To be clear— Glen Weldon is not arguing that Batman and Robin are gay or should be a couple. But while the article is fairly light and tongue-in-cheek, the book delves into the subject a little bit more deeply and I wanted to add a few passages from the book as supplementary material. I think I put myself in the position of Robin. It is only the rarest of precociously self-actualized gay kid who ever gets as far as imagining himself getting his freaky pubescent relations on with the Caped Crusader. But for most gay kids, especially in this era of American history, any confusing attraction they may have felt toward Batman stayed exactly that— an interest that seemed to well up from some deep place below the stomach, a blunt, preverbal ache. Wertham combined the case studies of two young men— who, it turns out, were engaged in a relationship with one another.

D C Comics' announcement that a high-profile superhero is about to come out — a response to Marvel's "gay wedding" story — has stirred up a lot of gossip, with one name repeatedly put forward, and regularly dismissed. Batman, gay? To some critics, it's entirely fitting. To some fans, it's slander.

Gay interpretations have been part of the academic study of the Batman franchise at least since psychiatrist Fredric Wertham asserted in his book Seduction of the Innocent that "Batman stories are psychologically homosexual". Wertham, as well as parodies , fans , and other independent parties, have interpreted Batman and his sidekick Robin Dick Grayson as gay or in a relationship with each other. DC Comics has never indicated Batman or any of his male allies to be gay , but several characters in the Modern Age Batman comic books are expressly gay, lesbian , or bisexual. The early Golden Age Batman stories were dark and violent, but during the late s and the early s they changed to a softer, friendlier and more exotic style, that was considered " campy ".