and left him to die in an explosion. The fans voted for his death. However, Jason was later resurrected and returned as the antihero Red Hood.
The third Robin in the mainstream comics is Tim Drake, who first appeared in 1989. He went on to star in his own comic series, and goes by the name Red Robin, a variation on the traditional Robin persona. In the first decade of the new millennium, Stephanie Brown served as the fourth in-universe Robin between stints as her self-made vigilante identity the Spoiler, and later as Batgirl.
After Brown's apparent death, Drake resumed the role of Robin for a time. The role eventually passed to Damian Wayne, the 10-year-old son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, in the late 2000s.[58] Damian's tenure as du jour Robin ended when the character was killed off in the pages of Batman Incorporated in 2013.
Batman's next young sidekick is Harper Row, a streetwise young woman who avoids the name Robin but followed the ornithological theme nonetheless; she debuted the codename and identity of the Bluebird in 2014. Unlike the Robins, the Bluebird is willing and permitted to use a gun, albeit non-lethal; her weapon of choice is a modified rifle that fires taser rounds. In 2015, a new series began titled We Are...Robin, focused on a group of teenagers using the Robin persona to fight crime in Gotham City. The most prominent of these, Duke Thomas, later becomes Batman's crimefighting partner as The Signal.
Romantic interests
Batman's romantic history spans decades, filled with relationships that reflect his struggle between personal happiness and his duty as Gotham's protector. His first love interest was Julie Madison, introduced in Detective Comics #31 (1939). Though engaged to Bruce Wayne, she left due to his distant and playboy persona, highlighting the conflict between Bruce's dual life and his desire for a normal relationship.
Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman, is perhaps the most notable figure in Batman's romantic history. Debuting in Batman #1 (1940), their relationship is characterized by a blend of romance and rivalry. Over the years, they have shared intense connections, often navigating the fine line between love and conflict. Their relationship culminated in an engagement during the DC Rebirth.
Another important figure is Vicki Vale, a journalist introduced in Batman #49 (1948). Vicki's attempts to uncover Batman's true identity lead to a complicated romantic involvement that waxed and waned over the years, especially during the early 1980s when their relationship became more serious.
Talia al Ghul, introduced in Detective Comics #411 (1971), is another key player in Batman's love life. Their relationship is fraught with conflict due to her father, Ra's al Ghul, and his criminal ambitions. Despite the challenges, their love story resulted in the birth of Damian Wayne, who would grow to become the latest Robin and add a new layer of complexity to Batman's character.
Additionally, Batman's relationship with Wonder Woman has been explored in various storylines, including a passionate kiss in JLA (2003) during a moment of crisis. However, their relationship remains largely unexplored, often overshadowed by their respective commitments.
Abilities
Skills and training
Batman has no inherent superhuman powers; he relies on "his own scientific knowledge, detective skills, and athletic prowess". Batman's inexhaustible wealth gives him access to advanced technologies, and as a proficient scientist, he is able to use and modify these technologies to his advantage.
In the stories, Batman is regarded as one of the world's greatest detectives, if not the world's greatest crime solver. Batman has been repeatedly described as having a genius-level intellect, being one of the greatest martial artists in the DC Universe, and having peak human physical and mental conditioning. As a polymath, his knowledge and expertise in countless disciplines is nearly unparalleled by any other character in the DC Universe. He has shown prowess in assorted fields such as mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, and several levels of engineering. He has traveled the world acquiring the skills needed to aid him in his endeavors as Batman. In the Superman: Doomed story arc, Superman considers Batman to be one of the most brilliant minds on the planet.
Batman has trained extensively in various fighting styles, making him one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the DC Universe. He possesses a photographic memory, and has fully utilized his photographic memory to master a total of 127 forms of martial arts. In terms of his physical condition, Batman is described as peak human and far beyond an Olympic-athlete-level condition, able to perform feats such as easily running across rooftops in a Parkour-esque fashion, pressing thousands of pounds regularly, and even bench pressing six hundred pounds of soil and coffin in a poisoned and starved state.
Superman describes Batman as "the most dangerous man on Earth", able to defeat an entire team of superpowered extraterrestrials by himself in order to rescue his imprisoned teammates in Grant Morrison's first storyline in JLA.
Batman is strongly disciplined, and he has the ability to function under great physical pain and resist most forms of telepathy and mind control. He is a master of disguise, multilingual, and an expert in espionage, often gathering information under the identity of a notorious gangster named Matches Malone. Batman is highly skilled in stealth movement and escapology, which allows him to appear and disappear at will and to break free of nearly inescapable deathtraps with little to no harm. He is also a master strategist, considered DC's greatest tactician, with numerous plans in preparation for almost any eventuality.
Batman is an expert in interrogation techniques and his intimidating and frightening appearance alone is often all that is needed in getting information from suspects. Despite having the potential to harm his enemies, Batman's most defining characteristic is his strong commitment to justice and his reluctance to take a life. This unyielding moral rectitude has earned him the respect of several heroes in the DC Universe, most notably that of Superman and Wonder Woman.
Among physical and other crime fighting related training, he is also proficient at other types of skills. Some of these include being a licensed pilot (in order to operate the Batplane), as well as being able to operate other types of machinery. In some publications, he even underwent some magician training.
Technology
Batman utilizes a vast arsenal of specialized, high-tech vehicles and gadgets in his war against crime, the designs of which usually share a bat motif. Batman historian Les Daniels credits Gardner Fox with creating the concept of Batman's arsenal with the introduction of the utility belt in Detective Comics #29 (July 1939) and the first bat-themed weapons the batarang and the "Batgyro" in Detective Comics #31 and 32 (Sept. and October 1939).
Personal armor - Batsuit
Batman's batsuit aids in his combat against enemies, having the properties of both Kevlar and Nomex. It protects him from gunfire and other significant impacts, and incorporates the imagery of a bat in order to frighten criminals.
The details of the Batman costume change repeatedly through various decades, stories, media and artists' interpretations, but the most distinctive elements remain consistent: a scallop-hem cape; a cowl covering most of the face; a pair of bat-like ears; a stylized bat emblem on the chest; and the ever-present utility belt. His gloves typically feature three scallops that protrude from long, gauntlet-like cuffs, although in his earliest appearances he wore short, plain gloves without the scallops. The overall look of the character, particularly the length of the cowl's ears and of the cape, varies greatly depending on the artist. Dennis O'Neil said, "We now say that Batman has two hundred suits hanging in the Batcave so they don't have to look the same ...Everybody loves to draw Batman, and everybody wants to put their own spin on it."
Finger and Kane originally conceptualized Batman as having a black cape and cowl and grey suit, but conventions in coloring called for black to be highlighted with blue. Hence, the costume's colors have appeared in the comics as dark blue and grey; as well as black and grey. In the Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns films, Batman has been depicted as completely black with a bat in the middle surrounded by a yellow background. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy depicted Batman wearing high-tech gear painted completely black with a black bat in the middle. Ben Affleck's Batman in the DC Extended Universe films wears a suit grey in color with a black cowl, cape, and bat symbol. Seemingly following the suit of the DC Extended Universe outfit, Robert Pattinson's uniform in The Batman restores the more traditional gray bodysuit and black appendage design, notably different from prior iterations by mostly utilizing real world armor and apparel pieces from modern military and motorcycle gear.
Batmobile
The 1966 television Batmobile, built by George Barris from a Lincoln Futura concept car
Batman's primary vehicle is the Batmobile, which is usually depicted as an imposing black car, often with tailfins that suggest a bat's wings.
Batman also has an aircraft called the Batplane (originally a relatively traditionally, but bat-motifed plane, later seen as the much more unique "Batwing" starting in the 1989 film), along with various other means of transportation.
In proper practice, the "bat" prefix (as in Batmobile or batarang) is rarely used by Batman himself when referring to his equipment, particularly after some portrayals (primarily the 1960s Batman live-action television show and the Super Friends animated series) stretched the practice to campy proportions. For example, the 1960s television show depicted a Batboat, Bat-Sub, and Batcycle, among other bat-themed vehicles. The 1960s television series Batman has an arsenal that includes such "bat-" names as the Bat-computer, Bat-scanner, bat-radar, bat-cuffs, bat-pontoons, bat-drinking water dispenser, bat-camera with polarized bat-filter, bat-shark repellent bat-spray, and Bat-rope. The storyline "A Death in the Family" suggests that given Batman's grim nature, he is unlikely to have adopted the "bat" prefix on his own. In The Dark Knight Returns, Batman tells Carrie Kelley that the original Robin came up with the name "Batmobile" when he was young, since that is what a kid would call Batman's vehicle.
The Batmobile, which was before frequently depicted to resemble a sports car, was redesigned in 2011 when DC Comics relaunched its entire line of comic books, with the Batmobile being given heavier armor and new aesthetics.
Utility belt
Batman keeps most of his field equipment in his utility belt. Over the years it has shown to contain an assortment of crime-fighting tools, weapons, and investigative and technological instruments. Different versions of the belt have these items stored in compartments, often as pouches or hard cylinders attached evenly around it.
Since the 1989 film, Batman is often depicted as carrying a projectile which shoots a retractable grappling hook attached to a cable (before this, a he employed a traditionally thrown grappling hook.) This allows him to attach to distant objects, be propelled into the air, and thus swing from the rooftops of Gotham City.
An exception to the range of Batman's equipment are hand guns, which he refuses to use on principle, since a gun was used in his parents' murder. In modern stories in terms of his vehicles, Batman compromises on that principle to install weapon systems on them for the purpose of non-lethally disabling other vehicles, forcing entry into locations and attacking dangerous targets too large to defeat by other means.
Bat-Signal
When Batman is needed, the Gotham City police activate a searchlight with a bat-shaped insignia over the lens called the Bat-Signal, which shines into the night sky, creating a bat-symbol on a passing cloud which can be seen from any point in Gotham. The origin of the signal varies, depending on the continuity and medium.
In various incarnations, most notably the 1960s Batman TV series, Commissioner Gordon also has a dedicated phone line, dubbed the Bat-Phone, connected to a bright red telephone (in the TV series) which sits on a wooden base and has a transparent top. The line connects directly to Batman's residence, Wayne Manor, specifically both to a similar phone sitting on the desk in Bruce Wayne's study and the extension phone in the Batcave.
Batcave
The Batcave is Batman's secret headquarters, consisting of a series of caves beneath his mansion, Wayne Manor. As his command center, the Batcave serves multiple purposes; supercomputer, surveillance, redundant power-generators, forensics lab, medical infirmary, private study, training dojo, fabrication workshop, arsenal, hangar and garage. It houses the vehicles and equipment Batman uses in his campaign to fight crime. It is also a trophy room and storage facility for Batman's unique memorabilia collected over the years from various cases he has worked on.
Fictional Character History
The Man Who Laughs
Gotham City got its first taste of Batman's greatest enemy, the Joker, when the police found an abandoned warehouse filled with mutilated corpses, all having ghastly rictus grins on their faces. While Batman was tracking down the killer, the Joker himself appeared on live TV, on a news report on Arkham Asylum, killing the reporter with his mysterious laughing venom and predicting the deaths of some of the richest individuals in Gotham. Bruce wondered whether the Joker was a deformed version of the Red Hood, a criminal who fell into chemical waste while being engaged by Batman. The Joker carried out his hits as promised, using his venom, despite Batman's efforts to stop him. The city was thrown into chaos when he invaded a prison facility and sets its inmates free, providing them with weapons and killing all of its guard personnel in the process.
The criminals wrought great havoc throughout the city, but ware apprehended by Batman. When the Joker's next target became Bruce Wayne, Wayne Manor came under strict surveillance and guard by the police, rendering Bruce unable to act as Batman. He secretly injected himself with some Joker venom he had gathered. The venom took instant effect, and Bruce was rushed to the hospital.
But on the way, Alfred Pennyworth administered him with an antidote that Bruce had synthesized after careful study, and as Bruce recovered, he understood the Joker's true plan. He had gained an understanding of what drove the Joker while under the effects of the venom and had realized that Bruce Wayne's assassination was only a diversion from his real mission, which was killing everyone in Gotham City by poisoning its water reservoir, which Batman deduced from the clues he had gained in the last few days while tracking the Joker. He found and stopped the Joker at the reservoir and refrains from killing him, though not without giving him a severe beating. The Joker was confined to the reopened Arkham Asylum.
