Batman comic book cover gallery

[SprangFan]

Ernie Chan (aka Chua) was always an odd choice for Batman, and coming in the midst of the "Glory Days" of Adams, Aparo and Novick, his art always felt like a bucket of cold water in the face. His Batman was stockier, burlier and (to me) less graceful than the lean and lithe model those other guys gave us, and while in retrospect Ernie had a lot going for him, one thing he could NOT do, IMHO, was evoke the mysterious, shadowy, almost gothic mood that best suited the character.

All that said, I always had a weak spot for this issue where he drew an old-school tussle with the Prince of Puzzlers, including a visit from Dick Grayson on break from Hudson U:



Chan's art worked for me on this story, with it's "updated Infantino" vibe, where it did NOT work so well in "spooky mystery" mode.

I remember that "Super-Gorilla" issue fondly. The Batman story, from the 40s, was a nicely creepy one with a crime boss beating the electric chair by having his brain surgically transferred to an ape, only to end with the gorilla falling off a building and onto his head. The creepiest part was that Part 2 of his plan had been to move the brain from the ape's skull to Batman's !

A few months after this reprint, a "sequel" of sorts appeared in a (then new) story for World's Finest, where the brain is transplanted AGAIN into the body of sort of flying stingray from outer space with powers to threaten even Superman.

[Tom1980]

I quite liked Ernie Chua. His fights always seemed very full of motion. Even at an early age, I could tell his artwork apart from the others. Back when I collected these in the early 1980's, the only artist anyone seemed to bother about was (yes you guessed it) Neal Adams, followed by Marshall Rogers. I think the others need their recognition.

On one of my first visits with my Dad to a comic shop, we got a batch at 15p each, but couldn't understand why the one with Two-Face and a ship on the cover (234) was going for £3.00. It's probably worth a lot more now...

Back to the Riddler cover, that's the one where Robin damages the museum's priceless artifacts while punching the Riddlers men, and Batman takes time to warn him. As you would, fighting for your life with desperate cut-throats.

[BatmiteReturns]

Hello everyone, I have been a member of this board for a number of years and have lurked the last year or so. I have also enjoyed all of the great covers that have been posted as they really bring a smile to my face and fond memories of growing up. I had all of my limbs amputated over a year ago so I don't get to post hardly at all except now that I have Dragon naturally speaking I'm able to at least express my feelings. Thanks again for all the great post here's one that I found that I really enjoy.

[SprangFan]

Welcome to the thread, BatmiteReturns, and thanks for turning the spotlight on artist Win Mortimer, unfairly neglected so far in this discussion. I always loved his covers, and his work on the Robin solo strip over in Star-Spangled Comics.

Batman's dejected expression and posture are priceless here, like he's thinking, "Nobody loves a guy with a bomb around his neck..."

Actually, there's an eerie similarity to a real-life news story from a couple years back, where a man showed up with a "collar" bomb he claimed was put on him against his will. I assume the comic ends less tragically.

[gothosmansion]

Batmite Returns,

Welcome to the thread. I'm glad you've enjoyed lurking and appreciate your participation. That is a very interesting cover that you shared. I can't imagine seeing that at the newsstand and not picking it up if I had been around back then. I think that story was reprinted in Batman Archives 8. I've read the book, but don't have it in front of me right now.

Everyone,

I didn't mean to downgrade Ernie Chua/Chan. I recall someone, although I don't remember who, saying that Chua/Chan took on too many assignments and his work looked rushed. That may have been the case, since I like his earlier work on Batman better than his later work, although some of that may have had to do with who was inking him. I've seen work he did after he left DC that I like a lot better than his Batman stuff.

That said, I don't think any character has had the caliber of artists that Batman had in the 1970s, and I think Chua/Chan's work suffers by comparison to Adams, Aparo, Novick, Rogers, etc...but whose wouldn't? I started to post my favorite Chua cover, but it, unfortunately, has a very lousy story underneath the cover, so I went with the cover to one of my two favorite stories that Chua illustrated...and what I think is BY FAR the best story of David V. Reed's run as a writer. Oh, and I couldn't really decide between this and one other story, but I liked the logo better on this cover than on the Detective issue that was the other candidate for my favorite Chua illustrated story.

Batman 269 from November 1975.

[SprangFan]

I don't like to put anyone down, especially in a thread designed to celebrate, but for me putting Ernie Chan on Batman was just wrong. He was a fantastic choice for Conan (over at Marvel) and I loved his work on issue #3 of The Joker (featuring a throw-down with The Creeper) even if it did mean a break from Garcia-Lopez. Batman, though? Not so much.

I gather that DC hired on a good number of Filipino artists in the 70s after a talent search conducted there by editors Joe Orlando and Carmine Infantino. Along with Chan, we got Tony DeZuniga, Alex Nino, Alfredo Alcala and Nestor Redondo, so it turned out to be a good deal for readers. I remember being particularly enthused about a "Sherlock Holmes" one-shot drawn by another recruit, E.R. Cruz. In retrospect, it was an inspired strategy: rather than hire on "newbies" who would have to "learn the ropes" as they went along, why not seek out established foreign artists American audiences had never heard of, and let them show up already polished and skilled on Day One?

