Category: DC Superhero

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Batman: the World’s Finest Comics Archives volume 2


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Don Cameron, Joe Samachson, Norman Fallon, Dick Sprang, Win Mortimer, Ray Burnley, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-4012-0163-6

The creation of Superman propelled National Comics to the forefront of their fledgling industry and in 1939 the company was licensed to produce a commemorative comicbook celebrating the start of the New York World’s Fair, with the Man of Tomorrow prominently featured among the four-colour stars of the appropriately titled New York World’s Fair Comics.

A year later, following the birth of Batman and Robin, National combined Dark Knight, Boy Wonder and Man of Steel on the cover of the follow-up New York World’s Fair 1940. The spectacular 96 page anthology was a huge hit and the format was retained as the Spring 1941 World’s Best Comics #1, before finally settling on the now legendary title World’s Finest Comics from #2, beginning a stellar 45-year run which only ended as part of the massive clear-out and de-cluttering exercise that was Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Until 1954 and the swingeing axe-blows of rising print costs, the only place Superman and Batman ever met was on the stunning covers by the likes of Jack Burnley, Fred Ray and others. Between those sturdy card covers, the heroes maintained a strict non-collaboration policy…

This second glorious deluxe hardback dedicated to the Gotham Gangbusters’ early appearances reprints the Batman tales from World’s Finest Comics #17-32 (Spring 1945 – January/February 1948), in gleaming, glossy full-colour and also includes a fascinating Foreword by author and fan Bill Schelly and concludes with brief biographies of all the creators involved in these early masterpieces.

In between those text titbits there is unbridled graphic enchantment beginning with ‘Crime Goes to College’ by Bill Finger, Norman Fallon & Dick Sprang, wherein the Dynamic Duo tracked down a cracked academic determined to prove that he could make crime pay whilst ‘Specialists in Crime’ scripted by Don Cameron, pitted the heroes against a wily team who seemed to have the right man for every job they pulled…

In #19 the Joker organised ‘The League for Larceny’ (Joe Samachson, Bob Kane & Ray Burnley) to promote the finer points of criminality until Batman and Robin stepped in whilst in #20 (Winter 1946, and the last quarterly edition: from the next issue the comicbook would appear every two months) benign numismatist Mark Medalion turned out to have a very sinister other face as ‘The King of Coins’, a clever and exotic thriller from Cameron & Win Mortimer.

WF #21 (March/April 1946, illustrated by Mortimer and the uncredited writer is probably Cameron) introduced ‘Crime’s Cameraman’ Sam Garth, a keen shutterbug whose unwitting enthusiasm masked a deadly secret, whilst ‘A Tree Grows in Gotham City’ (written by Alvin Schwartz?) spoofed the infamous novel by pitting the Dynamic Duo against a gang of thugs determined to dig up an elderly oak belonging to an equally elderly gent… but why?

‘Champions Don’t Brag’ (William Woolfolk & Mortimer) focussed on Dick Grayson’s understandable desire to excel at sports: a wish constantly thwarted by the need to keep his Robin alter ego secret. When his school’s best athlete was kidnapped the fear proved justified since the abductors then tried to ransom the “Boy Wonder” they sincerely believed they had captured…!

The unknown writer of ‘The Case of the Valuable Orphans’ told a powerful tale of cruel criminality as thugs exploited carefully placed adopted children to case potential burglary jobs, whilst ‘The Famous First Crimes’ by Cameron, Mortimer & Howard Sherman in #25, found Batman and Robin helping an enterprising inventor whilst battling bandits determined to steal historical scientific breakthroughs and ‘His Highness, Prince Robin’ (by anonymous & Mortimer) saw the Boy Wonder pinch-hitting for a wayward royal absconder in a clever twist on the classic Prince and the Pauper plot.

In WF #27 ‘Me, Outlaw’ revealed the big mistake of car thief and murderer Wheels Mitchum in a tense and salutary courtroom drama by Finger & Jim Mooney, whilst ‘Crime Under Glass’ depicted the horrific and grisly murder spree of the chilling Glass Man in a taut mystery illustrated by Sprang by Fallon and #29 offered ‘The Second Chance’ to freshly released convict Joel Benson who increasingly found life out of prison temptation beyond endurance in a classy human drama by Cameron & Mortimer.

Most later Batman tales feature a giant coin in the Batcave and World’s Finest #30 is where that spectacular prop first appeared; spoils of a successful battle between the Caped Crusaders and the vicious gang of Joe Coyne and ‘The Penny Plunderers!’ (Finger, Kane & Burnley), after which ‘The Man with the X-Ray Eyes!’ (scripted by Cameron) saw the heroes struggling to save from unscrupulous thugs a tragic artist cursed with the ability to see through anything – including their masks…

This superb collection of Dark Knight Dramas ends with ‘The Man Who Could Not Die’ (Finger, Kane & Burnley from #32) a deliciously fearsome fable wherein petty gunman Joe “Lucky” Starr got a twisted horoscope reading and believed that he knew the day he would be killed. Of course, until then, he could commit any crime without possibility of harm – even if Batman and Robin interfered…

These spectacular yarns provide a perfect snapshot of the Batman’s amazing development from bleak moody avenger and vigilante agent of revenge to dedicated, sophisticated Devil-may-care Detective in timeless tales which have never lost their edge or their power to enthral and beguile, and this superbly sturdy Archive Edition is indubitably the most luxurious and satisfying of ways to enjoy them over and over again.

So why don’t you…
© 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 2004 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 3


By Jim Shooter, E. Nelson Bridwell, Otto Binder, Curt Swan, George Klein, Pete Costanza, Jim Mooney & George Papp (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2185-0

Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from a multitude of worlds took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…

And thus began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino in early 1958, just as the revived comicbook genre of superheroes was gathering an inexorable head of steam. Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten over and over again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This sturdy, action packed third monochrome compendium gathers a chronological parade of futuristic delights from October 1966 to May 1968, originally seen in Adventure Comics #349-368, and includes a Legion-featuring story from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #106 (October 1967).

During this period the Club of Champions finally shed the last vestiges of wholesome, imaginative, humorous and generally safe science fiction strips to become a full-on dramatic action feature starring a grittily realistic combat force in constant, galaxy-threatening peril: a compelling force of valiant warriors ready and willing to pay the ultimate price for their courage and dedication…

The main architect of the transformation was teenaged sensation Jim Shooter, whose scripts and layouts (usually finished and inked by veterans Curt Swan & George Klein) made the series accessible to a generation of fans growing up in the Future…

The tense suspense begins with Adventure Comics #349’s ‘The Rogue Legionnaire!’ (Shooter, Swan & Klein) wherein Saturn Girl, Colossal Boy, Shrinking Violet, Chameleon Boy and Brainiac 5 hunted hypnotic villain Universo through five periods of Earth’s history, aided by boy-genius Rond Vidar, a brilliant scientist with a tragic secret…

This is followed by a stellar two-parter from #350-351 scripted by E. Nelson Bridwell which restored a number of invalided and expelled members to the team. In ‘The Outcast Super-Heroes’, a cloud of Green Kryptonite particles enveloped Earth and forced Superboy and Supergirl to retire from the Legion just as demonic alien Evillo unleashed his squad of deadly metahuman minions on the universe.

The Kryptonian Cousins were mind-wiped and replaced by armoured and masked paladins Sir Prize and Miss Terious in ‘The Forgotten Legion!’ but quickly returned when a solution to the K Cloud was found.

On Evillo’s eventual defeat, the team discovered that the wicked overlord had healed the one-armed Lightning Lad and restored Bouncing Boy‘s power for his own nefarious purposes, and together with the reformed White Witch and rehabilitated Star Boy and Dream Girl the Legion’s ranks and might swelled to bursting.

That was a very good thing as the next issue saw Shooter, Swan & Klein produce one of their most stunning epics. When a colossal cosmic entity known as the Sun Eater menaced the United Planets, the Legion were hopelessly outmatched and forced to recruit the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals to help save civilisation.

However The Persuader, Emerald Empress, Mano, Tharok and Validus were untrustworthy allies at best and formed an alliance as ‘The Fatal Five!’ intending to save the galaxy only so that they could rule it…

Adventure #353 revealed how the Five seemingly sealed their own fate through arrogance and treachery and the cost of heroism was paid when ‘The Doomed Legionnaire!’ sacrificed his life to destroy the solar parasite…

Issue #354 introduced ‘The Adult Legion!’ when Superman travelled into the future to visit his grown-up comrades – discovering tantalising hints of events that would torment and beguile LSH fans for decades – before the yarn concluded with #355’s ‘The War of the Legions!’ as Brainiac 5, Cosmic Man, Element Man, Polar Man, Saturn Woman and Timber Wolf, accompanied by the most unexpected allies of all, battled the Legion of Super-Villains.

