Batman's Iconography

The first few issues of Batman are an interesting mix of characteristics that we generally associate with the character and other details that seem very much out of place. Batman is established as the vigilante of the night and we at least have the beginnings of the technology that he is now associated with. For the most part I could see the building blocks for what the character has become. However, in other instances there were details that seemed out of place. Most prominently I found myself distracted by the fact that Batman (in full costume) would jump in his red sports car as a means of transportation. The juxtaposition between the character that was being developed and his mode of transportation seemed absurd to the point where it was humorous. On a side note I was also surprised that the Bat-plane was introduced before the Bat-mobile. The initial issues of Batman offer a general framework for the progression of the character but are void of much of the defining details that we now associate with the Dark Knight.