Category: The Joker

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Batman: The Cult – Deluxe Edition


By Jim Starlin & Bernie Wrightson, with Bill Wray, John Costanza & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-77952-827-8 (HB Deluxe/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Once the runaway success of The Dark Night Returns proved that fans wanted tales with darker, edgier heroes and would stump up big bucks to get them, the floodgates opened for miniseries released on expensive Baxter paper in book-like formats. DC quickly complied, following up with this deceptively effective thriller by two of the industry’s biggest fan-favourites: Jim Starlin and master of horror and suspense Bernie Wrightson, ably augmented by colour artist Bill Wray and lettered John Costanza.

The tale is a straightforward if apocalyptic action-adventure modern film fans will readily recognise, as so many visual elements and beats (if not villains) of the saga appeared in the Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy. Following trenchantly sardonic introduction ‘Burn This Book’ as written by Starlin for the 1990 collected edition, it begins with ‘Ordeal’ as the Batman, experiencing mind-bending hallucinations and irresistible cravings to commit bloody slaughter, slowly awakes to the realisation that he has lost track of how long he has been a has been a prisoner of the army of hoboes, gutter-trash and voluntarily missing citizens who have taken over Gotham City’s worst streets. The legion of the lost are being led by a charismatic self-appointed priest named Deacon Blackfire, with his holy word disseminated by extremely capable lieutenant Jake Baker and cadre of fanatical faithful fronted by the revolting Ratface…

Moreover, this dark messiah claims to be an immortal savant who drove off of the indigenous Miagani people who populate the land now called Gotham City long before the White Men came…

Batman knows exactly what Deacon is doing: employing standard techniques developed by cult-leaders and spies to break down resistance. Pain, isolation, sense deprivation, drugs and starvation are all used to break down resistance and individuality: but the harried hero just can’t stop his iron resolve crumbling under the assault. It is more than any man could bear…

In flashbacks that heighten the aura of confusion, the story unfolds. With increasing severity and frequency the city’s worst predators are found beaten or dead, as the worst areas of the metropolis suddenly became safer to live in. The good news soon took a dark turn as fewer thugs were worked over and dumped, and far more just went missing, with only bloodstains and silence to mark their passing. Batman had followed the clues into the sewers… and wasn’t seen again.

Crime levels are down all over: thieves, pimps and muggers are too scared to venture out. Commissioner Gordon knows it’s too good to be true, as does Robin (reformed street kid Jason Todd) but public opinion is hugely supportive of Deacon Blackfire’s clean-up campaign…

… And deep underground, the Dark Knight is crumbling as the army of derelicts find they have a taste for blood and power. Already their definition of what constitutes valid targets has slipped…

In ‘Capture’, the broken Bat has become one of Blackfire’s army, but still baulks at murder. On a tightly controlled sortie up into the city he abruptly rejects Baker’s suggestions and Blackfire’s instructions, instead escaping into the night, rambling and incoherent as he fights off the drugs and conditioning. When Blackfire moves to seize control of the entire city, assassinating police and almost all of the civic officials, Batman is retaken, but this time Robin follows him to the grim world of tunnels and terror. The dynamic duo soon make a break for freedom, but end up deeper underground and unearth horrifying proof of the depths of the Deacon’s terrible madness… or is it magical malignancy?

‘Escape’ sees the hobo army run amok like zombies in the streets as Robin struggles to break the broken Batman out of the sewer citadel. Gordon discovers impossible evidence indicating Deacon’s claims to immortality might not be spurious. Total anarchy has taken hold with citizens being casually murdered in their homes and when Gordon is gunned down the State Governor declares Martial Law and deploys a woefully under-prepared National Guard. With Batman mentally incapacitated and physically depleted, four million citizens flee the city just before the military units are systematically massacred and their top-of-the-line ordnance becomes Blackfire’s.

In response, the federal government simply pulls out, abandoning Gotham and what remains of its population to the cult’s disciples…

The situation appears hopeless and Robin and Alfred can only wait to see if Bruce Wayne will ever become Batman again. After a harrowing re-examination of his history and purpose, a determined, angry and far Darker Knight emerges, with new tactics, harsher weapons and an unshakable hunger to destroy Blackfire and take back his city, as final chapter ‘Combat’ sees the fightback begin with the debut of the “Monster Truck Batmobile” and a sustained assault on the concrete hell beneath Gotham. However, even with the hard-fought battle won and Deacon seemingly dead and gone, inexplicable facts are still emerging…

Added feature ‘The Cult of Wrightson’ closes the case with a stunning treat for art lovers; reprinting 25 pages of roughs, designs, page layouts, pencils and inked pages and even colour process guides, to unravel the creativity behind all that magic and illusion…

Batman: the Cult is a grim and powerful thriller emphasising the psychological rather than physical or technical attributes of the most popular superhero in the world, but the saga is still packed with tension and suspense, peppered with spectacular action set-pieces and bolstered with outlandish gadgets. Fierce, frenzied and ferociously fun, this is a long-neglected slice of Batlore ripe and ready for your reappraisal.
© 1990, 2024 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Joker: A Celebration of 75 Years


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, Don Cameron, Jack Burnley, Dick Sprang, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Win Mortimer, David V. Reed, Sheldon Moldoff, Charles Paris, Dennis O’Neil & Neal Adams, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers & Terry Austin, John Byrne & Karl Kesel, Jim Starlin, Jim Aparo, Mike DeCarlo, J.M. DeMatteis, Joe Staton, Steve Mitchell, Chuck Dixon, Brian Stelfreeze, Greg Rucka, Devin Grayson, Damian Scott, Dale Eaglesham, Sean Parsons, Sal Buscema & Rob Hunter, Paul Dini, Don Kramer & Wayne Faucher, Tony Daniel & Ryan Winn, Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-4759-1 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

There are quite a few comics anniversaries this year. Some of the most significant will be rightly celebrated, but a few will be unjustly ignored. This guy ain’t in the latter category.

When the very concept of high-priced graphic novels was just being shelf tested in in the 1980s, DC Comics produced a line of glorious full-colour hardback compilations spotlighting star characters and celebrating standout stories decade by decade from the company’s illustrious and varied history. They then branched out into themed collections which shaped the output of the modern industry; such as this fabulous and far from dated congregation of yarns offering equal billing and star status to one of the most enduring archfoes in fiction: The Maestro of Malignant Mirth dubbed The Joker.

So much a mirror of and paralleling the evolution of Batman, the exploits of the Joker are preceded here by a brief critical analysis of significant stages in the vile vaudevillian’s development, beginning with the years 1940-1942 and Part I: The Grim Jester.

There will be more on him and his co-anniversarians Robin and Catwoman throughout the year, but today it’s the turn of the opening act of the landmark issue to take his bow in the spotlight…

After erudite deconstruction comes sinister action as debut appearance ‘Batman Vs. The Joker’ – by Bill Finger & Bob Kane from Batman #1, cover-dated Spring 1940 and on sale on April 25th – provides suspenseful entertainment whilst introducing the most diabolical member of the Dark Knight’s rogues’ gallery. A chilling moody tale of brazen extortion and wilful wanton murder begins when an eerie character publicly announces that he will kill certain business and civic figures at specific times…

An instant hit with readers and creators, the malignantly mirthful murderer kept coming back and appeared in almost every issue. In Batman #5 (March 1941, by Finger, Kane & Jerry Robinson) ‘The Riddle of the Missing Card’ once again saw the Crime Clown pursue loot and slaughter, but this time with a gang of card-themed crooks at his side. It did not end well for the whimsical butcher of buffoonery…

Fame secured, the Devil’s Jester quickly became an over-exposed victim of his own nefarious success. In story terms that meant seeking to reform and start over with a clean slate. Turning himself in, the maniac grasses on many criminal confederates but ‘The Joker Walks the Last Mile’ (Finger, Kane & Robinson, Detective Comics #64, June 1942) shows that tousled viridian head twisting inexorably back towards murderous larceny…

As years passed and tastes changed, the Cackling Killer mellowed into a bizarrely baroque bandit. Part II: The Clown Prince assesses that evolution, before providing fascinating examples beginning with ‘Knights of Knavery’ from Batman #25 (October/November 1944 by Don Cameron, Jack Burnley & Robinson). Here he and arch-rival The Penguin fractiously join forces to steal the world’s biggest emerald and outwit all opposition, before falling foul of their own mistrust and arrogance once the Caped Crusaders put their own thinking caps on.

‘Rackety-Rax Racket’ Batman #32 (December 1945, Cameron & Dick Sprang) is another malevolently marvellous exploit which sees an ideas-starved Prankster of Peril finding felonious inspiration in college-student hazing and initiation stunts, after which ‘The Man Behind the Red Hood’ (Detective Comics #168, February 1951) reveals a partial origin as part of a brilliantly engrossing mystery by Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz & Win Mortimer. It all began when the Caped Crusader regales eager young criminology students with the story of “the one who got away”- just before the fiend suddenly came back…

In ‘The Joker’s Millions (Detective #180, February1952) pulp sci fi writer David Vern Reed, Sprang & Charles Paris provide a gloriously engaging saga disclosing how the villain’s greatest crime rival took revenge from the grave by leaving the Harlequin of Hate too rich to commit capers. It was all a vindictive double-barrelled scheme though, making the Joker a patsy and twice a fool, as the Caped Crusaders eventually found… to their great amusement.

