Batman Returns!

I haven't yet seen the new Batman movie, but I can discern a few items of interest based on the reviews and ad campaign. So let's tick off a few items of trivia...

Batman was created by Bob Kane in 1938. It doesn't take a genius to see the antecedents to the Batman character: a rich playboy living in a castle-like mansion who dons a special suit and uses his superior athletic ability to protect the innocent. His origins go back at least as far as the medieval romances when knights-errant enforced the king's peace and meted out instant justice. More immediate precedents no doubt in Bob Kane's mind were Zorro (aristocratic vigilante, cave for a hideout) and the Shadow; both were pulp characters who coexisted alongside Batman for many years before slipping in popularity. Later Batman writers have found ways to incorporate some of these influences directly into the Batman legend.

Several Batman writers, notably the cantankerous Frank Miller, paid homage to Zorro with certain details surrounding the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents. This version of the story has the Wayne family returning home from an art-house showing of Tyrone Powers' Mark of Zorro when they are stopped by a thug who shoots them dead in his botched robbery.

The League of Shadows, and their monastery-like training fortress in Tibet are references to the Shadow. The Shadow was a character who enjoyed widespread popularity in pulp magazines, radio theater, and movie matinee serials. There was a late '90's movie starring Alec Baldwin that tried to breathe life back into the character. Despite hewing close to the source material, it failed terribly:

Lamont Cranston was a bored millionaire playboy who sought excitement by traveling the world. His adventures sunk him lower and lower into the depths of decadence and corruption until he settled into life as an opium warlord named Ying Ko on the Chinese frontier with the Tibetan Himalayas. His wastrel ways brought him to the attention of the Paladins of Shambala, who plucked him from his den of sin, showed him the error of his ways, trained him, and then returned Lamont Cranston to New York City as the Shadow. This cloaked vigilante manipulated a network of informers and agents to uncover crime before dealing justice on evildoers from the barrels of his matched-set of Colt .45 M1911's.

Shambala had its origins in Indian myth and was a hidden city of the Himalayas where the secret guardians of mankind dwelt. Shangra-La was also based on this legend, and the citadel of the League of Shadows recalls this ancient myth.

It should be said: there are no ninjas in Tibet.

First, the plural of "ninja" is "ninja," not "ninjas."

Second, the ninja and their secret fighting art of ninjutsu are the peculiar products of the history and place of Japan. Like nearly all combat arts, ninjutsu has similar analogs elsewhere in the world. So while their may be "ninja-like" groups in China (who may, or may not, have been called "Lin Kuei") or Korea ("Sulsa"), there are no Chinese Ninja or Korean Ninja. There were certainly no Tibetan Ninja. (Ok, maybe they moved to Tibet.)

In fact, the only ninja I know who's even been to Tibet is this guy. Maybe some others have vacationed there, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. There are ninja in the most unlikely places -- now.

One of the reasons Stephen Hayes went to Tibet -- aside from his interest in esoteric Buddhism -- was to interview the handful of surviving Tibetan warrior monks who held off invading Chinese troops in the 1950's and allowed the Dalai Lama to escape. Yes, I'm serious. Tibetan Warrior Monks. (I don't have much information on them. Let me look around. Maybe I'll post on them when I have more. But in any event, they weren't ninja.) Steve's other Tibetan connection is his friendship with the Dalai Lama. Steve and some of his advanced students have served as the Dalai Lama's close protection detail on several visits to the United States. (Apparently, there is or was some international diplomatic protocol that doesn't allow Secret Service or the State Department's Diplomatic Security protection of the Lama.)

So ninja have protected Tibetan holy men.

But there are still no ninjas in Tibet.