Category: Batman

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Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups Volume 1


By Bob Haney, Neal Adams & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1209-4

The Brave and the Bold began in 1955 as an anthology adventure comic featuring short complete tales about a variety of period heroes: a format that mirrored the contemporary movie fascination with historical dramas. Written by Bob Kanigher issue #1 led with Golden Gladiator, the Silent Knight and Joe Kubert’s now legendary Viking Prince. From #5 the Gladiator was increasingly alternated with Robin Hood, but the adventure format carried the title until the end of the decade when the burgeoning costumed character revival saw B&B transform into a try-out vehicle like Showcase.

Issue #25 (August-September 1959) featured the debut of Task Force X: the Suicide Squad, followed by Justice League of America (#28), Cave Carson (#31), Hawkman (#34), and since only the JLA hit the first time out, there were return engagements for the Squad, Carson and Hawkman. Something truly different appeared in #45-49 with the science fictional Strange Sports Stories, before Brave and the Bold #50 provided a new concept that once again truly caught the reader’s imagination.

That issue paired two superheroes – Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter – in a one-off team-up, as did succeeding issues: Aquaman and Hawkman in #51, WWII Battle Stars Sgt Rock, Captain Cloud, Mme. Marie and the Haunted Tank in #52 and Atom and Flash in #53. The next team-up, Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash, evolved rapidly into the Teen Titans. After Metal Men/the Atom and Flash/Martian Manhunter a new hero, Metamorpho, the Element Man debuted in #57-58. Then it was back to superhero pairings with #59, and although no one realised it at the time this particular conjunction, Batman with Green Lantern would be particularly significant.

After a return engagement for the Teen Titans in #60, the next two issues highlighted Earth-2 champions Starman and Black Canary, whilst Wonder Woman met Supergirl in #63. Then, in an indication of things to come, and in acknowledgement of the TV induced mania mere months away Batman duelled hero/villain Eclipso in #64. Within two issues, following Flash/Doom Patrol (#65) and Metamorpho/Metal Men (#66) Brave and the Bold #67 saw the Caped Crusader take de facto control of the title, and the lion’s share of the team-ups. With the exception of #72-73 (Spectre/the Flash and Aquaman/Atom) the comic was henceforth to be a place where Batman invited the rest of company’s heroic pantheon to come and play…

This first collection of Batman’s pairing with other luminaries of the DC universe (reprinting B&B #59, 64, 67-71 and 74-87) features the last vestiges of a continuity-reduced DC where individual story needs were seldom submerged into a cohesive overarching scenario, with writer Bob Haney crafting stories that were meant to be read in isolation, and drawn by a huge variety of artists with only one goal: entertainment.

The Brave and the Bold #59 (April-May 1965, illustrated by Ramona Fradon and Charles Paris) found Batman and Green Lantern reliving the plot of the Count of Monte Cristo as they resisted ‘The Tick-Tock Traps of the Time Commander!’ whilst a long-lost romantic interest brought the Caped Crusader into conflict with criminal combine Cyclops in ‘Batman versus Eclipso’ (#64, February-March 1966, illustrated by the great Win Mortimer).

‘The Death of the Flash’ in #67 (August-September 1966) was a terse high-speed thriller drawn with flair by Carmine Infantino and Charles Paris, and the next issue, with visuals from Mikes Sekowsky and Esposito, offered one of the oddest tales in DC’s long history as Metamorpho had to defeat a Gotham Guardian mutated into a vicious monster in ‘Alias the Bat-Hulk!’

Win Mortimer returned to illustrate Batman, Green Lantern and the Time Commander’s fractious reunion in #69’s ‘War of the Cosmic Avenger’ whilst Hawkman’s first Bat team-up ‘Cancelled: 2 Super-heroes!’ pitted the pair against a secret identity collector in a quirky tale with art by Johnny Craig and Chuck Cuidera, and Green Arrow, drawn by his Golden Age illustrator George Papp, helped Batman survive ‘The Wrath of the Thunderbird!’

After the aforementioned hiatus the Caped Crime-crusher took full possession of Brave and the Bold with #74’s fast-paced and funny ‘Rampant Run the Robots’ as the Metal Men tackled prejudice and evil inventors and in #75 The Spectre joined the Dark Knight to free Gotham City’s Chinatown from ‘The Grasp of Shahn-Zi!’ both tales drawn by the new semi-regular art team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

Drawn by Sekowsky and Jack Abel, Plastic Man helped solve the mystery of The Molder in #76’s ‘Doom, What is Thy Shape?’ Andru and Esposito illustrated the Atom’s exploits in ‘So Thunders the Cannoneer!’ and Bob Brown stepped in to draw ‘In the Coils of the Copperhead’ wherein Wonder Woman found herself vying with the newly-minted Batgirl for Batman’s affections. Of course it was all a cunning plan… wasn’t it?