The Long Halloween
In Batman's early years, his main objective was to take down Gotham's biggest crime lord Carmine "The Roman" Falcone. To do this, Batman required the help of two of Gotham's finest, "hero cop" Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent. Despite dealing massive blows to the criminal empire, the Roman still stood tall until a killer by the name of Holiday started making his move and killing a member of the Falcone Crime family on every occasion.
Over the course of the story, the trio's morals are put into question, notably Dent's, who has let it be known that he does not care for the deaths of criminals and even contemplated stealing some of the weakened Roman's money. Jealous by the attention Holiday has received, the Joker attempts to release his gas on Gotham Square on New Year's Eve to kill everyone in attendance, and hopefully Holiday but he is stopped by Batman.
Later on, it is revealed that Dent owned the same type of gun that was used in the Holiday murders, turning him into a prime suspect. Despite Gordon's suspicions, Batman refuses to believe that his friend, who shares his love for justice, would be a killer. On the Roman's birthday, Sal Maroni, Falcone's rival, is set to testify against Carmine, prosecuted by Dent.
Just as things seemed to go Dent's way, Maroni ends up throwing acid in the attorney's face, physically and mentally scarring him. After being rushed to the hospital, Harvey escapes in a crazed state and kills a doctor. Gordon moves Maroni to a new cell, suspecting that he may be Holiday's next target.
Surely enough, Holiday makes his move and kills Maroni, and just as he is about to kill Gordon, who was escorting the gangster, Batman appears just in time to save his friend and take down the killer, and he is revealed to be Falcone's son, Alberto, who holds a grudge against his father for neglecting him and keeping him out of the family business. A while later, Dent makes his return, with half his face disfigured, now calling himself Two-Face. He regroups all the costume freaks including Joker, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy, among others, and bursts into the disgraced Roman penthouse to signify the change that has come to Gotham.
Batman appears and takes down the villains except for Dent who holds Falcone hostage. Despite Batman's pleads, Two-Face ends up killing Falcone and then surrenders himself. In the end, when confronted by Batman and Gordon, Dent claims that his methods were the most effective in taking down Falcone. Despite witnessing the corruption of their friend, Batman and Gordon's resolve remains strong and they both vow to never give up on ridding Gotham of evil.
Dark Victory and Robin
In the aftermath of Roman's death, Falcone's daughter, Sofia Gigante has taken over the family business and vows to kill Two-Face who managed to escape from Arkham Asylum. Meanwhile, a killer by the name of Hangman has been killing various cops and implying that Two-Face is responsible. A gang war erupts between the crime families and the costumed freaks, recruited by Two-Face, and in the crossfire, circus acrobats, the Flying Graysons are killed by Falcone associate, Tony Zucco, leaving the performers' son, Dick, an orphan.
Feeling sympathy for the child and remembering his own trauma, Bruce Wayne adopts Dick as his son. However, since Bruce was too busy trying to stop the war as Batman, Dick would often sneak out at night looking for his parent's killer. A terrified Tony Zucco, who knows that Batman is looking for him, is confronted by Dick and due to his poor health, ends up dying of a heart attack. Realizing the boy's vigilante tendencies, Bruce reveals his identity and decides to train him to avoid his death. It is later revealed that Hangman is actually Sofia Gigante and sets Gotham on fire to bring Dent out of hiding but before she could kill him, Batman saves him, allowing Dent to kill her and escape into the sewers with the rest of the super-villains with Batman in pursuit.
In the climactic battle, Two-Face and his villainous group find themselves in the bat cave but Dick's presence prevented them from discovering Batman's secret. Batman and Dick end up fighting off and defeating the villains once and for all. In the end, Batman offers Dick a chance to live a normal life away from vigilantism, but Dick insists on joining his war, and so, he becomes Robin, assisting Batman in his mission, and thus the Dynamic Duo was born.
Tales of the Ghul
While trying to stop the criminal Doctor Dark, who was leading the League of Assassins at the time, Batman meets the enigmatic Talia Al Ghul, who was kidnapped by Dark in an attempt to blackmail her father, the wealthy Ra's Al Ghul. Batman saves Talia and she ends up falling in love with the Dark Knight. One night, Batman discovers that Robin has been kidnapped and then, Ra's Al Ghul, who has used his immense resources to discover Batman's secret identity, appears to him in the Bat-Cave to ask for his help, as his daughter has also been kidnapped, possibly by the same person who kidnapped Robin.
The two work together and, accompanied by Ra's' faithful bodyguard Ubu, travels the world looking for the kidnapper. Batman solves various puzzles and obstacles thrown in his path, and after finding both Talia and Robin, he deduces that Ra's was behind the entire ordeal as a personal test, which Ra declares he has passed. Ra's reveals that he wants to change the world into a better place, but to that, he wants to eradicate most of mankind. However, he is growing old and reveals that this machination took place because he needed a successor, and Batman has proven himself worthy of that position as well as the affections of his only daughter, Talia. However, Batman, appalled by his view of the world, sees him as a dangerous criminal mastermind and vows to stop him at all costs.
In his crusade to take down the criminal mastermind, he discovers in the story that Ra's has lived for centuries due to the mystical Lazarus Pit, which restores Ra's youth as well as gives him immense strength that allowed him to defeat Batman in a fight. In his pursuit of Ra's and his league, Batman finds himself in Nanda Parbat where Ra's challenges him to a swordfight. After fighting a stalemate, a scorpion stings Batman, leaving him incapacitated. Though Ra's sees Batman as a worthy foe, because he refused his offer, he leaves him to die.
However, Talia, still having feelings for the Dark Knight, gives him a final kiss that contained the antidote. Batman recovers from the scorpion's poison, and in a fit of rage, confronts Ra's, who was immobilized with fear at the sight of the recovered vigilante, and decisively defeats him. In the end, Batman embraces Talia and offers her the chance to come back with him, but she refuses, because, despite her feelings for Bruce, she feels that she must remain by her father's side.
Just Another Kid on Crime Alley
During an encounter with the Joker, Robin is seriously wounded and the media believes him to be dead. Worried about Dick's safety, Batman decides to keep it that way and retires the Robin mantle, but Dick's insists that he will remain a crime-fighter and he would, later on, become the superhero known as Nightwing. On the anniversary of his parent's death, Batman, as is his tradition, keeps watching over Crime Alley, the site of that tragic night. However, on his way back to the Batmobile, he finds a young street orphan by the name of Jason Todd attempting to steal the tires of the car. Though impressed by the kid's courage, he decides to take him to a school for the homeless, but when it is revealed that the school housed criminals, Batman, with Jason's help, takes it down.
With nowhere for Jason to go and at the risk of him becoming another criminal on the streets, Batman decides to take Jason in as his own son, and seeing his potential to be a hero and also partly due to the loneliness he experienced after Dick Grayson's departure, offers Jason the mantle of Robin, which Jason gladly accepts. Batman later discovers that Jason's mother died of an overdose and his father was a reluctant partner of Two-Face, who ended up getting killed by the criminal. Although Batman attempted to hide this from Robin, fearing what he may do, his faith in Jason is restored when Robin, having discovered Two-Face's acts, spared him even though he had the chance to avenge his father's death. This made Batman see Jason as a worthy sidekick.
A Death in the Family
As time passed, it quickly became evident to Batman that Jason was far from the ideal crime-fighter. His conduct on the field was in stark contrast to that of Batman's cold professionalism. Jason would often thrust himself into exceedingly dangerous situations, endangering both student and mentor, giving vent to his inner emotions, which seemed to be dominated by rage. This became even more evident when Jason seemingly killed a serial rapist who had walked free after causing the death of one of his victims. Batman soon realized Robin hadn't coped with the death of his parents and felt it was best to make him inactive.
Back at his birthplace in Crime Alley, Jason finds his birth certificate and learns that his mother wasn't the late Catherine Todd, but that three women could be his mother, and all there are out of the country, so he left off in search of the first one, in the Middle East where he coincidentally meets up with Batman who was there tracking down the Joker. Together, they thwart the Joker's plans and take down the terrorists, but to Jason's dismay, the suspected woman is not his mother.
Continuing their investigation, and after an encounter with the deadly assassin Lady Shiva, they eventually track down Sheila Haywood, who was working in famine relief efforts in Ethiopia and it is revealed that she is, in fact, Jason's real mother. Bruce leaves Jason to spend time with his mother while he chases after the Joker, but it is later revealed that Sheila was being blackmailed by the Joker into giving him shipments of medical supplies that he can sell in the black market while transferring his deadly Joker gas to relief destinations.
Batman orders Jason to stay put while he chases the Joker, but Jason defies Batman's orders and leaves for the warehouse to find his mother. Jason manages to find her and reveals his secret identity to her, but she turns him over to the Joker in an attempt to save her own life. Joker savagely beats Jason with a crowbar, then detonates an explosion that kills both Jason and his mother.
Batman arrives just as the explosion goes off, and as he searches through the rubble, he finds, to his horror, the corpse of Jason. Batman grieves over the horrible site and vows to avenge Jason's death and take down the Joker once and for all. Batman vengefully tracks down the Joker, and though he manages to stop his latest death plot, the madman escapes, ending this counter the same way as others, unresolved. Batman continues grieving over Jason's death, considering it to be his greatest failure, and vows to never endanger anyone else in this line of work. Since then, he keeps Jason's costume in a glass casing in the Bat-Cave as a memorial, underneath it reads "A Good Soldier".
A Lonely Place of Dying
After Jason's tragic death, Batman became more violent and almost self-destructing when he battled crime. Tim Drake, a young boy who witnessed the death of the Graysons, noticed the dark nature of Batman after the loss of Robin. Tim once idolized the Flying Graysons and was in attendance when Dick's parents were killed. He also idolized Batman and Robin, as he saw them as heroes. Tim was able to deduce that Dick Grayson was, in fact, Robin when he noticed the costumed fighter perform an acrobatic move that only Dick could do, and knowing that the former acrobat was adopted by Bruce Wayne, he pieced things together and deduced that the millionaire is indeed Batman. He had figured out that the original Robin was Dick Grayson and thus, Bruce Wayne had to be Batman.
Tim knew that Batman needed an ally in his war and after being unsuccessful in convincing Dick to return to the role, Dick petitions Bruce to train Tim to become the next Robin, to keep Batman sane, but Batman refuses, vowing to never endanger anyone but himself in his war on crime. Meanwhile, Two-Face is on the loose and has prepared a plot to kill Batman once and for all, and this would have happened if not for the timely intervention of Tim Drake, wearing the Robin costume with Alfred's blessing and providing the necessary distraction for Batman to defeat his foe. In the end, both Alfred and Nightwing insist that the boy is capable of doing much good, especially under the guidance of Batman, and after much reluctance, Batman ends up agreeing. After a grueling training regime, Tim finally becomes the new Robin.
Knightfall
After a long time of hard work, Batman and Robin finally succeed in placing all of the worst villains in Arkham Asylum and thus apparently ensuring peace for Gotham. At one point he also encounters Jean-Paul Valley who is called Azrael, a victim of "The System" who was brainwashed into becoming an assassin for the sinister order known as The Order of Dumas, but Batman comforts Valley and takes him in as an ally to fight crime alongside him and reject his previous life.
Just when it seemed that Gotham was at peace, a new villain makes his way to Gotham seeking to conquer it and defeat its guardian, the Batman. The villain, known only as Bane, destroys the walls of Arkham and frees every single inmate to rage havoc on the city. Batman, who was also sick at the time, is forced to run a gauntlet of his worst enemies, putting both his body and mind to the test.
After a series of plots and encounters that weigh heavily on him, mentally and physically, fighting the likes of the Mad Hatter, the Ventriloquist, Amygdala, Victor Zsasz, Firefly, Riddler, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Joker, and Two-Face, as well as encountering Bane's henchmen Zombie, Trogg and Bird, Batman finally manages to put them all back in prison however still oblivious to the mastermind behind this Gauntlet.