It occurs to me that most of these guys haven't really had their art honored or reprinted much in recent years. A notable exception is Redondo, whose beautiful work on DC's tabloid-sized adaption of The Bible got a facsimile reprint a couple years ago. I was kind of hoping to conduct a personal re-appraisal of Chan's Batman from a study of his black-and-white linework once they got around to future installments of the "Showcase Presents" line, but alas that seems increasingly unlikely.

[BatmiteReturns]

[SprangFan]

Aha, the old "spat between the Dynamic Duo" schtick.

That reminds me of another artist who needs representation in this thread: Jim Mooney.

[BATWINGED HORNET]

Great cover, BatmiteReturns. Win Mortimer was the evolutionary step in the post Kane (and ghosts) art. His Batman was not as blocky, and there was a slicker look that brought a visual consistency to the Superman titles of the era.

I didn't mean to downgrade Ernie Chua/Chan. I recall someone, although I don't remember who, saying that Chua/Chan took on too many assignments and his work looked rushed. That may have been the case, since I like his earlier work on Batman better than his later work, although some of that may have had to do with who was inking him. I've seen work he did after he left DC that I like a lot better than his Batman stuff.

The 1975 cover (Batman #269) you posted was an example of excellent work on the part of Chua. Any artist can be faced with rush jobs/tight deadlines, but with Chua, one could always tell when he was fully committed to the cover art.

That said, I don't think any character has had the caliber of artists that Batman had in the 1970s

...with the exception of Amazing Spider-Man, with John Romita, Gil Kane and Ross Andru doing legendary work for most of the 70s run of the title.

[SprangFan]

...with the exception of Amazing Spider-Man, with John Romita, Gil Kane and Ross Andru doing legendary work for most of the 70s run of the title.

I loved Romita, who I always saw as more or less the Marvel version of Curt Swan. Even so, I always thought Spidey worked better with the quirky art of Ditko; he's just too weird a character for the "glamorous" approach, no matter how big a crush I had on Romita's Gwen and MJ. Kane was always hit-or-miss with me, but paired with Romita he was dynamite.

Andru, though, I never cared for. I didn't like his work on Brave and the Bold, his run of World's Finest is the only run I've never been able to finish and it was largely thanks to his extended tenure on Amazing Spider-Man (what? Five years or so?) that I never collected that title with any regularity. "My" Spider-Man title was "Marvel Tales," featuring reprints of the Romita era. I remember being pleasantly surprised that Andru's "Superman vs Spider-Man" tabloid turned out so well, but years later I learned that a good deal of it had been tweaked and/or outright re-drawn by Neal Adams.

But hey, that's what makes horse races. Everyone gets to pick their own favorites.

My own vote for the Marvel character most blessed by good artists would probably be Dr Strange, who got Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, Frank Brunner and in the 80s Marshall Rogers and Paul Smith, plus one issue (#51?) by Michael Golden that still stands as one of the most gorgeous (superhero) comics of all time.

[gothosmansion]

Batmitereturns,

Great cover. Robin should realize you never ask another guy to choose between you and a pretty girl. That reminds me of the cover where Batgirl and Batman are fighting over Robin.

Sprangfan,

I've only read a handful of reprints of those Star Spangled Comics, so those are mostly new to me. Thanks for sharing that one.

Batwinged Hornet,

Ditko was my favorite Spider-Man artists as well. Originally, the Hulk was my favorite Marvel character, although I liked Spider-Man. Spidey took over as my favorite Marvel character in the early 80s when Marvel Tales started to reprint the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko issues at the same time that Amazing had the excellent run by Roger Stern and John Romita Jr.

While I like all the Spidey artists you mentioned for the most part (Andru could be hit and miss with me), I also would add Keith Pollard as a solid if not spectacular artist. I just meant the sheer amount of great artists that Batman had during the 70s. All of the following were at least semi-regulars: Adams, Giordano, Novick, Aparo, Nick Cardy, Rogers, Austin, Don Newton. Bob Brown was considered the "bad" artist among the regulars in the early 70s and he was pretty darn good. Also, think of the the occasional one-offs etc. by Wrightson (wish he had done more Bat-work), Golden, Simonson, Starlin, P. Craig Russell.

Oh, and since Nestor Redondo was mentioned...I got a Rima in one of those "old comics collections" in the Christmas catalog and fell in love with his art. Due to his skill at drawing jungle landscapes and pretty girls (not to be sleazy, but I don't think I've ever seen a more beautifully drawn female character than Redondo's Rima), I would have loved to see Redondo draw a Batman/Poison Ivy story.

One of my favorite pre-new look Detectives from 1964...not long until the new look.