This issue also included an extra tale in ‘The Six-Legged Legionnaire!’ (by Otto Binder, Swan & Klein) wherein Superboy brought his High School sweetie Lana Lang to the 30th century, where she joined in a mission against a science-tyrant as the shape-shifting Insect Queen. Disaster soon struck though when the alien ring which facilitated her changes was lost, trapping her in a hideous bug-body…

In issue #356 Dream Girl, Mon-El, Element Lad, Brainiac 5 and Superboy were transformed into babies and became ‘The Five Legion Orphans!’: a cheeky and cunning Bridwell scripted mystery.

The repercussions and guilt of the Sun-Eater episode were explored when the survivors of that mission were apparently haunted by ‘The Ghost of Ferro Lad!’ (#357 by Shooter, Swan & Klein) whilst ‘The Hunter!’ (Shooter & George Papp) saw the heroes stalked by an insane and murderous sportsman with a unique honour code.

Adventure #359 found the once-beloved champions disbanded and on the run as ‘The Outlawed Legionnaires!’ (Shooter, Swan & Klein) thanks to the manipulations of a devious old foe, only to rousingly regroup and counter-attack in #360’s ‘The Legion Chain Gang!’

Once again a key component of United Planets Security in ‘The Unkillables!’, the superhero squad were then assigned to protect alien ambassadors the Dominators from political agitators, assassins and a hidden traitor in a tense thriller illustrated by Jim Mooney, after which ‘The Lone Wolf Legion Reporter!’ (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #106, October 1967, by Shooter & Pete Costanza) found the young newsman seconded to the 30th century to help with the club newspaper. Sadly he was far better at making news than publishing it…

Adventure Comics #362 found the team scattered across three worlds as mad scientist Mantis Morlo refused to let environmental safety interfere with his experiments in ‘The Chemoids are Coming!’, resulting in a lethally ‘Black Day for the Legion!’…

Shooter & Costanza then topped their gripping two-parter by uncovering ‘The Revolt of the Super-Pets!’ in #364, when the crafty rulers of planet Thanl attempted to seduce the animal adventurers from their rightful – subordinate – positions with sweet words and palatial new homes…

When the isolated world of Talok 8 went dark and became a militaristic threat to the UP, their planetary champion Shadow Lass led Superboy, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy and Karate Kid on a reconnaissance mission which resulted in the disastrous ‘Escape of the Fatal Five!’ (illustrated by Swan & Klein).

The quintet then almost conquered the UP itself and were only frustrated by the defiant, last ditch efforts of the battered heroes in the blistering conclusion ‘The Fight for the Championship of the Universe!’

In grateful thanks the Legion were gifted with a vast new HQ but before the paint was even dry a vast paramilitary force attempted to invade the slowly reconstructing planet Earth in #367’s ‘No Escape from the Circle of Death!’ (Shooter, Swan, Klein & Sheldon Moldoff), after which this volume ends on a note of political and social tension when a glamorous alien envoy attempted to suborn the downtrodden female Legionnaires in #368’s ‘The Mutiny of the Super-Heroines!’

The Legion is unquestionably one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in comicbook history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became American Comics Fandom.

Moreover, these scintillating and seductively addictive stories – as much as Julie Schwartz’s Justice League – fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of young readers and underpinned the industry we all know today.

If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents World’s Finest volume 3


By Edmond Hamilton, Cary Bates, Jim Shooter, Leo Dorfman, Bill Finger, Curt Swan, George Klein, Sheldon Moldoff, & Al Plastino (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-585-2

For decades Superman and Batman were quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest” team. They were friends as well as colleagues, and the pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

This third magnificent monochrome compendium gathers their cataclysmic collaborations from the glory days of the mid 1960’s (World’s Finest Comics #146-173, with the exception of reprint 80-Page Giant issues #161 and 170, covering December 1964 to February 1968): a period when the entire Free World went superhero gaga in response to the Batman live action and Superman animated TV shows…

A new era had already begun in World’s Finest Comics #141 when author Edmond Hamilton and artists Curt Swan & George Klein (who illustrated the bulk of the tales in this tome) ushered in a more dramatic, realistic and far less whimsical tone, and that titanic creative trio continued their rationalist run in this volume with #146’s ‘Batman, Son of Krypton!’ wherein uncovered evidence from the Bottle City of Kandor and bizarre recovered memories seemed to indicate that the Caped Crusader was in fact a de-powered, amnesiac Kryptonian. Moreover, as the heroes dug deeper Superman thought he had found the Earthman responsible for his homeworld’s destruction and became crazed with a hunger for vengeance…

Issue #147’s saw the sidekicks step up in a stirring blend of science fiction thriller and crime caper, all masquerading as an engaging drama of youth-in-revolt when ‘The New Terrific Team!’ (February 1965 Hamilton, Swan & Klein) saw Jimmy Olsen and Robin quit their underappreciated assistant roles to strike out on their disgruntled own. Naturally there was a perfectly rational, if incredible, reason…

In #148 ‘Superman and Batman – Outlaws!’ (with Sheldon Moldoff temporarily replacing Klein) saw the Cape and Cowl Crimebusters transported to another dimension where arch-villains Lex Luthor and Clayface were heroes and Dark Knight and Action Ace the ruthless hunted criminals, after which World’s Finest Comics #149 (May 1965 and also inked by Moldoff) ‘The Game of Secret Identities!’ found Superman locked into an increasingly obsessive battle of wits with Batman that seemed likely to break up the partnership and even lead to violent disaster…

‘The Super-Gamble with Doom!’ in #150 introduced manipulative alien’s Rokk and Sorban whose addictive and staggeringly spectacular wagering almost got Batman killed and Earth destroyed, whilst ‘The Infinite Evolutions of Batman and Superman!’ in #151 introduced young writer Cary Bates, who paired with Hamilton to produce a beguiling science fiction thriller with the Gotham Guardian transformed into a callous future-man and the Metropolis Marvel reduced to a savage Neanderthal….

Hamilton solo-scripted #152’s ‘The Colossal Kids!’ wherein a brace of impossibly powered brats outmatched outdid but never outwitted Batman or Superman – and of course there were old antagonists behind the challenging campaign of humiliation – after which Bates rejoined his writing mentor for a taut and dramatic “Imaginary Story” in #153.

When Editor Mort Weisinger was expanding the Superman continuity and building the legend he knew that the each new tale was an event that added to a nigh-sacred canon: that what was written and drawn mattered to the readers. But as an ideas man he wasn’t going to let that aggregated “history” stifle a good idea, nor would he allow his eager yet sophisticated audience to endure clichéd deus ex machina cop-outs to mar the sheer enjoyment of a captivating concept.

The mantra known to every baby-boomer fan was “Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not a Robot!” boldly emblazoned on covers depicting scenes that couldn’t possibly be true… even if it was only a comic book.

Imaginary Stories were conceived as a way of exploring non-continuity plots and scenarios devised at a time when editors believed that entertainment trumped consistency and knew that every comic read was somebody’s first – or potentially last – and ‘The Clash of Cape and Cowl!’, illustrated by as ever by Swan & Klein, posited a situation where brilliant young Bruce Wayne grew up believing Superboy had murdered his father, thereafter dedicating his life to crushing all criminals as a Bat Man and waiting for the day when he could expose Superman as a killer and sanctimonious fraud…

WF #154 ‘The Sons of Superman and Batman’ (by Hamilton) opened the doors to a far less tragic Imaginary world: one where the crime fighters finally found time to marry Lois Lane and Kathy Kane and have kids. Unfortunately the lads proved to be both a trial and initially a huge disappointment…

‘Exit Batman – Enter Nightman!’ saw the World’s Finest Team on the cusp of their 1,000th successful shared case when a new costumed crusader threatened to break up the partnership and replace the burned out Batman in a canny psychological thriller, whilst ‘The Federation of Bizarro Idiots!’ in #156 saw the well-meaning but imbecilic imperfect duplicates of Superman and Batman set up shop on Earth and end up as pawns of the duplicitous Joker, after which #157’s ‘The Abominable Brats’ – drawn with inevitable brilliance by Swan and inked by both Klein & Moldoff – featured an Imaginary Story sequel as the wayward sons of heroes returned to cause even more mischief, although once more there were other insidious influences in play…

In ‘The Invulnerable Super-Enemy!’ (#158 by Hamilton, Swan & Klein), the Olsen-Robin Team stumbled upon three Bottled Cities and inadvertently drew their mentors into a terrifying odyssey of evil which at first seemed to be the work of Brainiac but was in fact far from it, whilst ‘The Cape and Cowl Crooks!’ (WFC #159) dealt with foes possessing far mightier powers than our heroes – a major concern for young readers of the times.

