BAT 77 - My 70s Batman Childhood has been revamped with a slightly new name: BAT 77 - The 70s Batman Podcast. This week I begin my series of reviews and discussions of the 1970s run of Batman and Detective Comics.
With this phase of the podcast, I hope to discover what aspects of the character we know and love originated during this decade, how much these stories have dated, and how they still hold up today. I hope you will join me on this journey by listening or subscribing to the podcast.
In each episode, I will give a brief summary of the comic story prior to my review for the benefit of those who don't have these issues (either physically or virtually).
This week I begin my journey with...
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TITLE: One Bullet Too Many
PUBLISHING DATE: December 1969
CREDITS: Frank Robbins (story) Irv Novick & Dick Giordano (art) Neal Adams (cover art)
As for Batman's coloring, I think that may have been due to the limited printing options of the time. Batman was originally supposed to be black with blue highlights. Spider-Man was originally supposed to be black and red. As you get into the 70s, you'll probably notice the coloring getting less, well colorful, for lack of a better term I think comics went to cheaper paper and the coloring doesn't pop as much. Check the covers to Detective 369 and Batman Family 2. Even though it is the same illustration, the colors pop more on the Detective cover.
As for the story, it is ok, but you can tell Robbins, Schwartz and company are still finding their footing. I think there may have been a plan to see how stories worked with more Bruce Wayne and less Batman around the time, because there are several other issues that have a lot more Bruce than Batman. My main complaint with this one is that after Batman figures out who the murder is he gets the cops to make the arrest. I think we all want to see Batman in action and capturing the criminals himself.
Even prior to this issue, there were also a few issues that were more-or-less Batman solos, as if DC were checking to see how fans would react to a Robin-less Batman.
I think that with the end of the Adam West series in '68, and the sales of the Batman books taking a major hit from the high point of being the #1 selling character in '66 (even over Superman for the first time ever, and that wouldn't happen again until '89, and wouldn't become common until I think, the mid '90s-- I could be wrong), the people at DC Comics (National Periodical Publications back then) had to take a good long look at Batman, and see what worked, and what didn't.
The camp phase was done, and the Editors of the Batman line of books back then, Julius 'Julie' Schwartz and Murray Boltinoff, had to work on getting Batman back to being popular with kids and older readers, along with the older readers, since the older group grew up or got access to reading the first year of Batman's stories from Detective Comics (Volume 1) 27-37 (1939-1940) and that older group demanded to see 'the weird avenger of the night' again, without a sidekick to be found. And when Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams teamed up to do Detective Comics #395, "The Secret Of The Waiting Graves," the way to make Batman a moody, atmospheric, Dark Knight Detective was born, and Batman would never be the same.
Adams was already drawing a darker Batman in Brave & the Bold. One reason I hate that he "updated" his art for his collections is it deprives modern readers the opportunity to see how his Batman developed in B&B. It was good training for him, as his Batman continued to improve, and he was ready to hit the ground running in Secret of the Waiting Graves....one of my favorite Batman issues ever!
Adams has said he asked Julius Schwartz to draw Batman in one of the main titles and Schwartz turned him down, so he went to Murray Boltinoff, who but him on Brave & the Bold. Adams also said that Schwartz may have have hired him because DC still had a contract with Bob Kane at the time. Denny O'Neil has said he was offered Batman during the camp era and turned it down.
gothosmansion wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:14 am
As for Batman's coloring, I think that may have been due to the limited printing options of the time. Batman was originally supposed to be black with blue highlights. Spider-Man was originally supposed to be black and red. As you get into the 70s, you'll probably notice the coloring getting less, well colorful, for lack of a better term I think comics went to cheaper paper and the coloring doesn't pop as much. Check the covers to Detective 369 and Batman Family 2. Even though it is the same illustration, the colors pop more on the Detective cover.
Okay, let's see...
Looking at the the two covers, it helps that on the Detective cover the background art is darker and that the figures are partially highlighted in white around the edges to indicate they are being lit from above. Though what was with the white shadows on the Detective cover I have no idea. Robin on the Batman Family cover looks like a goth kid compared to the tanned Robin on the Detective cover. And instead of shading the shadows, they eliminated them, so it kinda looks like they're floating in space. Although I do prefer the darker blue of Batman's outfit on the Batman Family cover - it's a bit darker, and without the white highlight the edge of the cape looks almost all black.