From World’s Finest Comics #61 (November 1952) Reed, Kane, Schwartz & Paris co-perpetrate ‘The Crimes of Batman’ as Robin is taken hostage and the Gotham Gangbuster must commit a string of felonies to preserve the lad’s life. Or so the Joker vainly hopes…

‘Batman – Clown of Crime’ (Batman #85, August 1954, Reed, Sheldon Moldoff & Paris) captures the dichotomy of reason versus chaos as the eternal arch enemies’ minds are swapped in a scientific accident. Soon a law-abiding Joker and baffled Robin are hunting down a madcap loon with the ultimate weapon at his disposal, the secret of the Gotham Guardian’s true identity

The Silver Age of US comic books utterly revolutionised a flagging medium, bringing a modicum of sophistication to the returning sub-genre of masked mystery men. However, for quite some time, changes instigated by Julius Schwartz in Showcase #4 – which rippled out to affect all National/DC Comics’ superhero characters – generally passed Batman and Robin by. Fans buying Batman, Detective Comics, World’s Finest Comics and even Justice League of America would read adventures that in look and tone were largely unchanged from the safely anodyne fantasies that had turned the grim Dark Knight into a mystery-solving, alien-fighting costumed Boy Scout as the 1940s turned into the1950s.

By the end of 1963, Schwartz, having either personally or by example revived and revitalised much of DC’s line and by extension the entire industry with his modernizations, was asked to work his magic with creatively stalled and nigh-moribund Caped Crusaders just as they were being readied for mainstream global stardom. ‘The Joker’s Jury’ (Batman #163 May 1963 by Finger, Moldoff & Paris) was the last sight of the Cosey Clown before his numerous appearances on the blockbuster Batman TV show warped the villain and left him unusable for years…

Here, however, Robin and his senior partner are trapped in the criminal enclave of Jokerville, where every citizen is a fugitive bad-guy dressed up as the Clown Prince, and where all lawmen are outlaws.

The story of the how the Joker was redeemed as a metaphor for terror and evil is covered in Part III: The Harlequin of Hate and thereafter confirmed by the single story which undid all that typecasting damage. ‘The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge’ (Batman #251, September 1973 by Dennis O’Neil & Neal Adams) reversed the zany, “camp” image by re-branding the characters and returning to the original 1930s concept of a grim and driven Dark Avenger chasing an insane avatar of pure chaos. Such a hero needed far deadlier villains and, by reinstating the psychotic, diabolically unpredictable Killer Clown who scared the short pants off readers of the Golden Age, set the bar high. A true milestone utterly redefining the Joker for the modern age, the frantic moody yarn sees the Mirthful Maniac stalking his old gang, determined to eradicate them all, with the hard-pressed Gotham Guardian desperately playing catch-up. As crooks die in all manner of Byzantine and bizarre ways, Batman realises his archfoe has gone irrevocably off the deep end.

Terrifying and beautiful, for many fans this is the definitive Batman/Joker story.

The main contender for that prize follows: a two-part saga from Detective Comics #475-476 (February & April 1978) that concluded a breathtaking, signature run of retro tales by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers & Terry Austin. The absolute zenith in a short but stellar sequence resurrecting old foes naturally starred the Dark Knight’s nemesis at his most chaotic, beginning with ‘The Laughing Fish’ and culminating in ‘The Sign of the Joker!’: comprising one of the most reprinted Bat-tales ever concocted and even adapted as an episode of the award-winning Batman: The Animated Adventures TV show in the 1990s.

In fact, you’ve probably already read it. But if you haven’t… what a treat awaits you!

As fish with the Joker’s horrific smile began turning up in sea-catches all over the Eastern Seaboard, the Clown Prince attempts to trademark them. When patent officials foolishly tell him it can’t be done, they start dying – publicly, impossibly and incredibly painfully…

The story concluded in a spectacular apocalyptic clash which shaped, informed and redefined the Batman mythos for decades to come…

Although Crisis on Infinite Earths transformed the entire DC Universe, it left the Joker largely unchanged, but did narratively set the clock back far enough to present fresher versions of most characters. ‘To Laugh and Die in Metropolis’ comes from Superman volume 2 #9 (September 1987) wherein John Byrne & Karl Kesel reveal how the Malicious Mountebank challenges the Man of Steel for the first time. The result is a captivating but bloody battle of wits, with the hero’s friends and acquaintances all in the killer clown’s crosshairs…

The next (frustratingly incomplete) snippet comes from one of the most effective publicity stunts in DC’s history. Despite decades of wanting to be “taken seriously” by the wider world, every so often a comic book event gets away from editors and publishers and takes on a life of its own. This usually does not end well for our beloved art form, as the way the greater world views the comics microcosm is seldom how we insiders and cognoscenti see it.

One of the most controversial sagas of the last century saw an intriguing marketing stunt go spectacularly off the rails – for all the wrong reasons – and become instantly notorious whilst sadly masking the real merits of the piece it was supposed to plug.

‘A Death in the Family’ Chapter Four originated in Batman #427 (December 1988), courtesy of Jim Starlin, Jim Aparo & Mike DeCarlo. It needs a bit more background than usual, though. Robin, the Boy Wonder debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) created by Kane, Finger & Robinson. The kid was a juvenile circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by a mob boss. The story of how Batman took orphaned Dick Grayson under his scalloped wing and trained him to fight crime has been told, retold and revised many times over the decades and still undergoes the odd tweaking to this day. The child Grayson fought beside Batman until 1970 when, as a sign of those turbulent times, he flew the nest, becoming a Teen Wonder and college student. His invention as a junior hero for younger readers to identify with had inspired an incomprehensible number of costumed sidekicks and kid crusaders, and Grayson continued in similar vein for the older, more worldly-wise readership of America’s increasingly rebellious youth culture. During the 1980s he led the New Teen Titans, re-established a turbulent working relationship with Batman and reinvented himself as Nightwing. This of course left the post of Robin open…

After Grayson’s departure, Batman worked alone until he caught a streetwise urchin trying to steal the Batmobile’s tires. Debuting in Batman #357 (March 1983) this lost boy was Jason Todd, and eventually the little thug became the second Robin (#368, February 1984), with a short but stellar career, marred by his impetuosity and tragic links to one of the Caped Crusader’s most unpredictable enemies…

Todd had serious emotional problems which became increasingly apparent in issues leading up to story arc ‘A Death in the Family’. As the kid became more callous and brutal in response to daily horrors he was exposed to, Jason deliberately caused the death of a vicious drug-dealer with diplomatic immunity. It triggered a guilty spiral culminating in the story-arc which comprised Batman #426-429. Ever more violent and seemingly incapable of rudimentary caution, Jason is suspended by Batman. Meanwhile the Joker returns, but rather than his usual killing frenzy, the Clown Prince is after mere cash, because the financial disaster of Reaganomics has depleted his coffers… meaning he can’t afford his outrageous murder gimmicks…

Without purpose, Jason has been wandering the streets where he grew up. Encountering a friend of his dead mother, he learns a shocking secret. The woman who raised him was not his birthmother, and there exists a box of personal papers naming three different women who might be his true mother. Lost and emotionally volatile, Jason sets out to track them down…

After monumental efforts, he locates Dr. Sheila Haywood working as a famine relief worker in Ethiopia. As Jason heads for the Middle East and a confrontation with destiny, he is unaware Batman is also in that troubled region, hot on the Joker’s trail as the Maniac of Mirth attempts to sell stolen nuclear weapons to any terrorist who can pay…

When Jason finds his mom, he has no idea that she has been blackmailed by the Clown Prince of Crime into a deadly scam involving stolen relief supplies.

I’m not going to bother with the details of the voting fiasco that plagues all references to this tale as it’s all copiously detailed elsewhere, but suffice to say that to test then-new marketing tools a 1-900 number was established and, thanks to an advanced press campaign, readers were offered the chance to vote on whether Robin would live or die in the story. Against all and every editorial expectation vox populi voted thumbs down and Jason died in a most savage and uncompromising manner. Shades of the modern experience of Boaty McBoatface! The public cannot be trusted to take any plebiscite seriously…

Jason had increasingly become a poor fit in the series and this storyline galvanised a new direction with a darker, more driven Batman, beginning almost immediately as the Joker, after killing Jason in a chilling and unforgettably violent manner, became UN ambassador for Iran (later revised as the fully fictional Qurac – just in case!) and, at the request of the Ayatollah himself, attempted to kill the entire UN General Assembly at his inaugural speech.

And here is the true injustice surrounding this tale: the death of Robin (who didn’t even stay dead) and the media uproar over the voting debacle took away from the real importance of this story – and perhaps deflected some real scrutiny and controversy. Starlin had crafted a clever, bold tale of real world politics and genuine issues – and most readers didn’t even notice.

Terrorism Training Camps, Rogue States, African famines, black marketeering, Relief fraud, Economic, Race and Class warfare, Diplomatic skullduggery and nuclear smuggling all featured heavily, as did such notable hot-button topics as Ayatollah Khomeini, Reagan’s Cruise Missile program, the Iran-Contra and Arms for Hostages scandals and the horrors of Ethiopian refugee camps. Most importantly, it signalled a new, fearfully casual approach to violence and death in comics.

The story selected to represent the lad here is a poor choice, however. This is not to say that ‘A Death in the Family’ is a lesser effort: far from it, and Starlin, Aparo & DeCarlo’s landmark, controversial story of the murder of brash, bright Jason Todd by the Joker shook the industry and still stands the test of time. However, all that’s included here is the final chapter, and even I, having read it many times, was bewildered as to what was going on.

If you want to see the entire saga – and trust me, you do – seek out a copy of the complete A Death in the Family .

In 1989 Batman broke box office records in the first of a series of big budget action movies. The Joker was villain du jour and stole the show. That increased public awareness again influenced comics and is covered in Part IV: Archnemesis before ‘Going Sane’ Part Two ‘Swimming Lessons’ offers a fresh look at motivations behind his madness. The story comes from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #66 (December 1994). LoDK began in the frenzied atmosphere following the movie. With planet Earth completely Bat-crazy for the second time in 25 years, DC wisely supplemented the Gotham Guardian’s regular stable of titles with a new one specifically designed to focus on and redefine his early days and cases through succession of retuned, retold classic stories.