To this day whenever fans gather the cry eventually echoes out, “Who’s the strongest/fastest/better dressed…?” but this canny conundrum took the theme to superbly suspenseful heights as Anti-Superman and Anti-Batman continually outwitted and outmanoeuvred the heroes, seemingly possessed of impossible knowledge of their antagonists..

Leo Dorfman debuted as scripter in#160 as the heroes struggled to discredit ‘The Fatal Forecasts of Dr. Zodiac’, a scurrilous Swami who appeared to control fate itself.

World’s Finest Comics #161 was an 80-Page Giant reprinting past tales and is not included in this collection, and jumping in with #162’s ‘Pawns of the Jousting Master!’ is another fresh scripting face in Jim Shooter, who produced an engaging time travel romp wherein Superman and Batman were defeated in combat and compelled to travel back to Camelot in a beguiling tale of King Arthur, super-powered knights and invading aliens…

‘The Duel of the Super-Duo!’ in #163 (Shooter, Swan & Klein) pitted Superman against a brainwashed Batman on a world where his mighty powers were negated and the heroes of the galaxy were imprisoned by a master manipulator, after which Dorfman produced an engaging thriller where a girl who was more powerful than Superman and smarter than Batman proved to be ‘Brainiac’s Super Brain-Child!’

Bill Finger & Al Plastino stepped in to craft WF #165’s ‘The Crown of Crime’ (March 1967) which depicted the last days of dying mega-gangster King Wolff whose plan to go out with a bang set the underworld ablaze and almost stymied both Superman and Batman, after which Shooter, Swan & Klein produced ‘The Danger of the Deadly Duo!’ in which the twentieth generation of Batman and Superman united to battle the Joker of 2967 and his uncanny ally Muto: a superb flight of fantasy that was the sequel to a brief series of stories starring Superman’s heroic descendent in a fantastic far future world

WF #167 saw Cary Bates fly solo by scripting ‘The New Superman and Batman Team!’: an Imaginary Story wherein boy scientist Lex Luthor gave himself super-powers and a Kal-El who had landed on Earth without Kryptonian abilities trained himself to become an avenging Batman after his foster-father Jonathan Kent was murdered. The Smallville Stalwarts briefly united in a crime-fighting partnership but destiny had other plans for the fore-doomed friends…

In World’s Finest Comics #142 a lowly and embittered janitor suddenly gained all the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes and attacked the heroes out of frustration and jealousy. He was revived by Bates in #168’s ‘The Return of the Composite Superman!’ as the pawn of a truly evil villain but gloriously triumphed over his own venal nature, after which #169 featured ‘The Supergirl-Batgirl Plot’ a whimsical fantasy feast from Bates, Swan & Klein wherein the uppity lasses seemingly worked tirelessly to supplant and replace Batman and Superman before it was revealed that the Dynamic Damsels were mere pawns of an extremely duplicitous team of female felons – although a brace of old WF antagonists were actually behind the Byzantine scheme…

Issue #170 was another mammoth reprint edition, after which #171 revealed ‘The Executioner’s List!’ (script by Dorfman); an intriguing and tense murder-mystery wherein a mysterious sniper seemingly targeted the friends of Superman and Batman, whilst the stirring and hard-hitting Imaginary Story ‘Superman and Batman… Brothers!’ (WF #172 December 1967) posited a grim scenario wherein orphaned Bruce Wayne was adopted by the Kents, but could not escape a destiny of tragedy and darkness.

Written by Shooter and brilliantly interpreted by Swan & Klein, this moody thriller in many ways signalled the end of the angst-free days and the beginning of the darker, crueller and more dramatically cohesive DC universe for a less casual readership, and thereby surrendered the mythology to the increasingly devout fan-based audience.

This stunning compendium closes with World’s Finest Comics #173 and ‘The Jekyll-Hyde Heroes!’ again by Shooter, Swan & Klein, as a criminal scientist devises a way to literally transform the Cape and Cowl Crusaders into their own worst enemies…

These are gloriously clever yet uncomplicated tales whose dazzling, timeless style has returned to inform if not dictate the form for much of DC’s modern television animation – especially the fabulous Batman: the Brave and the Bold series – and the contents of this tome are a veritable feast of witty, gritty thrillers packing as much punch and wonder now as they always have.

Unmissable adventure for fans of all ages!
© 1964-1968, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Outsiders: Crisis Intervention


By Judd Winick, Jen Van Meter, Matthew Clark, Dietrich Smith, Art Thibert & Steve Bird (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0973-5

Once upon a time superheroes, like firemen, sat around their assorted lairs or went about their civilian pursuits until the call of duty summoned them to deal with a breaking emergency. In the increasingly sober and serious world after Crisis on Infinite Earths, that precept was challenged with a number of costumed adventurers evolving into pre-emptive strikers…

Arsenal and Nightwing always intended to run their new team as a covert and pre-emptive pack of self-professed “hunters”: seeking out and taking down metahuman threats and extraordinary criminals before they could do harm, but they were continually thwarted as events always seemed to find them off-guard and unready…

Now, following the deaths of more beloved comrades (see Teen Titans/Outsiders: the Insiders), Arsenal decides to finally live up to the brief by going after the villainous scum with all guns blazing and the gloves off…

This fourth edgy compendium eschews individual issue titles but for your convenience and mine I’ve again supplied them from the original issues (#29-33 plus relevant portions of Firestorm #19, covering December 2005 to March 2006) of Judd Winick’s grim and witty Outsiders comicbook, with the barely-functioning team – Arsenal, Starfire, Grace, Thunder, Shift, Jade and Captain Marvel Jr. – facing their lowest moments in the aftermath of their betrayal by Indigo…

‘Unoriginal Sins, Part 1: All Together Now’ by Winick, Matthew Clark & Art Thibert begins with the out-of-control divine force The Spectre declaring war on magic-users and destroying mystical fortress The Rock of Eternity, thereby unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins.

These personified spiritual anathemas find a new home inside Outsiders antagonist Ishmael Gregor who had previously transformed himself into the benighted and demonic Sabbac in his unquenchable thirst for power (see Outsiders: Sum of All Evil)…

When Deathstroke the Terminator offers the painfully ambitious Gregor a position in Lex Luthor‘s criminal elite The Society the stage is set for an epic confrontation, but before the devil can mobilise, Dr. Sivana and the survivors of the Fearsome Five attack Alcatraz and provoke an immediate response from the mad-as-hell Outsiders…

When Sabbac at last arrives, in the concluding episode ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’ using the powers of the Sins to derange friend and foe alike through waves of Lust, Rage, Envy and more, founding Outsider Katana is inexorably drawn to the conflict by her ensorcelled sword and saves the day, just before demi-goddess and old friend Donna Troy shows up, hoping to recruit the more cosmic team-members for a mission in deep space…

‘Out of Town Work’ (illustrated by Dietrich Smith, Thibert & Steve Bird) directly ties in to the company crossover Infinite Crisis with Troy seconding Jade, Shift, Starfire and the young Marvel as part of a task force to save the universe.

Significant portions of Firestorm #19’s ‘The Forests of the Night’ by Stuart Moore, Jamal Igle & Rob Stull are also included as the voyagers head for the heart of Creation to battle the unknown enemy but become sidetracked and embroiled in lethal sibling rivalry as Starfire’s sister Blackfire ambushes the squad in ‘Detour’…

Meanwhile on Earth, Katana sticks around when Arsenal decides to attack Deathstroke and the Society, culminating in a devastating ‘Deep Impact’ wherein the Outsiders finally deliver a crushing and costly defeat on the super-criminal army just as all reality goes insane thanks to the aforementioned Infinite Crisis hitting the Cosmic Reset Button.

