Batman makes the cover of the Yale Alumni Magazine
“Yes: the Dark Knight went to Yale.” That is the verdict of the Yale Alumni Magazine. Inspired by our “Superheroes in Court!” exhibit, the magazine devoted the cover and three articles in its March/April 2011 issue to Batman’s J.D. from the Yale Law School, set out in our exhibit and here in the Yale Law Library Rare Books Blog (by far the most-viewed post in the history of our blog, with over 7,000 views as of today).
The issue contains three articles on the Caped Crusader and Yale:
- In “Holy Eli, Batman!”, graphic artist Chip Kidd examines the evidence. He discards the Yale connections from the 1960s television show as “meaningless,” especially for “true Bat-geeks” who despise the campy show for turning their hero into “the ultimate costumed laughingstock.” However, he accepts the diploma on Bruce Wayne’s office wall at face value, and concludes that Yale’s emphasis on community service is entirely consistent with Batman’s role as “an urban steward.”
- Kathryn Day Lassila ‘81, the editor of the Yale Alumni Magazine, tracked down and interviewed the artist who drew the Yale Law School diploma in “Why Batman Went to Yale.”
- My Law Library colleague Fred Shapiro, a regular contributor to the Yale Alumni Magazine, reviews memorable Batman quotations in “Bruce Wayne’s Verbal Legacy.”
The credit for discovering Batman’s Yale Law School diploma goes to the Hon. Mark Dwyer, Judge of the Court of Claims (Supreme Court of the State of New York) and a 1975 graduate of the Yale Law School. Dwyer himself credits a fellow law student for showing him the comic, and acknowledges the help of William Lee Frost, Yale Law 1951.
MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian
