Batman comic book cover gallery

[SprangFan]

Ha! Fun idea, gothosmansion. I love the classic DC comic concept of what constitutes "irony." (If I had a nickel for every time that word was used in Silver Age Superman comics, I could afford Action Comics #1!)

I do have kids, and we're going camping this weekend, so this one seems apropos:

[gothosmansion]

That WF cover reminded me....I forgot all about the Super Sons. I guess I could have used them.

I didn't live near a comics shop growing up but occasionally a second hand bookstore in town would get some old comics. This is one that I picked up there, and was one of three issues I was lucky to get in the same day that all marked the first comics I owned that were older than I was. Batman Annual 7 from 1964. The issue reprinted the first of the imaginary stories where Batman and Batwoman were married and their son became Robin, while Dick was Batman. See the bottom right corner. These were also the first Ace the Bathound stories I read. Even though there isn't a father on it, per se, I also included the famous back cover.

[BATWINGED HORNET]

Ha! Fun idea, gothosmansion. I love the classic DC comic concept of what constitutes "irony." (If I had a nickel for every time that word was used in Silver Age Superman comics, I could afford Action Comics #1!)

I do have kids, and we're going camping this weekend, so this one seems apropos:

I always found the World's Finest "sons" stories sort of odd/silly due to the conceit that if Superman & Batman ever had kids / potential successors, they would be boys, the same age, and be junior clones of their fathers. Oh, and this would not be first or last WF cover showing the heroes wearing their costumes--even while taking a break!

Fun days for that title!

[gothosmansion]

If I recall, all of the Super Sons stories but the last one were written by Bob Haney....and let's be honest, he did much weirder things.

Here is my final Father's day post for this year and probably that favorite Father/Daughter pairing of all us Bat-Fans. (Well, I guess some may prefer Ra's Al Ghul and Talia, but I forgot about them until looking as something else the other day.) Commissioner Gordon with his daughter, Barbara, aka Bagirl.

Actually, my favorite Father Themed cover is Amazing Spider-Man #124, which I first encountered as the Power Records Book and Record set "Mark of the Man-Wolf." For some reason, the dialogue on the cover always makes me laugh.

[chrisbcritter]

Hmm... seems like all the true comic book aficionados are on this thread, so... could any of you help with my question about when this Batman story originally appeared?

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4804

Thanks!

[gothosmansion]

Hmm... seems like all the true comic book aficionados are on this thread, so... could any of you help with my question about when this Batman story originally appeared?

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4804

Thanks!

Can you give me a timeframe on when the issue appeared or when you read it? It sounds vaguely familiar, but when you've read so many, sometimes they run together. My consecutive issue Batman run starts with 142, which was in 1961. My consecutive Detective run starts with 363, but I have reprints, via Showcase, of 327 up. I have probably 30-40 issues before that. I know a lot of people on here have collections that go back further than mine. If it was from the 1950s, I probably won't have the story unless it has been reprinted.

[chrisbcritter]

I'm sure I read it in the late '60s; early '70s at the latest. I never bought comics but my younger brothers did; might have even been one of my friends' copy. I do remember the guy was blindfolded when he was brought to the Batcave, and wondering why they didn't use Bat-Sleep on him instead, so it would have to be after the series began.

[TP-6597]

Favorite Batman comic book covers? Sure, just as soon as I pick my favorite Beatles song and favorite Spielberg film.

I can't imagine where to begin, how to even explain what moves me, the style I like, favorite artists, etc, so I'll just start with two of my favorites (there will be many more).

I suppose if I had to come up with a description of the style I like, it would be somewhat traditional with a touch of aggressive or unpolished. I mean that in reference to the style of the artwork itself, not the character. Without getting too verbose, I'll start with two that really work for me.

This may be my favorite comicbook artwork of all time. This perfectly captures how I see Batman & Robin. They're a little rough around the edges, as is the artwork. It's a wonderful take on the Batman & Robin caught in a spotlight style that's been around for decades.

