Hey All-- here's a new feature I'm running here on the boards-- Batman Comics from the era of the show or with some connection to the show. A lot of you have asked about Batman's appearances in the comics so let's start with a favorite of mine, from June 1969 this was the first ever Batman comic book that I saw-- a friend's older brother knew I liked Batman (the show) so he handed me this-- probably from his collection and I would have seen this in the early 1970s-- I don't think I could read yet because I couldn't understand the Batgirl backup story (which will run right here).
What struck me most about this comic book version was that big Joker face on the moon in the opening page and Batman and Robin driving what looked like the Batmobile I knew but at NIGHT! There was a move afoot in the comics of this period to get Batman away from the camp of the TV series while still attempting to appeal to those viewers had enjoyed the show in its first season.
I'll run five pages at a time, so be back here next week for the rest of the story. Striking cover by Irv Novick and in an era when we were all astronaut and moon crazy this one hits all the marks;
Here's the next part, feel free to post comments.
In part one, I owned one of those original pages-- I paid the pricely sum of $15 for it! Oh man, do I regret selling it. This coming year I'm going to try and track down either it or another page from the book.
The older brother of a friend had that comic when I was about 7 or so, and it made a big impression. It was only a few years old, but it was a crucial few years at that point, and might as well have been from another age. The ads, the art style, the price tag, everything about it was exotic and fascinating to me, and the story creeped me out (!). Luckily they let me read it all I wanted because they'd already moved on to Marvel as DC was "kids stuff."
"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
Overall it's a strong offering, Brown and Giella make for a great "classic" Batman and the story by John Broome manages to capture the best aspects of the TV show and still stay true to the character. The bat symbol on the space suit is a nice touch. For a story that ran when America had just gotten over an obsession with Batman and now had an obsession with the moon this one was a winner for me.
Next up, the Batgirl "solo" story that completed the issue.
TO BE CONTINUED!
The backup story (why did they ever stop doing these?) is by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson-- an absolute stellar team. This story frightened me as a kid, because I didn't understand why Batman had a gun on Batgirl, and when Superman appears he looks like a gangster (in the second half). Maybe I couldn't read when I saw this, maybe I was two dumb to read-- who knows.
That wraps up this first post-- although since the Batgirl Adventure ended on a cliffhanger that means I should run #389 too. If there is a particular story from the period you remember or you'd like to see post the request here and I'll see what I can do.
I love in the Batgirl story how competent she is...taking care of herself. It was reprinted in Batman in the 60s. If memory serves, I like Detective 389....it sort of points to DC maybe going in a darker direction with Batman, but is still very silver age. Plus, it is one of the few times Frank Robbins wrote a story with one of the traditional rogues.
Andy, I'm going to warn you if you haven't read it in a while, Detective 390 is terrible.
No worries there I’m not going in sequence. I’m going to run stories that I think are good and relevant to the character and to the show including things like JOKERS UTILITY BELT which featured some great art by Dick Sprang, some Marshall Rogers, Carmine Infantino and a purple glove batman story for MWilbury's Andy!
Here's Batman's first ever story-- it's been reprinted countless times. A few things interesting to note-- this is the ONLY appearance of this particular costume in the original canon-- the purple gloves, wide set ears, high cowl cheeks, tall boots and round belt buckle. On the original cover the gloves are blue, for MWilbury's little boy Andy I recolored it here so they match the inside of the book (I love kids and dogs and it's Andy's birthday and his favorite Batman). Some of the reprinted editions have colored Batman's gloves blue but in the original they were purple.
Some other things to note; Batman drives the same car as Bruce Wayne-- a simple red sedan. Makes the serial Batman's lack of a Batmobile more acceptable. Batman, or The Bat Man as he's called here, doesn't take a lot of prisoners owing to his early pulp roots. We see that Batman, Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon are there from the beginning and the rest of the things we know about Batman will come over the next few years.
Drawn by one of the top 5 Batman artists of all time, and THE Batman artist of the late Golden Age, Dick Sprang. Sprang was one of Kane's first assistants along with Jerry Robinson and the strip instantly took on a Dick Tracy quality with his work. This story was used in the Joker episode of the '66 show.
A true classic! Next up we'll finish that Batgirl story.
Detective Comics #355 from Sept 1966-- so the height of the show was when this issue was on the stands. This one is another of my favorites even though there are some ridiculous aspects to the story.
Not exactly Batman's finest moments in this first half-- did he trip the Hangman? It kind of looks like they just got jumbled up there, and then the Hangman makes quick work of Batman. Why did Robin sit this one out? Salary dispute? Was the Comic Book Robin guilty of ticking off the writers the way Burt did during the Clam episode?
The ad for Palisades Amusement Parks always interested me, but New Jersey could have been Mars when I was a kid.
Lastly, the Public Service announcement about how cool old people are made me laugh-- the artwork is by Shelly Moldoff who was the lead Batman artist for many many years but by this point he was being phased out.