The next volume will begin with the first One Year Later story-arc…

Wickedly barbed, action-packed and often distressingly hard-hitting, Outsiders was one of the very best series pursuing that “hunting heroes” concept, resulting in some of the most exciting superhero sagas of the last decade. Still gripping, evocative and extremely readable, these bleakly powerful stories will astound and amaze older fans of the genre, but this volume at least is best seen in conjunction with too many other books to truly stand on its own merits.

The action is intense, and the dialogue wonderful, but the story won’t appeal or even be understandable to casual readers whilst the effect of the notional cliffhanger ending is rather negated by the deliberately ambiguous closing scene. Page by page and scene by scene this is great stuff, but the imposed conclusion renders all that sterling work irrelevant. This is another one for completists only, I’m afraid.
© 2005, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Blind Justice


By Sam Hamm, Denys Cowan & Dick Giordano (DC Comics)
ISBN 10: 1-56389-047-X       ISBN 10: 978-1563890475

1989 was a banner year for Batman. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the Caped Crusader and the world was about to go completely Bat-crazy for the second time in twenty-five years, so DC were pushing the boat out preparing a brand-new title to add to the Gotham Guardian’s stable of comicbooks.

Two years earlier in 1985-1986, the venerable publisher had grabbed headlines by boldly retconning their entire ponderous continuity via the groundbreaking maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths; ejecting the entire concept of a multiverse and re-knitting time so that there had only ever been one Earth. For readers, the planet was now a perfect place to jump on at the start: a world literally festooned with iconic heroes and villains draped in a clear and cogent backstory nobody knew yet.

Many of their greatest characters got a unique restart, with the conceit being that the characters had been around for years and the readership were simply tuning in on just another working day.

Because of the Tim Burton movie Batman’s popularity was at an intoxicating peak and, since DC was still in the throes of re-jigging the entire narrative continuity, this three-part epic (two 80-page specials bracketing a single regular issue, reprinting Detective Comics #598-600, March-May 1989) can in many ways be seen as a transitional tale in the re-imagining of the Dark Knight for the 1990s…

After an introduction by the author the saga begins with ‘The Sleep of Reason’: Bruce Wayne awakes from an uncharacteristic nightmare and walks into a perplexing and macabre murder mystery wherein a night watchman has been reduced to a sack of powdered bones and organs. Across town, plucky Jeannie Bowen has just hit Gotham, looking for her brother who simply vanished one day after leaving work at Waynetech…

The nightmares continue to plague the Batman’s alter ego as Jeannie comes up against an administrative stone wall. Her brother’s boss claims no “Roy Kane” has ever worked for the cutting-edge research firm, but when the Dark Knight barely survives an encounter with a technological monster dubbed the Bonecrusher the disparate events begin to gel together…

‘The Kindness of Strangers’ brings Bruce Wayne to Jeannie’s aid and together they pierce the corporate wall at Waynetech and discover brother Roy was indeed employed there, but his tenure and subsequent disappearance have been excised from all records.

Roy had been the assistant to the company’s paraplegic genius Kenneth Harbinger, whose groundbreaking discoveries into cybernetic replacements and enhancements had offered great hope for physical trauma patients, but the junior had simply not turned up for work one day…

Now a police sweep finds Roy amnesiac and derelict on the streets. Apparently brain-damaged, he also seems to have a psychic connection to the devastating Bonecrusher…

When the hulking brute self-destructs rather than surrender to Batman and the cops, Roy and Jeannie move into Wayne Manor and, as the billionaire begins to clean house at Waynetech, they discover that the young man has been surreptitiously fitted with a memory transceiver biochip: a cybernetic back-door which allows a mystery mastermind to possess bodies at will. Bonecrusher is not one man but a slave army of remote control killers…

Only the seemingly benign Harbinger can be behind it, but further investigations in ‘The Price of Knowledge’ reveal that he had not worked alone. Wayne’s companies have been targeted by a clandestine “Cartel” of corporate raiders intent on possessing all his wealth and technologies, but as the Batman moves in all he finds is Harbinger’s corpse…

Moreover, someone has pieced together Wayne’s eccentric lifestyle, history and expenses and had the playboy arrested as a communist spy…

Harbinger is not dead. The crippled genius has simply abandoned his broken body and taken up residence in other unsuspecting biochip recipients. Free and fit, he goes on a spree of physical excess and wilful murder whilst Bruce Wayne festers under house arrest, enforced helplessness and increasingly horrific dreams…

As the government prosecutors track down the men who individually trained the boy-orphan Wayne as he travelled across Europe and the East years ago, the case against the accused spy looks to be unshakable, especially once French manhunter Henri Ducard agrees to be a bought witness and say whatever the prosecutors wish…

However proceedings take a dark turn when Harbinger in another borrowed body and, now at odds with his former Cartel paymasters, shoots Wayne on the Courthouse steps, possibly crippling him permanently…

‘Hidden Agendas’ finds Harbinger setting up his own organisation and powerbase just as the ruthless and amoral Ducard puts together scraps of information and deduces Bruce Wayne’s real secret. However the broken and demoralised Gotham Guardian gets a new lease of life when Roy discovers the Batcave and offers to lend his bio-chipped body to the disabled crusader for use as a surrogate Batman…

Wayne refuses but Roy is persistent and the continual threat of Harbinger’s hidden new life eventually leads the desperate and debilitated detective to make the biggest mistake of his career…

‘Covert Operations’ sees a Dark Knight haunting the alleys and rooftops of Gotham after weeks of absence, prompting Ducard to fetch up at the mansion with an astonishing proposition…

‘Ulterior Motives’ sees the compelling if convoluted saga come to a shattering climax as Wayne’s mind in Roy’s body tracks down and confronts Harbinger and his platoon of augmented Bonecrushers before turning the tables on the cartel. Of course the price paid for the victory is heartbreak, tragedy death and relentless guilt…

This is amongst the very best of modern Batman yarns: dark, intense, cunning and incredibly complex; blending high-tech adventure with brooding psychological drama, doomed romance with corporate and political intrigue, all illustrated with mesmerising verve and style by Denys Cowan & Dick Giordano.

Moreover, as an anniversary event, the collected edition also includes a superb gallery of graphic appreciations from Bob Kane, Neal Adams, Kyle Baker, Norm Breyfogle, Howard Chaykin, Mike Zeck, Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson and David Mazzucchelli.

If you haven’t seen this supremely engaging tale – criminally out of print but well worth hunting down – then you don’t really know the Dark Knight yet…
© 1989, 1990, 1992 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents All Star Comics Volume 1


By Gerry Conway, Paul Levitz, Wally Wood, Joe Staton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-85768-810-0

In the torrid and turbulent 1970s many of the Comics industry’s oldest publishing ideas were finally laid to rest. The belief that characters could be “over-exposed” was one of the most pernicious and long-lasting (although it never hurt Superman, Batman or the original Captain Marvel), garnered from years of experience in an industry which lived or died on that fractional portion of pennies derived each month from the pocket-money and allowances of children which wasn’t spent on candy, toys or movies.

By the end of the 1960s comicbook costs and prices were inexorably rising and a proportion of titles – especially the newly revived horror stories – were consciously being produced for older readerships. Nearly a decade of organised fan publications and letter writing crusades had finally convinced publishing bean-counters what editors already knew: grown-ups avidly read comics too; they would happily spend more than kids and, most importantly, they wanted more, more, more of what they loved.

Explicitly: If one appearance per month was popular, extras, specials and second series would be more so. By the time Marvel Wunderkind Gerry Conway was preparing to leave The House of Ideas, DC was willing and ready to expand its variegated line-up with some oft-requested fan-favourite characters.

Paramount among these was the Justice Society of America, the first comicbook super-team and a perennial gem whose annual guest-appearances in the Justice League of America had become an inescapable and beloved summer tradition.

Thus in 1976 Writer/Editor Conway marked his DC tenure (where he had first broken in to the game by writing horror shorts for Joe Orlando) by reviving All Star Comics with number #58; in 1951 as the first Heroic Age ended the original title had transformed overnight into All Star Western with that number running for a further decade as the home of such cowboy crusaders as Strong Bow, the Trigger Twins, Johnny Thunder and Super-Chief. If you’re interested, among the other revivals/introductions in “Conway’s Corner” were Blackhawk, Plastic Man, Secret Society of Super-Villains, Freedom Fighters, Kobra, Blitzkrieg – and many others

Set on the parallel world of Earth-2 and in keeping with the editorial sense of ensuring that the series was relevant to young readers too, Conway reintroduced the veteran team and leavened it with a smattering of teen heroes, combined into a contentious, generation-gap fuelled “Super Squad”.

