Michael Uslan
From Open Encyclopedia
Michael Uslan is the originator of the Batman movies and was the first professor to teach "Comic Book Folklore" at an accredited university.
Life with Comics
Michael Uslan was an avid comic book collector when he was younger and currently boasts a collection that contains the second Batman comic and the first Superman comic. After Uslan graduated from Indiana University–Bloomington School of Law and after repeated attempts to break into the film industry by sending off resumés, Uslan became a professor at IU–B. When challenged by the Dean about the nature of his course, Uslan received approval to teach his comic book folklore class by having the Dean recall the beginning of Superman and then pointing out that the Dean just recited the story of Moses.
Uslan won fame for his comic book class by anonymously calling the local newspapers and when a reporter got on the phone, Uslan shouted, "There is a comic book class at IU! What Communist is responsible for this garbage?!," and then hanging up. Uslan had a reporter in his classroom everyday until the semester ended. The press lead to some phone calls by Ang Lee and eventually lead to a job offer with D.C. Comics.
Batman
Uslan envisioned a dark Batman, not the sort of Batman that came from the "funny books," reflected by Adam West. Uslan's Batman is disturbed. He does not fight bad guys because he is a hero and that is what hero's do; rather, Uslan's perception of Batman was that Batman sought vengence on those that commit crime. This vengence came from the death of Bruce Wayne's parents as the result of a gun point robbery.
When Uslan initially pitched the idea to producers, he was turned down. The justification from producers was that Annie was based on a comic book, and it did not have much success in the box office. Uslan's legacy may be that he showed the world that not all "funny books" are merely two dimensional.