Neal Adams was a young illustrator who had worked in advertising and ghosted some newspaper strips whilst trying to break into comics. With #75 he had become a cover artist for B&B, and with #79 (August-September 1968) he took over the interior art for a groundbreaking run that rewrote the rulebook for strip illustration. ‘The Track of the Hook’ paired the Dark Knight Detective with the justice-obsessed Deadman: murdered trapeze artist Boston Brand  who was hunting his own killer, and whose earthy, human tragedy elevated the series’ costume theatrics into deeper, more mature realms of drama and action. The stories aged ten years overnight and instantly became every discerning fan’s favourite read.

‘And Hellgrammite is his Name’ found Batman and the Creeper battling an insect-themed super-hitman, and the Flash aided the Caped Crusader defeat an unbeatable thug in ‘But Bork Can Hurt You!’ (both inked by Dick Giordano) whilst Aquaman became ‘The Sleepwalker from the Sea’ in an eerie tale of mind-control and sibling rivalry.

Issue # 83 took a radical turn as the Teen Titans tried to save Bruce Wayne’s latest foster-son from his own inner demons in ‘Punish Not my Evil Son!’ but the next team-up was one that got many fans in a real tizzy in 1969. ‘The Angel, the Rock and the Cowl’ recounted a World War II exploit where Batman and Sgt. Rock of Easy Company hunted Nazi gold together, only closing the case twenty-five years later. Ignoring the kvetching about relative ages and which Earth we’re on, you should focus on the fact that this is a startlingly gripping tale of great intensity, beautifully realised, and one which has been criminally discounted for decades as “non-canonical”.

Brave and the Bold #85 is arguably the best of an incredible run. ‘The Senator’s Been Shot!’ reunited Batman and Green Arrow in a superb multi-layered thriller of politics, corruption and cast-iron integrity, wherein Bruce Wayne became a stand-in for a law-maker and the Emerald Archer got a radical make-over that turned him into the fiery liberal gadfly champion of the relevancy generation.

Boston Brand returned in #86, as Batman found ‘You Can’t Hide from a ‘Deadman!’ in a captivating epic of death, redemption and resurrection that became a cornerstone of Bat-mythology for the next three decades, and this spellbinding black and white collection of classic confrontations concludes with a decidedly different adventure written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky and starring the venerable comics icon he had made fresh and exciting all over again.

Entitled ‘The Widow-Maker’, it tells of the son of one of Batman’s foes who attempts to add to his tally of motoring murders by luring the Caped Crusader into a rigged high performance car race until Diana Prince, once and future Wonder Woman, steps in…

By taking his cues from news headlines, popular films and proven genre-sources, Bob Haney produced gripping adventures that thrilled and enticed with no need for more than a cursory nod to an ever-more onerous continuity. Anybody could pick up one of his concoctions and be sucked into a world of wonder. Consequently those tales are just as fresh and welcoming today, their themes and premises as immediate now as then and the glorious variety of artists involved still proves a constant source of joy and wonder. Here is a Bat-book literally everybody can enjoy.

© 1965-1970, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Annuals volume 1 – DC Comics Classics Library


By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-215-8

¡Perfect Christmas Present Alert! – all ages

Thanks to the recent re-inclusion of the pre-“Batmania” tales into the Caped Crusader’s extensive canon, there’s a lot of 1940s and 1950s Batman material resurfacing these days in a lot of impressive formats. DC’s Classics Comics Library hardbacks are a remarkably accessible, collectible range of products and the best of them so far is this wonderful aggregation of three of the most influential and beloved comic-books of the Silver Age.

Batman Annual #1 was originally released in June 1961, a year after the startlingly successful Superman Annual #1. This big, bold anthology format was hugely popular with readers.  The Man of Steel’s second Annual was rushed out before Christmas 1960 and the third came out a mere year after the first! That same month (June 1961) the first ever Secret Origins collection and the aforementioned Batman Blockbuster all arrived in shops and on newsstands.

It’s probably hard to appreciate now but these huge books – 80 pages instead of 32 – were a magical resource with a colossal impact for kids who loved comics. I don’t mean the ubiquitous scruffs, oiks and scallywags of school days who read them and chucked them away (most kids were comics consumers in the days before computer games) but rather those quiet, secretive few of us who treasured and kept them, constantly re-reading, discussing, pondering. Only posh kids with wicked parents read no comics at all: those prissy, starchy types who were beaten up by the scruffs, oiks and scallywags even more than us bookworms. But I digress…

For budding collectors the Annuals were a gateway to a fabulous lost past. Just Imagine!: adventures your heroes had from before you were even born…

Those compilations of the early 1960s changed comic publishing. Soon Marvel, Charlton and Archie were also releasing giant books of old stories, then new ones, crossovers, continued stories… Annuals proved two things to publishers: that there was a dedicated, long-term appetite for more material – and that punters were willing to pay a little bit more for it…

This vast compendium gathers the first three Batman Annuals in their mythic entirety: 21 terrific complete stories, posters, features, pin-ups, calendars and those iconic compartmentalized covers. There’re also creator biographies and articles from Michael Uslan and Richard Bruning to put the entire experience into perspective and original publication information and credits (the only bad thing about those big books of magic was never knowing “Who” and “Where”…)

The editors wisely packaged the Annuals as themed collections, the first being ‘1001 Secrets of Batman and Robin’ and started the ball rolling with ‘How to be the Batman’ by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz and Stan Kaye, wherein an amnesiac Caped Crusader has to be re-trained by Robin, but as always there’s a twist in this tale, whilst ‘The Strange Costumes of Batman’ (Edmond Hamilton, Dick Sprang and Charles Paris) highlighted the specialized uniforms the heroes used in their outrageous careers.

The self-explanatory ‘Untold Tales of the Bat-Signal’ (writer unknown, Schwartz and Paris) again used past exploits to solve a contemporary case, whilst ‘The Origin of the Bat-Cave’ (Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Paris) was only revealed by a quick time-trip back to revolutionary war era Gotham and ‘Batman’s Electronic Crime-File’ (anonymous, Sprang and Paris) is a cracking thriller that highlighted the Dynamic Duo’s love of cutting-edge technology.

‘The Thrilling Escapes of Batman and Robin’ (Finger, Moldoff and Kaye) concentrated on their facility at escaping traps and the excitement peaked in a dazzling display of ‘The Amazing Inventions of Batman’ (Hamilton, Sprang and Paris).

‘Batman and Robin’s Most Thrilling Action Roles’ began with a tension-packed mystery: ‘The Underseas Batman’ (Hamilton, Sprang and Paris), then explored the Wayne’s Scottish connections in ‘The Lord of Batmanor’ (Hamilton, with the assistance of his wife Leigh Brackett, Sprang and Paris) and again tapped into the Westerns zeitgeist with ‘Batman – Indian Chief’ (France Herron, Moldoff and Kaye).

‘The Jungle Batman’ (David Vern Reed, Schwartz and Paris) is pure escapist joy and we get a then-rare glimpse of Bruce Wayne’s training in ‘When Batman Was Robin’ (Hamilton, Sprang and Paris) before returning to foiling deathtraps with ‘Batman the Magician’ (Finger, Moldoff and Paris) and this section concludes with a pivotal tale ‘Batman – The Superman of Planet X’ (Herron, Sprang and Paris): one that forms a key thematic plank of Grant Morrison’s epic Batman R.I.P. storyline.

The third Annual (these too came far more frequently than once a year) featured ‘Batman and Robin’s Most Fantastic Foes’ beginning with ‘The Mad Hatter of Gotham City’ (Finger, Moldoff and Paris), special-effects bandit ‘The Human Firefly’ (Herron, Sprang and Paris) and hyper cerebral mutant ‘The Mental Giant of Gotham City’ (Hamilton, Sprang and Paris) before the Clown Prince of Crime stole the show with a team of skullduggery specialists in ‘The Joker’s Aces’ (Reed, Schwartz and Kaye).

Eerie and hard-hitting ‘The Gorilla Boss of Gotham City‘ (Reed, Schwartz and Kaye) was one of DC’s earliest Ape epics, and although the gripping ‘The New Crimes of Two-Face’ (Finger, Schwartz and Paris) starred a stand-in for the double-dealing psychopath the ‘The Mysterious Mirror Man’ (Finger, Moldoff and Paris) was the genuine article and well worth a modern do-over.

For me Christmas is inextricably linked to Batman. From my earliest formative years every Yule was capped by that year’s British hardcover annual, often reprints of the US comics (somewhat imaginatively coloured) but occasionally all-new prose stories liberally illustrated and based slavishly on the Adam West/Burt Ward TV series.