Three years earlier the publisher had boldly begun retconning the entire ponderous continuity via landmark maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths; rejecting the concept of a vast multiverse and re-knitting time so that there had only ever been one Earth. For new readers, this solitary DC world provided a perfect place to jump on at a notional starting point: a planet literally festooned with iconic heroes and villains draped in a clear and cogent backstory that was now fresh and newly unfolding. Many of their greatest properties got a reboot, all enjoying the tacit conceit that the characters had been around for years and the readership were simply tuning in on just another working day.

With Batman’s popularity at an intoxicating peak and, as DC was still in the throes of re-jigging narrative continuity, his latest title presented multipart epics reconfiguring established villains and classic stories: infilling the new history of the re-imagined, post-Crisis hero and his entourage.

An old adage says that you can judge a person by the calibre of their enemies, and that’s never been more ably demonstrated than in the case of Batman and The Joker. The epic battles between these so similar yet utterly antithetical icons have filled many pages and always will…

With that in mind, J.M. DeMatteis, Joe Staton & Steve Mitchell’s 4-part psychological study ‘Going Sane’ takes us back to a time when Batman was still learning his job and had only crossed swords with the Clown Prince of Crime twice before. After a murderously macabre circus-themed killing-spree in the idyllic neighbourhood of Park Ridge and abduction of crusading Gotham Councilwoman Elizabeth Kenner, a far-too-emotionally invested Batman furiously plays catch-up. This leads to a disastrous, one-sided battle in front of GCPD’s Bat signal and a frantic pursuit into the dark woods beyond the city.

Driven to a pinnacle of outrage, the neophyte manhunter falls into the Joker’s devilishly prepared trap and is caught in an horrific explosion. His shattered body is then dumped by an incredulous, unbelieving killer clown reeling in shock at his utterly unexpected ultimate triumph. Stand-alone extract ‘Swimming Lessons’ opens here with Batman missing and Police Captain James Gordon taking flak from all sides for not finding the Predatory Punchinello or the savage mystery assailant who recently murdered an infamous underworld plastic surgeon…

Under Wayne Manor, faithful manservant Alfred fears the very worst, whilst in a cheap part of town thoroughly decent nonentity Joseph Kerr suffers terrifying nightmares of murder and madness. His solitary days end when he bumps into mousy spinster Rebecca Brown. Days pass and two lonely outcasts find love in their mutual isolation and shared affection for classic slapstick comedy. The only shadows blighting this unlikely romance are poor Joe’s continual nightmares and occasional outbursts of barely suppressed rage…

As days turn to weeks and months, Alfred sorrowfully accepts the situation and prepares to close the Batcave forever. As he descends, however, he is astounded to see the Dark Knight has returned…

The story of Joe Kerr – fictive product of a deranged mind which simply couldn’t face life without Batman – is another yarn readers will want to experience in full, but that too will only happen in a different collection.

The World’s Greatest Detective continues to relentlessly battle the Clown Prince in ‘Fool’s Errand’ (Detective Comics #726, October 1998) as Chuck Dixon & Brian Stelfreeze depict a vicious mind-game conducted by the Hateful Harlequin from his cell, using a little girl as bait and an army of criminals as his weapon against the Dark Knight, after which ‘Endgame’ Part Three ‘…Sleep in Heavenly Peace’ (by Greg Rucka, Devin Grayson, Damian Scott, Dale Eaglesham, Sean Parsons, Sal Buscema & Rob Hunter in Detective #741, February 2000) sees the Joker plaguing a Gotham struggling to recover from a cataclysmic earthquake.

It’s Christmas, but the stubborn survivors are so stretched striving to stop Joker’s plan to butcher all the babies left in town, that they are unable to notice this real scheme which will gouge a far more personal wound in their hearts…

‘Slayride’ by Paul Dini, Don Kramer & Wayne Faucher (Detective Comics #826, February 2007 and another Seasonal special) is one of the best Joker – and definitely the best Robin – stories in decades. This Christmas chiller sees our Crazed Clown trap third Boy Wonder Tim Drake in a stolen car, making him an unwilling participant in a spree of vehicular homicides amongst last-minute shoppers. If there is ever a Greatest Batman Christmas Stories Ever Told collection (and if there’s anybody out there with the power to make it so, get weaving please!), this just has to be the closing chapter…

Brining us up nearly to date, Part V: Rebirth focuses on 2011’s New 52 continuity-wide reboot and the even grimmer, Darker Knight who debuted in Detective Comics volume 2 #1 with what might then have been assumed to be the last Joker story. Crafted by Tony Daniel & Ryan Winn, ‘Faces of Death’ follows the mass-murdering malcontent on another pointless murder spree ending with his apparent death, leaving behind only his freshly skinned-off face nailed bloodily to an asylum wall…

One year later the Joker explosively returned, targeting Batman’s allies in company-wide crossover event dubbed Death of the Family. The crippling mind games and brutal assaults culminated in ‘But Here’s the Kicker’ (Batman #15, February 2013 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion) and purportedly the final battle between Bat and Clown: but we’ve all heard that before, haven’t we?

The Joker has the rare distinction of being arguably the most iconic villain in comics and can claim that title in whatever era you focus on; Noir-esque Golden Age, sanitised Silver Age or malignant modern and Post-Modern milieux. This book captures just a fraction of all those superb stories and we’re long overdue an update or second showing…

Including pertinent covers by Sayre Swartz & Roussos, Mortimer, Moldoff, Adams, Rogers & Austin, Byrne, Mike Mignola, Staton & Mitchell, Stelfreeze, Alex Maleev & Bill Sienkiewicz, Simone Bianchi, Daniel & Winn and Capullo, this monolithic testament to the inestimable value of a good bad-guy is a true delight for fans of all ages and vintage.
© 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1964, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2014 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Robin: Year One – the Deluxe Edition


By Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty, Javier Pulido, Robert Campanella, Lee Loughridge, Sean Konot & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7764-2 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes some Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Robin the Boy Wonder debuted in Detective Comics #38 – which despite its April 1940 cover-date was first snatched off newsstands across the USA from March 6th – until they all sold out. Happy Birthday, Boy Wonder! and congratulations on sparking an entire comics subgenre and inspiring so many heroes to indulge in innocuous child endangerment in our favourite entertainment medium and so many others…

Devised by Bob Kane, Bill Finger & Jerry Robinson, Robin was a juvenile circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by a mob boss in a savage display of ruthless public barbarity. The story of how Batman took orphaned Dick Grayson under his scalloped wing and trained him to fight crime has been told, retold and revised many times over the decades and still regularly undergoes tweaking to this day. This 25-year-old version remains one of the best as well as arguably the least in need of toxic levels of suspended disbelief…

In the original pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, Grayson fought beside Batman until 1970 when, as an indicator of those socially turbulent times, he flew the nest, becoming a Teen Wonder/college student. His creation as a junior hero for younger readers to identify with has inspired an incomprehensible number of costumed sidekicks and kid crusaders, and Grayson continued in similar innovative vein for the older, more worldly-wise readership of America’s increasingly rebellious youth culture.

The first Robin even had his own solo series in Star Spangled Comics from 1947-1952 (mostly collected as two DC Archive volumes), a solo spot in the back of Detective Comics from the end of the 1960s – a position he alternated and shared with Batgirl – and a starring feature in anthology comic Batman Family. During the 1980s he led the New Teen Titans, initially in his original costumed identity but eventually in the reinvented guise of Nightwing, all while re-establishing a (somewhat turbulent) working relationship with his mentor Batman.

This Deluxe Edition compiles Robin: Year One #1-4, cover-dated December 2000 to April 2001: an enthralling embellishment of early Golden Age adventures topped up with modern sensibilities and a few supervillains to provide that peculiar kind of “fan-service” comic book devotees demand.

It begins in Blackgate prison with recent acquisition Joe Minette expressing his extreme unhappiness with being busted by a little kid in pixie boots. The brutal thug wants his notional partner Two-Face to do something about it, but seemingly legit intermediary Louis soon realizes his bifurcated boss is spiralling again: locked onto the idea that his lone adversary “The Bat” is now a tag-team of two…

In the avenues and alleyways, more and more miscreants are reporting a gaudily-garbed sparrow who flits like a bird and hits like a hammer, unaware that the nightly crime thwarting is simply on-the-job training for Batman’s newest weapon. In the Batcave, however, faithful family retainer Alfred Pennyworth is concerned at how happy and keen recently orphaned Dick Grayson appears. The boy seems to have accepted the death of his parents’ killer “Boss” Zucco and a prospective career bringing similar scum to justice, but how can the boy possibly be so well adjusted?