The youngsters included Robin (already a JSA member since the mid 1960s – as per Showcase Presents the Justice League of America volume 3), Sylvester Pemberton, AKA The Star-Spangled Kid (in actuality a boy-hero from the 1940s who had spent decades lost in time) and a busty young nymphet who quickly became the feisty favourite of a generation of growing boys: Kara Zor-L; soon to become infamous as the “take-charge” dynamo Power Girl.

This superb titanic monochrome volume gathers the four year run of the JSA from the late 1970s into a sublime showcase of different, ever-changing times and includes All-Star Comics #58-74, the series’ continuation and conclusion from giant anthology title Adventure Comics #461-466 plus the seminal DC Special #29 which, after almost four decades, at last provided the team with an origin…

The action begins with ‘Prologue’ – a three-page introduction, recap and summation of the Society’s history and the celestial mechanics of Alternate Earths, by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton & Bob Layton From Adventure #461 (January/February 1979) outlining the history and mechanics of the alternate Earths, after which the two-part debut tale from All- Star Comics #58 (January/February 1976 by Conway, Ric Estrada and Wally Wood) found newly-inducted Pemberton chafing at his time-lost plight and revelling in his new powers (he had been given a cosmic power device by retired veteran Starman) when a crisis propelled him and elder heroes Flash, Dr. Mid-Nite, Wildcat, Hawkman, Green Lantern and Dr. Fate into a three-pronged calamity devastating Seattle, Cape Town and Peking (which you youngsters now know as Beijing) with man-made natural disasters.

The veterans split up but were overwhelmed, giving the new kids a chance to shine in ‘All Star Super-Squad’. With the abrasive, impatient Power Girl in the vanguard the entire team was soon on the trail of old foe Degaton and his mind-bending ally in the concluding ‘Brainwave Blows Up!’

Keith Giffen replaced Estrada in issue #60 for the introduction of a psychotic super-arsonist who attacked the squad just as the age-divide started to chafe and Power Girl began to tick off or “re-educate” the stuffy, paternalistic JSA elders in ‘Vulcan: Son of Fire!’.

The closing instalment ‘Hellfire and Holocaust’ saw the flaming fury mortally wound Dr. Fate before his own defeat, just as a new mystic menace was beginning to stir…

Conway’s last issue as scripter was #62’s ‘When Fall the Mighty’ as antediluvian sorcerer Zanadu attacked, whilst the criminal Injustice Gang opened their latest vengeful assault using mind-control to turn friend against friend…

The cast expanded with the return of Hourman and Power Girl’s Kryptonian mentor, but even they were insufficient to prevent ‘The Death of Doctor Fate’ (written by Paul Levitz and fully illustrated by the inimitable Wally Wood). Attacked on all sides, the team splintered: Wildcat, Hawkman and the Kryptonian Cousins tackling the assembled super-villains, Flash and Green Lantern searching Egypt for a cure to Fate’s condition, and Hourman, Mid-Nite and Star-Spangled Kid desperately attempting to keep their fallen comrade alive.

They failed and Zanadu attacked once more, almost adding the moribund Fate’s death-watch defenders to his tally until the archaic alien’s very presence called Kent Nelson back from beyond the grave…

With that crisis averted Superman made ready to leave but was embroiled in a last-minute, manic time-travel assassination plot (Levitz & Wood) which dragged the team and guest-star Shining Knight from an embattled Camelot in ‘Yesterday Begins Today!’ to the far-flung future and ‘The Master Plan of Vandal Savage’: a breathtaking spectacle of drama and excitement that signalled Wood’s departure from the series.

Joe Staton & Bob Layton had the unenviable task of filling his artistic shoes, beginning with #66 as ‘Injustice Strikes Twice!’ with the reunited team – sans Superman – falling prey to an ambush from their arch-enemies, whilst the emotion-warping Psycho-Pirate began to twist Green Lantern into an out-of-control menace determined to crush Corporate America beneath his emerald heel, which subsequently led to the return of Earth-2’s Bruce Wayne, who had retired his masked persona to become Gotham’s Police Commissioner.

The Injustice Society had monstrous allies who were revealed in ‘Attack of the Underlord!’ (All-Star Comics #67, July/Aug 1977) as a subterranean race of conquerors who nearly ended the team forever. Meanwhile Wayne’s plans to close down the JSA before their increasingly destructive exploits demolished his beloved city neared fruition…

The modern adventures pause here as the aforementioned case from DC Special #29 (September 1977) disclosed ‘The Untold Origin of the Justice Society’

In this extra-length epic Levitz, Staton & Layton, revealed the previously “classified” events which saw Adolf Hitler acquire the mystical Spear of Destiny in 1940 and immediately summon mythical Teutonic Valkyries to aid in the in 1940 invasion of Britain.

Alerted to the threat, American President Roosevelt, hampered by his country’s neutrality, asked a select band of masked mystery-men to lend their aid as non-political private citizens. In a cataclysmic escalation the struggle ranged from the heart of Europe, throughout the British Isles and even to the Oval office of the White House before ten bold costumed heroes finally – if only temporarily – stopped the Nazis’ evil plans…

Back in All Star #68 (October, 1977) the curvy Kryptonian was clearly becoming the star of the show and as ‘Divided We Stand!’ by Levitz, Staton & Bob Layton, concluded the Psycho-Pirate’s scheme to discredit and destroy the JSA, she was well on the way to her first solo outing in Showcase #97-98 (reprinted in Power Girl, but not included here). Meanwhile GL resumed a maniacal rampage through Gotham City and Police Commissioner Bruce Wayne took extreme measures to bring the seemingly out-of-control JSA to book.

In #69’s ‘United We Fall!’ Commissioner Wayne brought in his own team of retired JSA heroes to arrest the “rogue” squad, resulting in a classic fanboy dream duel as Dr. Fate, Wildcat, Hawkman, Flash, GL and Star Spangled Kid battled the one-time Batman, Robin, Hourman, Starman, Dr. Mid-Nite and Wonder Woman. It was a colourful catastrophe in waiting until PG and Superman intervened to reveal the true cause of all the madness.

…And in the background, a new character was about to make a landmark debut…

With order (temporarily) restored ‘A Parting of the Ways!’ focussed on Wildcat and Star Spangled Kid as the off-duty heroes stumbled upon a high-tech gang of super-thieves called Strike Force. The robbers initially proved too much for the pair and even new star The Huntress, but with a pair of startling revelations in ‘The Deadliest Game in Town!’ the trio finally triumphed.

In the aftermath the Kid resigned and the daughter of Batman and Catwoman (alternate Earth, remember?) replaced him.

All-Star Comics #72 reintroduced a couple of classic Golden Age villainesses in ‘A Thorn by Any Other Name’ wherein the psychopathic floral fury returned to poison Wildcat, leaving Helena Wayne to battle the original 1950’s Huntress for an antidote and the rights to the name…

The concluding ‘Be it Ever So Deadly’ (with Joe Giella taking over the inker’s role) saw the entire team in action as Huntress battled Huntress whilst Thorn and the Sportsmaster did their deadly best to destroy the heroes and their loved ones. Simultaneously in Egypt Hawkman and Dr. Fate stumbled upon a deadly ancient menace to all of reality…

The late 1970s was a perilous period for comics with exponentially rising costs inevitably resulting in drastically dwindling sales. Many titles were abruptly cancelled in a “DC Implosion” and All-Star Comics was one of the casualties. Issue #74 was the last and pitted the entire team against a mystic Armageddon perpetrated by the nigh-omnipotent Master Summoner who orchestrated a ‘World on the Edge of Ending’ before the Justice Society triumphed dragged victory from the jaws of defeat…

Although the book was gone, the series continued in the massive 68 page anthology title Adventure Comics, beginning in #461 (January/February 1979) with the first half of a blockbuster tale originally intended for the anniversary 75th issue. Drawn and inked by Staton, ‘Only Legends Live Forever’ detailed the last case of the Batman as the Dark Knight came out of retirement to battle a seeming nonentity who had mysteriously acquired god-like power.

Issue #462 delivered the shocking, heartbreaking conclusion in ‘The Legend Lives Again!’ whilst ‘The Night of the Soul Thief!’ saw Huntress, Robin and the assembled JSA deliver righteous justice to the mysterious mastermind who had actually orchestrated the death of the World’s Greatest Detective.

