Bat-Mite
Bat-Mite, as appeared on the cover of World's Finest Comics #113 (November 1960), art by Curt Swan.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceDetective Comics #267 (May 1959)
Created byBill Finger (writer)
Sheldon Moldoff (artist)
In-story information
SpeciesFifth Dimensional Imp (Zrfffian)
Place of originFifth Dimension
Team affiliationsJustice League of Mites
Supporting character ofBatman
Abilities

Bat-Mite is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Bat-Mite is an imp similar to the Superman villain Mister Mxyzptlk. Depicted as a small, childlike man in an ill-fitting copy of Batman's costume, Bat-Mite possesses what appear to be near-infinite magical powers, but he actually uses highly advanced technology from the fifth dimension that cannot be understood by humans' limited three-dimensional views. Unlike Mxyzptlk, Bat-Mite idolizes his superhero target and thus he has visited Batman on various occasions, often setting up strange and ridiculous events so that he could see his hero in action. Bat-Mite is more of a nuisance than a supervillain, and often departs of his own accord upon realizing that he has angered his idol.[1]

Publication history

Bat-Mite made his first appearance in Detective Comics #267 (May 1959) in a story titled "Batman Meets Bat-Mite" written by Bill Finger, with art by Sheldon Moldoff.[2]

Bat-Mite was retired from the comic in 1964, when editor Julius Schwartz instituted a "New Look" Batman that shed some of the sillier elements in the series.[3]

Fictional character history

Pre-Crisis

Cover to Detective Comics #267 (May 1959), the first appearance of Bat-Mite, art by Curt Swan.

Bat-Mite regularly appeared in Batman, Detective Comics, and World's Finest Comics for five years. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk teamed up four times in the pages of World's Finest Comics to plague Superman and Batman together, as well.[4] In 1964, however, when the Batman titles were revamped under new editor Julius Schwartz, Bat-Mite vanished along with other members of the Batman extended family, such as Batwoman, Bat-Girl, and Ace the Bat-Hound.

After this, only three more Bat-Mite stories were published in the Pre-Crisis DC Universe: two more Bat-Mite/Mr. Mxyzptlk team ups in World's Finest Comics #152 (August 1965) and #169 (September 1967) (which were not edited by Schwartz, but by Mort Weisinger),[5] and "Bat-Mite's New York Adventure" from Detective Comics #482 (February–March 1979), in which the imp visits the DC Comics offices and insists that he be given his own feature in a Batman comic. This story featured protestors with picket signs shouting "We want Bat-Mite!" outside the Tishman Building (where DC's editorial offices were located at the time), and was accompanied by an editorial comment that this story was published specifically to acknowledge the actual requests of fans for this character's revival.

Later Bat-Mite appeared in a one-page story in The Brave and the Bold #200.

Post-Crisis

After the continuity-changing 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths was published, Bat-Mite was mostly removed from the Batman comics canon.[6] Bat-Mite made an appearance in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #38, although he may have been the hallucination of a drug-addled criminal named Bob Overdog. This comic states that Bat-Mite is one of the many admirers of superheroes from another dimension. This version of Bat-Mite later returned in Batman: Mitefall — A Legends of the Dark Mite Special, a one-shot book which was both part of, and a parody of, the Batman storyline Knightfall (with Overdog briefly in the Jean-Paul Valley role). In #6 of the 1999 Batman and Superman: World's Finest miniseries, Mr. Mxyzptlk encounters Bat-Mite, shortly after being mistaken for him by Overdog. While in this story, the Post-Crisis Bat-Mite encounters Batman for the first time, Superman and Batman subsequently concluded that Mxyzptlk had created him, inspired by Overdog's ravings.

Bat-Mite also appeared in the 2000 one-shot Elseworlds comic special World's Funnest, in which he battles Mr. Mxyzptlk, destroying the Pre-Crisis multiverse and the Post-Crisis DC Universe, as well as the Elseworlds of Kingdom Come, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and the DC Animated Universe. As an Elseworlds story itself, World's Funnest has no impact on continuity, as inferred from The Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come being introduced to the official DC multiverse as a result of the maxiseries 52.[7]

Apart from World's Funnest, there has been no direct connection between Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk. In the Bizarro Comics anthology, Mxyzptlk's native Fifth Dimension seemed to include beings similar to Bat-Mite and Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt. Neither of these comics are considered canonical, but in a Justice League/Justice Society of America crossover in Justice League and in Justice Society of America #78–80 it was revealed that both Mxyzptlk and Thunderbolt come from the Fifth Dimension. Letter columns and writer interviews suggest that Bat-Mite comes from there as well, although this has never been shown thus far in the comic stories themselves.

