Category: Robin

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Batman: Scarecrow Tales


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson & George Roussos, Gardner F. Fox, Dennis O’Neil, Elliot S! Maggin, Gerry Conway, Mike W Barr, Peter Milligan, Devin Grayson, Sheldon Moldoff, Joe Giella, Ernie Chan & Dick Giordano, Irv Novick & Tex Blaisdell, Don Newton & Dan Adkins, Alan Davis & Paul Neary, Duncan Fegredo & Bjarne Hansen, Roger Robinson & John Floyd, with Paul Gulacy, Carmine Infantino, George Pratt, Mike Mignola, Arthur Adams, Dermot Power, Mark Stutzman, Jim Balent & Bill Sienkiewicz & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0443-3 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As is only sensible, when filmmakers unleash a comic book villain of any vintage, savvy publishers collate, curate and commercialise. Thus in 2007 when The Scarecrow was named a villain du jour on Batman Begins DC dashed out a fine volume of reprints featuring a few key and generally accessible comic book appearances. Although having a much shallower well to draw from, there are some wonderful tales on offer (and the occasional dog, it must be admitted) with various pin-up pages and a cover gallery closeted here in this out of print and begging for resurrection tome…

The obvious kick-off is the first appearance by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson & George Roussos. Alternatively entitled ‘The Riddle of the Human Scarecrow’ or simply ‘The Scarecrow’ from World’s Finest #3 (1941), it spookily introduced rather odd, painfully poor and book-obsessed college psychology professor Dr. Jonathan Crane (no relation to any comedy shrink). His ill-considered classroom antics forced him out of the teaching profession and started him pursuing his nefarious dreams by making his wealthy victims afraid… at least until Batman & Robin stepped in and stepped up…

Crane only appeared once more in the Golden Age and here is reintroduced in the Silver one, after patiently serving his time in jail, in ‘Fright of the Scarecrow’ (Batman #189, cover-dated February 1967) wherein scripter Gardner Fox – despite being rather handcuffed by the overwhelming popularity of the comedic TV show – introduced the Master of Terror’s abiding modern Modus Operandi of chemically or artificially inducing anxiety, fear and screaming heebie-jeebies. This has ever since stayed the way as Crane followed the twisting path of a deranged mad scientist rather the greedy crime bandit style which consisted mostly of shooting at you until you wet yourself and coughed up the valuables…

The spooky sage’s resumed rampage through Gotham was ultimately quashed here by the daredevil Dynamic Duo as fabulously finessed by illustrators Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella.

Then from a far less frightening but more carefully inclusive era come a brace of arguably lesser and decidedly off-kilter efforts. From Batman #262 (April 1975), Denny O’Neil, Ernie Chan & Dick Giordano ‘The Scarecrow’s Trail of Fear!’ finds the hero victim of a fear inducer machine whilst racing to uncover hidden loot squirreled away by a crook literally scared to his death. Then comes a frankly bizarre duel with Gotham’s other contender for Most Scary Villain (not counting Batman!). In The Joker #8 (August 1976). Gotham’s self-acclaimed Master of Terror instigates ‘The Scarecrow’s Fearsome Face-Off!’ by stealing from his rival and reaping the revolting results in a weird war tale crafted by Elliot S! Maggin, Irv Novick & Tex Blaisdell…

For Detective #503 (June 1981) Gerry Conway wrote ‘The 6 Days of the Scarecrow’, beautifully illustrated by sorely missed Don Newton, and inked by Dan Adkins, wherein The Deacon of Dread turns Batman into a being who can literally scare those around him to death. However, Crane foolishly discounts the fact that his foe has allies such as Robin & Batgirl willing to do anything to save him… not that the Gotham Gangbuster needs them to…

Then, in a revitalised new world stemming out of Crisis on Infinite Earths, a fresher Dynamic Duo (with young, callow Jason Todd as the second Robin), Mike W. Barr, Alan Davis & Paul Neary pursue lighter, more liberating tales but still convincingly convey the tragedy of ‘Fear For Sale’ in Detective #571 (February 1987), after Scarecrow charges desperate sports stars to remove their caution and ability to fear consequences and triggers a storm of callous carnage…

Next is ‘Mistress of Fear’ by Peter Milligan & Duncan Fegredo from one-shot New Year’s Evil: Scarecrow #1 (February, 1998): a truly exceptional low key, high-octane psychological thriller wherein Crane kidnaps law student Becky Albright. She had previously testified against him and still isn’t afraid, even after he begins the torturous process of converting her into his sidekick and accomplice…

Devin Grayson, Roger Robinson & John Floyd then display ‘Fear of Success’ (Gotham Knights #23, January 2002) to round out these scary stories with a swipe at corporate greed, as Dr. Crane is paroled from Arkham Asylum to lecture Gotham’s Movers & Shakers thanks to the sponsorship of business paragon Mulitigon. Thankfully, Bruce Wayne (and his new bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux) are invited as Scarecrow again unleashes his Fear Toxins just to see what happens. Although Batman quickly ends the threat, he is not quick enough to avoid a potentially deadly dose of the hallucinogenic horrors…

Also on show are a moody cover gallery and bonus material including pages from Who’s Who – The Definitive Directory of The DC Universe #20 (1986) & Who’s Who in the DC Universe #21 (1990) by Art Adams and George Pratt respectively; Mike Mignola’s Saga of the Dark Knight trading card (#51); Batman: Masterpieces (1998) by Dermot Power and an original pin-up by Mark Stutzman.

