Bat-Signal across Comics, Film & Games
Source and Significance Blog Post - 3
Suddenly a gigantic cone of light pierces the dusk of day and etches an eerie symbol against a black cloudâthe silhouette of a giant bat -Detective Comics #60 (1942), DC Comics.
When we covered intertextuality in the lecture, the first thing that hit me was Batman. Iâve read, watched, and played this world across comics, films, the animated series, and the Arkham gamesâso the motif that surfaced immediately was the Bat-Signal. A single image switches Gotham on in our headsâGordonâs pact, city in crisis, vigilante en route. Each appearance cites the rest: intertext at a glance.
Inside the franchise: it instantly loads the Gordon - Batman pact and Gothamâs âalways-in-crisisâ state.
As a genre cue: itâs superhero shorthand - vigilante justice, a public call to action, a night-time civic ritual.
When flipped: deconstructions land (villains hijack it, cops smash/cover it) because we already know the default meaning the lamp usually carries.
Why the Bat-Signal travels so well
Transmedia (Jenkins): the same icon shows up in comics, films, TV, games even marketing but each medium does something different with it.
Hyperdiegesis (Hills): the lamp hints at a bigger, mostly unseen Gotham system - who ordered it, who maintains it, police politics, street rumours , so the world feels deep and consistent.
Comics: panel-filling punctuationâthe visual contract between city and vigilante.
Film: sound + orchestration + scale turn a light into spectacle or dread.
TV/Animation (BTAS): a Deco mood machineâthe signal as timeless noir atmosphere.
Games (Arkham): symbol â mechanic (waypoint, mission gate, a landmark you can glide to).
Paratext/Marketing: a one-shot brand key that onboards the world instantly.
I started with the comics. In Detective Comics #60 (Feb 1942), the Bat-Signal is basically a public summons that makes the Gordon - Batman partnership official. That becomes the template everyone else quotes. Even in The Killing Joke, when the lamp isn't on the page, that "lawful call" idea sits in the background and makes Joker's attacks feel like a violation of the pact. Then in The Batman Who Laughs, the symbol gets corrupted-the bat reads as predation, not protection. That flip only works because we all know the original meaning. So, for me, comics set the contract that later media keep echoing or breaking.
When I checked the cartoons, format really mattered. The Adventures of Batman often uses the Bat-Phone for quick cheap summoning, and saves the Signal for big skyline shots - classic TV economics. In Under the Red Hood, the lamp pops up as a clean citywide punctuation mark whenever the story needs that public Gordon-Batman alignment. Batman Ninja shows how the idea travels: even without a modern searchlight, flags, moons and silhouettes stand in for the Signal. Animation's superpower here is ritual and mood - music, timing, fog, and framing make the light feel like a civic ceremony.
Onscreen, I saw three clear phases. In Burton's Batman, Batman basically gives the device to the police, and that emblem becomes the brand for years. Nolan changes the origin-Gordon builds the lamp in Begins, then in The Dark Knight they use it like a bluff: sometimes it's lit even if Batman won't show, to spook criminals. It's smashed and later rebuilt in Rises, turning hardware into a symbol of hope. Reeves' The Batman pushes it further-the opening makes the Signal feel like a citywide fear broadcast. Film adds sound, scale, and editing, so the same icon can play as spectacle, policy, or dread.
when the symbol becomes something I can utilize In the games, the intertext becomes interaction. Arkham Asylum proves you can feel âBatmanâ through systems - glide, grapple, detective vision - even if the lamp is just background. In Arkham City, the Signal becomes a waypoint/landmark - you literally aim or glide toward it. Arkham Knight keeps it as a hub icon on GCPDâs roof while the weather and lighting make the skyline feel alive. Big takeaway for me: games turn the Bat-Signal from a sign you recognise into a tool you use, which is why itâs such a strong transmedia hinge across the whole franchise.
Close reading
When rewatching Nolan's trilogy, I noticed how the Bat-Signal shifts from a simple call into a citywide pressure system. In Batman Begins, that rooftop scene frames the lamp as infrastructure-Gordon literally builds it, so it feels like a sanctioned, civic tool. In The Dark Knight, Gordon sometimes lights it even when Batman won't show. That turns the signal into a bluff: criminals can't know the odds, so the uncertainty itself works as deterrence. When the lamp is smashed later, you can feel that pressure vanish. By The Dark Knight Rises, rebuilding it reads as public reassurance-the pact is back. For me, Nolan's "realism" doesn't kill the myth; it puts the symbol to work.
With The Batman, 2022, it means something else again-from bluff to ambient dread. The film opens like a diary: rain, street crime, and that line "I am the shadows." Cross-cutting and sound make the whole city feel like a threat field. The signal isn't just "meet me on the roof" it conditions behaviour across Gotham. Film tools-heavy sound, slow tempo, watchful framing-make that deterrent felt moment to moment. So whereas Nolan's lamp plays probability, Reeves' lamp bathes mood. So it upscales the icon from summons to climate of thought, the city breathes in and out.
Tracking the lamp across media made the lectureâs point concrete: intertextuality is how worlds cohere; transmedia is how they extend. Recognition (the emblem in clouds) carries the entry cost ,variation (owner, function, tone) is where meaning shifts. Compared with last weekâs medium-specificity focus, this isnât about tools shaping form so much as shared signs shaping expectation.
Kristeva, J. (1986) âWord, Dialogue and Novelâ, in Moi, T. (ed.) The Kristeva Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 34â61.
Jenkins, H. (2007) âTransmedia Storytelling 101â. Available at: https://henryjenkins.org (Accessed: 12 November 2025).
Hills, M. (2002) Fan Cultures. London: Routledge.
DC Comics (1942) Detective Comics #60. New York: DC Comics.
Timm, B. and Radomski, E. (1992â1995) Batman: The Animated Series [TV series]. USA: Warner Bros.
Nolan, C. (2005; 2008; 2012) Batman Begins; The Dark Knight; The Dark Knight Rises [films]. USA: Warner Bros.
Reeves, M. (2022) The Batman [film]. USA: Warner Bros.
Rocksteady Studios (2011) Batman: Arkham City [video game]. London: Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
