The first Batmobile (click for source)
by Sam Hurcom
This week was fairly momentous… well for me anyway. After several months of tinkering with electrics, a small amount of bodywork and some heavy duty welding performed by a nice man in a garage, I got my car back on the road! Anyone who owns a classic will know what it feels like to cruise about in an automobile a little out of time – turning heads often gives you that sense that you’re behind the wheel of something rather special. It’s a great feeling, especially during those rare moments when you’re actually on the road and not pulled over at the side of it, waiting for a recovery vehicle to tow you away.
This week was fairly momentous… well for me anyway. After several months of tinkering with electrics, a small amount of bodywork and some heavy duty welding performed by a nice man in a garage, I got my car back on the road! Anyone who owns a classic will know what it feels like to cruise about in an automobile a little out of time – turning heads often gives you that sense that you’re behind the wheel of something rather special. It’s a great feeling, especially during those rare moments when you’re actually on the road and not pulled over at the side of it, waiting for a recovery vehicle to tow you away.
The Batmobile (click for source)
It’s fair to say I’ve had my mind on cars quite a lot this week, which led me to thinking: what are the top comic book cars of all time?
This led to a great deal of head scratching when I realised I couldn’t name many (excluding the bleeding obvious, which we’ll get to in a little bit). You see, there’s a hell of a lot of cars in comics. Like real ones; Gunsmith Cats and the recent Starlight series both feature 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500s, Wangan Midnight has more Japanese and European performance sports cars than the original Gran Turismo game (the star of the whole comic is a demonic Datsun 240Z!*) and even Reggie showed up once on the cover of Archie in a bright red Studebaker Avanti.
But the thing is, these are all just cars. Superb cars in many cases, highly stylised, top performance cars, plastered across the bedroom walls of petrol heads the world over. But still, just cars. In the world of comic books, unless your automobile has gadgets spewing out the wazoo and a carburettor hand chiselled from the remains of an ancient cosmic, super powered, semi-mythical crystal orb, it isn’t really worth its weight in scrap metal.
See what I was thinking of were the comic book cars befitting the ranks of mighty superheroes we all know and love so well. Cars not just for trundling from A to B or doing your weekly shopping, but literally vehicles designed to halt the despicable schemes of evil super villains and their immense legions of well-equipped henchmen. I’m not talking about any old thing, I’m thinking cars that are purpose built for saving the universe!
I’m saying this in advance… I really struggled with this one. When it comes to awesome futuristic, super hi-tech cars in popular culture, comics are seriously letting the side down. Any suggestions would be extremely appreciated at this time. Here’s what I’ve got so far…
THE AFOREMENTIONED BLEEDING OBVIOUS – THE BATMOBILE
It had to come up at some point so we might as well get it out the way – by far and away the most famous vehicle ever to hit the pages of super hero comics. The Batmobile first appeared in Detective Comics #27 way back in 1939. Back then, it wasn’t exactly bat looking - the original design was actually based of a 1937 Cord 812. Very pretty, it has to be said, but hardly equipped for the modern day perils of Batsy and crew. It wasn’t even called the Batmobile, that name got tagged on a few years later in Detective Comics #48 (1941). The original vehicle was extremely powerful however, equipped with a super charged engine and a reinforced front end for smashing through gangsters hideouts. It wasn’t really until 1943 or so that a recognisable Batmobile was introduced, with Batman #20 (1944) providing the first ever Batmobile inspired front cover.
The Batmobile still hadn’t quite come into its own then, and it wasn’t till the 1960s and a certain Adam West driving around town in a certain Iconic, black and red stripped Lincoln Futura knock off, that Batmobiles started rolling off the production lines, fully equipped with almost innumerable bat gadgets and enough bullet proof armour to protect the entire British Army.
Since then there have been many, many iconic vehicles under the Batmobile guise. We all have our favourites – mine is the 1989 Batman movie beast that featured a jet engine intake sticking out the front and more curves than Kim Kardashian sat on the bonnet of an Alfa Romeo Disco Volante. The thing looks bloody awesome and hasn’t aged in the slightest. Darn sight more practical than that stupid Bat Tank Tumblr thingy from the Chris Nolan movies as well!
