Batman comic book cover gallery

1966 TV show type Bat-Items found on eBay, Collectibles, etc.

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SprangFan
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by SprangFan »

This one fascinated/haunted me when I saw it (just the cover) in "Batman: From the 30s to the 70s." Last year I finally got to read the story in "Showcase Presents: Batman Vol 6" and it's dull as dishwater, but the cover still gives me the heebie jeebies.

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"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
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gothosmansion
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by gothosmansion »

Sprangfan,

I read my comics for escapism, so the political leanings of Green Lantern/Green Arrow is another reason I've avoided it.

I don't remember any complaints about McFarlane's faces at the time. In fact, a lot of guys thought his MJ was very pretty, although I always preferred Romita's version of her. As for Ditko, I wonder if he could have drawn "prettier" if he wanted to. If you look back at Gwen's first appearance in ASM 31, she is very pretty...obviously not as pretty as she was when Romita drew her. I like Ditko's more "everyman" Peter Parker than the more glamorous Romita version. I recall reading both Stan Lee and John Romita stating that Lee complained to Romita that his Parker was too handsome. Stan Lee jokingly said that Romita's big secret is that he can't draw "ugly."

My problem with a lot of the 1990s artists was that they seemed to be overly concerned with their style and sometimes they really couldn't tell a story and it was hard to follow what was supposed to be going on. I've also seen the complaints that Liefeld couldn't draw feet...and that reminded me of something I read long ago. She-Hulk was drawn barefoot at the beginning, and when she joined the Avengers, the decision was made to put her in boots so the artist wouldn't have to draw her feet. I'm not an artist myself, but I've read that feet are really hard to draw. I really don't like Liefeld"s work on anything that I've seen.

Oh, and on Batman Year Two, I think parts 2 and 3 were inked by Alfredo Alcala and he may have "fixed" some of McFarlane's faces. I liked the way McFarlane drew Batman's cape.

I love that Neal Adams cover that you posted, but the story was far from Frank Robbins's finest hour.

BatmiteReturns

Your software seems to do a good job. Don't worry about the punctuation or grammar, etc. We seem to have a bunch of nice folks posting on here and I think everybody just wants to have fun admiring and sharing some of the great Batman covers. Like the cover you posted. I can't really think of any of Infantino's covers that I didn't like. Speaking of, his last cover for Batman was one of my favorites. In addition, we get a look at some other great DC covers from around that time, including a nice Wonder Woman by Irv Novick and a Superman by Curt Swan.

Batman 199 from February 1968.
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BatmiteReturns
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by BatmiteReturns »

Hello, the Dragon software allows me to cut-and-paste which is really useful for sharing links.

I always love me some Bat-mite

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gothosmansion
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

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Batmite Returns,

I didn't live near a comic book shop when I was a kid, but occasionally found old Batman comics at a second hand book store. I don't have that issue that you posted, but first encountered the cover story in a Batman Annual I found there. That is a fun one.

Since you've mentioned your fondness for Bat-Mite, I thought I would feature this fairly recent cover with him and the Bat-Family character that I can never resist: the Barbara Gordon Batgirl. Cover is from DC's Brave & the Bold TV comic, which I normally didn't collect and got this one strictly for Batgirl. The issue itself may be a throwback to the 1970s Filmation series, where Adam West and Burt Ward provided the voices for Batman and Robin. Bat-Mite always had a crush on Batgirl on it. She's always been my "comic book crush" too.

I think this is the most recent comic featured so far.

Brave & the Bold (4th series) 16 April 2012. Cover art by Rick Burchett and Dan Davis
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SprangFan
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by SprangFan »

@BatMite Returns:

I love Bat-Mite's publicity campaign for Batwoman! Because of course when people see a magical imp wearing a Batman costume and riding through the city on the back of a masked dog, the part they'll remember is who he was holding a picture of! LOL
"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
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BATWINGED HORNET
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

SprangFan wrote:The O'Neill/Adams GL/GA series is fun if you don't mind your comics being turned into political tracts, and characters being distorted and altered in the service of making a "point."
Distorted? DC had already walked--eyes wide open--into sociopolitical material even in the DC character-driven 1 page PSAs many years before, where subjects such as racism, welcoming foreigners, and general messages of tolerance were actively served up to generations of DC readers.

