Before Superman, we only had crimefighters, like The Phantom, and various Ace Rimmer type space heroes.
Batman probably comes from that tradition.
(
_Felix 's school of dance and occult sciences,
Fri 2 Apr 2010, 23:13,
archived)
Of course
Have you seen the price of honey?
(
littlefish I like cheese,
Fri 2 Apr 2010, 23:15,
archived)