As the much travelled lad adapts to life in one – admittedly palatial – place, across town Mr. Pak meets professional henchperson Dormouse and his leader Jervis Tetch. The Mad Hatter is a subcontractor, using his mind control technology to assemble a unique package for a very prestigious and discriminating client. Visiting dignitary President Generalissimo Singh Manh Lee has a thing for little white girls, but unfortunately the Hatter has his own exacting aesthetic standards to fulfil, and has only programmed and prepped eight of the ten originally contracted for…

When another goes missing from Dick’s high school it’s game on…

Police Captain James Gordon is a father and far from happy that his clandestine costumed ally has brought a child into their personal war on crime. However, eventually accepting that it’s as much therapy for the victim as tactical advantage for the Batman, he’s prepared to let it pass, at least until the little girls are all found…

However it’s as a callow schoolboy that Grayson finds a crucial lead, before blotting his copybook by suiting up to rescue the victims and confront the exposed Generalissimo whilst spectacularly lowering the boom and nabbing his first supervillain. The pushback from austere-but-really-trying mentor Bruce is not at all what the Boy Wonder anticipated…

After more humdrum daily/nightly deeds of derring-do and clashes with minor mooks like Killer Moth, Firefly, Cluemaster and even hulking brute Blockbuster, the kid’s next formative crisis crops up as Two-Face makes the enigmatic junior partner his special project and means of keeping detested Batman in his proper place…

It begins with the modern Janus abducting a judge and staging a show trial to punish all those he holds responsible for the murder of his civilian half Harvey Dent as a prelude to capturing Robin and inflicting physical and psychological torments on his ultimate nemesis’ “second”…

Scarred and broken, Robin is no longer a feature of the night skies. Acting on toxic and malicious “information received” Gordon now acts on a promise he made himself and goes after the Dark Knight for reckless endangerment, child abuse and more. As Grayson comes out of his coma, his first thought is to get back into action, only to learn Bruce has benched him for life. Recuperating but shellshocked, the indomitable boy makes the best of his so-much-lessened life, enduring depression whilst dutifully soldiering on as civilian schoolboy. He does however secretly prepare for a change of heart and call back to action. That comes during a regular checkup with in-the-know family physician Leslie Thompkins, when Dr. Victor Frieze – Mister Freeze – ruthlessly raids the hospital blood bank. In his eagerness to stop the death toll mounting, a masked Grayson saves the day but only at the cost of more lives…

Finally pushed too far and convinced of his own utter worthlessness, Grayson runs away from home, but his time on the streets is cut short after Two-Face breaks out and Minette hires League of Assassins hitter Shrike to settle all his outstanding accounts…

As Batman hunts all the murderous players, he is distracted by the loss of his partner, unaware that the acrobat is not only a target of assorted super freaks but has also been “adopted” by Shrike and added to a most elite training cadre and is picking up skills the Dark Knight would never dream of teaching to children…

Inevitably all the vengeance-hungry murderers’ various schemes converge with Grayson right in the middle. But deep in the shadows, Batman has found him and accepted that theirs is an eternal, fated partnership…

An astounding and breathlessly fun-filled revision by Chuck Dixon (Batman, Robin, Bane, G.I. Joe, The Punisher, The Simpsons, Birds of Prey, Spongebob Squarepants, The Hobbit, Iron Man, Green Lantern, Superman), brought to boundless life by Javier Pulido (Ninjak, Human Target, She-Hulk Star Trek, Jessica Jones, Amazing Spider-Man) & Robert Campanella, the saga herein contained also comes with the artist’s gorgeous ‘Robin: Year One Sketchbook’ of character studies, roughs, layouts and fully pencilled pages, cover roughs and pencils more.

Short and so very, very sweet, this is thrilling romp Fights ‘n’ Tights fans will adore and a paean of pure superhero joy and grace any action/adventure admirer will covet.
© 2000, 2001, & 2018 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: The Man of Steel volume 2


By John Byrne, Marv Wolfman, Paul Levitz, Jerry Ordway, Greg LaRoque, Erik Larsen, Karl Kesel, Dick Giordano, Keith Williams, Mike DeCarlo, Arne Starr, P. Craig Russell, Bob Smith, Jose Marzan Jr., John Beatty, India Inc. (Giordano, Kesel, Bob Lewis, Ordway, Russell, Smith, Robert Ian, Bill Wray), Kurt Schaffenberger & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0591-0 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In 1985 when DC Comics rationalise, reconstructed and reinvigorated their continuity with Crisis on Infinite Earths they also used the event to simultaneously regenerate their key properties. The biggest gun they had was Superman and it’s hard to argue that the change was not before time. The big guy was in a bit of a slump, but he’d weathered those before. So how could a root and branch retooling be anything but a pathetic marketing ploy that would alienate “real” fans for a few fly-by-night Johnny-come-latelies who would jump ship as soon as the next fad surfaced? The new Superman was going to suck…

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

It began with all Superman titles being “cancelled” (actually suspended) for three months, and yes, for the first time in decades, that did make the real-world media sit up and take notice of the character everybody thought they knew. However, there was method in this seeming corporate madness. The missing mainstays were replaced by a 6-part miniseries running from October to December 1986. Entitled Man of Steel, it was written and drawn by Marvel’s mainstream superstar John Byrne – fresh off a spectacular, groundbreaking run on Fantastic Four – inked by venerated veteran Dick Giordano. The bold manoeuvre was a huge and instant success. So much so that when it was first collected as a stand-alone compilation album in 1991, it became one of comics’ premiere “break-out” hits in the new format that would eventually become the industry standard for reaching mass readerships. Nowadays few people buy the periodical pamphlets but almost everybody has read a graphic novel…

From that overwhelming start the Action Ace seamlessly returned to his suspended comic book homes, enjoying the addition of a third monthly title that premiered that same month. Superman, Adventures of Superman, and Action Comics (which became a fan-pleasing team-up title guest-starring other favourites of the DC Universe, in the manner of the cancelled DC Comics Presents) were instant best-sellers. The back-to-basics approach lured many readers to – and, crucially back to – the Superman franchise, but the sheer quality of the stories and art are what convinced them to stay. Such cracking, clear-cut superhero exploits are a high point in the Action Ace’s decades-long career, and these collections are certainly the easiest way to enjoy one of the most impressive reinventions of a comic book icon.

So successful was the relaunch that by the early 1990’s Superman would be carrying four monthly titles as well as Specials, Annuals, guest shots and regular appearances in titles like Justice League – quite a turnaround from the earlier heydays of the Man of Steel when editors were frantic about never overexposing their meal-ticket.

In Superman’s 85th year of more-or-less consecutive and continuous publication, a new sequence of collections brought Byrne & Co.’s tales to a new generation of fans, and at long last we’re getting around to plugging the rest of them whilst adding our usual plea that the series continues and re-presents more of this wonderful material…

Spanning cover-dates May to December 1987 and re-presenting Superman #5-11, Action #588-593 and Adventures of Superman #429-435, plus crossover issues Legion of Super-Heroes #37-38 with relevant informative bio-pages from Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #13 & 23 and Who’s Who Update 1987 #2, 4-5, this monumental sequel compilation follows the Never-Ending Battle in unfolding, overlapping story order, not chronological release dates, and opens with ‘How Did I Get Here?’ – a reprinting of editor Mike Carlin’s introduction from a 2006 collection before the Actions and Adventures continue to unfold…

With Byrne’s so-very-controversial reboot of the world’s first superhero a solid smashing hit, the collaborative teams tasked with ensuring his continued success really hit their stride with the tales here, beginning with ‘The Mummy Strikes’ and ‘The Last Five Hundred’ (Byrne & inker Karl Kesel, from Superman #5-6). This introduces a first hint of romance between the Man of Tomorrow and Wonder Woman before Lois Lane and Clark Kent are embroiled in an extraterrestrial invasion that started half a million years ago, and features rogue robots and antediluvian bodysnatchers.

In ‘Old Ties’ (Adventures of Superman #429) Marv Wolfman & Jerry Ordway reveal the catastrophic repercussions of hidden race of alien telepaths the Circle transferring their expansionist attentions from rogue state Qurac to Metropolis, before segueing into a sidereal saga from Action Comics #588-589. Here Byrne & Giordano combine the Caped Kryptonian with Hawkman & Hawkwoman in ‘All Wars Must End’ – an epic battle against malign Thanagarian invaders – before meeting Arisia, Salaak, Kilowog, Katma Tui and other luminaries of the Green Lantern Corps who rescue the star-lost Superman in ‘Green on Green’ before uniting together and eliminating an unstoppable planet-eating beast.

Superman #7 by Byrne & Kesel follows ‘Rampage!’ as a petty male colleague sabotages a Metropolis lab experiment, accidentally mutating his boss Dr. Kitty Faulkner into a super-strong, rage-fuelled monstrosity. Thankfully, Superman is on hand and keeps a cool head, but only until Adventures of Superman #430 which sees the Metropolis Marvel ‘Homeward Bound!’ courtesy of Wolfman & Ordway before resorting to harsh measures in pitched battle against metahuman bandits the Fearsome Five. In Action Comics #590 Byrne & Giordano explored ‘Better Living Dying Through Chemistry’, wherein a bizarre toxic accident turns ambulatory waste dump Chemo into a giant Superman clone. Happily, its old adversaries The Metal Men are on hand to aid in the extremely violent clean-up…

As the ripples of Crisis on Infinite Earths pinged across the new DCU, there were a few bumps to smooth out that had missed being sorted during the big show. One of the most confusing was how the new Superman was never a costumed, crusading Boy of Steel. This epic tome includes two critical issues of Legion of Super-Heroes (#37-38) which outlines and resolves the dilemma that occurred after the Man of Tomorrow’s retcon eliminated his entire career and achievements as Superboy. The crossover event provided a classic back-writing exercise to solve an impossible post-Crisis paradox whilst giving us old geeks one chance to see a favourite character die in a way all heroes should…

Legion of Super-Heroes #37 (August 1987, by Paul Levitz, Greg LaRoque, Mike DeCarlo & Arne Starr) sets the scene for ‘A Twist in Time’ as a team of 30th century Legionnaires head back to 1960s Smallville to visit inspirational founding member Superboy only to find themselves attacked by their greatest ally and inspiration – the Time Trapper. The saga segues into Byrne & Kesel’s ‘Future Shock’ (Superman #8) as a strange squad of aliens appear in his beloved boyhood hometown. Mistaking Superman for Superboy, the Legionnaires attack, and after an inconclusive clash concludes, start piecing together an incredible act of villainy and cosmic manipulation that has made suckers of them all…