That tradition continued. For a couple of examples, by 1970, the Teen titans took on a pacifistic stand (and the troubles that caused) after inadvertently causing the death of philanthropist Dr. Arthur Swenson, not to mention other social issues that were being explored in the title.

In Batman #230 ("Take Over of Paradise!" from 1971), Batman dealt not only with an African American gang he was trying to set on the right path, but goes to their aid as they used violence to protest an unwanted housing project. Social and political issues were there--they just took a greater position in DC stories at the time, and readers responded, as they were not content with yet another "will Lois marry Superman" type of story that had been replayed to death long before the dawn of the 1960s.

The Adams/O'Neil GL/GA stories are still celebrated because their message was insightful, and frankly, they are still relevant today. Issues of racism, overpopulation, corrupt politicians have not faded away, and are far worse in some cases. Lets not forget Marvel was already politicizing their stories in the mid 60s - forward, so it was part of the natural course of comics, not some sort of aberration.

Covers....

Batman #329 (July, 1964) by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson.

Image

The "New Look" was only three issues old at this point, proven by the reference still selling it on the cover. The Infantino / Anderson partnership had not yet reached its zenith of unforgettable covers and licensing art, as the composition here is a little rough, but its still eye-caching and an example of how much energy and story Infantino could bring to a cover.
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Golddragon71
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

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@ Gothos Mansion, That is actually the only 1960's Batman comic I own (I got it at a small local comic convention in 1989)
I have a sizable chunk from the late 70's-early 80's but the bulk of my collection is from 87-present)
This is the issue I started seriously reading Batman with in '89 (about two months after the Death of Robin)
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(all the Batman related comics I'd get (older than /newer than) all were added after this issue)
"Someone might be able to substitute for Batman, for a very short time, but no one could ever replace him!"
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gothosmansion
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by gothosmansion »

Golddragon,

Welcome to the thread. Hope to see more posts from you. I had a subscription back when that issue was released and remember loving that cover when I pulled it out of the brown wrapper. (Ugh, hate thinking back about how poorly protected those subscription comics were.) Pratt is another artist that I wish had done more Bat-work.

If you don't mind me asking, what got you into Batman around that time? I'm always curious what led to fans' "discovery" of the character.

Batwingedhornet,

I can't really think of an Infantino cover that I didn't like, but that is another one where I discovered the story somewhere besides its original printing. I believe I first read it in a treasury, but I bought the treasury on eBay since even it predated my entrance into comics.

Another great, moody Neal Adams piece from me. Batman 221 May 1970. I don't recall ever seeing this one on a "best" cover list, either...I guess maybe it is because Batman has his back to the viewer. Still, what I like about this one is the cover looks almost like the villains think they are tracking Batman, but he is really getting ready to pounce on them.
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BATWINGED HORNET
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

gothosmansion wrote: Batwingedhornet,

I can't really think of an Infantino cover that I didn't like, but that is another one where I discovered the story somewhere besides its original printing. I believe I first read it in a treasury, but I bought the treasury on eBay since even it predated my entrance into comics.
Trying to remember which treasury reprinted that story....
Another great, moody Neal Adams piece from me. Batman 221 May 1970. I don't recall ever seeing this one on a "best" cover list, either...I guess maybe it is because Batman has his back to the viewer. Still, what I like about this one is the cover looks almost like the villains think they are tracking Batman, but he is really getting ready to pounce on them.
Adams is one of the few Batman artists with a near 100% perfect record with covers. I cannot recall a single issue where he did not take the Bat-characters in great directions.
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gothosmansion
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by gothosmansion »

BATWINGED HORNET wrote:
gothosmansion wrote: Batwingedhornet,

I can't really think of an Infantino cover that I didn't like, but that is another one where I discovered the story somewhere besides its original printing. I believe I first read it in a treasury, but I bought the treasury on eBay since even it predated my entrance into comics.
Trying to remember which treasury reprinted that story....
Please forgive the watermark on this one, but my scanner isn't big enough for treasuries. It was reprinted in C-44. This one:
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gothosmansion
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by gothosmansion »