Some of these scurrilous scare-sagas made it into the 2015 compilation Batman: Arkham – Scarecrow but that book has enough different and darkly desirable material to warrant its own review… possibly even before the month is out…

As a trawl through the changing nature of the industry, Batman: Scarecrow Tales is quite illuminating although one glaring omission is the utter shunning of the numerous exploits featuring the creepy character that appeared in assorted issues of the TV cartoon based Batman Adventures comic book. Now those were thrilling…

Absolutely worth re-issuing with a few of the newer tales (especially those sublime all-ages versions Batman Animated franchise), perhaps DC could award the other, OTHER Dr Crane his own 85-year Celebration album, like all those other A-lister Bat-villains. Now that’s a scarily comforting thought…
© 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: A Celebration of 75 Years


By Bob Kane & Bill Finger, Gardner F. Fox, Don Cameron, Edmond Hamilton, John Broome, Bob Kanigher, Dennis J. O’Neil, Archie Goodwin, Steve Englehart, Mike W. Barr, Peter Milligan, Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Greg Rucka, Paul Dini, Scott Snyder, Brad Metzer, Jack Burnley, Sheldon Moldoff, Jerry Robinson, Dick Sprang, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Win Mortimer, Carmine Infantino, George Roussos, Charles Paris, Murphy Anderson, Joe Giella, Sid Greene, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Alex Toth, Marshall Rogers & Terry Austin, Frank Miller & Steve Mitchell, Michael Golden & Mike DeCarlo, Alan Davis & Paul Neary, Tom Mandrake, Jim Aparo, Graham Nolan & Cam Smith, Rick Burchett & Rodney Ramos, J.H. Williams III, Simone Bianchi, Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion, Chip Kidd & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-4758-4 (HB) 978-1-4012-5186-4 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Somehow, I never got around to covering many of the best anthologised DC “Celebration” collections, and with another (possibly last!) Christmas coming, what better time to explore the delights of genuinely guaranteed comic book good times? This one’s a cracker too…

Batman is a creature of the night. Batman is the world’s greatest detective, escapologist and master of disguise. Batman fights criminals, madmen and bad women, aliens and monsters. Batman is all that and more. He apparently sees in black-&-white in world of fabulous hues and constantly shifting blinding colour – mostly red.

Batman is in many ways the ideal superhero: uniquely adaptable and able to work in any type or genre of story, as is clearly evident from the dazzling plethora of vintage tales collected in so many captivating volumes over the years. These vie equally with immediately recent tales collected into albums scant moment after going off-sale as periodical comic books.

Launching a year after Superman, “The Bat-Man” (and latterly Robin, the Boy Wonder) cemented DC/National Comics as market frontrunner and conceptual leader of a burgeoning new publishing industry: comic books.

Having established the fantastic parameters of metahumans with their Man of Tomorrow, the strictly mortal physical perfection and dashing derring-do of DC’s Dynamic Duo became the swashbuckling benchmark by which all other four-colour crimebusters were measured. The epitome of swashbuckling, Batman bloomed at this time and the impetus enabled him to endure and survive the decline of superheroes at the end of the 1940s.

Although he’s frequently played second fiddle to his pioneering predecessor Superman (who debuted in Action Comics #1, June 1938), the Dark Knight has, over his 87 years, grown to become the planet’s most popular superhero. He does have some bragging rights to longevity, however, as he debuted in the company’s most prestigious – and arguably premiere – comics title.

Detective Comics #1 had a March 1937 cover-date and was the third and last anthology title devised by luckless pioneer Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. In 1935, the entrepreneur had seen the potential in Max Gaines’ new invention (comic books) and quickly conceived and released packages of all-new material entitled New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine and follow-up New Fun/New Adventure (which ultimately became Adventure Comics) under the banner of National Allied Publications. March 30th 1939 saw Batman‘s debut in May cover-dated Detective Comics #27. About one year after that dynamic debut Batman’s resounding growth in popularity resulted in a bombastic bold boy sidekick and the launch of Batman #1 (cover-dated “Spring” 1940 and released on April 25th of that year). At that time, only precursor/stablemate Superman was more successful…

This book was compiled in 2014 to celebrate The Dark Knight’s 75th Anniversary and still only scratched the surface. Imagine the page count in 13 years’ time when it’s a centenary! Seen here are contents and extracts from Detective Comics #27, 33, 83, 211, 216, 327, 359, 395, 442, 474, 574, 633, 711, 757 & 821; Batman #1, 49, 181, 497, 608; Batman (vol. 2) #2; World’s Finest Comics #94, DC Series #21, Batman Special #1 plus Detective Comics #27 – an all-new vintage treat that we’ll get to in due course…

Divided into category-chapters preceded by a text overview, we begin Part I (1939-1954): The Dynamic Duo with originating escapade ‘The Case of the Chemical Syndicate’ by Bob Kane and as yet still anonymous close collaborator/co-originator Bill Finger. A spartan, understated yarn introduced dilettante playboy criminologist Bruce Wayne, drawn into a straightforward murder-mystery as a cabal of industrialists were successively murdered. The killings stop when an eerie figure dubbed “The Bat-Man” intrudes on Police Commissioner Gordon’s stalled investigation, ruthlessly exposing and dealing with the hidden killer.

Following on, Batman’s first ever origin moment. It came in Detective Comics #33 (November 1939, on sale from September 30th), scripted by Gardner F. Fox and Finger in lead story ‘The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom’ . This cunningly included 2-page prologue ‘The Legend of the Batman – Who He Is and How He Came to Be’ and revealed how a young boy witnessed his parents’ hold-up and murder by a petty thug, consequently dedicating his life to becoming a perfect human specimen to avenge them and punish all criminals. Those 12 panels were reprinted at the beginning of Batman #1 (Spring 1940 and included here) and, with occasional minor tweaking, stayed the official version for 50 years.

Next – and taking as read years of baroque villain debuts and the heroes’ war efforts – we jump to Detective Comics #83 (January 1944) when the team supreme are growing comfortable in their endeavours and the mysteries are often cosy and gently humorous. Here, courtesy of Don Cameron, Kane & George Roussos, Wayne’s portly British butler Alfred augments his diet regime with exercise and an abrupt disappearance, leading the Gotham Guardians to a murderous mesmerising medic and criminal insurance scam in ‘Accidentally on Purpose!’, after which we close-up on two debuts in one sitting as seen in Batman #49, (October 1948, by Finger, Kane & Lew Sayre Schwartz). When a madman called the Mad Hatter goes on a crime spree, newly arrived press photographer Vicki Vale is on scene to capture evidence that the mighty hero might also be socialite Bruce Wayne… and nothing our heroes can do will dissuade her from enjoying ‘The Scoop of the Century!’