Adventure #464 then provided an intriguing insight into aging warrior Wildcat, as with ‘To Everything There is a Season…’ he embraced his own mortality and began a new career as a teacher of heroes, whilst ‘Countdown to Disaster!’ (inked by Dave Hunt) saw Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Power Girl, Huntress and Dr. Fate hunt a doomsday device lost in the teeming masses of Gotham. It would be the last modern outing of the team for decades.

But not the last in this volume: that honour falls to another Levitz & Staton landmark history lesson wherein they exposed the reason why the team had vanished at the beginning of the 1950s.

From Adventure #466 ‘The Defeat of the Justice Society!’ showed how the American Government had cravenly betrayed their greatest champions during the McCarthy Witch-hunts; provoking the mystery-men into withdrawing from public, heroic life for over a decade – that is until the costumed stalwarts of Earth-1 started the whole Fights ‘n’ Tights scene all over again…

Although perhaps a tad dated now, these exuberant, rapid-paced and imaginative yarns perfectly blended the naive charm of Golden Age derring-do with cynical yet hopeful modern sensibilities that never doubted that, in the end. heroes would always find a way to save the day.

These classic tales from a simpler time are a glorious example of traditional superhero storytelling at its finest: fun, furious and ferociously engaging, exciting written and beguilingly illustrated. No Fights ‘n’ Tights fan can afford to miss these marvellous sagas.
© 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told: volume 2


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Dennis O’Neill, Irv Novick, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-037-2

By the time this sequel collection of Batman classics appeared, graphic novels were becoming fully established as a valuable second marketplace for comic adventures, not just celebrating standout stories from the company’s illustrious and varied history but also as a format for new and significant works.

They were also a superb high-ticket item for enhancing public buzz from media events such as the follow-up Batman Returns movie. However, although this tantalising selection of tales starring Catwoman and the Penguin was designed to cash in on the second feature film, it does contain a superb procession of brilliant criminal clashes which no true fan of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction could resist…

After ‘Of Fowls and Felines: Fifty Years of Felony’, an erudite introduction by Marty Pasko, and Mike Gold’s fact-filled Foreword ‘The Deadliest Duo’, both liberally illustrated with pin-ups by José Luis García–López, Brian Stelfreeze, Jim Aparo, Don Newton, Brent Anderson and others, the dramatic duels begin with ‘The Cat’ (by Bill Finger, Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson from Batman #1, Spring 1940) – later adding the suffix ‘Woman’ to her name to avoid any possible doubt or confusion – who plied her felonious trade of jewel theft aboard the wrong cruise liner and fell foul for the first time of the dashing Dynamic Duo, whilst the perfidious Penguin debuted in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941, by Kane, Finger, Robinson & George Roussos) primed to make the Batman and Robin the victims of ‘One of the Most Perfect Frame-Ups’…

‘The Secret Life of Catwoman’ comes from Batman #62 (December 1950-January 1951, by Finger, Kane & Charles Paris) and saw the Felonious Feline reform and retire after a head trauma cured her larcenous tendencies, after which ‘The Penguin’s Fabulous Fowls’ from #76 (April-May 1953 by Edmond Hamilton, Kane & Paris) found the Umbrella King turn xeno(crypto?)-biologist to capture mythical avian monsters and turn them loose in Gotham…

January 1954’s Detective Comics #203 exposed the ‘Crimes of the Catwoman’ when the bored and neglected Selina Kyle took up her whip and claws once more to prove she was still the Queen of Crime in a classy caper by Hamilton, Kane & Paris.

In the mid 1950s costumed villains faded from view for almost a decade until the Batman TV show made them stars in their own right.

Batman #169 (February 1965) saw the wily, bird-themed bad-man triumphantly return to make the Caped Crusaders his unwilling dupes and ‘Partners in Plunder!’ in a stirring romp by Ed “France” Herron, Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella, whilst full-length epic ‘The Penguin Takes a Flyer into the Future’ (#190 March 1967 by Gardner Fox, Chic Stone & Giella) mixed super-villainy and faux science fiction motifs for an enjoyable if predictable fist-fest.

When the Tigress of Terror eventually resurfaced with Batman #197’s ‘Catwoman Sets her Claws for Batman’ (December by Fox, Frank Springer and Sid Greene) the frankly daft tale pitted her in romantic combat against Batgirl for the Gotham Gangbuster’s attentions. This one is most fondly remembered for the classic cover of Batgirl and whip-wielding Catwoman squaring off over Batman’s prone body – comic fans have a psychopathology all their very own…

Batman #257 in July-August 1974 produced a canny thriller in ‘Hail Emperor Penguin’ by Denny O’Neil, Irv Novick& Dick Giordano, wherein the Parasol Plunderer kidnapped a young Middle Eastern potentate and fell foul of both Batman & Robin and Demon’s Daughter Talia Al Ghul.

The Teen Wonder returned in Detective Comics #473’s ‘The Malay Penguin!’ as the podgy Napoleon of Crime challenged the temporarily reunited Dynamic Duo to an entrancing, intoxicating duel of wits, courtesy of Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers & Terry Austin from November 1977.

After an informative ‘Catwoman Featurette’ from Batman #256 May (Jun 1974), a two part Catwoman solo feature by Bruce Jones, Trevor Von Eeden & Pablo Marcos proved her potential as a force for Good in ‘Terror Train’ and ‘In the Land of the Dead’ from Batman #345-346 (March and April 1982) whilst ‘Never Scratch a Cat’ from #355 (January 1983, by Gerry Conway, Don Newton & Alfredo Alcala) re-emphasised her savage, independent nature and unwillingness to be ignored by the Dark Knight…

A ‘Penguin Featurette’ from Batman #257 then precedes ‘Love Birds’ from Batman Annual #11 (1987) wherein Max Allen Collins & Norm Breyfogle explored the Penguin’s softer side – and found it lacking – before ‘Eyrie’ (Detective #568, November 1986 by Joey Cavalieri & Klaus Janson) firmly re-established the Little Emperor of Crime’s stylish, deadly and bloody bona fides in a chilling tale of extortion and murder…

This terrific tome, edited by Paul Kupperberg and Robert Greenberger – who provided the creator biographies and End-notes – is also packed with many compelling cover reproductions filling up all those half-page breaks which advertised new comics in the originals to make this another captivating collection of utter superhero excellence: fun-filled, action-packed and wildly beguiling.
© 1940, 1941, 1953, 1954, 1965, 1967, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1992 DC Comics Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: hc 0930-289-35-8        pb 978-0-93028-966-9

When the very concept and feasibility of high priced graphic novels was just being tested in the early 1990s, DC Comics produced a line of glorious hardback compilations spotlighting star characters and celebrating standout stories from the company’s illustrious and varied history decade by decade. They even produced themed collections which shaped the output of the industry to this day such as this captivating compendium of tales released in 1988 designed to promote interest in the then still-forthcoming Batman movie.

As one of the earliest graphic novel collections of the time the accreditations in this tome are sometimes incorrect and I’ve endeavoured to correct any inaccuracies I’ve spotted wherever they occur…

The non-stop rollercoaster ride begins with ‘Batman versus the Vampire parts 1 and 2’ which originally appeared in Detective Comics #31-32 (September and October 1939 by Gardner Fox & Bob Kane), a sublime two-part gothic shocker which introduced the first bat-plane, Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend Julie Madison and vampiric horror The Monk: a saga which concluded in an epic chase across Eastern Europe and a spectacularly chilling climax. The tale was re-imagined by Matt Wagner in 2007 as Batman and the Mad Monk.

From Batman #1, 1940 ‘Dr. Hugo Strange and the Mutant Monsters’ follows as a brilliant old enemy (see Batman Archives volume 1) returned with laboratory-grown hyperthyroid horrors to rampage through the terrified city. Bill Finger, Kane & Jerry Robinson’s pulp masterpiece was also later reworked by Wagner as Batman & the Monster Men.

‘Nights of Knavery’ from Batman #25 (October/November 1944, Don Cameron, Hardin “Jack” Jack Burnley & Jerry Robinson) saw the Joker and Penguin temporarily united in a tempestuous and foredoomed alliance against the Dynamic Duo after which the Wily Old Bird starred in a solo saga from the Sunday section of the short-lived Batman syndicated newspaper strip.