Batman finally returns home to rest only to be confronted by Bane, whose plan has come full circle and has come to Gotham to conquer it and defeat its protector. Though having almost no strength left, Batman accepts Bane's challenge and has one final fight. However, he is no match for this skilled foe, whose strength has also increased due to a drug known as Venom, and despite his best efforts Batman is horribly beaten and has his back broken by Bane in his own Batcave, paralyzing him.
Bane throws Batman's body in the middle of a crowded street so that everyone sees the fall of the Dark Knight. Before his identity is compromised, Alfred and Robin quickly take him back to the manor to nurse him back to health. However, his will is just as broken as his body, as he realizes that he cannot don the costume again, and since Gotham needs a protector, he entrusts the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley and instructs a distraught Robin to be his ally.
Knightquest and Knightsend
After his paralysis, Batman is tended to by Shondra Kinsolving, a doctor whom Bruce met before and the two shared romantic feelings. However, one night, Shondra is kidnapped along with one of her patients, Jack Drake, Robin's father, and so, despite being in a wheelchair, Bruce, along with Alfred go after the kidnappers, and track them down to London, leaving Gotham under the care of Robin (who is oblivious to his father's kidnapping) and the new Batman. It is revealed in the story that Shondra had psychic powers, and was kidnapped by her brother Asp who intended to use those powers for his own gain. Bruce is caught in a telepathic exchange between Shondra and Asp, and the energy released causes Bruce to regain mobility of his legs.
Now healed, he defeats Asp and saves Drake and Shondra, but the doctor's mental state was regressed to childhood due to the drugs given to her by her brother and she loses all memory of her relationship with Bruce. Preparing to get back into shape and regain his strength, Batman seeks the help of the skilled martial artist and assassin, Lady Shivam who agrees with the condition that he must kill. After several weeks of intense training, when it was time for Batman to kill, he refuses, causing Shiva to send variously skilled assassins after him to force his hand. Bruce defeats the assassins and appears to kill the final one, much to Shiva's delight. However, he had used a technique that appeared to be lethal even though it was not. With his strength now regained, Batman is ready to come back to Gotham.
Meanwhile, back in Gotham, Valley, now operating as Batman, attempts to track down Bane, who has now taken control of Gotham's underworld. However, Valley's brainwashing by the Order resurfaces, causing him to become more violent and to start losing control over his sanity. Donning a new tech-heavy costume and refusing Robin as a partner, Valley becomes a far darker and much more violent Batman and eventually manages to defeat Bane and end his reign of terror.
As the new Batman watches over Gotham, his vicious and reckless methods became intolerable by Robin, especially when he caused the deaths of the villain the Abattoir and his victims. When Robin tried to reason with him, Valley lashed out at him, almost killing him as he now considers himself to be superior to the real Batman. When Batman returns, having healed from his back injury, Jean-Paul tried to kill him to prove his superiority but Batman defeats and tricks him into removing his costume, thereby getting rid of "the system" in his head. Humbled and regretting his actions, Valley admits to Bruce that he (Bruce) is the one and only Batman and vows to redeem himself in his eyes.
Though having regained the use of his legs, Batman decides to travel the world to fully regain his strength, and in his absence gives the mantle to the man he should have given it to in the first place, Nightwing until he comes back.
No Man's Land
Gotham is struck by a massive Earthquake, one which claims the lives of many people in Gotham. Batman had anticipated the arrival of an earthquake and had all Wayne-funded buildings be protected from such an event, including Oracle's Watchtower and Tim Drake's home, however, his own house did not receive such protection because that may compromise his identity as Batman.
Bruce and Alfred barely survive the earthquake, and once out of the rubble, Batman watches in horror his city in ruins and there's nothing he could do about it. With most of the city destroyed, criminals run rampant around the remains, and chaos ensues to the point where Gotham is declared a No Man's Land by the government and it is cut off from the rest of the country. Batman travels to Washington, and as Bruce Wayne does his best to convince Congress to help the city he loves, but he fails to do so, causing him to be distraught and almost loses all hope himself in exile until he is motivated back into action by Talia Al Ghul.
Meanwhile in Gotham, with very limited food and resources, new rules are applied and the criminals divide the city into territories and use spray paint to claim ownership of said territories. Members of the GCPD that stayed in Gotham are now known as the Blue boys and they try to maintain order in Gotham. Others join the fight as well, including Oracle, who monitors the entire city and serves as information broker while Helena Bartinelli aka the Huntress, dons a Batman-inspired costume to be more effective as a crime-fighter.
Batman eventually returns and adapts to the new rules of Gotham, using spray paint to mark his territory and does everything he can to help his city. He allows Huntress to operate as Batgirl for a while until Two-Face's gang invades his territory and kill several people. Helena was forced to flee and when she refuses to follow Batman's orders anymore, he forces her to relinquish the Batgirl mantle.
When things become more dire Batman assembles all his allies including Nightwing, Robin, Jean-Paul Valley and Oracle as well as new Batgirl, the mute Cassandra Caine, who proved herself when she saved Gordon's life from her father the assassin David Caine, and they all fight to take back their city.
No Man's Land comes to an end thanks to Lex Luthor, who used legal and illegal means as well as political machinations to fund the renovation of Gotham city all in an attempt to take over himself. Batman allows Luthor to do his work while having Catwoman collect necessary evidence against Luthor regarding his illegal business, thereby preventing Lex from claiming ownership over Gotham.
Hush
Batman finds himself to be the target of a mysterious conspiracy that pits him against some of his worst villains. While giving chase to Catwoman who was under Poison Ivy's mind control, his bat-rope is cut, causing him to fracture his skull though he is eventually saved by his childhood friend and surgeon Thomas Elliot. Later on, Batman and Catwoman track down Poison Ivy to Metropolis and despite using a mind-controlled Superman against them, Batman manages to get past the Man of Steel and stop the villain. Over the course of this adventure, Batman and Catwoman start to develop a relationship and Batman even reveals his identity to her.
Later on, after encounters with Killer Croc, Ra's Al Ghul, Joker and Scarecrow, all seemingly manipulated under the same conspiracy as well as the apparent death of his friend Tommy, he is confronted by someone claiming to be Jason Todd, Batman's old sidekick who was killed years ago, however it turned out to be another ruse.
Frustrated and desperate to know who has been manipulating all these villains, Batman investigates further until the villain known as Hush finally makes his presence known and reveals that he is in fact, Tommy Elliot. Tommy had always hated his parents and wanted them dead to collect his inheritance, so he staged a car accident that caused his father's death but Bruce's father managed to save his mother, and because of this Tommy held a grudge against the entire Wayne family. He faked his death using Clayface to throw Batman off his trail, as he was the mastermind behind the entire ordeal. After the intervention of Gordon and a recovered Harvey Dent, Hush falls into a river and manages to escape.
In the aftermath, Batman learns that Riddler was the one who told Hush his secret having learned it after using the Lazarus Pit to cure himself of cancer. However, Batman warns Riddler that if he ever decides to reveal this information again, he will feel the wrath of Ra's Al Ghul, ensuring his silence. After all these events, Batman has become more suspicious, causing him to drive Catwoman away as he won't allow himself to fall in love again.
War Drums and War Games
When Tim Drake's father discovers his alter-ego, Tim is forced to retire as Robin and Batman goes back to working alone, that is until Stephanie Brown, aka the young vigilante known as Spoiler and Tim's ex-girlfriend, petitions to be the next Robin, and though reluctant at first, as he previously didn't see her as hero material, Bruce ends up accepting with the condition that she follow his every order. After training her, he hands her a costume and she officially becomes the fourth Robin. Though initially there were some problems, especially when she used lethal force on the villain Mr. Zsasz, she starts proving herself when she handily takes down Tiger Moth.
Stephanie's infectious energy and enthusiasm grow on Batman and he starts to see her as a worthy partner. However, while tracking down the assassin Scarab, she disobeys Batman's order to stay put and ends up getting herself held hostage and almost compromising the mission. Because of that, Batman ends her tenure as Robin. Determined to win back Batman's trust, Stephanie steals from the Bat-cave one of his contingency plans that was supposed to take place in case of crime in Gotham got too out of control. The plan, which she put into motion behind Batman's back, dealt with unifying all the Gotham crime-families under one man, Matches Malone.
What Stephanie didn't know was that Malone is actually one of Batman's underground alter-egos, and because Malone was not present at the staged meeting between crime-lords, things went awry and a huge gang war raged in Gotham, causing the deaths of many. Batman's reputation takes a major hit when he is seen by the media in broad day light holding the dead body of a young student who was killed in the crossfire of the gang war, and even more so when makes several morally questionable actions, including forcefully taking over command of the GCPD (which the results in the death of many), and attempting to put his underground ally, Orpheus, as the leader of all the gangs, but the Black Mask makes his move, kills Orpheus and becomes Gotham's kingpin of crime instead.
Another consequence of this war was Stephanie Brown's death after intense torture at the hands of Black Mask. Batman was at her side in her last moments and comforted her with the fact that she did earn her place as Robin.
Under the Red Hood
After the recent war, Batman has lost too much. Robin, Batgirl and Oracle have left Gotham City, Stephanie Brown is dead, Nightwing is injured, the GCPD sees Batman as a criminal and the Black Mask controls all crime in Gotham. However, a mysterious figure known as The Red Hood has been making his move on Black Mask's operations and taking control of his gangs.
While intercepting one of Black Mask's shipments, Batman and Nightwing encounter Red Hood for the first time, and as they chase after him, they encounter the cyborg Amazo, which they barely manage to defeat. The Red Hood then steals another one of Mask's shipments tries to blackmail him, but the meeting turns sour with Freeze and Batman and Nightwing getting involved, and all the villains end up escaping. However, during the battle, Batman is intrigued by Red Hood's skills, as he sees something familiar.
While intercepting another one of Black Mask's operations, Red Hood is confronted by Batman where they fight to a stalemate. Red Hood finally takes off his mask and to Batman's horror, reveals that he is in fact, Jason Todd, the Robin who apparently died many years ago and even gives him samples of his DNA to prove it before escaping.
It is revealed in the story that Jason came back after he was dipped in a Lazarus Pit by Talia Al Ghul. After this revelation, Alfred offers to remove Jason's memorial from the Cave, but Batman refuses, claiming that the recent developments don't change anything.
After Red Hood blows up Black Mask's penthouse, the desperate crime lord seeks the help of Deathstroke of the Secret Society, who sends Hyena, Captain Nazi and Count Vertigo to kill the Red Hood. Batman intervenes and together they manage to take down the trio of super-villains, but not without Red Hood killing one of them and escaping.
After tricking Black Mask into killing the last of his lieutenants, Red Hood, who has been holding the Joker captive, challenges Batman to come to Crime Alley to end things once and for all. After apprehending Black Mask, Batman complies and meets up with Jason. After an intense back and forth fight, Batman defeats Jason and apologizes for failing him.
Disgusted, Jason reveals that the reason he holds a grudge against Batman is that he never killed Joker to avenge his death. He then holds Joker hostage and throws Bruce a gun, and challenges him to make a choice: either kill Joker or kill him. Batman refuses both choices and ends up incapacitating Jason with a Batarang. An ecstatic Joker ends up blowing the entire place and in the aftermath, Jason manages to escape.
Infinite Crisis
Bruce also becomes more suspicious of other heroes, creating a super satellite called Brother Eye, which is stolen and eventually causes the death of Ted Kord. Things then hit a personal low for Bruce during the story Infinite Crisis when he almost murders megalomaniac Alex Luthor. Bruce realizes his morality is at an all-time low and decides to take a sabbatical from fighting crime.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: Bruce Wayne
Publisher: DC
First appearance: Detective Comics #27 (March 30, 1939)
Created by: Bob Kane (Writer)
Bill Finger (Artist)
DC Comics Nanoscene
The Batcave
2020, Jada Toys
First appearance cover:
Photograph published on July 27th, 2013 in Gregory McVerry.com to illustrate the essay: "Finding Our Voices in Lost Voices" by Greg Mc Verry. { link below}
archive.jgregorymcverry.com/finding-our-voices-in-lost-vo...