When a kill-crazed Superboy shows up the tale shifts to Action #491 as Byrne & Keith Williams reveal a ‘Past Imperfect’ where the youthful and adult Kal-Els butt heads until a ghastly truth is exposed, leading to Levitz, LaRoque & DeCarlo’s stunning and tragic conclusion in Legion of Super-Heroes #38, where the devious reality-warping mastermind behind the scheme falls to ignominious defeat at the hands of ‘The Greatest Hero of Them All’…

Back on solid ground and his own reality the one-&-only Superman then battles a new kind of maniac malcontent in ‘They Call Him… Doctor Stratos’ (Adventures of Superman #431 by Wolfman, Erik Larsen & embellishment tag-team “India Inc.”), delivering a crushing defeat to a weather-warping would-be god before Byrne & Kesel’s Superman #9 sees the Last Son of Krypton meet The Joker for the first time in a maniacally murderous battle of wits ‘To Laugh and Die in Metropolis’…

Accompanied by inker P. Craig Russell, Wolfman & Ordway open extended story arc Gangwar with ‘From the Streets, to the Streets!’ as a mystery mastermind foments chaos and teen unrest, with unsavoury tycoon Lex Luthor implicated. Social worker/troubled youth mentor Jose Delgado returns, but seems as helpless as Superman, Lois or Jimmy Olsen in saving Perry White’s son from a life of crime or imminent incarceration…

Inked by Keith Williams, Byrne teams the Man of Steel with Jack Kirby’s New Gods Big Barda and Mr. Miracle in fighting depraved Apokolips émigré Sleez during ‘A Walk on the Darkside’ and sequel ‘The Suicide Snare’ before channelling our hero’s pre-Crisis days in ‘The Super Menace of Metropolis’. Aided by Kesel, he reveals how Luthor tries to discredit the Action Ace by boosting his powers after which Bob Smith joins Ordway illustrating ‘A Tragedy in Five Acts’: the second part of Gangwar where escalating street chaos leads to a life-altering injury for Jose Delgado…

For Superman #11, Byrne & Kesel reintroduce a carefully revamped fifth dimensional prankster in wickedly barbed, in-joke drenched Mr. Mxyzptlk romp ‘The Name Game’, whilst in AoS #435,Wolfman, Ordway & José Marzan complete this collection’s comics section with Gangwar conclusion ‘Shambles’ – introducing mystery street hero Gangbuster, before #436’s ‘The Circle Turns’ finds Superman assaulted by psychic delusions thanks to the vengeful alien telepaths: two slower tales building on the strong continuity and character interactions that typified this incarnation of the Man of Tomorrow.

Bonus features this time include previous collection covers by Ordway, and augmenting the Costumed Dramas are more extracted character profiles from Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #13 & 23 and Who’s Who Update 1987 #2, 4-5, featuring Mr. Mxyzptlk, Rampage!, Superboy (Kurt Schaffenberger inks), The Legion of Super-Heroes (by LaRoque & Larry Mahlstedt), and Time Trapper (Keith Giffen & Rick A, Bryant) before a big bold pin-up of the Man of Steel ends the fun for now.

These superhero sagas are true a high point in the Man of Tomorrow’s near nine decades of existence and these astoundingly readable collections are certainly the easiest way to enjoy a stand-out reinvention of the ultimate comic-book icon.
© 1986, 1987, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Dear DC Super-Villains


By Michael Northrop & Gustavo Duarte, coloured by Cris Peter & lettered by Wes Abbott (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1779500540 (PB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Ideal to Steal Stocking Stuffer… 9/10 (just give it back after reading, okay?)

Superheroes are purely iconic embodiments if not “perfectualisations” of a whole bunch of deep things about humans. Ask any psychologist or modern philosopher. Sadly, such pristine intellectualisations don’t cut much ice (just ask Captain Cold) in the stories-for-money racket; and every hero from Gilgamesh to the Scarlet Pimpernel and every sleuth and super-doer since mass entertainment began owes a huge recurring debt to the bad lurking in the shadows or monster rampaging down main street.

DC have a particularly fine stable of misguided miscreants, justifiable revengers and thieving psychotic loons – just look at how many have their own titles, shows and films – and their antics as much as the heroes we’re supposed to admire are part of children’s awareness and maturing processes (even boys, who I’m forced to admit frequently grow up by a different set of metrics to girls or other flavours of kids).

Reprising or rather expanding their 2019 hit, Michael Northrop (Trapped, Plunked, Gentlemen, TombQuest) and Gustavo Duarte (Bizarro, Monsters! and Other Stories link both please), turn their delightful comedic eyes on the bad guys who might well be a Legion of Doom but still have it in them to answer a few salient questions from some curious kids with a really good search engines…

In Cairo, a major heist is capped by a relaxing moment of downtime as Selina Kyle responds to a ‘Dear Catwoman’ query about getting caught, whilst Earth’s most maximumly imprisoned mad scientist accepts a rash challenge from a heckler who thinks he’s safely anonymous in ‘Dear Lex Luthor’ and ‘Dear Harley Quinn’ shares her experiences of stand-up comedy and chaotic behaviour…

All these messages come courtesy of the Legion of Doom forwarding service but the would-be world conquerors are generally fretful and bad tempered while trying to find a new leader. Those tensions a painfully apparent in ‘Dear Gorilla Grodd’ as the Super-Ape shares school memories – but never bananas – even as ‘Dear Giganta’ offers advice on bullies and being the tallest girl in class.

When a disabled girl challenges ‘Dear Sinestro’ to examine his motivations, it sparks an unexpected sentimental response, and even ruthless hardcase rogue ronin ‘Dear Katana’ also reassesses her life after opening a succinctly sharp email question, whereas the modern-day pirate king only gets “fished” after clicking on ‘Dear Black Manta’, leading to a long-awaited calamitous convergence, supervillain showdown and inevitable big battle with the JLA in concluding chapter ‘Dear DC Super-Villains’…

Big, bold, daft and deliriously addictive, this in another superb all-ages action romp packed with laughs and delivering a grand experience for any who red it. Extra material includes ‘Who’s Who in the Legion of Doom’ of the heroes, and creator biographies in ‘Auxiliary Members!’ plus an extract from Metropolis Grove by Drew Brockington. If you love comics and want others to as well you couldn’t do more that point potential fans this way. Actually, just show, tell, or email them: pointing is rude…
© 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Dear Justice League


By Michael Northrop & Gustavo Duarte, coloured by Ma Maiolo & lettered by Wes Abbott (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8413-8 (PB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Comic Perfection and Ideal Stocking Stuffer… 10/10

Keystone of the DC Universe, the Justice League of America is the reason we have a comics industry today. After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – for which read the launch of Superman in June 1938 – the most significant event in the industry’s progress was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus, what seems blindingly obvious to everyone blessed with four-colour hindsight was irrefutably proven: a number of popular characters combining forces can multiply readership. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick…

The Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a landmark in industry development but faded and failed after tastes changed at the end of the 1940s. When Julius Schwartz began reviving and revitalising the nigh-defunct superhero genre in 1956 the true turning point came a few years later with the (inevitable?) teaming of his freshly reconfigured mystery men. When wedded to relatively unchanged costumed big guns who had weathered the first fall of the Superhero, the result was a new, modern, Space-Age version of the JSA and the birth of a new mythology.

The moment that changed everything for us baby-boomers came with The Brave and the Bold #28 (cover dated March 1960): a classical adventure title recently retooled as a try-out magazine like Showcase. Just in time for Christmas 1959, ads began running…

“Just Imagine! The mightiest heroes of our time… have banded together as the Justice League of America to stamp out the forces of evil wherever and whenever they appear!”

When the JLA launched it cemented the growth and validity of the genre, triggering an explosion of new characters at every company producing comics in America and even spread to the rest of the world as the 1960s progressed. Superheroics have waned since, but never gone away, and remain a trigger point for all us kids. However, comics have grown serious and mature, and we increasingly left the kids out of the equation, letting TV cartoons pick up the slack. Even the roster in this tale is informed as much by animation adventures as potent printed page-turners…

Well, superheroes are still kids’ stuff as this superb book – and its sequel – attest. An early entry in DC’s project to bring their characters back to young readers, Dear Justice League takes all the iconic riffs and paraphernalia attached to the team and comedically runs wild with a core conceit: the heroes individually answering emails – or other, older, lesser communications – from young fans with problems to share or questions needing answers.

Played strictly for laughs by Brazilian illustrator/slapstick maestro Gustavo Duarte (Bizarro, Monsters! and Other Stories link both please), the segmented saga is composed by author and journalist Michael Northrop (Trapped, Plunked, Gentlemen, TombQuest) who blends charm with wit and a great deal of heart for maximum effects.

It begins as long-suffering little Ben Silsby gets under some steel-hard skin by texting ‘Dear Superman’, whilst ‘Dear Hawkgirl’ distracts the winged wonder so much during an alien bug battle that she neglects her beloved hamster. Although old foe Black Manta is no problem, the Sea King reads a ‘Dear Aquaman’ question and must ponder hygiene issues to the point of upsetting Hall of Justice roommate Purdey (his goldfish)…

As the team convene to discuss big bug activity, a ‘Dear Wonder Woman’ direct message send the Amazing Amazon off on an embarrassing memory moment whilst ‘Dear Flash’ takes on bullies, poor concentration and bad parenting, ‘Dear Green Lantern’ trades fashion tips and colour swatches with grade school diva-to-be Shalene and ‘Dear Cyborg’ finds a different kind of opponent online and ready to rock…

Ultimate paranoid the Dark Knight doesn’t do email and must find another way to respond to a ‘Dear Batman’ that sets his sentimental heart and brutal boyhood into perspective, which all sets the scene for ET extermination excitement as the bug subplot rattling through all the vignettes boils over into all-ages cartoon action in blockbuster finale ‘Dear Justice League’…

Pure comics nostalgia writ large and hard hitting. Enjoy all you oldster kids…

Extra material includes creator biographies, the ‘Hall of Justice Top Secret Files (No Peeking!)’ of our heroes, and their animal ‘Auxiliary Members!’ before concluding with come-hither extracts from other kid-friendly books in the line (specifically the sequel plugged next) and Superman of Smallville by Art Baltazar & Franco.