This is my most recent purchase. I bought a set containing Man-Bat 1 &2 (the entire series.) Mainly, I wanted the first issue because I believe it is the only time Batman was drawn by Spider-Man co-creator, Steve Ditko. The cover is credited to Jim Aparo, although, while the image of Man-Bat and the woman are definitely by him, the Batman looks like it was partially by someone else. The Batman figure has some Aparo characteristics, but his face doesn't look like an Aparo Batman face.
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Golddragon71
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by Golddragon71 »

Gothosmansion. It was really two things...
First, the Death of Robin (Jason Todd) The first I had heard of A Death in The Family was on the radio on my way to school. The announcer explainedd that is was a second Robin and NOT the original dick Grayson version that was being killed off. (until that point I had been off the Bat-Radar for almost ten years so I was really unaware of the Bat-family's various changes....I didn't learn about The Killing Joke until I read the Death in the Family trade paperback a few months later)
The second factor was the (then) upcoming Movie with Keaton and Nicholson. I knew there was a lot of skepticism regarding "mr. Mom" playing the Caped Crusader (I hadn't made the shift to Dark Knight Yet) but I also knew that despite this, this movie would be as big a movie to me in 89 as Superman the Movie was Ten (or so) years earlier.
As a result of these two events i went on a full Batman centric tear that saw me scramble to collect as much Bat-merchandise as i could lay my hands on.
The funny thing was that when i picked up the comic adaptation to the Movie, I was actually disappointed because i had grown so used to the styles of Jim Aparo and Norm Breyfogle, I thought one of them should have drawn the book instead of Jerry Ordway. (Nowadays I laugh at the idea of anyone else ever drawing it as well as Mr. Ordway)
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gothosmansion
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by gothosmansion »

Golddragon,

I think Ordway probably did a better job of capturing the likenesses of the actors than Aparo or Breyfogle would have. I saw a Superman the movie piece Ordway did in, I think, Comics Scene magazine. I believe he had just done the artwork for his own enjoyment and it was beautiful and really captured the likenesses of the actors from the film well. I wish that Ordway had done more Bat-work, but I believe he mentioned in the article that Superman was his favorite character, so he probably put more love into his Superman artwork and I'm glad we got to see his work there.

That is not to slight Aparo and Breyfogle, both of whom are among my favorite Bat-artists. I first encountered Aparo around 1977, when I started purchasing comics as a very young boy and immediately fell in love with his work. I didn't really see any of his very early stuff until Deathmask was reprinted in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told and was shocked that his early 70s stuff was even better than his later work...and I really liked his later work. If you get the chance to pick up Aparo's early Brave & the Bolds, I highly recommend them, although Bob Haney's writing isn't for everyone. I love how weird Haney's stories get, and here is one of his weirdest...with Jim Aparo himself being featured on the cover. In it, the villains from the story try to kill Aparo before he can finish drawing it, so they won't be captured in the story.

Brave & the Bold 124 from January 1976.
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BATWINGED HORNET
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

gothosmansion, thank you for posting the cover to C-44. It remains one of the great pieces of Batman art. From its origins as an Infantino line art pin-up in 1966, to this painted version (allegedly hanging in the DC offices until its use as the C-44 cover in 1976), it projects his great mid-60s look, with the perfect moodiness of a nighttime city scape behind him--sort of the sentry of a dark city--an idea that would be routinely exploited in the decades to come, but it works to an amazing level with the 1960s Batman.

The next cover is from The Brave and the Bold #80 (October/November, 1968)--another eye-opening Neal Adams cover, unafraid of extreme angles or having multiple points of attention--

Image

Although Batman's mask was still sporting short ears in 1968 (like the then-recently cancelled Dozier version and the new Filmation cartoon), this was such a realistic departure for the character--particularly with the addition of The Creeper.
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gothosmansion
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Re: Batman comic book cover gallery

Post by gothosmansion »

Batwingedhornet,

That same Batman painting was used on the Best of DC Digest #2, which was the first place I saw it.

Thanks for the Neal Adams B&B covers. As his B&B work progressed, you could see that Adams was getting better and better at drawing Batman. I really love that cover.

Here is another great B&B cover by Jim Aparo. Brave and Bold 118 from April 1975.
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