As I grew older and became a more serious reader and collector (the technical term is, I believe, addict) I became an avid appreciator of the regular seasonal tales that appeared in Batman or Detective Comics and the “golden Age Classics” that too infrequently graced them.  Over the decades some of Batman’s very best adventures have occurred in the “Season of Good will” and why DC has never produced a Batman Christmas Album is a mystery even the World’s Greatest Detective could not solve…

This book might not actually contain any X-Mas Exploits but it is the kind of present I would have killed or died for all those hundreds of years ago, so how can you possibly deny your kids the delights of this incredibly enjoyable book? And just like Train Sets, Scalextric and Quad Bikes when I say kids of course I mean “Dads”…

© 1961, 1962, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: The Black Casebook


By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-312-4

Despite having his name writ large on the cover the only thing Grant Morrison produced for this weird and wonderful collection is the introduction, so if he’s the reason you buy Batman you’re in for a little disappointment. However if you feel like seeing the incredible stories that inspired him, then you’re in for a bizarre and baroque treat as this collection features a coterie of tales considered far too outlandish and fanciful to be canonical for the last few decades but now reintroduced to the mythology of the Dark Knight as a casebook of the “strangest cases ever told!”.

Tales from the anodyne 1950s (with just a little overlapping touch of the 1960s) always favoured plot over drama – indeed a strong argument could be made that all DC’s post-war costumed crusaders actually shared the same character (and yes I’m including Wonder Woman) – so the narrative drive focuses on comfortably familiar situations and outlandish themes and paraphernalia: but as a kid they simply blew me away. They still do.

Starting things off is a ‘A Partner for Batman’ (Batman #65 June/July 1951) by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz and Charles Paris, wherein Batman’s training of a foreign hero is misconstrued as a way of retiring Robin, whilst a trip out west introduces the Dynamic Duo to their Native American analogues in ‘Batman… Indian Chief!’ (issue #86, September 1954, by France Herron, Sheldon Moldoff and Stan Kaye), and ‘The Batmen of All Nations!’ (Detective Comics #215, January 1955 by Edmond Hamilton, Moldoff and Paris) took the sincere flattery a step further by introducing nationally-themed imitations from Italy, England, France, South America and Australia, all attending a convention that’s doomed to disaster…

A key story of this period introduced a strong psychological component to Batman’s origins in ‘The First Batman’ (Detective Comics #235, September 1955) courtesy of Finger, Moldoff and Kaye, and the international knock-offs returned to meet Superman and a new shocking mystery hero in ‘The Club of Heroes’ (Worlds Finest Comics #89, July/August 1957 by Hamilton and the magnificent Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye).

‘The Man who Ended Batman’s Career’ introduced the malevolent Professor Milo (Detective Comics #247, September 1957, Finger, Moldoff & Paris) who used psychological warfare and scientific mind-control to attack our heroes. The same creative team brought him back for an encore in Batman #112, in ‘Am I Really Batman?’

France Herron scripted one of Sprang and Paris’ best ever art collaborations in the incredible, spectacular ‘Batman… Superman of Planet X!’ (Batman #113, February 1958) and Finger, Moldoff & Paris introduced the Gotham Guardian’s most controversial “partner” in ‘Batman Meets Bat-Mite’(Detective Comics #267, May 1959), but ‘The Rainbow Creature’ (Batman #134, September 1960) is a rather tame monster-mash from Finger and Moldoff which only serves to make the next tale more impressive.

‘Robin Dies at Dawn’ is an eerie epic which first appeared in Batman #156, June 1963 by Finger, Moldoff & Paris (supplemented by, but not dependent upon, a Robin solo adventure sadly omitted from this collection). In it Batman experiences truly hideous travails on an alien world culminating in the death of his young partner. I’m stopping there as it’s a great story and plays a crucial part in the latter day sagas Batman: R.I.P., and The Black Glove. Buy this book and read it yourself…

But wait: There’s more! From the very end times of the old-style tales comes the inexplicably daft but brilliant ‘The Batman Creature!’ (Batman #162, March 1964) by an unknown writer, Moldoff and Paris, wherein Robin and Batwoman must cope with a Caped Crusader transformed into a rampaging giant monster. Shades of King Kong, Bat-fans!

Even though clearly collected to cash in on the success of the modern Morrison vehicle these stories have an intrinsic worth and power of their own, and these angst-free exploits from a different age still have a magic to captivate and enthrall. Do not dismiss them and don’t miss this book!

© 1951, 1954-1960, 1963, 1964, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Sword of Azrael


By Dennis O’Neil, Joe Quesada & Kevin Nowlan (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-100-7

Almost a lost classic now, this impressive fast-paced romp (originally released as a four issue miniseries and teaser-prelude to the KnightFall comics publishing event) catapulted artist Joe Quesada (superbly inked by the incredible and far too rarely seen Kevin Nowlan) to the forefront of hot “name artists” after a relatively anonymous introduction to the industry as a colourist/penciller at Valiant Comics and illustrator on DC’s TSR licensed Spelljammer series and Question Quarterly.