Published in BIKER mag 05/2010
Strobist:
2(dual) flashes right - to light spot
1 flash left
1 flash for rim which i think didn't fire..
I got published in the march edition of Digital Camera Magazine.
I got two cover shot's, this one and the one for the subscribers.
RIVER KUO 2010 artworks collection - NOW published!
2010最新作品集.新書正式上架
書名 - RIVER KUO
發行人 - 趙慶論
發行 - JJ40嵥傑國際有限公司
ISBN - 978-957-41-7141-5
定價 - $1500元
語言 - 中/英/日
販售 - 誠品書店
作者 - RIVER KUO
製作統籌/裝楨設計 - 林小乙
文編 - 林佳賢 . 黃顗穎
文案 - 林佳賢
行銷企劃 - 黃顗穎
JJ40/02-2627-7758
Book title – RIVER KUO
Publisher – JOHNNY JAN
Publish - JJ40 International corp.
ISBN - 978-957-41-7141-5
Language – Chinese / English / Japanese
Where to buy – Eslite bookstore (TAIWAN)
Pricing - $1500.-(NT)
Author – RIVER KUO
Producer/designer – Xiao-yi Lin
Editor – AD Lin / Christine Huang
Copywriter – AD Lin
Marketing – Christine Huang
Contact - JJ40 International corp.
Tel / 886-2-2627-7758
20100924 Taipei Taiwan
Made in Taiwan
Carolina Home and Garden Magazine recently ran a full feature on me in their magazine, so I thought I'd post the article for everyone to check out. The rest of the article is in another post linked in the first post below...
Ethnic groups rally for immigrant rights
By Oscar Avila and Antonio Olivo
Tribune staff reporters
Published March 10, 2006, 1:06 PM CST
Both sides of the debate over illegal immigration were bracing today for a massive march and rally, a multi-cultural mobilization expected to draw tens of thousands of protesters to the Loop in support of more humane immigration laws.
Busloads of immigrants from Mexico, Poland and Ireland streamed this morning to Union Park, at Ashland Avenue and Washington Boulevard on the city's West Side. Shortly after noon, they stepped off on a two-mile march to Federal Plaza, 230 S. Dearborn St., for a 2 p.m. rally.
As many as 40,000 people were expected to participate, WGN-Ch. 9 reported.
Anticipating the big turnout, critics of illegal immigration held a preemptive news conference this morning in Grant Park. They predicted the rally would backfire on its organizers, stoking the anger of other Chicagoans that illegal immigrants were arrogant enough to demand increased rights.
Opinion polls find most Americans favor stricter immigration enforcement, the critics said.
Sandra Gunn, government relations field associate for the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, said she hoped politicians would ignore the "display of arrogance and intimidation" from protesters who she said flout immigration laws. "It is our voices that they must heed," Gunn said.
Carmen Mercer, vice president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a national volunteer group opposed to illegal immigration, said the marchers were undercutting the interests of legal immigrants who play by the rules. She also said the threat of terrorism makes immigration enforcement more critical.
"We don't want another 9-11," said Mercer, a legal immigrant from Germany. "That is why we are demanding that our government secure our borders."
Today's events come at a critical time in the immigration debate. Congress is weighing competing proposals over how to treat the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Rally organizers said they oppose H.R. 4437, a bill approved in the U.S. House of Representatives that would drastically strengthen immigration enforcement, including the construction of a wall along the Mexican border.
Instead, they back a competing bill that would provide legal status for most undocumented immigrants and make it easier for legal immigrants to bring in relatives. That legislation, sponsored by U.S. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass), also would expand temporary work visas.
Much of the turnout and energy for today's rally was coming from the local Mexican-American community, the area's largest immigrant group. But the Mexican groups were bolstered by immigrants from Ireland, Poland, China and Ecuador.
The wide-ranging organizing committee also included the Nation of Islam, Service Employees International Union Local 73, evangelical churches and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center.
Tapping into immigrant growth in the suburbs, organizers rented about 200 buses for immigrants boarding near taquerias and churches in such far-flung towns such as Blue Island and Aurora.
A subplot of the day's events, organizers said, was the Chicago economy's reliance on immigrant labor. Organizers encouraged participants to leave work, with some calling for a "general strike" today to underscore the workload shouldered by immigrants, including those without legal status.
Around the area, business owners weighed whether to give the march their blessing or to resist the employee exodus.
Several Mexican box boys in a Montclare grocery store said they saw the march as a chance to affirm their dignity. But their boss Gus Labrakis, a Greek immigrant, was annoyed about how their participation might impact his business.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Labrakis said. "They're inviting even more hate against them. The real problem is at the border. If they keep coming by the millions, where will this lead?"
Antonio Reyes, a box boy at Labrakis' market who arrived from Mexico City in 2000, said the march is an important way for non-immigrants to understand how the proposed laws will affect hard working families.
"We didn't come to this country to rob, but to work and support our families," said Reyes, a father of two U.S.-born children.
Demonstrators carrying U.S. flags gathered at Union Park hours before the march was to start, arriving by chartered bus, cars and even Metra trains – walking west about 12 blocks to the park from Union Station in downtown Chicago.
Alex Garcia and about 10 co-workers from a Joliet commercial sign company were among those trekking out from the station to the park, only to retrace their steps when they marched back into the Loop for the Federal Plaza rally.
"The buses were all too full, so we jumped on a train," Garcia said as his group passed Chicago police officers preparing for the march on Jackson Boulevard.
Garcia, whose company installs signs for McDonald's, Burger King and other fast-food restaurants in the Chicago area, said, "Most people don't realize how much work we do, but it's part of their daily lives. We are putting up all the buildings and cooking all the food. Today, they'll understand."
Whilst I publish the last few images from the "Purple Jacket"" set, I will kick off the next set "Scarlet Lady".
I hope you enjoy this set.
I was asked by Cake Design France if they could publish one of my cakes in their magazine. I just recently got my complimentary copy
Published kioskderdemokratie.blogspot.com/2020/02/balkans-stefanos-...
February 2020
Published ETHNOS travel
www.ethnos.gr/travel/170107_nisyros-stin-panagia-spiliani...
August 2021
Artist of the week-Exploring the World Through the Lens of Stefanos Chronis: A Journey of Ethnography and Social Documentation
www.moments-collective.com/post/artist-of-the-week-explor...
August 2023
mémoire2cité - Sols absorbants, formes arrondies et couleurs vives, les aires de jeux standardisées font désormais partie du paysage urbain. Toujours les mêmes toboggans sécurisés, châteaux forts en bois et animaux à ressort. Ces non-lieux qu’on finit par ne plus voir ont une histoire, parallèle à celle des différentes visions portées sur l’enfant et l’éducation. En retournant jouer au xixe siècle, sur les premiers playgrounds des États-Unis, on assiste à la construction d’une nation – et à des jeux de société qui changent notre vision sur les balançoires du capitalisme. Ce texte est paru dans le numéro 4 de la revue Jef Klak « Ch’val de Course », printemps-été 2017. La version ici publiée en ligne est une version légèrement remaniée à l’occasion de sa republication dans le magazine Palais no 27 1, paru en juin 2018. la video içi www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwj1wh5k5PY The concept for adventure playgrounds originated in postwar Europe, after a playground designer found that children had more fun with the trash and rubble left behind by bombings -inventing their own toys and playing with them- than on the conventional equipment of swings and slides. Narrator John Snagge was a well-known voice talent in the UK, working as a newsreader for BBC Radio - jefklak.org/le-gouvernement-des-playgrounds/ - www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/chasing-the-vanishing-p... or children, playgrounds are where magic happens. And if you count yourself among Baby Boomers or Gen Xers, you probably have fond memories of high steel jungle gyms and even higher metal slides that squeaked and groaned as you slid down them. The cheerful variety of animals and vehicles on springs gave you plenty of rides to choose from, while a spiral slide, often made of striped panels, was a repeated thrill. When you dismounted from a teeter-totter, you had to be careful not to send your partner crashing to the ground or get hit in the head by your own seat. The tougher, faster kids always pushed the brightly colored merry-go-round, trying to make riders as dizzy as possible. In the same way, you’d dare your sibling or best friend to push you even higher on the swing so your toes could touch the sky. The most exciting playgrounds would take the form of a pirate ship, a giant robot, or a space rocket.
“My husband would look at these big metal things and go, ‘Oh my God, those are the Slides of Death!'” - insh.world/history/playground-equipment-of-yesterday-that...
Today, these objects of happy summers past have nearly disappeared, replaced by newer equipment that’s lower to the ground and made of plastic, painted metal, and sometimes rot-resistant woods like cedar or redwood. The transformation began in 1973, when the U.S. Congress established the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which began tracking playground injuries at hospital emergency rooms. The study led to the publication of the first Handbook for Public Playground Safety in 1981, which signaled the beginning of the end for much of the playground equipment in use. (See the latest PPS handbook here.) Then, the American Society for Testing and Materials created a subcommittee of designers and playground-equipment manufacturers to set safety standards for the whole industry. When they published their guidelines in 1993, they suggested most existing playground surfaces, which were usually asphalt, dirt, or grass, needed to be replaced with pits of wood or rubber mulch or sand, prompting many schools and parks to rip their old playgrounds out entirely.
Top: A Space Age rocket-themed playground set by Miracle Playground Equipment, introduced circa 1968, photographed in Burlington, Colorado, in 2009. Above: Two seesaws and a snail-shaped climber, circa 1970s, photographed in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, in 2007. (Photos by Brenda Biondo)
Top: A Space Age rocket-themed playground set by Miracle Playground Equipment, introduced circa 1968, photographed in Burlington, Colorado, in 2009. Above: Two seesaws and a snail-shaped climber, circa 1970s, photographed in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, in 2007. (Photos by Brenda Biondo)
That said, removing and replacing playground equipment takes money, so a certain amount of vintage playground equipment survived into the next millennium—but it’s vanishing fast. Fortunately, Brenda Biondo, a freelance journalist turned photographer, felt inspired to document these playscapes before they’ve all been melted down. Her photographs capture the sculptural beauty and creativity of the vintage apparatuses, as well as that feeling of nostalgia you get when you see a piece of your childhood. After a decade of hunting down old playgrounds, Biondo published a coffee-table book, 2014’s Once Upon a Playground: A Celebration of Classic American Playgrounds, 1920-1975, which includes both her photographs of vintage equipment and pages of old playground catalogs that sold it.
Starting this November, Biondo’s playground photos will hit the road as part of a four-year ExhibitsUSA traveling show, which will also include vintage playground postcards and catalog pages from Biondo’s collection. The show will make stops in smaller museums and history centers around the United States, passing through Temple, Texas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri; and Greenville, South Carolina. Biondo talked to us on the phone from her home in small-town Colorado, where she lives with her husband and children.
This 1975 Miracle catalog page reads, "This famous Lifetime Whirl has delighted three generations of children and still is a safe, playground favorite. Although it has gone through many improvements many of the original models are still spinning on playgrounds from coast to coast." (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)This 1975 Miracle catalog page reads, “This famous Lifetime Whirl has delighted three generations of children and still is a safe, playground favorite. Although it has gone through many improvements many of the original models are still spinning on playgrounds from coast to coast.” (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)Collectors Weekly: What inspired you to photograph playgrounds?Biondo: In 2004, I happened to be at my local park with my 1-year-old daughter, who was playing in the sandbox. I had just switched careers, from freelance journalism to photography, and I was looking for a starter project. I looked around the playground and thought, “Where is all the equipment that I remember growing up on?” They had new plastic contraptions, but nothing like the big metal slides I grew up with. After that, I started driving around to other playgrounds to see if any of this old equipment still existed. I found very little of it and realized it was disappearing quickly. That got to me.I felt like somebody should be documenting this equipment, because it was such a big part—and a very good part—of so many people’s childhoods. I couldn’t find anybody else who was documenting it, and I didn’t see any evidence that the Smithsonian was collecting it. As far as I could tell, it was just getting ripped up and sent to the scrap heap. At first, I started traveling around Colorado where I live, visiting playgrounds. Eventually, I took longer trips around the Southwest, and then I started looking for playgrounds whenever I was in any other parts of the country, like around California and the East Coast. It was a long-term project—shot over the course of a decade. And every year that I was shooting, it got harder and harder to find those pieces of old equipment.