The archest of archfoes briefly gains the upper hand in ‘The Jungle Cat-Queen!’ (Detective #211, September 1954 and written by Edmond Hamilton) when the Caped Crusaders are trapped on a wild atoll without their modern tools and must face wild beasts and furious feline felon Catwoman. Thanks to artists Dick Sprang & Charles Paris, she never looked better…

Dick Sprang (July 28th 1915 – May 10th 2000) began earning money from art and narrative as a designer and illustrator in Ohio whilst still in high school. He edited and contributed art to magazines and pulps from the early 1930s onwards. On graduation in 1934 Sprang joined the bullpen of Toledo, Ohio publishing chain Scripps-Howard delivering deadline-busting ads, editorial cartoons and illustrations. Working with the company engravers Sprang mastered every aspect of print technology before moving to New York City in 1936 to illustrate pulps; everything from westerns to detective to general adventure yarns. Regular clients included Popular Detective, Popular Western, Phantom Detective, G-Men, Detective Novels Magazine, Crack Detective & Black Hood Detective/Hooded Detective, for which he also wrote stories. In 1937, Sprang began ghosting/assisting on newspaper strips including Secret Agent X-9 and The Lone Ranger, which led to his writing episodes of the latter’s radio show.

As pulps declined and comic books proliferated, he capitalised on the trend, forming a studio shop with Ed Kressy (Fact Finders, The Lone Ranger, Power Nelson) & Norman Fallon (Speed Comics, Shock Gibson, World’s Finest Comics). In 1941 they were hired by DC supremo Whitney Ellsworth who anticipated with dread Bob Kane being drafted. The trio began crafting inventory material to offset that inevitable day, which gradually slipped out over the course of the conflict. His first newsstand appearance was on part of the cover for Batman #18 (August/September 1943) whilst his first full outing was the next issue.

For Batman #19, he pencilled all four stories and the cover, but only inked the first three (!) leaving Fallon to embellish the fourth yarn. By 1946, and although utterly uncredited, Sprang was the leading artist on Batman comic book material, which marrying and moving to Sedona, Arizona barely impacted. In fact, he taught commercial photographer/new bride Lora Ann Neusiis to letter and colour his pages and, as “Pat Gordon”, she took off some of the load until their divorce in 1951. Gordon carried on working for DC until around 1961…

In 1955, despite still being unknown to fans, Sprang took on the Superman/Batman team-up feature in World Finest Comics and soldiered on with it, as well as newspaper strips, countless covers and more. His astounding artistry enhanced DC titles for 20 years, including Real Fact Comics #1-3, 18, Strange Adventures #1, Superman, Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane & Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, and he fully recreated Batman’s look for the forward-facing 1950s, with a new Batplane, Batmobile and other paraphernalia. Sprang’s Joker was definitive and he co-created the Riddler and prototype of Supergirl.

That all ended on his retirement in 1963. When he wasn’t beguiling sedentary adventure fans, Sprang had become a noted explorer and historian of Arizona, Utah and Colorado, and happily commenced a career that brought him the fame comics hadn’t. His many celebrated discoveries and contributions are on show at Northern Arizona Universities Cline Library Special Collections in Flagstaff and the Utah Historical Society in Salt Lake City.

More of his wonders adorn Part II (1955-1969): The Caped Crusader which assesses that evolution via further fascinating examples. Next comes Hamilton, Sprang & Paris’ sold gold sci fi crime masterwork. ‘The Batman of Tomorrow!’ (DC #216, February 1955) visits the 20th century from his home in 3054 to save injured Bruce Wayne from Vicki Vale’s latest exposé and catch a cunning crook in a fast paced and fantastical romp.

‘The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team’ was seen in original team up title World’s Finest Comics (#94 by Hamilton, Sprang & Stan Kaye, June 1958) showing how the Man of Tomorrow seemingly replaces the Caped Crusader with a new partner, thereby provoking a close review of facts and a startling revelation for all concerned…

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 & 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 Darknight Detective into a mystery-solving, alien-fighting costumed boy scout as the 1940s became the largely non-superhero 1950s.

Although individual yarns could still amaze, the Gotham Gangbusters were in a perilous rut and risked being forgotten, even as they were being readied for small screen stardom. Change was needed and stolid, stable Batman scripter-turned-editor Jack Schiff was moving on to more amenable pastures and editorial environs.

By the end of 1963 Schwartz had revived much of DC’s superhero line – and the entire industry – with his modernized masked champions and costumed characters. Now he was tasked to work his magic with the Caped Crusader.

Bringing his usual team of creators with him, he stripped down the trappings and returned to the core-concept, bringing a modern take to the capture of criminals, whilst downplaying all the aliens, outlandish villains and daft transformation tales. He even oversaw a streamlining and rationalisation of the art style itself. The most apparent change to us kids was a yellow circle around the Bat-symbol, but more fundamentally the stories themselves changed. Subtle menace re-entered the comfortable and abstract world of Gotham City. The revolution began with Detective Comics #327 (May 1964, by John Broome, Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella) as ‘The Mystery of the Menacing Mask!’ presented a baffling “Howdunnit?” steeped in action and suspense.

Tracking an underground pipeline of missing crooks and encountering a wise guy who was literally untouchable underlined the renewed intention to emphasise the “Detective” part of the title for the foreseeable future. This comic was to be a brain-teaser from now on, and the advent of the Batman TV show soon followed… and the world went Bat-manic. The series inevitably influenced the comics and, as well as a lightening of tone, threw up new characters. The next new villain was not one of them…

‘Beware of… Poison Ivy!’ in Batman #181 (June 1966) introduced a deadly damsel seeking to be top banana in the ladies criminal ranks and an addition to the Caped Crusader’s Rogues Gallery that owed much to her appearance in the Batman syndicated newspaper strip of the era. However, in this tale she’s only a criminal boss using sex appeal and hallucinogenic perfumes as her tools to split up the Dynamic Duo and defeat rival villainesses in a sly tale from Robert Kanigher, Moldoff & Joe Giella.