Here given a full creative head he combines with Dennis O’Neil, probably the most efficiently prolific of modern Bat-scribes, to introduce a young medical student to the DC universe, but one with a centuries-old secret.

When international arms dealer Carlton LeHah embezzles millions of dollars from a hidden warrior-cult with origins dating back to the Crusades their avenging assassin Azrael tracks him down but is unprepared for the cutting edge weaponry Lehah has awaiting him.

Wounded unto death the Knight of St. Dumas activates his final resource: his own son. Programmed since birth, trained to kill and augmented by the implanted skills of uncounted deadly soldiers of a fanatical organization, the new Azrael goes hunting…

Meanwhile Bruce Wayne has been hunting the murderous forces loose in his city but he too is unprepared for Lehah who has since graduated to the next stage of a martial madness. Believing himself the physical avatar of the Demon Biis, he has been stalking the last cult-members, sowing death and destruction wherever he appears. When he captures Batman, faithful Alfred and the new Azrael are all that remains to prevent a global catastrophe…

Sharp, clever, hypnotically adrenaline-charged and strikingly illustrated, this mini-classic (only 112 pages including Archie Goodwin’s introduction, sketch pages and cover gallery) is about due for a 21st century upgrade, but if not there’s always your favourite comics vendor or internet retailer…
© 1989, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Detective #27


By Michael Uslan & Peter Snejbjerg with Lee Loughridge (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-4012-0185-7

For a brief while DC’s experimental Elseworlds imprint, where familiar characters and continuity were radically or subtly re-imagined, was a regular hive of productivity and generated some wonderful – and quite a few ridiculous – stories. Moreover by using what the reader thought he/she knew as a springboard, the result, usually constricted into a single story, had a solid and resolute immediacy that was often diluted by regular, periodical publications where the illusion of change always trumped actual innovation in long-running characters.

A fine example is this intriguing pulp mystery and generational drama that blends the lineage of the Wayne family of Gotham City with covert societies and the secret history of the United States of America.

April 1865, Washington DC: President Lincoln overrides the objections of Allan Pinkerton (who had created the Secret Service to protect him) and goes to see “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre. His assassination prompts the security genius to create a dedicated clandestine force beyond the reach of everything but their mission and their own consciences…

April 1929, Gotham City: a doctor, his wife and their young son exit a movie theatre where they have thrilled to the exploits of Douglas Fairbanks as Zorro. Suddenly sneak thieves confront them and in the struggle Thomas and Martha Wayne are gunned down, leaving a grieving boy kneeling over their bloody corpses. The family butler Alfred packs the coldly resolute boy off on a decade-long world tour to study with masters of criminology around the globe…

Lincoln’s murder was planned by a cabal of Confederate plotters named the Knights of the Golden Circle. Their leader, an early geneticist named Josiah Carr, outlines a Doomsday vengeance plot that will take decades to complete…

January 1st 1939: Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham ready to begin his life’s mission but is diverted when crusading newspaperman Lee Travis reveals the existence of the Secret Society of Detectives and invites the young man to become their 27th operative since Pinkerton…

Charming and relentlessly compelling, this superb thriller follows two time-lines as the founding Detective hunts the Golden Circle through the years enlisting the covert aid of many historical figures such as Kate Warne (America’s first female detective), journalist and President-to-be Teddy Roosevelt and biologist/monk Gregor Mendel whilst Wayne closes in on the climax of the Doomsday plot with the aid of Babe Ruth and Sigmund Freud, facing customised versions of such classic Bat-foes as Catwoman, Scarecrow, Hugo Strange and the Joker.

There’s even a cameo from the Golden Age Superman as well as a magnificent surprise ending to this two-fisted tribute to the “Thud-and-Blunder” era of the 1930s pulps… This is a conspiracy thriller stuffed to overflowing with in-jokes, referential asides, pop culture clues and universal icons that make The Da Vinci Code look like a bunch of dry words on dusty paper. The only flaw is that writer Uslan and artists Snejbjerg and Loughridge were never able to create a sequel…

And just in case you’re wondering… Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) featured the very first appearance of a certain Dark Knight…
© 2003 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: the Strange Deaths of Batman


By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-138-0

Compiled on the coat-tails of the Batman RIP publishing event this delightfully eccentric collection celebrating the recurrent demise of the Gotham Guardian digs up a few oddments and some genuine valuable artifacts to amuse, enthrall and amaze.