This merry-go-round, photographed in Cañon City, Colorado, in 2006, is very similar to the Lifetime Whirl above. In the background are a rideable jalopy and animals, including four attached to a teeter-totter. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
This merry-go-round, photographed in Cañon City, Colorado, in 2006, is very similar to the Lifetime Whirl above. In the background are a rideable jalopy and animals, including four attached to a teeter-totter. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
Collectors Weekly: How did you find them?
Biondo: I would just drive around. I started hunting down local elementary schools and main-street playgrounds as well as neighborhood playgrounds. If I had a weekend, I would say, “OK, I’m going to drive from my home three hours east to the Kansas border, stay overnight and drive back.” Along the way, I would stop at every little town that I’d pass. They usually had one tiny main-street playground and one elementary school. I never knew what I was going to find. In a poorer area, a town often doesn’t have much money to replace playground equipment, whereas more affluent areas usually have updated their playgrounds by now. It was a bit of a crap shoot. Sometimes, I’d drive for hours and not really find anything—or I’d find one old playground after the other, because I happened to be in an area where equipment hadn’t been replaced.
I couldn’t get to every state, so I had to shoot where I was. I think there certainly are still old playgrounds out there, especially in small towns. But there’s fewer and fewer of them every year. My book has something like 170 photographs. I would guess that half the equipment pictured is already gone. Sometimes, I’d go back to a playground with a nice piece of equipment a year later to reshoot it, maybe in different lighting or a different season, and so often it had been removed. That pressured me to get out as often as I could because if I waited a few weeks, that piece might not be there anymore.
A 1911 postcard shows girls playing on an outdoor gymnasium at Mayo Park in Rochester, Minnesota.
a 1911 postcard shows girls playing on an outdoor gymnasium at Mayo Park in Rochester, Minnesota.
Collectors Weekly: What did you learn about playground history?
Biondo: I didn’t know American playgrounds started as part of the social reform or progressive movement of the early 1900s. Reformers hoped to keep poor inner-city immigrant kids safe and out of trouble. Back then, city children were playing in the streets with nothing to do, and when cars became more popular, kids started to get hit by motorists. Child activists started building playgrounds in big cities like Boston, Chicago, and New York as a way to help and protect these kids. These reformers felt they could build model citizens by teaching cooperation and manners through playgrounds. These early main-street parks would also have playground leaders who orchestrated activities such as games and songs.
“I started driving to playgrounds to see if any old equipment still existed. I found very little of it and realized it was disappearing quickly.”
In the late 1800s, Germans developed what they called “sand gardens,” which are just piles of sand where kids can come dig and build things. There were few of those in the United States as well. But by the early 1900s, the emphasis of playgrounds was on the apparatuses, things kids could climb on or swing on.
Soon after I started researching playground history, I happened to stumble on an eBay auction for a 1926 catalog that the playground manufacturers used to send to schools. At that point, I wasn’t thinking of doing a book, but I thought I could do something with it. I won the catalog; I paid, like, $12 for it. And it was so interesting because I could see this vintage equipment when it was brand new and considered modern and advanced. The manufacturers boasted about how safe it was and how it was good for building both muscles and imaginations.
After that, I would always search on eBay for playground catalogs, and I ended up with about three dozen catalogs from different manufacturers. My oldest is 1916, and my newest is from 1975. So I would take a photograph of some type of merry-go-round, and then I might find that same merry-go-round in a 1930 catalog. Often in the book, I pair my picture with the page from the catalog showing when it was first manufactured. I discovered a couple dozen manufacturers, which tended to be located in the bigger industrial areas with steel manufacturing, like Trenton, New Jersey, and Kokomo and Litchfield, Indiana. Pueblo, Colorado, even had a playground manufacturer. Burke and GameTime were big 20th century companies, and actually are among few still in existence.
The cover of a 1926 catalog for EverWear Manufacturing Company. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)
The cover of a 1926 catalog for EverWear Manufacturing Company. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)
Collectors Weekly: I recently came across an old metal slide whose steps had the name of the manufacturer, American, forged in openwork letters.
Biondo: I love those. One of the last pages in the book shows treads from six different slides, and they each had the name of their manufacturer in them, including Porter, American, and Burke. One time when I was traveling, I did a quick side trip to a small town with an elementary school. In the parking lot was this old metal slide with the American step treads, lying on its side. You could tell it had just been ripped off out of the concrete, which was still attached to the bottom, and was waiting for the steel recyclers to come and take it away.
I thought, “Oh my gosh, just put it on eBay! Somebody is going to want that. Don’t melt it down.” But nobody thinks about this stuff getting thrown away when it should be preserved. If you go on eBay, you can find a lot of those small animals on springs that little kids ride, because they’re small enough to be shipped. Once I saw someone selling one of those huge rocket ships, which had been dismantled, on eBay, but I don’t know if anybody ever bid on it. It’s rare to see the big stuff, because it is so expensive to ship. It’s like, “What kind of truck do you need to haul this thing away?” I don’t know of anyone who’s collecting those pieces, but I hope somebody is.
A metal slide in Victor, Colorado, had step treads with the name "American" in them. Photographed in 2008. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
A metal slide in Victor, Colorado, had step treads with the name “American” in them. Photographed in 2008. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
Collectors Weekly: It seems like an opportunity for both starting a collection or repurposing the material.
Biondo: I photographed many of the apparatuses as if they were sculptures because they have really cool designs and colors. Even when they’re worn down, the exposed layers of paint can be beautiful. Hardly anybody stops to look at it that way. People drive by and think, “Oh, there’s an old, rusty, rundown playground.” But if you take the time to look closely at this stuff, it’s really interesting. Just by looking at these pieces, you can picture all the kids who played on them.
Collectors Weekly: Aren’t people nostalgic for their childhood playgrounds?
Biondo: While I was taking the pictures, I visited Boulder, Colorado, which is a very affluent community. I was sure there would be no old playground equipment there. When I was driving around, all of a sudden, I looked over and saw this huge rocket ship. It turns out that one of the original NASA astronauts, Scott Carpenter, grew up in Boulder, and this playground was built in the ’60s to honor their hometown boy. Because of that, the citizens of Boulder never wanted to take down the rocket ship. One of the first exhibitions of this photography project happened in Boulder, and at the opening, I sold four prints of that rocket ship. People would come up to me at the exhibition, and they’d go, “Oh my gosh, I grew up playing on this when I was a little kid! Now, my kids are playing on it, and I’m so excited that I can get a picture of it and hang it in their bedroom.” So people have a strong nostalgic attachment to this equipment. It’s sad that most of it’s not going to be around for much longer.
A 1968 Miracle Playground Equipment catalog features the huge rocket-ship play set seen at the top of this story. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)
A 1968 Miracle Playground Equipment catalog features the huge rocket-ship playset seen at the top of this story. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)
Collectors Weekly: Besides slides and animals on springs, what were some other pieces that were common in older playgrounds?
Biondo: I didn’t come across as many old swings as I expected. I thought they would be all over the place, but I guess they’re gone now because they were so easy to replace. I tended to find merry-go-rounds more frequently—you know, the one where you’d run around pushing them and then jump on. When my kids were younger, they’d go out playground hunting with me, and the merry-go-rounds were their favorite things. They’re just so fun. The other thing you don’t find often is the seesaw or teeter-totter, and that was my favorite.The Karymor Stationary Jingle Ring Outfit appeared in the 1931 playground catalog put out by Pueblo, Colorado's R.F. Lamar and Co. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
The Karymor Stationary Jingle Ring Outfit appeared in the 1931 playground catalog put out by Pueblo, Colorado’s R.F. Lamar and Co. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
Before I started this project, I didn’t know there was such a variety of equipment. I figured I’d see seesaws, swings, slides, and merry-go-rounds. But I had no idea there were such things as revolving swings, which would be attached to a spinning pole via outstretched metal arms. Many mid-century pieces had themes from pop culture like “The Wizard of Oz,” “Cinderella,” “Denis the Menace,” cowboys and Indians, and Saturday-morning cartoons. During the Space Age, you started to see pieces of equipment shaped like rocket ships and satellites, because in the ’60s, Americans were so excited about space exploration. What was going on in the broader culture often got reflected in playground equipment.
Pursuing the catalogs was eye-opening. I live about an hour and a half south of Denver, so I often looked for playgrounds around the city. There, I’d find these contraptions where were shaped like umbrella skeletons, but then they had these rings hanging off the spindles. I’ve never seen them outside of Colorado. Then I bought a 1930s catalog from the manufacturer in Pueblo, Colorado, which is only 45 minutes from me, and it featured this apparatus. Later, I met people in Denver who’d say, “Oh, yeah, I remember that thing as a kid. It’s kind of like monkey bars where you had to try and get from ring to ring swinging and hanging by your arms.” There was so much variety, and even so many variations on the basics.I have a cool catalog from 1926 from the manufacturer Mitchell, which doesn’t exist anymore. I looked at one of the contraptions they advertised and I was like, “Oh my God, this looks like a torture device!” It was their own proprietary apparatus and maybe it didn’t prove to be very popular. I had never seen something like that on a playground. There probably weren’t very many of them installed.
This strange Climbing Swing from the 1926 Mitchell Manufacturing Company catalog looks a bit like a torture device. Brenda Biondo says she's never found one in the wild. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)
This Climbing Swing from the 1926 Mitchell Manufacturing Company catalog looks a bit like a torture device. Biondo’s never found one in the wild. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)
Collectors Weekly: After a while, were you able to date pieces just by looking at them?
Biondo: From looking at the catalogs, I certainly got a better idea of when things were built. But there were a handful things I couldn’t find in the catalogs. You can guess the age by knowing the design, as well as by looking at the amount of wear and the height of the piece. Usually, the taller it was, the older it was. One of the oldest slides I photographed was probably from the ’30s. I climbed to the top to shoot it as if the viewer were going to go down the slide. Up there, the place where you’d sit before sliding had been used for so many years by so many kids that I could see an outline of all the butts worn into the metal. You can imagine all the children who must have gone down that slide to wear the metal down like that.
This 1930s-era slide, found in Sargents, Colorado, in 2007, developed a butt-shaped imprint. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
This 1930s-era slide, found in Sargents, Colorado, in 2007, developed a butt-shaped imprint. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
Collectors Weekly: How did Modernism influence playground design?
Biondo: In 1953, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held a competition for playground design. Modern Art was just getting popular, and the idea of incorporating the theories of Modernist design into utilitarian objects was in the air, and was translated into playgrounds for several years. I have a 1967 catalog that features very abstract playground equipment made from sinuous blobs of poured concrete. And you’ve probably seen some of it, but there’s not too much of that around. That’s another example of how broader cultural trends were reflected in playgrounds.
When most people think of playgrounds, they say, “Oh, that’s a kiddie subject. There’s not much to it.” But when you start looking into them, you realize playgrounds are a fascinating piece of American culture—they go back a hundred years and played a part in most Americans’ lives. These playground pieces are icons of our childhood.
Collectors Weekly:What was the impact of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which launched in 1973?
Biondo: Things started to change after that, which is why I limited to book to apparatuses made before 1975. New playgrounds were starting to be build out of plastic and fiberglass. I looked up the statistics, and according to the little research I’ve done—contrary to what you’d expect—there’s not much difference in the number of injuries on older equipment versus injuries on equipment today. A “New York Times” article from 2011 called “Can a Playground Be Too Safe?” explains that studies show when playground equipment was really high and just had asphalt underneath it and not seven layers of mulch, thekids knew they had to be careful because they didn’t want to fall. Nowadays, when everything is lower and there’s so much mulch, kids are just used to jumping down and falling and catching themselves. So kids learned to assess risk by playing on the older equipment. They also learned to challenge themselves because it is a little scary to go up to the top of the thing.
This old postcard of Shawnee Park in Kansas City, Kansas, circa 1912, shows how tall slides could get.