This led to a great deal of head scratching when I realised I couldn’t name many (excluding the bleeding obvious, which we’ll get to in a little bit). You see, there’s a hell of a lot of cars in comics. Like real ones; Gunsmith Cats and the recent Starlight series both feature 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500s, Wangan Midnight has more Japanese and European performance sports cars than the original Gran Turismo game (the star of the whole comic is a demonic Datsun 240Z!*) and even Reggie showed up once on the cover of Archie in a bright red Studebaker Avanti.
But the thing is, these are all just cars. Superb cars in many cases, highly stylised, top performance cars, plastered across the bedroom walls of petrol heads the world over. But still, just cars. In the world of comic books, unless your automobile has gadgets spewing out the wazoo and a carburettor hand chiselled from the remains of an ancient cosmic, super powered, semi-mythical crystal orb, it isn’t really worth its weight in scrap metal.
See what I was thinking of were the comic book cars befitting the ranks of mighty superheroes we all know and love so well. Cars not just for trundling from A to B or doing your weekly shopping, but literally vehicles designed to halt the despicable schemes of evil super villains and their immense legions of well-equipped henchmen. I’m not talking about any old thing, I’m thinking cars that are purpose built for saving the universe!
I’m saying this in advance… I really struggled with this one. When it comes to awesome futuristic, super hi-tech cars in popular culture, comics are seriously letting the side down. Any suggestions would be extremely appreciated at this time. Here’s what I’ve got so far…
THE AFOREMENTIONED BLEEDING OBVIOUS – THE BATMOBILE
It had to come up at some point so we might as well get it out the way – by far and away the most famous vehicle ever to hit the pages of super hero comics. The Batmobile first appeared in Detective Comics #27 way back in 1939. Back then, it wasn’t exactly bat looking - the original design was actually based of a 1937 Cord 812. Very pretty, it has to be said, but hardly equipped for the modern day perils of Batsy and crew. It wasn’t even called the Batmobile, that name got tagged on a few years later in Detective Comics #48 (1941). The original vehicle was extremely powerful however, equipped with a super charged engine and a reinforced front end for smashing through gangsters hideouts. It wasn’t really until 1943 or so that a recognisable Batmobile was introduced, with Batman #20 (1944) providing the first ever Batmobile inspired front cover.
The Batmobile still hadn’t quite come into its own then, and it wasn’t till the 1960s and a certain Adam West driving around town in a certain Iconic, black and red stripped Lincoln Futura knock off, that Batmobiles started rolling off the production lines, fully equipped with almost innumerable bat gadgets and enough bullet proof armour to protect the entire British Army.
Since then there have been many, many iconic vehicles under the Batmobile guise. We all have our favourites – mine is the 1989 Batman movie beast that featured a jet engine intake sticking out the front and more curves than Kim Kardashian sat on the bonnet of an Alfa Romeo Disco Volante. The thing looks bloody awesome and hasn’t aged in the slightest. Darn sight more practical than that stupid Bat Tank Tumblr thingy from the Chris Nolan movies as well!
S.H.I.E.L.D Flying Car (click for source)
A CAR THAT’S MORE LIKE A PLANE - S.H.I.E.L.D FLYING CAR
Let’s be honest, Nick Fury spends more time blasting around the skies in this thing than he does actually driving on the road. It is however a road legal car, originally based on the Porsche 904. There’s also been a Boxter version, and an Aston Martin Vanquish, and a few classic American lookalikes. The flying car can actually do a lot more than just that, boasting armour plating against strong energy blasts, the ability to climb to 50,000 feet and dive into the depths of the ocean. It even comes with 10 hours of oxygen, so if you do find yourself broken down on a lay by just north of Atlantis, you don’t need to worry too much.
The S.H.I.E.L.D flying car is hardly equipped for the offensive though and wouldn’t be that great in a dogfight. Also, Nick Fury driving to the moon in Original Sin #1 was sort of taking the proverbial. It may be good, but that’s quite a commute – even with the falling price of petrol that’s a big expenses bill to submit to the S.H.I.E.L.D accounting team.
