Comics stars land at Superheroes in Gotham exhibit

Superheroes fly into the New York Historical Society for a Superheroes in Gotham exhibit in the city. The costumes, comic books and sketches of Superman, Batman, Captain America, Spider-Man and more showcase how they got their start in New York in the 1930s, and developed into a cultural phenomenon.

"This is an exhibition that really traces the roots of the superhero to New York's own history, it's in all respects a very New York story, but it's also an American story because America really pioneered the concept of someone who had super heroic powers to address evil, whatever the evil might have been that was befalling human beings at the time," said president of the New York Historical Society Louise Mirrer on 7 October.

"And actually we became quite interested in the story of superheroes as a result of an exhibition on World War Two in New York in which Superman played a really outsized role because he was fighting Nazism and from there really, to be able to read all over again New York history and to understand how vital superheroes have been in the popular imagination to really understanding how sometimes we just need superhuman powers to address an evil that befalls us."

Visitors to the museum will see a Batmobile from the 1960s Batman television series. "The extraordinary pieces in the exhibition I would say range from the way, way out there visible Batmobile, which is an incredible artifact, one of the three from the 1966 television show, with all the bells and whistles and really gives you a deep and visceral appreciation of what the Batmobile meant to millions of people who watched that television show at the time and thought about Batman and the capacity for a vehicle to really accomplish great feats," said Mirrer.

Also featured in the gallery is cartoonist Mort Gerberg's Batman doodles inside a childhood Hebrew School book. "One of my favourites is a Hebrew book owned by Mort Gerberg, who is at the New Yorker and who has done wonderful comics over a long period of time for the New Yorker," said Mirrer.

"Way back, when he was studying in Hebrew school, he doodled on his Hebrew book and that really enables us to show how important the idea of crafting comics were to a really great illustrator, way back when and how it all started for him," he added.

Comic book and superhero fans can enjoy Superheroes in Gotham until 21 February.