This old postcard of Shawnee Park in Kansas City, Kansas, circa 1912, shows how tall slides could get.
At my local park where you have new equipment, the monkey bars aren’t that high and there’s mulch below it, but a child fell and broke their arm last year. When I was talking to the principal at the school where they had just torn out that old American slide, I asked her, “Why did you replace the equipment?” She said, “We felt the parents in the community were expecting to have a little bit newer and nicer equipment. And this stuff had been here for so long.” And I said, “Have you seen a difference in injury rates since you put up your newer equipment?” She replied, “I’ve been a principal here several years, and we never had a serious broken-bone injury on the playground until four months ago on the new equipment.”
There were some nasty accidents in the ‘60s and ’70s, where kids got their arms or their heads caught in the contraptions. Those issues definitely needed to be assessed. What’s interesting is the Consumer Product Safety Commission never issued requirements, just suggested guidelines. But manufacturers felt that if their equipment didn’t meet those guidelines, they’d be vulnerable to liability. Everybody went to the extreme, making everything super safe so they wouldn’t risk getting sued.A 1970s-era climbing-bar apparatus, photographed in Rocky Ford, Colorado, in 2006. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
A 1970s-era climbing-bar apparatus, photographed in Rocky Ford, Colorado, in 2006. (Photo by Brenda Biondo)
In the last decade, people have been looking at playground-equipment design and trying to make it more challenging and more encouraging of imaginative play, but without making it more likely someone’s going to get injured. And adults, I think, are realizing kids are spending more time indoors on devices so they want to do everything they can to encourage kids to still get outside, run around, and climb on things.
Collectors Weekly: You don’t need a playground to hurt yourself. When I was a kid, I fell off a farm post and broke my arm.Biondo: Oh, yeah, kids have been falling out trees forever—they always want to climb stuff. Playground politics are always evolving. Even in the 1920s, the catalogs talked about how safe their equipment was, and they were selling these 30-foot slides. Sometimes, I’d be out with my family on a vacation, and we’d make a little side tour to look for an old playground to shoot. My husband would look at these big metal things and go, “Oh my God, those are the Slides of Death!” because they were so huge and rickety. But back then, these were very safe pieces of equipment compared to what kids had been playing on before.
A page from the 1971 GameTime catalog offering rideable Saddle Mates. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)
A page from the 1971 GameTime catalog offering rideable Saddle Mates. (Courtesy of Brenda Biondo)
Collectors Weekly: Growing up in the 1980s, I always hated the new fiberglass slides because I’d end up with all these tiny glass shards in my butt.
Biondo: Yeah, I remember that, too. It’s always something. It is fun to talk to people about playgrounds because it reminds them of all the fun stuff they did as kids. When people see pictures of these metal slides, they tell me, “Oh my gosh, I remember getting such a bad burn from a metal slide one summer!” The metal would get so hot in the sun, and kids would take pieces of wax paper with them to sit on so they’d go flying down the slide. I have some old postcards that show playgrounds from the early ’20s. The wood seesaws not only were huge, but they had no handles so you had hold on to the sides of the board where you sat. I’m looking at that like, “Oh my God!” It’s all relative.
playground_postcard_milwaukee
Kids ride the rocking-boat seesaw at a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, park in this postcard postmarked 1910.
(To see more of Brenda Biondo’s playground photos and vintage catalog pages, pick up a copy of her book, “Once Upon a Playground: A Celebration of Classic American Playground, 1920-1975.” To find an exhibition of Biondo’s playground project, or to bring it to your town, visit the ExhibitsUSA page. To learn more about creative mid-century playgrounds around the globe, also pick up, “The Playground Project” by Xavier Salle and Vincent Romagny.) insh.world/history/playground-equipment-of-yesterday-that...
...finished and published my book. HOORAY!!
Good morning. Since some of you asked to be informed when my book would be finished and available I thought I would post here an easy access to see and do a brief preview of the book if you so desire. Below are two links. The first one is for the small landscape format book (8x10) while the second link is for the larger version (at 11x13 inches). Except for pricing, both books essentially are the same as far as content with some minor differences not worth noting. As for viewing pleasure, obviously the larger version allows a better appreciation of the photos and butterflies, but if you prefer the smaller size, you won't be disappointed.
If you have the time to do a brief preview I'd be interested in your thoughts, but be advised the preview is of the first 15 pages only while the book is 40 pages in length with a total of seventy (70) photos. Any suggestions to improve things would be helpful for any future books I might decide to do. And if you're so inclined to purchase a book, I'd be extremely grateful...and flattered that you did. Especially since it took many hours of cussing and cursing to create these, each which was a separate exercise, and it would make the time and effort it took that much more worthwhile. If not, then that's okay too. For those of you that do, thank you. It's very much appreciated and if possible I'd like to hear your opinion upon seeing the entire book since it's my first effort with something like this.
My World of Butterflies... By pieceoflace photography... Book Preview
My World of Butterflies... By pieceoflace photography... Book Preview
Thank you for stopping by today...and I apologize for being kind of hit or miss here lately. Hopefully after today things will get back to normal for me. Take care, and I hope you have a truly nice Monday and week.
Lacey
The Postcard
A postally unused Quality Series postcard that was published by the Souvenir Novelty Co. Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah. Their motto on the divided back of the card is 'Busy All The Time'.
The publishers have provided some information about the Mormon Temple:
'Mormon Temple,
Salt Lake City,
Utah.
The Temple was commenced
on April 6, 1853 and completed
April 6, 1893 at a cost of
approximately $4,000,000.
It is 186½ feet long by 99 feet
wide.
The foundation or footing
walls are 16 feet thick and
8 feet deep. The basement
walls are 9 feet thick and the
upper walls 6 feet thick.
The side walls are 107½ high.
East Center Tower, 210 feet
high, surmounted by a
hammered copper statue of
the Angel Moroni, 12½ feet
high, gilded with pure gold
leaf.'
Temple (Latter Day Saints)
The Salt Lake Temple, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the centerpiece of the 10 acre (40,000 m2) Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a temple is a building dedicated to be a house of God, and is reserved for special forms of worship. The most prolific builder of temples of the Latter Day Saint movement is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
There are 173 dedicated temples (167 currently operating; 5 previously dedicated, but closed for renovation; and 1 (Kyiv) which has temporarily suspended operations).
There are also 51 under construction, and 58 announced (but not yet under construction), giving a total of 282.
History
The Latter Day Saint movement was conceived as a restoration of practices believed to have been lost in a Great Apostasy from the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Temple worship played a prominent role in the Bible's Old Testament, and in the Book of Mormon.
On the 27th. December 1832, two years after the organization of the Church of Christ, the church's founder, Joseph Smith, reported receiving a revelation that called upon church members to restore the practice of temple worship. The Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, were commanded to:
"Establish a house, even a house of prayer,
a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house
of learning, a house of glory, a house of
order, a house of God."
Latter Day Saints see temples as the fulfillment of a prophecy found in Malachi 3:1 (KJV):
"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall
prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even
the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight
in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."
The prophesy, which features in Handel's Messiah, is believed to emphasize that when the Jesus comes again, he will come "to his temple."
As plans were drawn up to construct a temple in Kirtland, the decision was made to simultaneously begin work on a second temple at the church's colony in Jackson County, Missouri.
Surviving plans indicate that both temples would have the same dimensions and approximately the same appearance and both were to be at the "centerplaces" of cities designed according to Smith's plan for the City of Zion.
However conflict in Missouri led to the expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, preventing any possibility of building a temple there, but work on the temple in Kirtland continued.
At great cost and sacrifice, the Latter Day Saints finished the Kirtland Temple in early 1836. On the 27th. March, they held a lengthy dedication ceremony, and numerous spiritual experiences and visitations were reported.
Conflict relating to the failure of the church's Kirtland Safety Society bank, caused the church presidency to leave Kirtland and move the church's headquarters to the Mormon settlement of Far West, Missouri.
Far West was also designed along the lines of the City of Zion plan, and in 1838 the church began construction of a new, larger temple in the center of the town. However the 1838 Mormon War and the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri left this attempt at temple-building no further progressed than excavating foundations.
In 1839, the Mormons regrouped at a new headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois. They were again commanded to build a "House of the Lord"—this one even larger and greater than those that went before.
New conflicts arose that led to Smith being killed, along with his brother Hyrum, at Carthage Jail on the 27th. June 1844. The Nauvoo Temple stood only half finished at the time, but eventually, this temple was finished and dedicated. Some temple ordinances were performed before most of the Latter Day Saints followed Brigham Young west across the Mississippi River.
Smith's death resulted in a succession crisis which divided the movement into different sects. The concept of temple worship evolved separately in many of these sects, and until the 1990's only the sects claiming a succession through Brigham Young continued to build new temples.
In April 1990, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church) began to construct the Independence Temple, which was dedicated in 1994. The RLDS Church—now called the Community of Christ—owns the Kirtland Temple, which is used for worship services and special events, but is also open to visitors, including various Latter Day Saint denominations interested in the building's historical significance.
Salt Lake City
Because it is an integral part of their worship, Mormon pioneers, upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, began plans to build temples there, and built the Endowment House to allow members to receive the endowment until the temples were completed.
The Endowment House in Salt Lake City was razed in 1889 after church president Wilford Woodruff learned that plural marriages were being performed there without the authorization of the First Presidency.
The Salt Lake Temple
At 253,015 square feet (23,505.9 m2), it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple completed by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846.
The temple was closed in December 2019 for a general remodelling and seismic renovations that are anticipated to take approximately four years.
Like other Latter-day Saint temples, the church and its members consider it sacred, and a temple recommend is required to enter, so there are no public tours inside the temple as there are for other adjacent buildings on Temple Square.
In 1912, the first public photographs of the interior were published in the book The House of the Lord, by James E. Talmage. Since then, various photographs have been published, including by Life magazine in 1938.
The temple grounds are open to the public and are a popular tourist attraction.
The temple includes some elements evoking Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem. It is oriented towards Jerusalem, and the large basin used as a baptismal font is mounted on the backs of twelve oxen, as was the Molten Sea in Solomon's Temple.
Location of the Temple
The temple is in downtown Salt Lake City, with several mountain peaks close by. Nearby, a shallow stream, City Creek, splits and flows both to the west and to the south, flowing into the Jordan River.
There is a wall around the 10-acre (4.0 ha) temple site. The surrounding wall became the first permanent structure on what has become known as Temple Square. The wall is a uniform 15 feet high, but varies in appearance because of the site's southwest slope.
Uses of the Temple
The temple is considered the house of God, and is reserved for special ceremonies for practicing Latter-Day Saints. The main ordinance rooms are used during the endowment ceremony—namely the creation, garden, telestial, terrestrial, and celestial rooms in that order of use.
A washing and anointing ceremony is also administered, and until 1921, the rooms were also used for healing rituals of washing and anointing for the sick or pregnant, and were administered by women and men.
The temple also serves as a place for marriage sealing ceremonies for live and deceased persons. Additional uses include functioning as a location for baptisms for the dead, baptisms for health (until being discontinued in 1921) and, briefly, for re-baptism for the renewal of covenants.
Other rituals performed in the temple include the second anointing ordinance for live and deceased persons, and meeting rooms for church leaders.
Temple Construction and Dedication
The temple's location was first marked by Brigham Young, the church's second president, on the 28th. July 1847, just four days after he arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.
In 1901, church apostle Anthon H. Lund recorded in his journal that "it is said" that Oliver Cowdery's divining rod was used to locate the temple site.
The temple site was dedicated on the 14th. February 1853, by Heber C. Kimball. Groundbreaking ceremonies were presided over by Young, who laid the cornerstone on the 6th. April 1853.
The architect was Truman O. Angell, and the temple features both Gothic and Romanesque elements.
Sandstone was originally used for the foundation. During the Utah War, the foundation was buried, and the lot made to look like a plowed field to prevent unwanted attention from federal troops.
After tensions eased in 1858 and work on the temple resumed, it was discovered that many of the foundation stones had cracked, making them unsuitable for use. Although not all of the sandstone was replaced, the cracked blocks were replaced.