ANOTHER CAR THAT ISN’T REALLY A CAR – THE FF’S FANTASTICAR
Not that much different to the S.H.E.I.L.D flying car, except it can only travel to 30,000 feet and has a transparent bullet proof cover in case of angry Hydra agents. The Fantasticar is seldom held as one of pop culture’s great vehicles which seems a bit odd to me. I mean the thing can be split into four individual flying parts – that’s quite handy if you have more than one baddie to chase after.
As much as the two Fox movies weren’t highly celebrated, I thought their take on the Fantasticar was simply superb. I mean look at it! It’s soooo pretty! And it wasn’t a Porsche, which makes it ten thousand times more appealing than the S.H.E.I.L.D. variant.
Let’s be honest, Nick Fury spends more time blasting around the skies in this thing than he does actually driving on the road. It is however a road legal car, originally based on the Porsche 904. There’s also been a Boxter version, and an Aston Martin Vanquish, and a few classic American lookalikes. The flying car can actually do a lot more than just that, boasting armour plating against strong energy blasts, the ability to climb to 50,000 feet and dive into the depths of the ocean. It even comes with 10 hours of oxygen, so if you do find yourself broken down on a lay by just north of Atlantis, you don’t need to worry too much.
The S.H.I.E.L.D flying car is hardly equipped for the offensive though and wouldn’t be that great in a dogfight. Also, Nick Fury driving to the moon in Original Sin #1 was sort of taking the proverbial. It may be good, but that’s quite a commute – even with the falling price of petrol that’s a big expenses bill to submit to the S.H.I.E.L.D accounting team.
ANOTHER CAR THAT ISN’T REALLY A CAR – THE FF’S FANTASTICAR
Not that much different to the S.H.E.I.L.D flying car, except it can only travel to 30,000 feet and has a transparent bullet proof cover in case of angry Hydra agents. The Fantasticar is seldom held as one of pop culture’s great vehicles which seems a bit odd to me. I mean the thing can be split into four individual flying parts – that’s quite handy if you have more than one baddie to chase after.
As much as the two Fox movies weren’t highly celebrated, I thought their take on the Fantasticar was simply superb. I mean look at it! It’s soooo pretty! And it wasn’t a Porsche, which makes it ten thousand times more appealing than the S.H.E.I.L.D. variant.
The Fantasticar (click for source)
The problem is, I can’t think of many more comic book cars that live up to the likes of… well the Batmobile (the last two Marvel cars were simply add ons to show I had put some thought into this article!). I mean the Green Hornet’s Black Beauty… that’s more of a TV car that’s appeared in comics, rather than a fully-fledged comic book creation. Same with the Walking Dead’s Hyundai death zombie truck thing that’s been launched recently.
It seems in a world of near limitless super powers, heroic characters just don’t need cars to get about. Which sort of makes sense when you think about it. I mean Superman owning a Chrysler would be sort of pointless in light of his faster than a speeding bullet trick. And Spidey wouldn’t really be Spidey if he showed up on the scene in a Toyota Prius all the time (though he did have a Dune Buggy thing at one time, which we aren’t going to delve into here!).
I mean, if I’ve missed anything obvious, feel free to comment angrily below, but in this case I think it’s fair to say, the greatest cars in pop culture history haven’t come from the world of comics. Except the bloody Batmobile, which is probably the greatest car of all time. Well, aside from Marty Mcfly’s DeLorean, and Bond’s DB5, that is.
It seems in a world of near limitless super powers, heroic characters just don’t need cars to get about. Which sort of makes sense when you think about it. I mean Superman owning a Chrysler would be sort of pointless in light of his faster than a speeding bullet trick. And Spidey wouldn’t really be Spidey if he showed up on the scene in a Toyota Prius all the time (though he did have a Dune Buggy thing at one time, which we aren’t going to delve into here!).
I mean, if I’ve missed anything obvious, feel free to comment angrily below, but in this case I think it’s fair to say, the greatest cars in pop culture history haven’t come from the world of comics. Except the bloody Batmobile, which is probably the greatest car of all time. Well, aside from Marty Mcfly’s DeLorean, and Bond’s DB5, that is.
RSS Feed
