Although the summer of 1989 featured the release of movie favorites like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, Lethal Weapon 2, Parenthood, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (hey, it has its fans!), the real star of the season was Tim Burton’s Batman. While subsequent Batflicks have shone a light on the film’s problems — i.e. Jack Nicholson’s hammy Joker and the lamest Commissioner Gordon ever featured on screen — there’s no denying that back in ’89 Batmania was everywhere. For this week’s Flashback Friday, check out some vintage news reports that show how crazy everyone was with Batman making his motion picture debut. It will take you back in time to an era before Chris Nolan came to Gotham City and before “Martha” ever made fanboys wince. Depending on how your feel about the Batfilms of the past decade, this may or may not be a good thing…