The TV show had premiered on January 12th 1966 and ran for 3 seasons (120 episodes in total), airing twice weekly for its first two seasons. It was a monumental worldwide hit sparking a wave of trendy imitation. Resultant media hysteria and fan frenzy generated an insane amount of Bat-awareness, no end of spin-offs and merchandise (including a still-fabulously watchable movie) while introducing us all to the phenomenon of overkill. Batmania exploded across the world and then as almost as quickly turned toxic and vanished. To this day, no matter how much we might squeal and foam about it, or what has occurred since in terms of comics, games or movies, to a huge portion of this planet’s population Batman is always going to be that “Zap! Biff! Pow!” costumed buffoon…

This next innovation was the biggest change in Bat-lore for decades. ‘The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!’ (Detective Comics, #359, cover-dated January 1967, by Fox, Infantino & Sid Greene) introduced Barbara Gordon, mousy librarian and daughter of the venerable Police Commissioner into the superhero limelight. By the time the third TV season began on September 14, 1967, she was well-established.

A previous different Batgirl (Betty Kane, niece of the 1950s Batwoman), was already a comics fixture, but for reasons far too complex and irrelevant to mention, was conveniently forgotten to make room for the new, empowered woman in the fresh tradition of Emma Peel, Honey West and the Girl from U.N.C.L.E. She was pretty hot too, which is always a plus for television…

Whereas she fought the Penguin on the small screen, Batgirl’s paper premiere features the no less ludicrous but at least visually forbidding Killer Moth in a clever yarn that still stands up today. The Lethal Lepidopteran was about to kidnap Bruce Wayne until Babs – dressed up for a fancy dress party – stumbles in and busts up his scheme…

Part III (1970-1986): Creature of the Night shows how – in purely comic book terms – after the TV show did terrible things to Batman’s reputation, the efforts to return respect, awe and majesty to the character begam almost as soon as the show stopped. The efforts were greatly aided by another phenomenon beyond editorial control.

When superheroes waned in the 1950s reader tastes turned to traditional genres like westerns, war, science fiction, romance and especially horror. That cycle repeated again as the 1960s closed, with supernatural themes primary piquing the interests of jaded readerships. It took very little effort to shift Batman back into the gothic shadows of his own early days…

Dennis O’Neil’s script for Detective #395’s ‘The Secret of the Waiting Graves’ (January 1970, limned by Neal Adams & Dick Giordano and recoloured for this edition by Cory Adams) instituted a far more mature – even sinister and almost gothic – take on the Caped Crusader here. In central Mexico the hero finally tracks down and barely survives confrontation with psychotic, nigh-immortal lovers Juan and Delores Muerto… whose passion for each other was fuelled by deadly drugs and sustained by a century of murder…

Adams’ captivating dynamic hyperrealism was a key cog in the reconstruction of the epic Batman edifice but it was also an irresistibly compelling one, and worked well against eerie backdrops of the resurgent horror boom, but all trends tail off. Now confirmed as a truly scary mortal manhunter, Batman’s scope widened and straight crime and adventure sagas also featured heavily. When Archie Goodwin became writer/editor of Detective Comics he generated a string of top tales (for the rest, check out Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin) of which the next item is indisputably the best. A stylistic masterpiece, Goodwin’s ‘Death Flies the Haunted Skies!’ (DC #442, September 1974) is a magnificent barnstorming thriller of aviators apparently picked off by a random assassin and a high point in an era of landmark tales. It is illumined by the unique Alex Toth (Zorro, Green Lantern, The Witching Hour, Space Ghost, Bravo for Adventure, Torpedo, Johnny Thunder, Eclipso, X-Men) and is as potent today as it ever was.

With the supernatural fading for fans, action-adventure and retro were the next big deal and ‘The Deadshot Ricochet!’ (DC #474, December 1977) was the penultimate exploit of dream team Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers & Terry Austin, who had utterly revitalised the Batman mythos with a string of sharp thrillers reinventing the hero’s classic rogue’s gallery.

The single-issue saga updates an old loser for the second ever appearance of a murderous high society dilettante sniper (after his initial outing in Batman #59, 1950). The tale so reinvigorated third-rate trick-shooter Floyd Lawton that he’s seldom been missing from the DC Universe since, starring in series such as Suicide Squad and Secret Six: in a couple of eponymous miniseries and on both silver and small screens.

The tradition of Batman Christmas Miracle tales (maybe we should say “mystery plays”?) is seen next in a short punchy redemption yarn about a bad man who sees the light in ‘Wanted: Santa Claus – Dead or Alive’ by O’Neil, Frank Miller & Steve Mitchell from DC Special Series #2/Super-Star Holiday Special (April 1980) after which Mike W. Barr, Michael Golden & Mike DeCarlo deliver an epic stand-alone saga via Batman Special #1 (April 1984) by introducing the hero’s ultimate antithesis in ‘…The Player on the Other Side!’

The night Bruce Wayne’s parents died, elsewhere two career criminals were killed by police patrolman Jim Gordon. As young Bruce trained himself to be the enemy of all crime, so too did the son of those thieves, becoming over decades the exact equivalent and moral opposite of the hero who would one day safeguard Gotham. Now, as assassin and nemesis of decency and lawmen everywhere, the greatest criminal on Earth comes for Commissioner Gordon. The Wrath will let nothing and no-one get in the way of his vengeance and only Batman even knows he exists…

After fifty years, DC rewrote and reinvented itself with a company-wide reboot. Landmark maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths streamlined and retconned the entire ponderous continuity; rejecting the concept of a vast multiverse and re-knitting timelines 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.