In the post-crisis issue of Superman/Batman #25, it was revealed that the Joker had gained fifth-dimensional powers by maintaining the essence of Mr. Mxyzptlk from the earlier "Emperor Joker" storyline; at the end, Bizarro was able to extract this latent magical essence from the Joker, which manifested in a form recognizable as Bat-Mite. As such, a Bat-Mite has been fully reestablished into the current continuity as an outgrowth of Mr. Mxyzptlk, incubated within the Joker.[8]

The first Post-Infinite Crisis appearance of Bat-Mite was in Batman #672, written by Grant Morrison.[9] Batman is confronted with Bat-Mite (or "Might") after being shot in the chest and suffering a heart attack. Might, who bears a green insectoid creature on his back, claims to have come from "Space B at the Fivefold Expansion of Zrfff"[10] (at times, Zrfff has been used as the name of Mr. Mxyzptlk's home planet in the Fifth Dimension). Only Batman sees him. As Batman is having an increasingly difficult time keeping his grip on reality during this period, it is possible that Mite is a mental delusion.

In Batman #678, after Batman transforms himself into "the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh", Might reappears on the last page with him, commenting "uh-oh" regarding Batman's increasing delusions. He then counsels the Zur-En-Arrh Batman, a 'back-up' personality manufactured by Bruce himself to keep Batman able to fight in case he was mindwiped, or driven to insanity. Batman #680 reveals that Might is indeed a product of Batman's imagination, representing the last vestiges of Batman's rational mind within the Zur-En-Arrh Batman, although when asked by Batman whether he is an extra-dimensional being or a figment of his imagination, Bat-Mite responds that "the Fifth Dimension is imagination".[11]

In Superman/Batman #52, Bat-Mite appears, having had a bet with Mr. Mxyzptlk similar to that of World's Funnest. This Bat-Mite appears to admire Batman, and Batman addresses him with familiarity.[12]

The New 52

Bat-Mite appeared in a self-titled six-issue miniseries which lasted from June[13] to November 2015.

Powers and abilities

Bat-Mite has powers and skills identical to that of Mister Mxyzptlk (but not his weaknesses), such as the ability to manipulate spacetime. He has access to various bat-weapons like his hero, Batman.[14]

Publications

2015 series

  • Bat-Mite (2016-02-17): Includes Bat-Mite #1-6 and a sneak peek story from Convergence: Supergirl: Matrix #2.[15]

In other media

Television

Bat-Mite, Batman, and Robin from The New Adventures of Batman.

Video games

Reception

In Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives, Matt Yockey writes, "Bat-Mite pointedly represents the intersection of utopia and trauma in the superhero genre and he signals that the mastery over trauma is an essential step toward realizing a utopian ideal. His home in the 'fifth dimension' and his magical powers locate Bat-Mite in the utopian realm, yet he turns to Batman as his ideal, suggesting that contact with trauma is in fact indispensable to the expression of a utopian desire."[19]

References

  1. ↑ Beatty, Scott (2008). "Bat-Mite". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The DC Comics Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1.
  2. ↑ Detective Comics #267 (DC, 1937 Series) at the Grand Comics Database
  3. ↑ Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 167–169. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  4. ↑ Fleisher, Michael L. (1976). The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume 1: Batman. Macmillan Publishing Co. pp. 134–140. ISBN 0-02-538700-6. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  5. ↑ Greenberger, Robert; Pasko, Martin (2010). The Essential Superman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-345-50108-0.
  6. ↑ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; et al. (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  7. ↑ Ross, Alex (2003). The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0375422409.
  8. ↑ Superman/Batman #25 (May 1, 2006)
  9. ↑ Batman #672 (February 2008)
  10. ↑ Batman #674 (April 2008)
  11. ↑ Batman #680 (October 2008)
  12. ↑ Superman/Batman #52 (October 2008)
  13. ↑ "DC Entertainment Announces New Books, New Creators, Broader Focus for the DC Universe". dccomics.com (Press release). February 6, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  14. ↑ Bat-Mite Vol. 1 #1-6 (August 2015-January 2016)
  15. ↑ "BAT-MITE". Archived from the original on 2017-04-09. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  16. ↑ "A History of Batman on TV". IGN. Archived from the original on 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  17. ↑ "The New Adventures of Batman". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  18. ↑ "Batman: Brave and the Bold features Wii/DS connectivity". Engadget. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  19. ↑ Yockey, Matt (2021). "The Golden Age: Batman". Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives. De Gruyter. p. 326. ISBN 9783110446968. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
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