Fun, deceptively thrilling and infinitely re-readable, this old school treat is a must have item for anyone who loves superheroes.
© 2019, DC Comics All Rights Reserved.

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Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin


By Archie Goodwin with Jim Aparo, Sal Amendola, Howard Chaykin, Alex Toth, Walter Simonson, Dan Jurgens, Dick Giordano, Gene Ha, José Muñoz, Gary Gianni, James Robinson, Marshall Rogers, Bob Wiacek, John C. Cebollero, Scott Hampton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3829-2 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Knight in Darkness Forever Missed… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Cartoonist and writer Archie Goodwin (September 8th 1937 – March 1st 1998) was working as an assistant art director at Redbook magazine when his comics career truly began. A passionate EC fan, he had sold a speculative script to Warren Publishing that appeared in Creepy #1. He was the editor by #4, and, despite writing non-stop for some of the greatest artists in comics at that time, was offered a similar leading role on Warren’s latest brainstorm: the astonishing and legendary Blazing Combat. All while officiating and writing for Eerie and Vampirella too.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Goodwin grew up in a succession of small towns, hunting down old EC comics and contributing to comics’ earliest fanzines. From the University of Oklahoma, he transferred to what became the School of Visual Arts in New York City, went freelance in 1960, and occasionally assisted Leonard Starr on newspaper strip Mary Perkins on Stage. In later life his own strip contributions (on Star Wars, Captain Kate, Flash Gordon, Secret Agent X-9 and Star Hawks) would make him popular with an entirely separate sort of comics fans. After leaving Warren in 1967, Archie wrote for Marvel (Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, Tomb of Dracula, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Dazzler, The Hulk, Star Wars and many more), had several stints as group editor and co-created its New Universe. He scripted landmark early graphic novels Blackmark and His Name is Savage with Gil Kane and adapted the movie Alien for Heavy Metal , one of the first best-seller graphic novels. An astute editor and sublime nurturer of new talent, he was Editor in Chief of Marvel, its Epic imprint, and twice at DC. The second run began in 1989, overseeing innovative titles like Starman shine. The assorted Batman titles under his aegis included The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. These and the regular boutique of Bat-books cemented the Dark Knight’s position as the industry’s top star, but it was very much an encore performance.

He was bloody marvellous and never once let me pay for lunch.

Obviously, I’m not at all neutral on this matter, but that doesn’t stop this collection of all the Batman stories Archie wrote being something every fan should see. The compilation gathers material from Detective Comics #437-438, 440-443, Manhunter Special Edition, Detective Comics Annual #3, Showcase ‘95 #11, Batman: Black and White #1 & 4, Legends of the Dark Knight #132-136 and Original Graphic Novel Batman Night Cries, spanning November 1973 through August 1992. Back in the early1970s Archie had been a writer/editor who set the company on fire. His tenure on War titles G.I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces and Star Spangled War Stories generated tales – and sales – still talked about today. However it was his astounding recreation of Batman in Detective Comics that is most remembered and revered.

After taking over the editor’s desk from Julie Schwartz, Archie became writer/editor of Detective Comics with his first style-shattering tale coming in #437 (November 1973). He devised a stunning run of experimental yarns, beginning with a brace of gripping thrillers magnificently depicted by Jim Aparo (The Phantom, The Phantom Stranger, Aquaman). ‘Deathmask!’ is a brilliant murder-mystery featuring glittering social soirees, tough cop chatter, Aztec curses, supernatural overtones and an apparently unstoppable killer. Following that, the same team made ‘A Monster Walks Wayne Manor!’, wherein the abandoned stately pile – Batman having relocated to a bunker under the Wayne Foundation building – briefly becomes home to a warped and dangerous old adversary…

Editor Goodwin started Steve Engelhart’s Bat-folio in #339 (for which see elsewhere) before writing DC #440, as Sal Amendola (Phoenix, Archie Comics, Tarzan) & Dick Giordano (Sarge Steel, Rose and the Thorn, Human Target) limned a creepy tale of weaponised superstition and cruel, cunning criminality as the Dark Detective survives a ‘Ghost Mountain Midnight!’ after tracking hillbilly kidnappers to a murderous mountain-folk enclave, whilst Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, Star Wars, The Stars My Destination) illustrates a manic game of cat-&-mouse in #441’s ‘Judgment Day!’ Here a deranged judge kidnaps Robin and lays down his own brand of law until hard stopped, after which a stylistic masterpiece confirmed Alex Toth (Zorro, Green Lantern, The Witching Hour, Space Ghost, Bravo for Adventure, Torpedo, Johnny Thunder, Eclipso, X-Men) as one of the most unique stylists in American comics. With Goodwin’s collaboration, ‘Death Flies the Haunted Skies!’ (Detective Comics #442, September 1974) is a magnificent barnstorming thriller of aviators seemingly picked off by an assassin and a high point in an era of landmark tales.

While reshaping Batman and war comics, Goodwin was making history with a relative newcomer on a mere backup strip: Manhunter. Now one of the most celebrated superhero series in comics history, it catapulted fresh-faced Walt Simonson (Metal Men, Thor, Star Slammers, X-Factor, Ragnarök, Fantastic Four) to the front rank of creators, revolutionised the way dramatic adventures were told and remains one of the most lauded strips ever produced. Concocted by genial genius Goodwin as a supporting strand for Detective Comics (#437-443 (October/November 1973 to October/November 1974) the seven episodes – 68 serialised pages – garnered six Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards during its one year run. If you’re wondering they were: Best Writer of the Year 1973 – Goodwin; Best Short Story of the Year 1973 for ‘The Himalayan Incident’; Outstanding New Talent of the Year 1973 – Walter Simonson; Best Short Story of the Year 1974 for ‘Cathedral Perilous’; Best Feature Length Story of the Year 1974 for the conclusion ‘Götterdämmerung’ and Best Writer of the Year 1974 – Goodwin.

Paul Kirk was a big game hunter and part-time costumed mystery man before and during WWII. As a dirty jobs specialist for the Allies, he lost all love of life and died in a hunting accident in 1946. Decades later, he seemingly resurfaces, coming to the attention of Interpol agent Christine St. Clair. Thinking him no more than an identity thief, she soon uncovers an incredible plot by a cadre of the World’s greatest scientists who combined over decades into an organisation to assume control of the planet after realising humanity had the means to destroy it.

Since WWII’s end The Council infiltrated every corridor of power, made technological advances (such as stealing the hero’s individuality by cloning him into an army of enhanced, rapid-healing soldiers), gradually achieving their goals with no one the wiser. The returned Paul Kirk, however, had upset their plans and was intent on thwarting their ultimate goals…

Coloured by Klaus Janson and lettered by Ben Oda, Joe Letterese, Alan Kupperberg & Annette Kawecki, it tells of St. Clair and Kirk’s first meeting in ‘The Himalayan Incident’, her realisation that all is not as it seems in ‘The Manhunter File’ and their revelatory alliance beginning with ‘The Resurrection of Paul Kirk.’ Now fully part of Kirk’s crusade, St. Clair discovers just how wide and deep the Council’s influence runs in ‘Rebellion!’ before opening the endgame in the incredible ‘Cathedral Perilous’, and gathering one last ally in ‘To Duel the Master’. With all the pieces in play for a cataclysmic confrontation, events take a strange misstep as Batman stumbles into the plot, inadvertently threatening to hand the Council ultimate victory. ‘Götterdämmerung’ fully lives up to its title, wrapping up the saga of Paul Kirk with consummate flair and high emotion. It was a superb triumph and perplexing conundrum for decades to come…

In an industry notorious for putting profit before aesthetics, quality or sentiment, the pressure to revive such a well-beloved character was enormous, but Goodwin & Simonson were adamant that unless they could come up with an idea that remained true to the spirit and conclusion of the original, Manhunter would not be seen again. Although the creators were as good as their word DC weakened a few times. Rogue Kirk clones featured in Secret Society of Super-Villains and The Power Company, but were mere shabby exploitations of the original. Eventually, however, an idea occurred and the old conspirators concocted something feasible and didn’t debase the original conclusion. Archie provided a plot, and Walter began to prepare the strip. After years of valiant struggle, the master plotter finally succumbed to the cancer that had been killing him. Anybody who had ever met Archie will understand the void his death created. He was irreplaceable. Without a script the project seemed doomed until Simonson’s wife Louise suggested that it be drawn and run without words: a silent tribute and last hurrah for a true hero. Manhunter: the Final Chapter reunites the characters and brings the masterpiece to a solid, sound resolution. As that final wordless word appeared in Manhunter: The Special Edition (1999), it really was all over…

A subtle strand neatly added to Batman’s origin shapes ‘Obligation’ (illustrated by Dan Jurgens (Superman, Sun Devils, Thor, Captain America) & Giordano from Detective Comics Annual #3 1990), as the hero meets a man whose life was also shaped by the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. However, the grim story, crimebusting career and bloody redemption of Mark Cord and his estranged children also draws Bruce Wayne and Batman into all-out war with the Yakuza before any honour can be truly satisfied…

Next, Gene Ha (Top 10, Mae, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix) draws whilst Ted & Debbie McKeever colour chilling short shocker ‘Escape’ (Showcase ’95 #11, November 1995) as an Arkham inmate finds the only way to survive the madness, bolstered by a brace of tales from Batman: Black and White (#1 June 1996 and #4 September 1996). The first offers eerily memorable Jazz murder thriller ‘The Devil’s Trumpet’ – as rendered by astounding stylist José Muñoz (Alack Sinner) – before Gary Gianni (MonsterMen) pulls out all the period stops for his pulp-era paean period piece ‘Heroes’…

Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, new Bat-title Legends of the Dark Knight employed star guest creators to reimagine the hero’s history and past cases for modern audiences. Devised by Goodwin, James Robinson (Starman, Earth 2), Marshall Rogers (Demon With a Glass Hand, G.I. Joe, I Am Coyote, Doctor Strange, Detectives Inc.), Bob Wiacek & John C. Cebollero, issues #132-136 (August-December 2000) explore Wayne family history in story arc ‘Siege’ as an elderly mercenary and his elite entourage return to Gotham in ‘Assembly’. Colonel Brass has a multi-layered plan for profit and personal gratification that harks back to the old days when he was a trusted aide and virtual son to Bruce’s grandfather Jack Wayne. Regrettably, as seen in ‘Assault’, ‘Breach’, ‘Battle’ and ‘Defense’, that involves not only duping business woman Silver St. Cloud and plundering the city, but also taking over Wayne Mansion, and digging down to some old hidden caves (now fully-inhabited and packed with Bat paraphernalia).