As witnessed in Part IV (1986-2011): The Dark Knight with Batman’s popularity at an intoxicating peak, Crisis on Infinite Earths transformed the entire DC Universe and reinvented big guns like Superman and Wonder Woman, but left the Bat corners of it all largely untouched apart from some careful tweaking. Robin Dick Grayson had still been followed by new recruit Jason Todd, but this new kid was now a troubled runaway plucked off the streets and a true wild card. His exploits were seen as way to imbue verve and a bit of fun into the mythology as well as revive the classic villains, primarily in a strand from Detective Comics by Barr and “British Invaders” Alan Davis & Paul Neary.

From DC #574 (May 1987) the introspective ‘…My Beginning… and My Probable End.’ sees Batman on deathwatch and pondering so many bad decisions as his confidante Dr. Leslie Thomkins struggles to save Todd from his own bravado, prior to Peter Milligan & Tom Mandrake detailing a case of duplication, deception and impossible substitution in ‘Identity Crisis’ Detective #633 (August 1991).

The Nineties were filled with eye-catching publishing stunts and in 1992 DC began their epic Death of Superman story-arc, and its instant success led to a similar tradition-shaking, continuity-shattering epic for their other iconic household-name property. Groundwork had already been laid with the introduction of steroid-pumped archvillain Bane and Jean-Paul Valley, a mild-mannered student programmed since birth by an ancient warrior-cult to be their hereditary instrument of assassination, so all that was needed was to sort creative personnel and decide just how best to shake up the life of the Gotham Guardian. KnightFall and the subsequent arcs KnightQuest and KnightsEnd follow the brutal fall, replacement and inevitable return of Bruce Wayne as the indomitable, infallible Batman and was another spectacular success from the old guard which showed all the comic book upstarts and Young Turks the true value of proper storytelling. It also proved the unshakable power of established characters, as the world was gripped by the Dark Knight’s horrific defeat at the hands of a blatantly superior nemesis.

The crossover publishing event impacted many comics outside the usual Bat-book suspects, spawned a bunch of toys, three novelisations, many (necessarily incomplete) trade paperback collections and even jumped the pond to Britain’s staid BBC who turned it into a serialised audio-play on Radio One. You can find the saga in its own triptych of collections, but here we sample the shock and awe through 11th chapter ‘Broken Bat’ (Batman #497, July 1993, courtesy of Doug Moench, Jim Aparo & Giordano) wherein the brutal Bane utterly defeats and destroys the overmatched hero…

Returned reinvigorated, Batman blossomed in many directions thereafter and next Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan & Cam Smith reveal a relatively peaceful party-going Bruce enjoying a clandestine ‘Knight Out’ (Detective #711 (July 1997), tackling opportunistic thieves without breaking out the batsuit, whilst DC #757 (2001, by Greg Rucka, Rick Burchett & Rodney Ramos) sees the hero under pressure to catch murdering bandits and rescue a family trapped at the bottom of the river in ‘Air Time’.

Paul Dini & J.H. Williams spectacularly expose ‘The Beautiful People’ (DC #821, September 2006) working for merciless, murderous identity-stealing maniac Facade as the High Society predator overreaches himself facing the Dark Knight…

Bringing us up nearly to date, Part V (2011 and Beyond): Rebirth focuses on 2011 and DC’s New 52: a second continuity-wide reboot revising the opposing forces into even grimmer, Darker Knight and sundry. The Batman of this hellish vision debuted in Detective Comics volume 2 #1 with what might then have been assumed to be the last Joker story, whilst here from Batman (vol. 2 #2 December 2011) ‘Trust Fall’ by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion sees Bruce Wayne meeting Gotham’s Mayor (who will turn out to be hugely significant to his family life) and discovering his beloved city is actually ruled by a secret society dubbed “The Court of Owls”…

Adapted from 2014’s anniversary release Detective Comics (vol. 2 #27) this book concludes with a tasty treat as Brad Metzer adapts his own updated script for the tribute to the original Kane & Finger tale. Here, however, thanks to super-designer Chip Kidd, ‘The Case of the Chemical Syndicate’ weds the modern words to the original pictures for a truly stunning marriage of old and new: the spartan, understated yarn introducing again dilettante playboy criminologist Bruce Wayne, drawn into a crime-caper as a cabal of industrialists are successively murdered. The killings only stop when eerie figure “The Bat-Man” intrudes on Police Commissioner Gordon’s stalled investigation to ruthlessly expose and deal with the hidden killer.

Augmented by covers by Kane, Burnley, Win Mortimer, Moldoff, Curt Swan, Stan Kaye, Infantino, Anderson, Giella, Adams, Aparo, Rogers & Austin, Davis & Neary, Golden, Jones, Nolan, Tom Palmer, Dave Johnson, Simone Bianchi, Capullo & Glapion, this crime compendium is a true wonder of wit and wild times and you should not be without it.
© 1939, 1940, 1944, 1942, 1948, 1945, 1954, 1955, 1858, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2011, 2014 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Timeless Ever-Evolving Wonderment… 9/10

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Batman’s Mystery Casebook


By Sholly Fisch, Christopher A. Uminga & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0586-6 (TPB), 978-1-7795-0878-2 (Digital edition)

In recent years DC opened up its shared superhero universe: generating Original Graphic Novels featuring its many stars in stand-alone adventures for the demographic so sadly misnamed Young Adult. To date, results have been rather hit or miss, but when they’re good, they are very good indeed…

One sublime example of the process at its best is this cheery practical class in crimefighting which picks the brains and capitalises on the experience of Gotham’s gaggle of gangbusters and delivers life-defining details in the form of a comics activity book for all ages…

Author Sholly Fisch is no stranger to comics, having splendidly scripted Scooby Doo in various print incarnations and almost every DC superhero in All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold and other animation-based spin-offs, Superman, Star Wars and so much more. When not doing that, he’s a developmental psychologist consulting for companies making digital games and toys, with clients including Sesame Street, Cyberchase, The Magic School Bus Rides Again and The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That. If you love fun superheroics and vintage comics trivia, you should seek out his work.