The wonderment begins with the quirkily eponymous ‘The Strange Death of Batman!’; a highly experimental mystery that first appeared in Detective Comics #347 (January 1966) literally moments before the Dynamic Duo became household names all over the globe due to that incredibly popular TV show. Written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, it featured possibly Batman’s daftest super-foe – the Bouncer – but still delivers action, drama and an intriguing conundrum to challenge the reader.

It’s followed by ‘Robin’s Revenge’ from World’s Finest Comics #184 (May 1969) wherein writer Cary Bates and artists Curt Swan and Jack Abel recount the imaginary story (see the review for DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories, ISBN: 978-1-4012-0534-8 for a definition if the term is unknown to you) of Batman’s murder and the dark path that event takes the Boy Wonder down, with a hapless Superman as stand-in guardian helpless to forestall the seemingly inevitable further tragedy…

‘The Corpse that Wouldn’t Die!’ is a superb tale guest-starring the Atom taken from team-up title the Brave and the Bold #115 (October/November 1974). Written by Bob Haney and magnificently drawn by Jim Aparo it details how the Gotham Guardian is killed in the line of duty and how the Tiny Titan reanimates his corpse to conclude the case that finished him…

Next up is an extended saga from Batman #291-294 (September to December 1977) written by author David V Reed and illustrated by John Calnan and Tex Blaisdell. Over four deviously clever issues ‘Where Were You the Night Batman was Killed?’ sees the hordes of costumed foes the Caped Crusader crushed assemble to verify the stories of various felons claiming to have done the deed. This thematic partial inspiration for the recent Neil Gaiman “Last Batman Story” kicks off with ‘The Testimony of the Catwoman’, and follows with the testimonies of the Riddler, Lex Luthor and the Joker before satisfactorily concluding in a grand manner.

‘Buried Alive!’ by Gerry Conway, Rick Buckler and Frank McLaughlin (World’s Finest Comics #269 June/July1981) finds Superman and Robin desperately racing against time hunting for the madman who entombed the Batman, whilst ‘The Prison’ written and inked by John Stanisci, with Sal Buscema pencils, is a moody character piece featuring the post-mortem reflections of Talia, Daughter of the Demon Ra’s Al Ghul which originally appeared in Batman Chronicles #8, Spring 1997.

This odd but engaging tome ends with a frilly, fluffy fantasy from Nightwing #52, (February 2001) as Catwoman imagines a morbidly mirthful ‘Modern Romance’ courtesy of Chuck Dixon, Greg Land and Drew Geraci.

Themed collections can be a rather hit-or-miss proposition, but the quality and variety of these inspired selections makes for a highly enjoyable read and the only regret I can express is that room couldn’t be found to include the various covers that fronted the tales. Include those in a new edition and you’d have a book to die for…

© 1966, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1981, 1997, 2001, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman Chronicles volume 7


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-176-2

This seventh volume of chronological Batman yarns covers Batman #12-13, Detective Comics #66-70 and World’s Finest Comics #7, and features adventures that were produced during the darkest days of World War II. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that many of these Golden Age treasures are also some of the best and most reprinted tales in the Batman canon. With chief writer Bill Finger at a peak of creativity and production, everybody on the Home Front was keen to do their bit – even it that was simply making kids of all ages forget their troubles for a brief while…

‘The Crime of Two-Face’, (Detective Comics #66, August 1942) by Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, is a classical tragedy in crime-caper form as Gotham DA Harvey Kent (the name was later changed to Dent) was disfigured in court and went mad – becoming the conflicted villain who remains one of the Caped Crusader’s greatest foes.

Batman #12 (Aug/Sept 1942) follows with another four classics. ‘Brothers in Crime’ by Don Cameron and Jerry Robinson, reveals the tragic fates of a criminal family whilst the Joker returns in ‘The Wizard of Words’ by Finger, Kane Robinson and George Roussos. Jack Burnley illustrated the spectacular daredevil drama ‘They Thrill to Conquer’ and ‘Around the Clock with Batman’ recounts a typical “day in the life” of the Dynamic Duo complete with blazing guns, giant statues and skyscraper near-death experiences.

From World’s Finest Comics #7 (Fall 1942) comes an imaginative thriller ‘The North Pole Crimes!’ whilst Detective Comics #67 features the Penguin as ‘Crime’s Early Bird!’ before Two-Face’s personal horror-story continues in ‘The Man Who Led a Double Life’ from #68.