Norm Breyfogle, Batman #465



This is another great piece. It's a variant cover for The New 52, Batman # 1. The artist is Ken Lashley. It was issued along with the WB studio tour for the 75th anniversary of Batman. Again, the rough or aggressive style but still the traditional Batman.
For me, the utility belt draws me in. It's Batman as he's always been, wearing what he's always worn.

Ken Lashley does a lot of Superman work for DC. I wish he did more Batman.

[TP-6597]

A fantastic piece by José Luis García-López who created the DC Comics Style Guide, which is still being used. This is The Untold Legend of the Batman. The story was released as part of a special three-edition series in 1980. This is the third.
Impossible to quantify all that Mr. García-López has done for Batman through the years, but this is certainly one of my favorites of his.

[Mr.Freeze]

Ra's al Ghul 45 (Batman #232)

[gothosmansion]

chrisbcritter,

I'll try to thumb through my 80 pg. giants and see if I can come across a story similar to the one that you described.

TP-6597.

The great thing about the thread is you don't have to limit yourself to one favorite cover. If we all just posted one cover, the thread would dry up pretty quickly. I'm a big fan of Norm Breyfogle and Garcia-Lopez, so those were some good choices. Oh, you don't have to limit yourself to one favorite song, either. Someone asked me to recommend my favorite Elvis song so she could here it, and I was only able to whittle the list down to 25 songs.

Mr.Freeze mentioned in off-topic that the 23rd was the anniversary of Christopher Lee's death, so I decided to post this Mike Grell cover from Detective 455 January 1976. According to an interview with Grell in The Batcave Companion, the vampire in the story was modeled after Lee. I know there is at least one panel that looks like one of the Lobby Cards from Horror of Dracula. Grell said that editor Julius Schwartz made him ad the scar and change the hair so the vampire wouldn't look so much like Lee.

As for the cover, I always loved that Batman logo, but I hate how it is adapted for Detective. It looks terrible with the text shoved together and I think the apostrophe "S" is larger than the other text.

[TP-6597]

According to an interview with Grell in The Batcave Companion, the vampire in the story was modeled after Lee..... Grell said that editor Julius Schwartz made him ad the scar and change the hair so the vampire wouldn't look so much like Lee.

That's the worst example of 'wouldn't look so much like Lee' there has ever been.
It's absolutely Lee. Kind of a cool homage all these years later.

[TP-6597]

As simple as this one is, it's an absolute must include solely for the Droste Effect, not to mention how hard that would be to pull off in 1941. They did a fantastic job.

[gothosmansion]

Another thing Grell revealed about the Christopher Lee homage in that article I mentioned...he said the entire story was laid out by Berni Wrightson in thumbnails and that the thumbnails were very detailed and gorgeous. At the time, the technology didn't exist to blow the thumbnails up to the size used for publication. I would love to see Wrightson's original thumbnails. Oh, and BTW, if you are a Batman comic book fan, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Batcave Companion. It is a fascinating read.

I've often wondered how they did those infinity covers back in the day, and I hope you don't mind me following your lead and sharing another. This is the cover to Comics Collector magazine from Summer 1985. Cover art is by Dick Giordano. There were three articles about Batman in the issue, including a short one about the 1966 TV show. However, the photo of Adam West accompanying the article was clearly shot after the show ended, due to the difference in the bat on the side of the Batmobile.

[gothosmansion]

I'm sure I read it in the late '60s; early '70s at the latest. I never bought comics but my younger brothers did; might have even been one of my friends' copy. I do remember the guy was blindfolded when he was brought to the Batcave, and wondering why they didn't use Bat-Sleep on him instead, so it would have to be after the series began.

Sorry, man, but I went through the Batman 80 page giants from the 60s and early 70s, going by your comment, and couldn't find a story that I thought matched your description. I only went through the issues that were numbered Batman issues, though, going by the time frame. I did not go back through the Annuals or the two issues that were numbered as the "80 Page Giant" issues and not the annuals.

While looking through my 80 Page Giants, I couldn't help but think that this cover would appeal to TV show fans and invokes the show, even though all the reprints in the issue predate the show and issue itself is from February 1971. Batman 228 Cover art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.