Cartoonist/designer/visualiser Christopher A. Uminga has worked for numerous media giants including DC Comics/Warner Bros., Lucasfilm, Foot Locker, Disney’s WonderGround Gallery and more, and is assisted in making this complex and arresting tome work by colourist Silvana Brys and lettering entity Andword Design (Morgan Martinez, Justin Birch & Deron Bennett)…

A quick word to the wise: Although for years DC’s mainstream continuity has depicted the Dark Knight as a driven, tormented borderline(?!) sociopath doing good for what seems to be all the wrong reasons, Batman has always been a heroic archetype who works for all ages and on vastly differing levels of intensity. This version is far more Caped Crimecrusher than Bat out of Hell, and reaffirms his reputation as “the World’s Greatest Detective” in a series of “fair play mystery” vignettes with the reader invited to pay close attention and participate at every moment of each case. Kids can enjoy alone or with the grandparents who watched the 1966 Batman TV phenomenon unfold and parents who watched the 1990s movies and stunning Batman: The Animated Adventures series they spawned…

It begins in ‘Prologue: Whodunit?’ as Batman, Robin & Batgirl examine a crime scene and talk the readers through the clues left behind that lead to their deft deduction of the culprit…

With every reader fully briefed ‘Chapter 1: The Case of the Perilous Puzzles’ sees The Riddler running riot, obsessively dropping his verbal hints for us to solve, but don’t get so caught up that you miss the cunning visual clues scattered around, since the Dynamic Duo might be too busy escaping death traps to spot them…

Each adventure is augmented by a quick lesson in historical criminology, deduction and data gathering (just like the old Dick Tracy Crime Stoppers feature) beginning with a foundation in forensic science courtesy of ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Crime Scene Investigation’ with Clayface inadvertently assisting enquiries…

Of course Two-Face stars in piratically-positioned second chapter ‘The Case of the Dual Identity’ and the hunt offers many chances to study modus operandi before the boom is lowered, after which ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Fingerprints’ reveals the secrets of the ancient and hallowed system.

World-weary cop Harvey Bullock and Catwoman are involved in third chapter ‘The Case of the Art Attack’ but Batgirl – and the reader! – can’t be rushed to hasty conclusions if they think things through, before ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Tracks’ offers a quick refresher on Locard’s Exchange Principle (weren’t you paying attention last chapter?) as we learn to watch where we – and everybody else – steps…

Bruce Wayne & Alfred Pennyworth show off their sleuthing skills in civilian style for ‘The Case of the History Mystery’, taking us back to WWI and an encounter with Enemy Ace Hans von Hammer, augmented by some modern milestones in ‘Batcave Crime Lab: DNA’.

We’re back in supervillain territory for chapter 5 as ‘The Case of the Cold Cash’ seems to prove chilly Mister Freeze is the bad guy… until our heroes take a closer look; all complemented by the Terrific Trio taking stock of fraud in ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Fakes and Phonies’.

Batgirl and Robin have their wits truly tested in ‘The Case of the Digital Ghost’ before ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Eyewitness Testimony’ wonderfully tests every reader’s memory and visual acuity – with helpful hints from Commissioner Gordon – as we rush to the conclusion in Chapter 7 as The Joker & Harley Quinn threaten appalling consequences for all in ‘The Case of the Perilous Parade’: a thrilling manhunt that literally demands your full attention…

‘Epilogue’ then provides a summation wrap-up from Batman, plus a so-cool poster to declare “Case Closed!” on this vivid and vibrant anticrime primer… for now!

The caseload is done-in-one (hopefully only until we get a sequel and series puh-leeeze!) but this thrilling tome also offers a tantalising peek at Sara Farizan & Nicoletta Baldari’s Gotham-set tale of bullying and being the new kid My Buddy Killer Croc that’s also worth some of your time and attention.

Smart, compelling, brilliantly entertaining, astoundingly infectious and deliciously addictive, Batman’s Mystery Casebook is a superbly challenging activity and adventure romp packed with charm and wit to captivate fans and nervous neophytes alike: one introducing a new wondrous world with a rousing reminder that all is never as it seems…
© 2022 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Finest: Justice League of America – Crisis on Earth X


By Len Wein, Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Denny O’Neil, Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko, Bob Rozakis, Mark Hanerfeld, Dick Dillin, Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin, Nick Cardy, Mike Grell, Ernie Chan, José Luis García-López, Tatjana Wood, Glynis Oliver, Neal Adams, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-883-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Keystone of the contemporary DC Universe, the Justice League of America is the reason we still have a comics industry today. The day the first JLA story was published marks the moment when superheroes truly made comic books their own particular preserve. Even though the popularity of masked champions has waxed and waned repeatedly since 1960, and other genres have re-won their places on published pages, in the minds of America and the world, Comics Means Superheroes and the League signalled that men – and even a few women and less definable options – in capes and masks were back for good…

When editorial legend Julius Schwartz began reviving and revitalising the nigh-defunct superhero genre in 1956, his Rubicon move came a few years later with the uniting of his reconfigured mystery men into a team. Cover-dated March 1960, the JLA debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28, cementing the growth and validity of the revived subgenre, and consequently triggering an explosion of new characters at every company publishing funnybooks before spreading to the rest of the world as the decade progressed.

Spanning cover-dates December 1972 to July 1976, this classic-crammed, full-colour paperback compendium re-presents issues #103-132 of the epochal first series, as a new wave of scripters provided steadfast illustrator Dick Dillin with increasingly challenging concepts he had no trouble bringing to vivid vibrant life. While we’re showing our gratitude, lets also salute stalwart letterer Ben Oda (and occasionally Milt Snappin) for herculean but unsung efforts to make the uncanny and obscure clear to us all, colourists Glynis Oliver, Tatjana Wood and anonymous colleagues as well as cover specialists Nick Cardy, Dick Giordano, Mike Grell, Ernie Chan, José Luis García-López and the others…

Richard Allen “Dick” Dillin (17th December 1928 – 1st March 1980) started in the 1940s at Quality Comics, limning Blackhawk, Plastic Man and their war anthologies. Utterly reliable and prodigiously prolific, the draughtsman moved to DC when the company bought out Quality. He spent over a decade drawing their Blackhawk and when Mike Sekowsky left, he would draw every JLA issue for the next twelve years, as well as countless outings of DC’s top characters and even a wealth of horror stories when DC started scaring kids for money again…

These yarns begin after a major JLA/JSA team up returned the Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory to the expanding continuity. Appetites unsatisfied, the revival and expansion continued by adding more as yet unaffiliated mystery men to the team. Returned to their own planet the Justice League teamed up with and then inducted one of the few heroes who hadn’t accompanied them to Earth-2 in ‘A Stranger Walks Among Us!’ (#103 by Len Wein, Dillin & Giordano) as cross-genre horror hero The Phantom Stranger foils a plot to slaughter six Leaguers during the annual Halloween carnival in Rutland, Vermont, after which Green Lantern’s arch-enemy Hector Hammond orchestrates an attack on his oldest foe by setting an unstoppable monster loose on the team in ‘The Shaggy Man Will Get You if You Don’t Watch Out!’ The “More-the-Merrier” recruitment drive continued in #105 as Elongated Man signs up to save the day against marauding, malignant putty-men in ‘Specter in the Shadows!’, albeit anonymously aided by a miraculously resurrected robotic Red Tornado who joins the party in #106, unaware that he has been reprogrammed into becoming a ‘Wolf in the Fold! Justice League of America #107’s ‘Crisis on Earth-X’ ( Wein, Dillin & Giordano) was the first chapter of another landmark crossover with their Earth-2 counterparts and antecedents in the JSA.

Following the revival of a forgotten superteam during their previous get-together, this time the annual get-together reintroduced another band of Golden Age warriors (from corporate acquisition Quality Comics) newly redesignated The Freedom Fighters. It began when a recreational trip across the dimensional divide is accidentally sabotaged by android stowaway Red Tornado, depositing Batman, Green Arrow & Elongated Man from Earth-1 and Superman, Sandman & Doctor Fate of Earth-2 into another alternate universe – one where the Nazis had won World War II. Trapped and outnumbered, the seven displaced heroes were rescued by the last liberty-loving champions of a world dominated by fascist super-science and a secret dictator. Joining forces with embattled champions Uncle Sam, The Ray, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, Black Condor & The Human Bomb, the newcomers ended the Nazi threat forever in sinister sequel ‘Thirteen Against the Earth!’…

With everybody returned to their home planes #109 brought back a cultish guest star as ‘The Doom of the Divided Man!’ revived the dormant career of 1960’s hero/villain Eclipso, who attempted another cunning plan to conquer Earth. However, the real focus of this tale was the unexpected resignation of Hawkman following his recall to home planet Thanagar. Wein, Dillin & Giordano then got to deliver a delightful but potent seasonal present in #110 as Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary & Red Tornado had to adapt to abrasive substitute Green Lantern John Stewart. A controversial “angry black man” conceived at a time when non-Caucasian heroes could be counted on the fingers of one hand he turned up mid-mission, just as the League gathered to hunt down ‘The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!’

Murderous psychopath The Key had set up the heroes for ambush and destruction, with the callous assassination of an actor hired to cheer orphaned kids, but his horrific deeper scheme was only foiled thanks to the supernatural intervention of another almost forgotten League member…

For that issue, Bob Rozakis designed a ‘JLA Puzzle’ which follows accompanied by the answer page before JLA #111 introduced a seminal villain who became, decades later, a pivotal player in The Final Crisis. Here however, enigmatic Libra merely uses his incredible abilities to revive the dormant Injustice Gang of the World. Although his stated goal is to imbue Chronos, Mirror Master, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Shadow Thief & Tattooed Man with energies stolen from Aquaman, Superman, Batman, Flash, Elongated Man and fully recovered GL Hal Jordan, the ‘Balance of Power!’ he truly seeks actually entails keeping all the purloined might for his own incomprehensible use…

Those stolen super-powers feature in #112’s follow-up ‘War with the One-Man Justice League!’ as the entire team gather to help restore their diminished comrades. The high risk solution is to resurrect power-stealing android Amazo to collect the stolen energies and abilities… but nobody considers what the mechanoid might do after it absorbs Batman’s vast intellect and suspicious mind…

Justice League of America #113 (September/October 1974) proved how desperate were the times for the spandex set as the epic annual collaboration with the JSA was restricted to a single issue. Nevertheless, ‘The Creature in the Velvet Cage!’ proved to be one of the very best team-up tales ever, as a JLA visiting party to Earth-2 (Batman, Superman, GL Jordan & Elongated Man) share the shame and horror of The Sandman when his greatest, most shameful secret was catastrophically revealed.

Years ago the Master of Dreams had accidentally transformed sidekick Sandy, the Golden Boy into a ravening silicoid monster and been compelled to sedate and imprison his best friend. Now after three decades the beast is awake and free, seemingly intent on destroying the world. At least that’s what Hourman and the Golden Age Flash & Wonder Woman believe when they join their old comrade on his tragic manhunt…

Wein, with the plotting assistance of Mark Hanerfeld, ended his run as scripter with a smart and decidedly effective little thriller in #114:‘The Return of Anakronus!’ During a League-sponsored telethon, an enigmatic time-bending villain takes disgraced JLA team mascot Snapper Carr and his family hostage. Although definitely dangerous, the crazed felon’s ranting doesn’t make much sense: after all, why would a man who claims to have repeatedly defeated the JLA stoop to demanding a mere cash ransom?