Batman #13 (Oct/Nov 1942) tugged heartstrings as ‘The Batman Plays a Lone Hand’ but was on more traditional ground when the Joker organized a ‘Comedy of Tears’ (by Jack Schiff, Kane, Robinson & Roussos), and although ‘The Story of the Seventeen Stones!’ (drawn by Burnley) is a deliciously experimental murder-mystery, the heroes slipped into comfortable Agatha Christie – or perhaps Hitchcock territory – as they tackled a portmanteau of crimes on a train in Cameron, Kane, Robinson and Roussos’ ‘Destination: Unknown!’

Joseph Greene scripted the Joker’s next escapade in the marvelous case of ‘The Harlequin’s Hoax!’ from Detective Comics #68 and this brilliant book concludes with the decidedly different threat of ‘The Man Who Could Read Minds!’ another off-beat thriller from Don Cameron that premiered in Detective Comics #70.

This wonderful series of Golden Age greats is one of my absolute favourite collected formats: paper that feels comfortingly like newsprint, vivid colours applied with a gracious acknowledgement of the power and limitations of the original four-colour printing process and the riotous exuberance of an industry in the first flush of success The tales here show the creators and the characters at their absolute peak and they’re even more readable now that I don’t have to worry if I’m wrecking an historical treasure simply by turning a page. I can only pray that other companies like Marvel, Archie and the rest follow suit.

Soon.

© 1942, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Joker


By Brian Azzarello & Lee Bermejo, with Mick Gray and Patricia Mulvihill (DC Comics/Titan Books Edition)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-983-3

I’m going to voice what is probably a minority opinion here, so please be aware that this is possibly one of those books that you’ll need to make your own mind up about – but then again, aren’t they all?

Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo have, singly and in partnership, created some of the best and most popularly received comics tales of the last decade or so: tough, uncompromising, visually memorable yarns that explore the darkest facets of human nature, yet with a deep core of sardonic wit – thoroughly readable, always-challenging.

So a book dedicated to the grotesque antithesis and ultimate foe of the coldly logical Dark Knight would seem like the ideal vehicle for their talents and particular world-views…

The Joker is getting out of Arkham Asylum. Incredibly, the Clown Prince of Crime and undisputed ruler of all Gotham City’s rackets has been judged sane. He’s coming out, and he’s going to want his old position back. The mobsters that now run the city are terrified but resigned. He’s coming back, so somebody has to go get him…

Made Man on a downward spiral Johnny Frost volunteers to be the guy, becoming his chauffeur and bodyguard in the process. The Joker is murderous time-bomb everybody expects to explode at any moment, and as soon as he hits the City he recruits Killer Croc as his enforcer, and begins to work his way back to the top of the heap, using his reputation and horrify propensity for Baroque bloodletting the way a rattlesnake uses his tail.

Many of Batman’s rogues’ gallery (Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler and so on) are in attendance in various uncharacteristic positions of nefarious authority, and the events – narrated with growing desperation by helpless witness Johnny Frost – spiral towards an inevitable and bloody climax of madness and conflict, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was just another post-modern take on the classic gangster plot of a ruthless thug reclaiming his territory.

No matter how beautiful or well executed (and it is), nor how much overlap there is with the Dark Knight film (despite company denials it seems like lots to me, at least in terms of look and feel) this just does not work as Joker story. Scar-Face, Blackmask, Maxie Zeus, even a real criminal like Al Capone perhaps, but the Joker isn’t a “Goodfella” with a grudge and some gory peccadilloes: he’s the ultimate expression of random, bloody chaos, a bundle of “Impulse Issues” wrapped tight in a spiky ball of psychosis…

Apparently devised as a miniseries and “promoted” to a high-profile original hardback before release, this is a taut and nasty thriller, immaculately illustrated: but there’s very little Batman in there, and no Joker at all…

© 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Catwoman: Crooked Little Town


By Ed Brubaker, Brad Rader, Cameron Stewart, Rick Burchett& various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84023-736-8

Seamlessly progressing from her reinvention in Selina’s Big Score (ISBN: 1-84023-773-3) and Catwoman: the Dark End of the Street (ISBN: 978-1-84023-567-8) the new, socially conscious defender of the underclass inhabiting Gotham City’s down-market East End District finds herself battling another gang pushing drugs in her preserve. This time however, the very guilty parties responsible seem to come from Gotham’s wealthy aristocracy. Also hungry to finger a few expensive collars is the relentless old gumshoe Slam Bradley and even Selina’s protégé Holly Robinson.

