My Trip to VCU and Gothom

Me at VCU

I wrote last time about how I am working on my “batman paper,” to help in this endeavor I recently visited Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia.  They are home to a large comic book collection and it is open to the public.  Their staff was super helpful with helping me find sources for my paper.  Unfortunately the archive was under some construction so I did not get to see their display cases but I was allowed to use this really cool scanner that I could send pictures of Batman to my email for future study. 

Batman's first Batmobile

"Sources!"

The Bat-gyro and Bat-arang

Batman Marketing

"Is it a bird?"

Hard at work

The Scanner

The Reading room

Me in front of the Library

Photo op!

Fighting Nazis

Batman in World War II

I am still researching for my paper but I believe I am closer to a thesis.  I would like to focus in on Batman’s impact on American culture during the Second World War.  This was a time where a lot of popular culture and media were used to support the war effort, advertising for war bonds and stamps.  Batman, like other superheroes and detectives in comic books and movies of the era would remind readers the importance for buying war stamps and being a “good American.”  I look forward to delving deeper into my topic and possibly returning to VCU for more research.