The walls are quartz monzonite (which has the appearance of granite) from Little Cottonwood Canyon, twenty miles (32 km) away. Oxen transported the quarried rock initially, but as the Transcontinental Railroad neared completion in 1869 the remaining stones were carried by rail at a much faster rate.
The capstone—the granite sphere that holds the statue of the Angel Moroni—was laid on the 6th. April 1892, by means of an electric motor and switch operated by Wilford Woodruff, the church's fourth president, thus completing work on the temple's exterior.
The Angel Moroni statue was placed on top of the capstone later the same day. At the capstone ceremony, Woodruff proposed the building's interior be finished within one year, which would allow the temple to be dedicated forty years to the day after its commencement.
John R. Winder oversaw the interior's completion on schedule; he served as a member of the temple presidency until his death in 1910. Woodruff dedicated the temple on the 6th. April 1893, exactly forty years after the cornerstone was laid.
The 2019 to 2025 Renovation
At the end of 2019, the temple was closed for a seismic retrofitting designed to allow it to withstand a magnitude 7.3 earthquake, the strongest expected magnitude in the Salt Lake Valley.
Other facilities on Temple Square (and certain parts of the main temple) were to be demolished, reconstructed, and modernized in line with seismic code. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems will be replaced.
Initially the interior and its historical artifacts were planned to be preserved, although plans were later changed and many historic elements were removed.
Prior to 2019, the building had never been decommissioned for renovation and only minor updating of finishes and systems had occurred within the temple proper (although multiple "annex" additions had been added and removed in the past).
This meant that the temple's core historic architecture, layout, and workmanship had been preserved for 126 years.
Before construction started, church leaders indicated that the temple's unique historicity would be preserved. Church employees stated that special efforts would be made to highlight and honor the pioneer craftsmanship, and indicated the interiors would essentially remain the same.
Various renderings were released showing the instruction rooms used for the endowment ceremony would remain intact, with the original layout, woodwork and murals being preserved.
In March 2021, the church announced significant changes to the renovation plan that affected many elements in the temple's historic interior. The progressive room-to-room live endowment ceremony would be removed, and the layout of the temple would change, with the baptistry being moved to the annex and new instruction rooms constructed in its place.
Other rooms and walls would be reconfigured, requiring the removal of the temple's murals. The murals and many other historic features of the building were photographed and otherwise documented before being permanently removed or destroyed. In December 2021, the church announced that renovations were expected to conclude in 2025.
These changes will allow for greater patron capacity, but the removal of many historic elements was met with criticism, especially the destruction of the temple's murals.
One prominent historian described the changes as a “huge and unnecessary loss,” and another noted them as a loss of “priceless cultural artifacts.”
Symbolism of the Temple
The Salt Lake Temple incorporates many symbolic adornments, including Masonic symbols. These symbols include the following:
-- The All-Seeing Eye – The center tower on each side has a depiction of the all-seeing eye of God representing how God sees all things.
-- The Angel Statue – The golden Angel Moroni statue, by sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin, tops the capstone of the temple. It symbolizes the angel mentioned in Revelation 14:6 that will come to welcome in the Second Coming of Christ. Early architectural plans showed two horizontally flying angels, and the earliest references to the Salt Lake Temple's angel were always Gabriel. The original blueprint drawings intended the angel to be wearing temple ceremonial clothing like the angel on the Nauvoo Temple, but Paris-trained sculptor Dallin's 12.5-foot statue wears a crown instead of a temple cap that included a bright light which created a halo effect at night. As a result of an earthquake on the 18th. March 2020, the statue's trumpet broke.
-- The Beehive – The beehive symbol (which appears on the Utah state seal) appears on external doors and doorknobs, and symbolizes the thrift, industry, perseverance, and order of the Mormon people.
-- The Big Dipper – On the west side of the temple the Big Dipper appears, which represents how the priesthood can help people find their way to heaven as the constellation helped travelers to find the North Star. The uppermost stars on the temple's constellation align with the actual North Star.
-- The Compass and Square – Early plan drawings of the temple show the Masonic arrangements of a compass and square placed around the second and fourth floor windows, but the plans were changed during construction. These symbols had appeared on the Nauvoo Temple weathervane.
-- The Clasped Hands – Above each external door and doorknob appears the "hand clasp," which is a representation of covenants that are made within temples or brotherly love.
-- Clouds – On the east side of the temple are "clouds raining down" representing the way God has continued revelation and still speaks to man "like the rains out of Heaven".
-- Earths – The Earthstones in the lower buttresses have been interpreted as the gospel of Christ spreading over the whole Earth.
-- Spires – The six spires of the temple represent the power of the priesthood. The three spires on the east side are a little higher than those on the west: they represent the Melchizedek, or "higher priesthood", and the Aaronic, or "preparatory priesthood" respectively. The three spires on the east side represent the church's First Presidency and the twelve smaller spires on those three represent the Twelve Apostles.
-- Sun, Moon, and Stars – Around the temple there are several carved stones depicting the Sun, Moon, and Stars which correspond respectively to the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial kingdoms of glory in the afterlife. The sunstones have also been interpreted to represent God, the moonstones in different phases as representing different phases of life, and the starstones representing Jesus Christ. These symbols were drawn from the Freemasonry practiced by many early church leaders in Nauvoo. Additionally, five-pointed stars have traditionally represented the five wounds of Christ (hands, feet, and side) and the five-pointed star with an elongated downward ray found on several LDS temples has been interpreted to represent Christ coming to Earth.
Incidents Associated With the Temple
-- Bombings
Two bombing incidents have damaged the temple. On the 10th. April 1910, a bomb at the nearby Hotel Utah (now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building) damaged the trumpet of the Moroni statue atop the temple.
On the 14th. November 1962, the southeast door of the Salt Lake Temple was bombed. FBI agents found that the explosive had been wrapped around the door handles on the temple's southeast entrance. The large wooden entrance doors were damaged by flying fragments of metal and glass. Damage to interior walls occurred 25 feet inside the temple, but damage to the interior was minor. Eleven exterior windows were shattered.
-- The 1999 Salt Lake City Tornado
The temple suffered damage in 1999 when a tornado rated F2 on the Fujita Scale struck Salt Lake City. A wedding taking place at the time allowed a photographer to record video of the tornado as it passed near the temple, forcing the wedding party to shelter against the temple doors and pillars for protection from the wind and debris.
They were not allowed inside to take shelter as the temple doors were locked. After being pelted with rain and hail, members of the wedding party surveyed the damage to the trees and surrounding buildings before resuming the ceremony.
-- The 2020 Salt Lake City Earthquake
On the morning of the 18th. March 2020, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck just outside Salt Lake City. Though most of the damage was outside the city, minor damage was inflicted on the temple.
The trumpet of the Angel Moroni on top of the temple's tallest spire was dislodged from the statue, and some stones from the smaller spires were displaced. No other damage to the temple was reported.
Note: this photo was published in an Apr 14, 2011 blog in the Swedish issue of Cosmopolitan, in a blog titled "Veckans singelövning – ta kontakt!"
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I have visited Rome's Piazza del Popolo on several occasions over the past 38 years, and have taken numerous photos there. As it turns out, most of my visits have been in the afternoon, and I have simply walked around the broad, open plaza to photograph whatever interesting sights and people presented themselves. (For photos from a morning visit, see Sunday morning at Piazza del Popolo, Nov 2009).
On this most recent visit in May 2010, I arrived on a Saturday morning and looked forward to another photographic expedition to the Piazza. But it rained most of the weekend, and the sun didn't come out until late Sunday afternoon. At that point, I strolled across the river from my hotel to the Piazza, taking a couple of pictures along the way. Unexpectedly, I found myself in the middle of a celebration marking the 158th anniversary of the creation of Rome's police department -- with displays of police cars and helicopters, politicians giving speeches, and music from a marching band. Indeed, I was surprised to hear the band playing "Stars and Stripes Forever" (the national march of the United States), along with a couple of other John Philip Sousa marches; it seemed out of place in the Eternal City.
In any case, I found lots of interesting photographs of people in the crowd that was wandering around. And I came back to Piazza del Popolo several days later, on a late Friday afternoon, after I had finished the computer lectures that brought me to Rome on this trip. The sun was out, the temperature was mild, and as usual, the piazza was filled with numerous tourists and students and children, older people out for an afternoon stroll, families, couples, and people coming and going to church services at nearby churches. There was even a soccer game underway on one side of the piazza, with hordes of young boys dashing about at full speed...
I took nearly a thousand photos during the two visits to Piazza del Popolo on this trip; these are the ones I felt were worthy of sharing ...
Afropunk, Fancy Dress Ball 2015
Friday August 21st, 2015
Commodore Barry Park
Brooklyn, New York
© 2015 LEROE24FOTOS.COM
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BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
I've had my second image published inside the May 2010 Edition of Popular Magazine.
Original image can be found here.
The diagrams are from my self-published Geometrical Origami book. I did some re-editing on the diagrams. I left some of the text, which were printed from a 9-dot printer in it's original state. The last diagram at the bottom is my recent modification to add in more slots to the Prism to accommodate "connectors" to join 2 or more Prisms. The "connector" is just simply a square paper but I use a rectangle and double it to form a square. The paper for the connector is 1/4 the size of that used for folding the prism. [not shown in the diagrams]. The original Prism when folded from Kami will show the reverse side of the paper on it's 2 triangular faces. The modification will expose more of the reverse side, in favour of more slots.
The Karel Havlíček Monument is an outdoor monument and sculpture by Joseph Strachovsky commemorating Karel Havlíček Borovský, installed in the median of East Solidarity Drive, in Chicago's Northerly Island, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The statue was created in 1911 and installed in 1983.
Karel Havlíček Borovský was a Czech writer, poet, critic, politician, journalist, and publisher.
He lived and studied at the gymnasium in Německý Brod (today Havlíčkův Brod, named after Borovský), and his house on the main square is today the Havlíček Museum. In 1838 he moved to Prague to study philosophy at Charles University and, influenced by the revolutionary atmosphere before the Revolutions of 1848, decided on the objective of becoming a patriotic writer. He devoted himself to studying Czech and literature. After graduating he began studying theology because he thought the best way to serve the nation would be as a priest. He was expelled after one year for "showing too little indication for spiritual ministry".
After failing to find a teacher's job in Bohemia, he left for Moscow to work as a tutor in a Russian teacher's family: with a recommendation by Pavel Josef Šafařík. He became a Russophile and a Pan-Slav, but after recognizing the true reality of the Russian society he took the pessimistic view that "Pan-Slavism is a great, attractive but feckless idea". His memories of the Russian stay were published first in magazines and then as a book Obrazy z Rus (Pictures from Russia).
He returned to Bohemia in 1844, aged 24 and used his writing skills to criticize the fashion of embracing anything written in the recently reborn Czech language. He specifically aimed at a novel by Josef Kajetán Tyl. In 1846 Havlíček attained a position as editor of the Pražské noviny newspaper with the help of František Palacký.
In April 1848 he changed the name of the newspaper to Národní noviny (National News) and it became one of the first newspapers of the Revolutionary-era Czech liberals, and one of the most influential publications of 1848–1849. Národní noviny became popular especially for his sharp-tongued epigrams and its wit. Havlíček was concerned with the preparations of the Slavic Congress in Prague. In July 1848 he was elected as a member of the Austrian Empire Constituent Assembly in Vienna and later in Kroměříž. He eventually relinquished his seat to focus on journalism.
Havlíček was a "liberal nationalist" politically, but refused to allow a "party line" to inform his opinions. Often, he would criticize those that agreed with him as much as those that disagreed. He excoriated revolutionaries for their radicalism, but also advocated ideas like universal suffrage—a concept altogether too radical for most of his fellow liberals. He was a pragmatist, and had little patience for those that spent their time romanticizing the Czech nationality without helping it achieve political or cultural independence. He used much of the space in his newspapers to educate the people on important issues—stressing areas like economics, which were sorely neglected by other nationalist writers.
The Bohemian revolution was defeated in March 1849 with the dissolution of the Kroměříž assembly, but Havlíček continued to criticize the new regime. He was brought to court for his criticism (there was no freedom of the press in the Habsburg's territory) but was found not guilty by a sympathetic jury. Národní noviny had to cease publication in January 1850, but Havlíček did not end his activities. In May 1850 he began publishing the magazine Slovan in Kutná Hora. The magazine was a target of censorship from the start. It had to stop publication in August 1851, and Havlíček stood again at the court to answer on charges of dissent. Again, he was found not guilty by a sympathetic jury of Czech commoners.
Havlíček translated and introduced some satirical and critical authors into the Czech language culture including Nikolai Gogol (1842) and Voltaire (1851).
In the night of 16 December 1851, he was arrested by the police and forced into exile in Brixen, Austria (present-day Italy).[2] He was depressed from the exile, but continued writing and wrote some of his best work: Tyrolské elegie (Tyrolean Elegies), Křest svatého Vladimíra (The Baptism of St. Vladimir) and Král Lávra (King Lavra, based on the legend of Labraid Loingsech).
When he returned from Brixen in 1855, he learned that his wife had died a few days earlier. Most of his former friends, afraid of the Bach system, stood aloof from him. Only a few publicly declared support for him.
In 1856, Havlíček died of tuberculosis, aged 35. Božena Němcová put a crown of thorns on his head in the coffin. His funeral was attended by about 5,000 Czechs.
In 1911, a monument was raised to Havlíček in Chicago by Czech residents of the city in Douglass Park. The bronze statue by Joseph Strachovsky was cast by V. Mašek in Prague and shows Havlicek in a revolutionary pose, dressed in a full military uniform and a draped cape with his outstretched arm motioning the viewer to join him. The statue was moved to Solidarity Drive on today's Museum Campus in the vicinity of the Adler Planetarium in 1981.
In 1918, the new Rifle Regiment of the 3rd division of Czechoslovak legions in Russia was named the "Karel Havlíček Borovský regiment"
In 1925, a biographical film was released.
In 1945, the 20 Czechoslovak koruna banknote bore Havlíček's portrait.
Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388 in the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, which is often colloquially called "Chicagoland".
Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but Chicago's population continued to grow. Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and architecture, such as the Chicago School, the development of the City Beautiful Movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper.
Chicago is an international hub for finance, culture, commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. It has the largest and most diverse derivatives market in the world, generating 20% of all volume in commodities and financial futures alone. O'Hare International Airport is routinely ranked among the world's top six busiest airports by passenger traffic, and the region is also the nation's railroad hub. The Chicago area has one of the highest gross domestic products (GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $689 billion in 2018. Chicago's economy is diverse, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce.
Chicago is a major tourist destination. Chicago's culture has contributed much to the visual arts, literature, film, theater, comedy (especially improvisational comedy), food, dance, and music (particularly jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop, gospel, and electronic dance music, including house music). Chicago is home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, while the Art Institute of Chicago provides an influential visual arts museum and art school. The Chicago area also hosts the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois Chicago, among other institutions of learning. Chicago has professional sports teams in each of the major professional leagues, including two Major League Baseball teams.
In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by the Potawatomi, an indigenous tribe who had succeeded the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples in this region.
The first known permanent settler in Chicago was trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African descent, perhaps born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), and established the settlement in the 1780s. He is commonly known as the "Founder of Chicago."
In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in the Northwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the U.S. for a military post by native tribes in accordance with the Treaty of Greenville. In 1803, the U.S. Army constructed Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed during the War of 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn by the Potawatomi before being later rebuilt.
After the War of 1812, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the 1833 Treaty of Chicago and sent west of the Mississippi River as part of the federal policy of Indian removal.
On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as Receiver of Public Monies. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837, and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city.
As the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago's first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1848. The canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River.
A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade (established 1848) listed the first-ever standardized "exchange-traded" forward contracts, which were called futures contracts.
In the 1850s, Chicago gained national political prominence as the home of Senator Stephen Douglas, the champion of the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the "popular sovereignty" approach to the issue of the spread of slavery. These issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage. Lincoln was nominated in Chicago for U.S. president at the 1860 Republican National Convention, which was held in a purpose-built auditorium called the Wigwam. He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for the American Civil War.
To accommodate rapid population growth and demand for better sanitation, the city improved its infrastructure. In February 1856, Chicago's Common Council approved Chesbrough's plan to build the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system. The project raised much of central Chicago to a new grade with the use of jackscrews for raising buildings. While elevating Chicago, and at first improving the city's health, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into the Chicago River, and subsequently into Lake Michigan, polluting the city's primary freshwater source.
The city responded by tunneling two miles (3.2 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs. In 1900, the problem of sewage contamination was largely resolved when the city completed a major engineering feat. It reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that the water flowed away from Lake Michigan rather than into it. This project began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was completed with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that connects to the Illinois River, which flows into the Mississippi River.
In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed an area about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, a large section of the city at the time. Much of the city, including railroads and stockyards, survived intact, and from the ruins of the previous wooden structures arose more modern constructions of steel and stone. These set a precedent for worldwide construction. During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed the world's first skyscraper in 1885, using steel-skeleton construction.
The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including the Hyde Park Township, which now comprises most of the South Side of Chicago and the far southeast of Chicago, and the Jefferson Township, which now makes up most of Chicago's Northwest Side. The desire to join the city was driven by municipal services that the city could provide its residents.
Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants from Europe and migrants from the Eastern United States. Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in the United States of foreign parentage. Germans, Irish, Poles, Swedes, and Czechs made up nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born population (by 1900, whites were 98.1% of the city's population).
Labor conflicts followed the industrial boom and the rapid expansion of the labor pool, including the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886, and in 1894 the Pullman Strike. Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor led Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr to found Hull House in 1889. Programs that were developed there became a model for the new field of social work.
During the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago attained national stature as the leader in the movement to improve public health. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics of cholera, smallpox, and yellow fever were both passed and enforced. These laws became templates for public health reform in other cities and states.
The city established many large, well-landscaped municipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities. The chief advocate for improving public health in Chicago was John H. Rauch, M.D. Rauch established a plan for Chicago's park system in 1866. He created Lincoln Park by closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Ten years later, he became the secretary and then the president of the first Illinois State Board of Health, which carried out most of its activities in Chicago.
In the 1800s, Chicago became the nation's railroad hub, and by 1910 over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals. In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North American time zones. This system for telling time spread throughout the continent.
In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influential world's fair in history. The University of Chicago, formerly at another location, moved to the same South Side location in 1892. The term "midway" for a fair or carnival referred originally to the Midway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects the Washington and Jackson Parks.
During World War I and the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from the Southern United States. Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903. This Great Migration had an immense cultural impact, called the Chicago Black Renaissance, part of the New Negro Movement, in art, literature, and music. Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as the Chicago race riot of 1919, also occurred.
The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 when Prohibition was repealed. The 1920s saw gangsters, including Al Capone, Dion O'Banion, Bugs Moran and Tony Accardo battle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during the Prohibition era. Chicago was the location of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran.
Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924, was called the Society for Human Rights. It produced the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom. Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband.
The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of the Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been a Democrat.
From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago. Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, with Unemployed Councils contributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 the Workers Alliance of America begun organizing the poor, workers, the unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed the Memorial Day massacre of 1937 in the neighborhood of East Side.
In 1933, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was fatally wounded in Miami, Florida, during a failed assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1933 and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting the Century of Progress International Exposition World's Fair. The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding.
During World War II, the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 – 1945, and more than Nazi Germany from 1943 – 1945.
The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in the second wave, as hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards.
On December 2, 1942, physicist Enrico Fermi conducted the world's first controlled nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. This led to the creation of the atomic bomb by the United States, which it used in World War II in 1945.
Mayor Richard J. Daley, a Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era of machine politics. In 1956, the city conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O'Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County.
By the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known as white flight – as Blacks continued to move beyond the Black Belt. While home loan discriminatory redlining against blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known as blockbusting, completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods. Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in the steel industry in Chicago, but the steel crisis of the 1970s and 1980s reduced this number to just 28,000 in 2015. In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Raby led the Chicago Freedom Movement, which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders.
Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention, which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside the convention hall, with anti-war protesters, journalists and bystanders being beaten by police. Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower, which in 1974 became the world's tallest building), University of Illinois at Chicago, McCormick Place, and O'Hare International Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure. In 1979, Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected. She was notable for temporarily moving into the crime-ridden Cabrini-Green housing project and for leading Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis.
In 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods. He was re‑elected in 1987 but died of a heart attack soon after. Washington was succeeded by 6th ward alderperson Eugene Sawyer, who was elected by the Chicago City Council and served until a special election.
Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives for sustainable development, as well as closing Meigs Field in the middle of the night and destroying the runways. After successfully running for re-election five times, and becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley declined to run for a seventh term.
In 1992, a construction accident near the Kinzie Street Bridge produced a breach connecting the Chicago River to a tunnel below, which was part of an abandoned freight tunnel system extending throughout the downtown Loop district. The tunnels filled with 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m3) of water, affecting buildings throughout the district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power. The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were estimated at $1.95 billion.
On February 23, 2011, Rahm Emanuel, a former White House Chief of Staff and member of the House of Representatives, won the mayoral election. Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015. Lori Lightfoot, the city's first African American woman mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor, was elected to succeed Emanuel as mayor in 2019. All three city-wide elective offices were held by women (and women of color) for the first time in Chicago history: in addition to Lightfoot, the city clerk was Anna Valencia and the city treasurer was Melissa Conyears-Ervin.
On May 15, 2023, Brandon Johnson assumed office as the 57th mayor of Chicago.
Illinois is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Great Lakes to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash and Ohio rivers to its south. Its largest metropolitan areas are Chicago and the Metro East region of Greater St. Louis. Other metropolitan areas include Peoria and Rockford, as well as Springfield, its capital, and Champaign-Urbana, home to the main campus of the state's flagship university. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth-largest population, and the 25th-largest land area.
Illinois has a highly diverse economy, with the global city of Chicago in the northeast, major industrial and agricultural hubs in the north and center, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south. Owing to its central location and favorable geography, the state is a major transportation hub: the Port of Chicago has access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway and to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River via the Illinois Waterway. Chicago has been the nation's railroad hub since the 1860s, and its O'Hare International Airport has been among the world's busiest airports for decades. Illinois has long been considered a microcosm of the United States and a bellwether in American culture, exemplified by the phrase Will it play in Peoria?.
Present-day Illinois was inhabited by various indigenous cultures for thousands of years, including the advanced civilization centered in the Cahokia region. The French were the first Europeans to arrive, settling near the Mississippi and Illinois River in the 17th century in the region they called Illinois Country, as part of the sprawling colony of New France. Following U.S. independence in 1783, American settlers began arriving from Kentucky via the Ohio River, and the population grew from south to north. Illinois was part of the United States' oldest territory, the Northwest Territory, and in 1818 it achieved statehood. The Erie Canal brought increased commercial activity in the Great Lakes, and the small settlement of Chicago became one of the fastest growing cities in the world, benefiting from its location as one of the few natural harbors in southwestern Lake Michigan. The invention of the self-scouring steel plow by Illinoisan John Deere turned the state's rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmland, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. In the mid-19th century, the Illinois and Michigan Canal and a sprawling railroad network greatly facilitated trade, commerce, and settlement, making the state a transportation hub for the nation.
By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Illinois became one of America's most industrialized states and remains a major manufacturing center. The Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans, particularly in Chicago, who founded the city's famous jazz and blues cultures. Chicago became a leading cultural, economic, and population center and is today one of the world's major commercial centers; its metropolitan area, informally referred to as Chicagoland, holds about 65% of the state's 12.8 million residents.
Two World Heritage Sites are in Illinois, the ancient Cahokia Mounds, and part of the Wright architecture site. Major centers of learning include the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, and Northwestern University. A wide variety of protected areas seek to conserve Illinois' natural and cultural resources. Historically, three U.S. presidents have been elected while residents of Illinois: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Barack Obama; additionally, Ronald Reagan was born and raised in the state. Illinois honors Lincoln with its official state slogan Land of Lincoln. The state is the site of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield and the future home of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.