Of course, if that entails wiping out any surviving Waynes who might keep Brass from his long-awaited revenge and reward, that’s just a well-deserved bonus…

This titanic tribute closes with what might not be Archie’s best story but certainly ranks as his most important: opening a mature conversation on a terrifyingly pervasive social atrocity we’re all still trying to come to terms with even now. Released in August 1992, Batman: Night Cries addressed a social issue that very much plagues us still, but was then becoming a ubiquitous plot maguffin, poorly handled by contemporary creators in all narrative arts media that it threatened to become just another fashionable story device, and a weakened, trite one at that.

That issue was child abuse and, despite being at first glance a horror fantasy, Night Cries is one of the most effective stories to maturely tackle it that comics has ever produced. This is not a polemical or attention-seeking tale. The subject is key to the narrative, affects characters fundamentally, and is dealt with accordingly. There is no neat and tidy solution. This isn’t a soap-box subject and neither victims nor perpetrators are paraded as single-faceted ciphers. This is a serious attempt to tell a story in which child abuse is an integral factor and not cause nor excuse for violence and pain. It is illustrated by prestigious painter Scott Hampton (Silverheels, Simon Dark, The Upturned Stone, Star Trek, Black Widow, Hellraiser, American Gods, Wicked) who had crafted other high end, mature-themed DC projects such as Batman: Gotham County Line and Sandman Presents: Lucifer. Hampton also contributed heavily to the final script.

Gotham City is a pit of everyday horrors but when a serial killer is identified who apparently targets entire families even Batman and Police Commissioner James Gordon are troubled by unacknowledged, long-suppressed feelings the killings dredge up within themselves. Suspecting a link between the killings and a new child abuse clinic funded by Bruce Wayne, detectives harshly interview a traumatised little girl, a sole survivor who saw the killer in action. She identifies The Batman…

Moody, dark and chilling, this examination of family ties and group responsibilities exposes a complex web of betrayals and shirked duties that weave and cut all through contemporary American culture. When a connection to US servicemen, used, abused and betrayed by their own government is revealed, the metaphor for a system that prefers to ignore its problems rather than deal with them is powerfully completed…

With Covers by Aparo, Michaela Kaluta, Simonson, George Pratt, Jim Lee & Scott Williams, Toth, Rogers & Cebollero, and Hampton, the brilliant Bat-tales in this magnificent compilation confirm the compelling primal force and charisma of the Dark Night and cap a stunning career by an irreplaceable creator. Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin is an unmissable time capsule of comics mastery no fan of the medium or lover of stories can do without.
© DC Comics 1973, 1974, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Harley and Ivy The Deluxe Edition


By Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Ty Templeton, Shane Glines, Dan DeCarlo, Ronnie Del Carmen, Rick Burchett, Stéphane Roux & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6080-4 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Psychosis and Spice and Everything Nice… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for comedic effect.

Created by Paul Dini & Bruce Timm, Batman: The Animated Series aired in the US from September 5th 1992 to September 15th 1995. Ostensibly for kids, the breakthrough TV animation series revolutionised everybody’s image of the Dark Knight and immediately began feeding back into the print iteration, leading to some of the absolute best comicbook tales in the hero’s many decades of existence.

Employing a timeless visual style dubbed “Dark Deco”, the show mixed elements from all iterations of the character and, without diluting the power, tone or mood of the premise, reshaped the grim avenger and his extended team into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance and panache that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to. In fact, so many didn’t object over the years that in August 2024 we got a fresh bite of the cherry. If you love Batman, are steeped in the vast mythology of Gotham City and adore stylish animated wonderment, you owe it to yourself to watch the Reinvented-But-Just-As-Good show Batman: Caped Crusader…

Thirty-plus years ago (!) the original TV series offered a superbly innovative retro makeover for many classic supervillains and even added one unexpected candidate to the Rogues Gallery. Harley Quinn wasn’t supposed to be a star – or even an actual comic book character. As soon become apparent, however, the manic minx had her own off-kilter ideas on the matter…

Harley was first seen as the Clown Prince of Crime’s slavishly adoring, abuse-enduring assistant in Joker’s Favor (airing September 11th,1992) where she instantly captured the hearts and minds of millions of viewers. From there on she began popping up in the licensed comic book and – always stealing the show – infiltrated mainstream DC comicbook continuity and into her own title. Along the way a flash of inspired brilliance led to her forming a unique relationship with toxic floral siren and plant-manipulating eco-terrorist Poison Ivy – a working partnership that delivered a bounty of fabulously funny-sexy yarns, and has brought the pair film and TV fame as a romantic power couple…

Collecting the eponymous 3-issue miniseries from 2004 plus cool stuff from Batman Adventures Annual #1 (1994), Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1 (1995), Batman and Robin Adventures #8 (July 1996), Batgirl Adventures #1 (1998) and material from Batman: Gotham Knights #14 (April 2001) and Batman Black and White #3 (2014), this spiffy deluxe hardback/eBook is an amazing cornucopia of comic treasures to delight young and old alike, and a perfect reminder why Batman & Co. remain so popular even after 85 years (and counting…).

It begins with a global-spanning romp written by Dini, illustrated by Timm & Shane Glines from Batman: Harley & Ivy #1-3 as the ‘Bosom Buddies’ have a spat that wrecks half of Gotham before escaping to the Amazon together to take over a small country responsible for much of the region’s deforestation and spreading a heady dose of ‘Jungle Fever!’. Once Batman gets involved the story suddenly shifts to Hollywood and the very last word in creative commentary on Superheroes in the movie business. ‘Hooray for Harleywood!’ delivers showbiz a devastating body blow Tinseltown will never recover from…

As we all know, Harley is (certifiably) insanely besotted with killer clown The Joker and next up Dini, Dan DeCarlo & Timm wordlessly expose her profound weakness for that so very bad boy when she’s released from Arkham Asylum only to be seduced back into committing crazy crimes and stuck back in the pokey again, all in just ‘24 Hours’…

‘The Harley and the Ivy’ comes from Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1 wherein Dini & Ronnie Del Carmen depict the larcenous ladies on an illicit shopping spree thanks to a dose of Ivy’s mind-warping kisses and up-close-and-personal close encounter with Bruce Wayne…

‘Harley and Ivy and… Robin’ (Batman and Robin Adventures #8, by Dini, Ty Templeton & illustrator Rick Burchett) features more of the same, except here the bamboozled sidekick becomes an ideal BoyToy Wonder: planning their crimes, giving soothing foot-rubs and bashing Batman until a little moment of green-eyed jealously spoils the perfect set-up…

Batgirl Adventures #1 was the original seasonal setting of ‘Oy to the World’ (Dini & Burchett) as plucky teen Babs Gordon chases thieving, thrill-seeking Harley through Gotham’s festive streets and alleys only to eventually team up with the jaunty jester to save Ivy from murderous Yakuza super-assassins. Next up, Batman: Gotham Knights #14 gifts us brilliantly dark yet saucily amusing tale ‘The Bet’ (Dini & Del Carmen). Incarcerated once more in Arkham, the Joker’s frustrated paramour and irresistible, intoxicatingly lethal Ivy indulge in a small wager to pass the time: namely, who can kiss the most men whilst in custody. This razor-sharp little tale manages to combine “innocent sexiness” with genuine sentiment, and packs a killer punch-line after the Harlequin of Hate unexpectedly pops in…

The madcap glamour-fest finishes with a late arriving moment of monochrome suspense (from Batman Black and White #3, by Dini & Stéphane Roux) as ‘Role Models’ sees a little girl escape her manic kidnapper and find sanctuary of a sort with the pilfering odd couple…

For years DC sat on a goldmine of quality product before finally unleashing a blizzard of all-ages collections and graphic novels such as this one: child-friendly iterations (and others not-so-much) of key characters stemming from the Paul Dini/Bruce Timm Batman series. These adventures are consistently some of the best comics produced of the last four decades and should be eternally permanently in print, if only as a way of attracting new readers to the medium.

Now a bone fide Christmas tradition – just like arguing about Die Hard or pondering what to do with brussels sprouts (eat them if you like them, pass if you don’t?), Batman: Harley and Ivy is a frantic, laugh-packed hoot that manages to be daring and demure by turns. An absolute delight and an irresistible seasonal treasure to be enjoyed over and over again.
© 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2014, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Batman Annuals volume 1 – DC Comics Classic Library


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, France Herron, David Vern Reed, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Sheldon Moldoff, Dick Sprang, Stan Kaye, Charles Paris & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-215-8 (HB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Nostalgia Box to Celebrate the Season… 8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

DC’s Classics Comics Library of hardbacks was a remarkably accessible, curated collectible range of tomes, much missed by all today. One of the best of them was this wonderful aggregation of three of the most influential and beloved comic books of the Silver Age.

Originally released in June 1961, Batman Annual #1 hit newsstands a year after the startlingly successful Superman Annual #1. The 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 this Bat-Blockbuster all arrived in shops and on newsstands. For us budding fanboys, it was like what I imagine one’s first hit of recreational narcotics must feel like…

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

Those colossal compilations of the 1960s changed comics publishing. Soon Marvel, Charlton and Archie Comics were also releasing giant books of old stories, then new ones, crossovers, continued stories, et al. 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 reassembles the first three Batman Annuals in their mythic entirety: 21 terrific complete stories, posters, features, pin-ups, calendars and those iconic compartmentalized covers. There are 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 Annuals as themed collections, the first being ‘1001 Secrets of Batman and Robin’ starting the ball rolling with ‘How to be the Batman’ by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz & Stan Kaye, wherein an amnesiac Caped Crusader must be re-trained by Robin. As always there’s a twist in this tale, before ‘The Strange Costumes of Batman’ (Edmond Hamilton, Dick Sprang & Charles Paris) highlights specialised uniforms the heroes use over their outrageous careers.

The self-explanatory ‘Untold Tales of the Bat-Signal’ (writer unknown, Schwartz and Paris) again uses past exploits to solve a contemporary case, whilst ‘The Origin of the Bat-Cave’ (Finger, Sheldon Moldoff & Paris) is only revealed by a quick time-trip back to revolutionary war days. ‘Batman’s Electronic Crime-File’ (anonymous, Sprang & Paris) is a cracking thriller confirming the Dynamic Duo’s love of cutting-edge technology. ‘The Thrilling Escapes of Batman and Robin’ (Finger, Moldoff, Kaye) concentrates on their facility at escaping traps, and excitement peaked in a dazzling display of ‘The Amazing Inventions of Batman’ (Hamilton, Sprang, Paris).

‘Batman and Robin’s Most Thrilling Action Roles’ opens with tension-packed mystery ‘The Underseas Batman’ (Hamilton, Sprang, Paris), then explores Wayne’s Scottish connections in ‘The Lord of Batmanor’ (Hamilton, assisted by his wife Leigh Brackett, Sprang & Paris) before once more tapping into the Westerns zeitgeist with ‘Batman – Indian Chief’ (France Herron, Moldoff & Kaye). ‘The Jungle Batman’ (David Vern Reed, Schwartz & Paris) is pure escapist joy and we get a then-rare glimpse of Bruce Wayne’s training in ‘When Batman Was Robin’ (Hamilton, Sprang, Paris) before returning to foiling deathtraps with ‘Batman the Magician’ (Finger, Moldoff, Paris), and this section concludes with a pivotal tale ‘Batman – The Superman of Planet X’ (Herron, Sprang & Paris): one forming a key thematic plank of Grant Morrison’s epic Batman R.I.P. storyline and later exploits.

The third Annual (which 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 & Paris), special-effects bandit ‘The Human Firefly’ (Herron, Sprang, Paris) and hyper cerebral mutant ‘The Mental Giant of Gotham City’ (Hamilton, Sprang, Paris) before the Clown Prince of Crime steals the show with a squad of skullduggery specialists in ‘The Joker’s Aces’ (Reed, Schwartz, Kaye).

Eerie and hard-hitting ‘The Gorilla Boss of Gotham City’ (Reed, Schwartz, Kaye) was one of DC’s earliest Ape epics, and although gripping, ‘The New Crimes of Two-Face’ (Finger, Schwartz & Paris) starred only a stand-in for the double-dealing psychopath. ‘The Mysterious Mirror Man’ (Finger, Moldoff and Paris), however, 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 reprinting US comics (if 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 avowed appreciator of regular seasonal tales appearing in Batman or Detective Comics or the “Golden Age Classics” that too infrequently graced them. Over decades some 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 Golden Age volume 2


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, George Roussos & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6808-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Batman: The Golden Age volume 2 is another paperback-format feast (there’s also a weightier, pricier and more capacious hardback Omnibus available) re-presenting our anniversarial Dark Knight’s earliest exploits. Set out in original publishing release order, it forgoes glossy, high-definition paper and reproduction techniques in favour of a newsprint-adjacent feel and the same flat, bright-yet-muted colour palette which graced the originals. Those necessary details dealt with, what you really need to know is that this is a collection of Batman tales depicting how the character grew into the major player who would inspire so many: developing a resilience to survive the stifling cultural vicissitudes coming decades would inflict upon him and his partner, Robin.

With the majority of material crafted by Bill Finger and illustrated by Bob Kane, there’s no fuss, fiddle or Foreword, and the book steams straight into mesmerising mysterious action, re-presenting astounding cape-&-cowl classics and iconic covers from Detective Comics #46-56, Batman #4-7 and the Dynamic Duo’s stories from World’s Best Comics #1 and World’s Finest Comics #2-3: cumulatively covering all groundbreaking escapades from December 1940 to November 1941…

Plunging right into perilous procedures, Detective #46 (Kane with regular embellishers Jerry Robinson & George Roussos) features the return of Batman’s most formidable fringe scientific adversary as the heroes must counteract the awesome effects of ‘Professor Strange’s Fear Dust’, after which #47 delivers drama on a more human scale in ‘Money Can’t Buy Happiness’. This action-packed homily of parental expectation and the folly of greed leads into Batman #4 (Winter 1941) which opens with a spiffy catch-all visual resume prior to ‘The Joker’s Crime Circus’, plus the piratical plunderings of ‘Blackbeard’s Crew and the Yacht Society!’. ‘Public Enemy No.1’ tells a gangster fable in the manner of Jimmy Cagney’s movie Angels With Dirty Faces, and ‘Victory For the Dynamic Duo’ involves the pair in the treacherous world of sports gambling.

Detective Comics #48 finds the lads defending America’s bullion reserves in ‘The Secret Cavern’, and they face an old foe when ‘Clayface Walks Again’ (Detective Comics #49, March 1941), as the deranged horror actor resumes his passion for murder and re-attempts to kill Bruce Wayne’s old girlfriend Julie. DC #50 pits Batman & Robin against acrobatic burglars in ‘The Case of the Three Devils’, leading neatly into Batman #5 (Spring 1941). Once again, Joker plays lead villain in ‘The Riddle of the Missing Card’, before the heroes prove their versatility by solving a quixotic crime in Fairy Land via ‘The Book of Enchantment’.

‘The Case of the Honest Crook’ follows: one of the key stories of Batman’s early canon. When a mugger steals only $6 from a victim, leaving much more behind, his trail leads to a vicious gang who almost beat Robin to death. The vengeance-crazed Dark Knight goes on a rampage of terrible violence that still resonates in the character to this day. The last story from Batman #5 –‘Crime does Not Pay’ – once again deals with kids going bad and their potential for redemption, after which World’s Best Comics#1 (Spring 1941 – destined to become World’s Finest Comics with its second issue) offers an eerie murder mystery concerning ‘The Witch and the Manuscript of Doom’. With most stories still coming from unsung genius Finger and art chores shared out between Kane, Robinson & Roussos, the team got a new top contributor as Fred Ray signed on to produce fantastic World’s Finest covers that offered the only venue to see the Gotham Gangbusters operating beside the Metropolis Marvel.

Sordid human scaled wickedness informs ‘The Case of the Mystery Carnival’, ‘The Secret of the Jade Box’ and ‘Viola Vane’ (Detective #51, 52 and 53 respectively): all mood-soaked crimebusting set-pieces featuring fairly run-of-the mill thugs, serving as perfect palate-cleansers for ‘The Man Who Couldn’t Remember!’ from WF #2: a powerful character play and a chilling conundrum that still packs a punch today.

‘Hook Morgan and his Harbor Pirates’ finds the Dynamic Duo cleaning up the docks whilst the quartet from Batman #6 (‘Murder on Parole’, ‘The Clock Maker’, ‘The Secret of the Iron Jungle’ and ‘Suicide Beat’) offer a broad range of yarns encompassing a prison-set human interest fable to the hunt for a crazed maniac to racket busting and back to the human side of being a cop. Detective #54 heads back to basics with spectacular mad scientist thriller ‘The Brain Burglar’, after which a visit to a ghost town results in eerie romp ‘The Stone Idol’ (Detective #55) before World’s Finest #3 launches a classic villain with the first appearance of one of Batman’s greatest foes in ‘The Riddle of the Human Scarecrow’.

The volume ends with a grand quartet of tales from Batman #7. ‘Wanted: Practical Jokers’ again stars the psychotic Clown Prince of Crime, whilst ‘The Trouble Trap’ sees our heroes crushing a spiritualist racket before heading for Lumberjack country to clear up ‘The North Woods Mystery’.

The last story is something of a landmark case, as well as being a powerful and emotional melodrama. ‘The People Vs. The Batman’ finds Bruce Wayne framed for murder and the Dynamic Duo finally sworn in as official police operatives. They would not be vigilantes again until the grim ‘n’ gritty 1980s…

Kane, Robinson and their compatriots created an iconography which carried Batman well beyond his allotted life-span until later creators could re-invigorate it. They added a new dimension to children’s reading… and their work is still captivatingly accessible.

Moreover, these early stories set the standard for comic superheroes. Whatever you like now, you owe it to these stories. Superman gave us the idea, but inspired and inspirational writers like Bill Finger refined and defined the meta-structure of the costumed crime-fighter.

Where the Man of Steel was as much Social Force and juvenile wish-fulfilment as hero, Batman and Robin did what we ordinary mortals wanted to do most: teach bad people the lessons they richly deserved…

These are tales of elemental power and joyful exuberance, brimming with deep mood and addictive action. Comic book heroics simply don’t come any better.
© 1940, 1941, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.