[SprangFan]

I actually have that issue of Detective, though I can't remember how I got it. I don't have many from that period.

While I like all the Spidey artists you mentioned for the most part (Andru could be hit and miss with me), I also would add Keith Pollard as a solid if not spectacular artist.

I remember buying ASM #186 because of the Pollard art: it was the first issue in years I picked up that didn't have Andru drawing. Inside that issue, Spidey is cleared of criminal charges and seems to be starting on a new phase of his career as an acknowledged HERO and not a "menace." I remember thinking, "This has finally become a book I can collect!"

I lasted about 4 more issues. Not a Spidey fan.

Years later, I bought most if not all of the Todd McFarlane run because his wonky style was reminiscent of Ditko, with Spidey always twisting into weird contortions and looking, well, like a spider. McFarlane can't draw a human face to save his life, but luckily Spidey has his whole face covered (notice Todd's biggest creation is Spawn, who has a similar all-over face mask, covering a destroyed face that no longer looks human, anyway!). I guess my ideal Spidey artist would combine the weirdness of Ditko and McFarlane (in costume) with the pretty faces of Romita (out of costume), but I don't know if that's even possible.

There are indeed few women in comics more beautiful than Redondo's Rima, but right up there would be various female characters from Will Eisner, Wally Wood, Dave Stevens and Adam Hughes. And if there was ever a gal in real life to match Bob Oksner's Angel O'Day, she'd have me wrapped around her little finger.

[gothosmansion]

Sprangfan,

There are some characters each of us just don't like no matter who the creative team is. Even Neal Adams art couldn't get me to read Green Lantern/Green Arrow. I consider Amazing Spider-Man 189-200 to be an excellent run.

As for the artists you mentioned, I haven't read a lot of Eisner's stuff. Dave Stevens did indeed do some beautiful artwork but I'm not as big a fan of his because he often clearly modeled his women on Bettie Page and his ex-wife and I'm not really a fan of either of those ladies. On his famous "Who's Who" drawing of Catwoman, the image of Selina unmasked doesn't look anything like his ex-wife, but the Catwoman image, to me, looks very much like her.

I first discovered Adam Hughes on Maze Agency. I gave it a try since I had enjoyed some of Mike W. Barr's Batman stories, and was quickly impressed with Hughes' artwork. Hughes drew my favorite Wonder Woman cover.

Although he was a regular Batman artist for many years, Don Newton didn't really do a lot of covers. Here is one by him, inked by Dick Giordano. The cover is very effective; I think. However, it does look like there was some problem with the logo placement, perhaps a sign that Newton wasn't used to doing covers. Batman 374 from August 1984.

[BatmiteReturns]

I remember Todd McFarlane being an excellent Batman cover artist, and never noticed that he couldn't draw faces. LOL. It wasn't until years later that I read on the Internet all the hate for him similar to Rob Liefield and his inability to draw feet. Sorry for the grammar and punctuation Dragon naturally speaking does a pretty good job but is not perfect.



This cover always reminded me of the 1966 Batman especially the Robin costume which looked very similar to Burt Ward's.

[SprangFan]

@gothosmansion:

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." The Adams art ensures it'll keep being reprinted forever, but every year that passes makes it less relevant and more tiresome in tone. That said, I always had a weakness for Green Lantern, even though in retrospect there have been darn few great GL stories over the years. And that Adams-designed Green Arrow costume made for the coolest Mego action figure of them all.

I adored Don Newton's Batman and out of all the recent artist-themed hardback collections DC's put out, the Newton volume is the only one I've bought so far. Thanks for adding him to this Hall of Fame.

@BatmiteReturns:

I don't remember the dislike of Liefeld being related to his feet. Honestly, I never even noticed the feet since the rest of the anatomy was so indescribably horrible. A lot of the 90s artists were good at drawing pin-ups of figures in spandex but were unable to draw vehicles, buildings, furniture or even regular "street clothes." That's why you could go 20 pages at a time without seeing a background at all, and when you did it was usually a pile of rubble. Liefeld, IMHO, couldn't even draw the figures.

McFarlane at least had some idea of where body parts belonged in relation to each other. And I suppose to be fair, his faces were no less ugly than a lot of Ditko's. You could make an argument that it's not a question of "good" or "bad," but more a question of personal style. I grew up on the work of Adams and, even more so, the phenomenal Curt Swan, who was an absolute master of facial expressions and who always managed to draw "handsome" men and "pretty" women who were all distinct and uniquely identifiable, even though by definition "handsome" and "pretty" doesn't allow for a lot of variations. When that's your standard, a guy like McFarlane -- who seems to have spent most of his time thinking about panel design and figure poses and settled early on "stock" features for faces -- is never going to be your cup of tea.

Love that cover of the bat-auction. I picked up that issue at a show once, but i can't remember the story at all, so it must not have lived up to the promise.

BTW, you're doing fine with the Dragon software, though I confess to some curiosity about how you can get it to post images.