The crusade takes a dark turn when an undercover cop is murdered by his own dirty colleagues and Holly is framed for the deed. Selina and Bradley have their work cut out to survive the dirty, violent, twilight world to save the young ingénue, but behind even the artistos there’s another mastermind at work, familiar and chillingly deadly…

The four part ‘Disguises’ by Ed Brubaker, Brad Rader, Cameron Stewart and Rich Burchett is book-ended by the prequel ‘Trickle Down Theory’ and the splendidly cathartic glimpse into Selina’s past ‘Joy Ride’ (originally published as Catwoman #5-10) and complemented by the excellent and revelatory closing tale ‘The Many Lives of Selina Kyle’ by Brubaker, Michael Avon Oeming and Mike Manley, taken from Catwoman Secret Files #1.

As grim and gritty as a comic can get without become “adults only”, yet still finding room for breakneck fun and adventure, the ongoing transition from sleek, sexy cat-burglar to tarnished champion of the forgotten is a masterpiece of skillful storytelling whilst the moody, stylish art made this particular cat’s life (her fourth, I think) a series to cherish. Irresistibly readable, this is superhero shtick at its finest. Fans of caper movies, Noir thrillers and just plain literate thrill-seekers should take note…

© 2002 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories


By various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-0534-8

Alan Moore’s famous epigram notwithstanding not all comics tales are “Imaginary Stories.” When DC 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.

This jolly tome celebrates that period when whimsy and imagination were king and stretches the point by leading with a fanciful tale of the World’s Mightiest Mortal as ‘Captain Marvel and the Atomic War’ (Captain Marvel Adventures #66, October 1946) actually hoaxes the public with a demonstration of how the world could end in the new era of Nuclear Proliferation, courtesy of Otto Binder and CC Beck.

‘The Second Life of Batman’ (Batman #127 October 1959) by Bill Finger, Dick Sprang and Charles Paris doesn’t really fit the definition either, but the tale of a device that predicts how Bruce Wayne’s life would have run if his parents had not been killed is superb and engaging all the same.

‘Mr. and Mrs. Clark (Superman) Kent!’ by Binder and the brilliant Kurt Schaffenberger, was the first tale of an occasional series that began in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #9 (August 1960), depicting the laughter and tears that might result if the plucky news-hen secretly married the Man of Steel. From an era uncomfortably parochial and patronizing to women, there’s actually a lot of genuine heart and understanding in this tale and a minimum of snide sniping about “silly, empty-headed girls”.

Eventually the concepts became so bold that Imaginary Stories could command book length status. ‘Lex Luthor, Hero!’ (Superman #149, November 1961) by Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan and Sheldon Moldoff, recounts the mad scientist’s greatest master-plan and ultimate victory in a tale as powerful now as it ever was. In many ways this is what the whole concept was made for…

No prizes for guessing what ‘Jimmy Olsen Marries Supergirl!’ (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, #57, December 1961) is about, but the story is truly a charming delight, beautifully realized by Siegel, Swan and Stan Kaye.

‘The Origin of Flash’s Masked Identity!’ (The Flash# 128, May 1962) by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, although highly entertaining, is more an enthusiastic day-dream than alternate reality, and, I suspect, added to bring variety to the mix – as is the intriguing ‘Batman’s New Secret Identity’ (Batman #151, November 1961, by Finger, Bob Kane and Paris).

‘The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!’ (Superman #162, July 1963) is possibly the most influential tale of this entire sub-genre. Written by Leo Dorfman, with art from Swan and George Klein, this startling utopian classic was so well-received that decades later it influenced and flavoured the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman continuity for months.

The writer of ‘The Three Wives of Superman!’ is currently unknown to us but the ever-excellent Schaffenberger can at least be congratulated for this enchanting tragedy of missed chances that originally saw print in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #51, from August 1964.

‘The Fantastic Story of Superman’s Sons’ (Superman #166, November 1964) by Edmond Hamilton, Swan and Klein is a solid thriller built on a tragic premise (what if only one of Superman’s children inherited his powers?), and the book closes with the stirring and hard-hitting ‘Superman and Batman… Brothers!’, wherein orphaned Bruce Wayne is adopted by the Kents, but cannot escape a destiny of tragedy and darkness.

Written by Jim Shooter, with art from Swan and Klein, for World’s Finest Comics # 172 (December 1967) this moody thriller in many ways signalled the end of the care-free days and the beginning of a grittier, more cohesive DC universe for a less whimsical, fan-based audience.

This book is a glorious slice of fancy, augmented by an informative introduction by columnist Craig Shutt, and bolstered with mini-cover reproductions of many tales that didn’t make it into the collection, but I do have one minor quibble: No other type of tale was more dependent on an eye-catching cover, so why couldn’t those belonging to these collected classics have been included here, too?

© 1946, 1959-1964, 1967, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved