Batman and Robin - the Drag-namic Duo
By Brittany Rose
Because Batman has no super powers, he has to rely on every possible
natural ability. He possesses a photographic memory, the physical
abilities of a gymnast, boxer, weightlifter and decathlon champion
combined, and deductive skills on the level of Sherlock Holmes.
He is also a master of disguise.
Although Batman and Robin have frequently used disguises, including
drag, in the comic books, the peak of crossdressing for the Dynamic
Duo came in a Batman newspaper strip that ran from 1943-1946.
DC Comics recently reissued them in a four volume set, with all
of the following examples from Volume 3 and from the Sunday Classics
volume.
Robin Has a Ball
In "A Change of Costume" (Feb-Mar 1946) Batman and
Robin are trying to locate the villain Slugger Kaye. Batman obtains
an invitation to a masquerade ball whose invited guests include
"some of the toughest and most lawless characters in Gotham
City," with the hopes of identifying and capturing Slugger.
However, Robin is very unhappy to learn that it is a 'couples
only' event, and that he will be attending as Marie Antoinette.
Meanwhile, Slugger Kaye, a big-time ladies man, will be escorting
Hammerlock Hilda, a fairly unattractive overbearing woman, to
throw off anyone looking for him. "Any guy with Hammerlock
Hilda couldn't be Slugger Kaye." The big night arrives and
Alfred thinks Robin looks cute, which almost gets him punched.
Of course, when they get to the ball, several hoods fall for
"Marie" including the unrecognized Slugger Kaye. Robin
continues to protest, but winds up dancing with, you guessed it,
Slugger. The now jealous Hilda, not realizing that she was just
part of Slugger's disguise for the night, takes offense and punches
the "baby-faced hussy." This puts the chivalrous Robin
in a bind, since he can't hit a woman. However, her next swipe
dislodges his wig, and Slugger, watching, realizes it's Batman
and Robin. They fight and Robin takes care of Hilda by holding
out his fist as she runs into it. In order for our heroes to
escape with Slugger, Robin dons the wig once more and tries to
distract a couple of hoods with his feminine charms, but to no
avail. "Last guy you was with never come back from that
balcony!" Finally, they go over the fire escape to safety.
A couple of notes - in those days Robin's age was roughly 12,
which certainly would make him a baby face for the hoods to be
hitting on! Also his costume - an ornate gown - is notable in
two ways, the extremely tall wig, and the surprisingly large,
low chest. Poor kid, he obviously had to borrow his breast forms
from Batman!
Batman Assumes an "Astonishing Disguise"
Batman made use of those forms himself in "Acquitted by
Iceberg" which ran in August and September of that same year.
The plot involves an unethical defense lawyer, nicknamed Iceberg,
who has never lost a murder case. He commits murder himself and
frames a friend, partly because of his attraction to his friend's
wife. So how does Batman find out if the wife is in on it? By
disguising himself as the wife, of course! He puts on a fairly
plain outfit, with a veil and gloves. He is fully padded with
the aforementioned breast forms and wears what can only be the
corset from Hell. By comparing pictures it looks like it takes
off maybe a dozen inches! I'm impressed he could breathe, let
alone move! (Of course, it could be just another feature of his
utility belt. Apparently, as we see in a later panel, he's wearing
his uniform under his female attire.)
Anyway, he shows up at the lawyer's house, but before he gets
very far, a large dog jumps on him, knocking his veil and wig
off. The lawyer's response? "Batman! It couldn't be anyone
else!" (Yes, that would've been my first guess, too.) Then
in traditional villain fashion, instead of shooting him, he ties
Batman up, still in the woman's suit, sics the dog on him, then
leaves. Batman escapes (Surprise!) and captures the villain.
Catwoman plays dress-up too!
The remaining crossdressing scenario comes in the Sunday strip
"Catwoman's Grasshopper Chase" (Apr-June 1946), featuring
Robin as a little girl, and a couple of F to M turns by Catwoman.
Catwoman decides to ruin Batman's reputation by announcing a
cross country trip, daring Batman to catch her. She introduces
herself to potential backers disguised as an old farmer (click for panel). After
one narrow escape, the trail leads to a riverboat cruise. Robin
is disguised as Lulu Belle, a "mischievous little girl"
with Batman as her father. After Lulu Belle checks out all the
women on the ship, Batman finally unmasks Catwoman who is disguised
as a young man.
The giveaway? That curse of comic book crossdressers
- the Adam's apple, or lack thereof. Interestingly, after all
the protests in his previous female outing, Robin only says at
first, "How I hate this outfit, Batman," then seems
to enjoy himself the rest of the time.
Bonus: Joker does drag!
Finally, as a bonus, the Joker himself once got into the crossdressing
act. In Batman #321, we are treated to a brief sequence where
Robin stops to help a Damsel in Distress (click here for panels) only to discover it's
the Joker in a mask.
These aren't the only times our heroes crossdressed, and we'll
look at some others another time. But if there is a 5th
Batman movie, we certainly have a plot twist to hope for!
If you know of any examples of crossdressing in comics, no matter how insignificant, or if you have any comments on any of my other columns -- past, present or future -- write me at BrittTV@aol.com.
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