‘1001 Umbrellas of the Penguin’ (from February 10th – March 10th 1946, by Alvin Schwartz, Burnley & Charles Paris) recounted a hilarious episode wherein the arch-criminal’s formidable Aunt Miranda came to visit, blithely unaware of her nephew’s nefarious career, after which ‘The Origin of Batman’ (#47 of his solo title, June 1948, by Finger, Kane & Paris) added tone and depth to the traumatic event when The Gotham Gangbuster at last confronted the triggerman who murdered his parents…

A new high-tech, gadget-fuelled era opened with ‘The Birth of Batplane II’ (Batman #61, October 1950: David Vern, Dick Sprang & Paris) as the Dynamic Duo lost their old aircraft to criminal aviators and constructed a whole new look for themselves…

After WWII Robin had a long-running solo-strip in Star-Spangled Comics and from #124 (January 1952) comes ‘Operation Escape’ by an unknown writer – possibly Bill Finger – and artist Jim Mooney wherein the Boy Wonder proved his ingenuity in liberating himself from an impossible criminal trap, whilst in ‘The Jungle Cat-Queen’ (Detective #211 September 1954, by Edmond Hamilton, Sprang & Paris) he and his mentor were hard-pressed to outwit the sultry Catwoman after she marooned them on a tropical island rife with deadly killers, animal and human…

‘The First Batman’ (Detective Comics #235, September 1955) was a key story of this period and introduced a strong psychological component to Batman’s origins courtesy of Finger, Sheldon Moldoff & Stan Kaye, disclosing how when Bruce Wayne was still a toddler his father had clashed with gangsters whilst clad in a fancy dress bat costume…

When the Man of Tomorrow replaced the Caped Crusader with a new partner in World’s Finest Comics #94 (1958) it led to a timely review and partial revision of ‘The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team’ in a timeless tale by Hamilton, Sprang & Stan Kaye after which ‘Robin Dies at Dawn’ re-presents the eerie epic which first appeared in Batman #156 (June 1963, Finger, Moldoff & Paris) wherein the Gotham Guardian experienced truly hideous travails on an alien world culminating in the death of his young partner.

Detective #345 (November 1966) introduced a terrifying, tragic new villain in ‘The Blockbuster Invasion of Gotham City!’ (Fox, Infantino & Giella) as a monstrous giant with the mind of a child and the raw, physical power of a tank was constantly driven to madness at sight of Batman and only placated by the sight of Bruce Wayne…

This is followed by a chilling murder-mystery from the most celebrated creative team of the 1970s. ‘Ghost of the Killer Skies’ (Detective Comics #404, October 1970, by Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams & Dick Giordano) found Batman attempting to solve a series of impossible murders on the set of a film about German WWI fighter ace Hans von Hammer and the same team are responsible for the moody masterpiece which follows, reintroducing one of Batman’s most tragic and dangerous foes.

As comics became increasingly more anodyne in the 1950s the actualised schizophrenic Two-Face had faded from view, but with the return of a grimmer, grittier hero the scene was set for a revival of Batman’s most murderously warped villains too. ‘Half an Evil’ from Batman #234, August 1971 is a spectacular action-packed mystery, as the long-gone two-in-one man perpetrated a series of bizarre events for no perceptible purpose…

‘Man-Bat Over Vegas’ (Detective #429, November 1972, written and illustrated by Frank Robbins) was an epilogue to the triptych of tales which introduced the tragic Kirk Langstrom, whose experiments doomed him to life as a monstrous winged mutant. Although Batman assumed the scientist was cured, when a nuclear test led to a rash of vampire attacks in Nevada the Caped Crusader rushed west to investigate…

‘The Batman Nobody Knows’ comes from Batman #250, July 1973 and was a celebrated attempt by Robbins & Giordano to rationalize the then newly-restored aura of mystery to the character. This quirky campfire tale recently inspired the creation of African Dark Knight Batwing as part of DC’s “New 52”…

When Archie Goodwin took over the editor’s desk from Julie Schwartz in Detective Comics #437 (November 1973) he also wrote a stunning run of experimental yarns, beginning with ‘Deathmask’: a brilliant supernatural murder-mystery featuring an Aztec curse; magnificently depicted by Jim Aparo. From #442 (September 1974) ‘Death Flies the Haunted Sky’ provided reclusive graphic genius Alex Toth with an opportunity to show everybody how powerful comic art could be.

Goodwin & Toth’s collaboration on the magnificent barnstorming murder-spree thriller is one of the best Batman tales ever created.

Next up is ‘There is no Hope in Crime Alley!’ (Detective Comics #457, March 1976): a powerful and genuinely moving tale which introduced Leslie Thompkins, the woman who first cared for the boy Bruce Wayne on the night his parents were murdered, delivered with great skill and sensitivity by O’Neil & Giordano.

‘Death Strikes at Midnight and Three’ comes from DC Special Series #15 (Summer, 1978): an ambitious but not quite successful text-thriller which married a wealth of superb illustrations by Marshall Rogers to O’Neil’s surprisingly lacklustre prose.

Rogers had first come to prominence drawing Steve Englehart’s classic reinterpretation of the Batman legend and ‘The Deadshot Ricochet’ (Detective #474, December 1977, and with Terry Austin on inks) was perhaps the best of a truly stellar run. The second ever appearance of the murderous high society sniper (after an initial outing in Batman #59, 1950) so reinvigorated the third-rate trick-shooter that he’s seldom been missing from the DC Universe since, starring in a number of series such as Suicide Squad and Secret Six, and even in a couple of eponymous miniseries.

‘Bat-Mite’s New York Adventure’ from Detective 482 (March 1979) is a hilarious fourth-wall busting romp by Bob Rozakis, Michael Golden & Bob Smith which finds the geeky fifth-dimensional sprite invading the offices of DC comics to deliver a protest in person, whilst its back to grim business as usual in the bombastic ‘A Caper a Day Keeps the Batman at Bay’ (Batman #312, June 1979, by Len Wein, Walt Simonson & Giordano) as the obsessed bandit Calendar Man attempts to commit a themed robbery every 24 hours…

In Detective #500 (March 1981) Alan Brennert & Giordano sent Batman and Robin to another Earth to prevent the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne in the beguiling ‘To Kill a Legend’ and the story-portion of this book concludes with another Brennert alternate world saga as in 1955 the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman clashed with the Scarecrow before finally sheathing their claws and getting married in ‘The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne’ (The Brave and the Bold #197 April 1983) illustrated by Joe Staton & George Freeman.

The hardcover book is edited by Mike Gold, Brian Augustyn, Mark Waid & Robert Greenberger, with a spectacular collage of covers as endpaper illustrations, ‘Growing up with the Greatest’ – an introduction from Dick Giordano, and text features ‘Our Darkest Knight’ from Gold and a captivating end-note article by Greenberger. Also on show are copious creator biographies liberally enhanced with even more tantalising cover reproductions, even filling up all those half-page breaks which advertised new comics in the originals.

I defy any nostalgia-soaked fan not to start muttering “got; got; need it; Mother threw it away…”

This unbelievably enchanting collection was released in both hardcover and paperback editions and is a pure parcel of superhero magnificence: fun-filled, action-packed and utterly addictive.
© 1939-1983, 1988 DC Comics Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Shazam! Archives volume 2


By Bill Parker, C.C. Beck, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Pete Costanza, Charles Sultan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 01-56389-521-8

One of the most venerated and beloved characters of America’s Golden Age of comics was created by Bill Parker and Charles Clarence Beck in 1940 as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity which followed the stunning success of Superman in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett character quickly moved squarely into the area of light entertainment and even straight comedy, whilst as the years passed the Man of Steel increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action, drama and suspense.

Homeless orphan and good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to be given the powers of six gods and heroes to battle injustice. He transforms from scrawny precocious kid to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel by speaking aloud the wizard’s acronymic name – invoking the powers of legendary patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.

At the height of his popularity Captain Marvel outsold Superman and was even published twice a month, but as the Furious Forties closed tastes changed, sales slowed and Fawcett saw the way the wind was blowing. They settled an infamous long-running copyright infringement case begun by National Comics in 1940 and the Big Red Cheese disappeared – as did so many superheroes – becoming little more than a fond memory for older fans…

This second magnificent deluxe full-colour hardback compendium re-presents the lead strips and pertinent Spy Smasher episodes from the fortnightly Whiz Comics #15-20 where Fawcett conducted one of comics’ first character crossover sagas, as well as the premier issue of solo title Captain Marvel Adventures and the magnificent Special Edition Comics #1 which opens this spectacular box of delights after an enthralling introduction by cartoonist, author and historian R.C. Harvey.

Fawcett had a brilliant hit on their hands and in late 1940 released a 64-page bonus comic dedicated to their dashing hero with four all-new adventures by Parker & Beck.

It began with an untitled epic wherein Billy and his adult alter ego battled mystery powerhouse Slaughter Slade and his ghastly monsters – including a giant spider and a super-intelligent gorilla – when they tried to lay waste to the nation’s Capitol.

‘Captain Marvel and the Haunted House’ was an old-fashioned spooky chiller where a dead man’s curse proved to have a mortal and mercenary cause whilst ‘Captain Marvel and the Gamblers of Death’ pitted the hero against betting racketeers who preferred to kill athletes rather than pay out to winning punters.

The Special Edition ended with the epic ‘Captain Marvel and Sivana, the Weather Wizard’ wherein Billy returned to Venus and discovered the deranged genius had devised a method of creating natural disasters on Earth. Sivana’s scheme to get rich from millions of insurance claims naturally fell foul of the World’s Mightiest Mortal and Billy’s sheer ingenuity…

In the formative years as the feature catapulted to the first rank of superhero superstars, there was actually a scramble to fill pages so Captain Marvel Adventures #1 (1941) was farmed out to up-and-coming whiz-kids Joe Simon & Jack Kirby who produced the entire issue in a hurry from Beck and Parker’s guides.

First up was a visually impressive drama with the irrepressible Sivana creating ‘Z’; a hulking brute designed to be every inch the Captain’s equal. After a spectacular knock-down, drag-out, Kirby-co-ordinated dust-up it was apparent that he wasn’t…

‘Captain Marvel Out West’ found Billy in Rimrock City covering a rodeo for radio listeners before stumbling onto a rustling plot that only the big Red Galoot could quash and, after ‘Captain Marvel’s Puzzle Page’, the Big Guy headed into outer space to crush a gang of alien slavers who had invaded a peaceful Earth-like planet.

Following another perplexing ‘Billy Batson’s Game Page’ the Golden Age Dream-Team wrapped up their stint by crafting ‘Captain Marvel Battles the Vampire’, a manic thriller in the movie haunted vein that would so influence their Captain America stories a year later, as Billy is just too late to stop unwise scientist Doctor Deever’s attempt to reanimate the deadly blood-sucker Bram Thirla. Luckily all the powers of the undead were no match for the Good Captain…

This is followed by an ad for the blockbusting Captain Marvel Movie Serial, which might have inspired the next bold innovation (by a tragically unknown scripter or scripters, although I suspect Parker had a hand in the proceedings somewhere…)

From the middle of Whiz Comics #15 (March 2nd 1941) comes ‘Spy Smasher’ – illustrated by Pete Costanza – which saw the physical and mental marvel Alan Armstrong defeat the giant Grosso only to be brainwashed by his master: a Nazi agent called The Mask.

Soon the costumed hero had become America’s greatest foe, terrorising and sabotaging the country he loved, so two weeks later in Whiz #16 the Captain Marvel lead feature carried on the serial suspense in a dazzling duel (illustrated by Beck & Costanza) wherein Marvel’s brawn and Billy’s brains proved no match for the mesmerised former hero, who after murdering the Mask, released a prison full of convicts and used the brainwashing ray on the Captain…

Happily it didn’t work but in the Spy Smasher instalment (with art by Charles Sultan) Armstrong’s destructive campaign decimated America’s heavy industry and almost killed his girlfriend and sidekick Eve Corby until a certain crimson comet stepped in…

Issue #17 saw Armstrong try to kill Billy’s boss Sterling Morris and steal a deadly new poison gas despite Marvel’s best efforts before continuing into that issue’s Spy Smasher instalment where the tireless madman struck into the nation’s heartland; devastating crops and natural resources with an artificial cyclone.

The crossover continued until the splendid climax in #18 (June 13th 1941) as Armstrong met the Axis spymasters in America and declared war on them too. The hypnotised hero was determine to destroy all governments but finally met his match and was successfully cured in a blistering final fight with Marvel before the concluding Spy Smasher chapter saw them join forces to route the enemy espionage ring…

Whiz Comics #19 (July 11th 1941) then follows with business as unusual when ‘Captain Marvel and the Black Magician’ (possibly written by Otto Binder?) found Billy exposing supernatural charlatans and being targeted by an affronted but genuine backwoods witch-man after which this tome terminates with the rousing ‘Crusher of Crime’ from #20 (August 8th) wherein Sivana laid a deadly trap for Billy before making himself Marvel’s physical match.

Of course, there was much more going on than first appeared…

DC eventually acquired the Fawcett properties and characters and in 1973 revived the Captain for a new generation to see if his unique charm would work another sales miracle during one of comics’ periodic downturns.

Re-titled Shazam! due to the incontestable power of lawyers and copyright convention, the revived heroic ideal enjoyed mixed success before being subsumed into the company’s vast stable of characters…

Nevertheless Captain Marvel is a true icon of American comic history and a brilliantly conceived superhero for all ages. This second stellar collection further proves that these timeless and sublime comic masterpieces are an ideal introduction to the world of superhero fiction: tales that will appeal to readers of any age and temperament.
© 1940, 1941, 1999 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Vixen: Return of the Lion


By G. Willow Wilson & Cafu, with Bit and Josh Middleton (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2512-4

In 1978 fashion model Mari Jiwe McCabe was almost the first black woman to star in her own American comicbook, but the fabled “DC Implosion” of that year saw the Vixen series cancelled before release. She eventually premiered three years later in Action Comics #521’s ‘The Deadly Rampage of the Lady Fox’ (by creator Gerry Conway and Superman mainstays Curt Swan & Frank Chiaramonte) and skulked around the DC Universe until she joined the re-booted JLA in Justice League of America Annual #2.

A classic team-player, over decades working within assorted JLA rosters, the Suicide Squad, Ultramarine Corps, Checkmate and the Birds of Prey, Vixen’s origin has changed a lot less than most.

Mari Jiwe comes from a line of warriors blessed by animist Trickster god Kwaku Anansi. The mythical creator of all stories claims to have designed her abilities – and those of fellow hero Animal Man – allowing Vixen, through use of an arcane artefact dubbed the Tantu Totem, to channel the attributes and power of every animal that has ever lived.

As a child in M’Changa Province, Zambesi, her mother was killed by poachers and her missionary father was murdered by his own brother over possession of the Totem.

To thwart her uncle, the orphan moves to America, eventually becoming a model to provide funding and cover for her mission of revenge…

At first a reluctant superhero, Vixen became one of the most effective crusaders on the international scene and was a key member of the latest Justice League when her powers began to malfunction and she was forced to confront Anansi himself (for which tales see Justice League of America: Sanctuary and Justice League of America: Second Coming)…

Vixen: Return of the Lion originally appeared as a 5-part miniseries in 2009 and opens with ‘Predators’ as a League operation uncovers a plot by techno-thugs Intergang to fund a revolution in troubled African nation Zambesi. Amongst the impounded files is a record which proves that fifteen years earlier, Vixen’s mother was actually killed by Aku Kwesi, a local warlord working with the American criminals…

When Mari learns the truth, not even Superman can stop her from heading straight to her old village to find the man responsible. Africa is not America however, and the lawless settlement has no time for a woman who does not know her place – even if she does have superpowers…

When Kwesi appears, Vixen’s powers are useless against him and she escapes with her life only because the warlord’s lieutenant Sia intervenes…

In ‘Prey’ the broken and severely wounded Mari is dumped in the veldt by Sia and staggers her way across the war-ravaged plain, battling beasts and hallucinating – or perhaps meeting ghosts – until she is attacked by a young lion and rescued by a holy man…

Alarmed at Vixen’s disappearance and further discoveries linking Kwesi and Intergang, the JLA mobilise in ‘Sanctuary’ as the lost Vixen gradually recuperates in a place where the constant battles of fang and claw survival are suspended and the saintly Brother Tabo offers her new perspective and greater understanding of her abilities. Her JLA comrades meanwhile have exposed Intergang’s infiltration but fallen to a power even Superman could not resist…

As the League struggles against overwhelming odds, ‘Risen’ sees a transcendent Vixen flying to the rescue, picking up some unexpected allies en route before facing her greatest challenge in the shocking conclusion ‘Idols’, wherein a few more hidden truths are revealed and a greater mystery begins to unfold…

Also featuring a gallery of stunning covers by Josh Middleton this is an exceptional and moodily exotic piece of Fights ‘n’ Tights fluff from scripter G. Willow Wilson and artists Cafu & Bit that will delight devotees of the genre and casual readers alike.
© 2006, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.