The tone turned cosmic in #115 as Denny O’Neil provided a fill-in yarn bringing back retired hero J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter from Mars who implores his former allies to save the dying remnants of his people from ‘The Last Angry God!’ who has imprisoned them on a far-distant world. Cary Bates then contributed ‘The Kid Who Won Hawkman’s Wings!’ in #116, as sightings of Hawkman in Midway City lead Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Flash & Batman into a deadly duel against Matter Master. Closer inspection reveals the Pinioned Paladin to be a baffled kid Charley Parker, who has no idea why he suddenly changed into a Golden Eagle, whilst the actual mastermind behind the plot is a shock to all concerned. The tale is followed by another Rozakis ‘JLA Puzzle’ and a picture posing ‘JLA Super-Villain Quiz’…

After just over a year’s absence the true Winged Wonder returned in #117. ‘I Have No Wings and I Must Fly!’ was scripted by Elliot S! Maggin, with Giordano’s protégé Frank McLaughlin assuming regular inking chores over Dillin’s sleek and effective pencils. It saw alien cop Katar Hol resurface to warn Earth of a deadly extraterrestrial menace dubbed The Equalizer. This ineffable terror was driven to achieve pure balance in the universe, and to achieve this he somehow homogenised entire civilisations, making life forms exactly identical to each other. His Equalizer plague weapon was overwhelmingly contagious and – after reducing the population of Thanagar to imbecilic, four-foot tall clones of each other, (including Hol’s beloved wife Shayera) – the unfathomable voyager turned his single eye upon Earth…

With his homeworld quarantined and after defeating the appalling threat as part of the JLA, Hawkman had no other refuge than our planet and promptly joined Aquaman, Black Canary, Flash, Red Tornado & Superman in resisting the ‘Takeover of the Earth-Masters!’ (#118 by Maggin, Dillin & McLaughlin). This revealed a misguided attempt by trans-dimensional beings who sought to save our world from super beings by despatching eerie hyper-evolving Adaptoid organisms. With even the Man of Steel unable to face the ghastly invaders, Hawkman devises a risky strategy involving his Equalization-infected wife, which happily turns out in Humanity’s favour in #119’s concluding clash ‘Winner Takes the Earth!’

Another old friend reappeared in #120 as ‘The Parallel Perils of Adam Strange!’ (written by Bates) sees the Earth-born champion of Planet Rann forced to re-fight his greatest battles after despotic Kanjar Ro murders his beloved Alanna.

Even though Ro has cruelly stacked the deck, Strange and his newly arrived Earth allies triumph before pulling a rabbit out of the hat to restore the Rannian heroine in time for her own magical wedding in blistering conclusion ‘The Hero Who Jinxed the Justice League!’

In #122 Marty Pasko delved into the team’s private lives and revealed why the JLA shared their civilian secrets with each other in ‘The Great Identity Crisis!’ when old foe Dr. Light used photonic super-science and the too-good-to-be-true mineral Amnesium (guess what it causes?) to mess with the heroes’ minds and lure them into what should be inescapable death-traps…

Another year gone, it was time for the annual JLA/JSA yarn and Bates, Maggin, Dillin & McLaughlin stepped far off the reservation with ‘Where on Earth Am I?’ & ‘Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!’ from issues #123 & 124. Back in Flash #179 (‘The Flash – Fact of Fiction?, May 1968) Bates & Gardner Fox first took the multiple Earths concept to its illogical conclusion by trapping the Monarch of Motion in “our” Reality (Earth-Prime!) where the Sultan of Speed was just a comic book character. Now and here Bates and co-scripter Maggin return to the conceit as a story conference in editor Julie Schwartz’s office leads to the oafish goons playing with Flash’s hastily-constructed and long abandoned Cosmic Treadmill, before catapulting one of them between dimensions.

Transformed and empowered by the trip, Bates becomes the most dangerous villain alive, leading Earth-2 criminals The Wizard, Shade, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Icicle & The Gambler in a lethal assault on JSA heroes Robin, Hourman, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder and Dr. Mid-Nite. Maggin has followed his friend but ends up on Earth-1.

Undaunted, he recruits Batman, Black Canary, Aquaman, Hawkman, Green Arrow & Flash to save three imperilled universes but it eventually requires the Divine Might of the supernal Spectre to truly set everything and everybody back to their assigned places and times…

Gerry Conway began his long association with the Justice League in #125, in a smart 2-parter concerning dumping of toxic energy from an outer dimension onto Earth. ‘The Men Who Sold Destruction!’ craftily employ schizophrenic villain Two-Face as their wily broker to expend these deadly forces, but the super-minds of Dronndar completely underestimate double-dealing Harvey Dent‘s capacity for betrayal. Almost as bad is the opportunistic action of the Weaponers of Qward, and thus the JLA are easily – but only initially – fooled by the Machiavellian multi-visaged maniac in #126’s Byzantine conclusion ‘The Evil Connection!’

JLA #127 confirmed that ‘The Command is “Chaos!”’ after The Anarchist discovers a way to tap Green Lantern’s power battery and desperate Hal Jordan begs his fellow champions to stop him recharging his ring at any cost, after which Pasko popped back to author a sharp, smart reintroduction for the Earth-1 Amazing Amazon in #128’s ‘Death-Visions of the Justice League!’

For a period “our” Wonder Woman had lost her powers and fought crime as a martial artist, but once her supernatural gifts returned she underwent a self-imposed set of trials before rejoining the team. Sadly her readmission coincided with the team disbanding following a cataclysmic, psychologically punishing assault by alien fear-eater Nekron, and even she seemed unable to galvanise the Leaguers before ‘The Earth Dies Screaming!’in #129.

The next issue explored the revelatory early days of the team’s orbiting satellite HQ as ‘Skyjack at 22,300 Miles!’ (scripted by Pasko) disclosed how an intergalactic interloper attempted to turn the space base into a spawning ground, putting the nonplussed heroes through a gamut of ghastly trials before order and equilibrium were unconventionally restored.

This mammoth tome ends with a clever mystery double-bill from Conway, Dillin & McLaughlin. In #131’s ‘The Beasts Who Thought Like Men!’ a new credit card currency for America somehow enhances the minds of animals and insects, simultaneously decreasing human brainpower to such a low point that bugs can enslave deadly villains like Sonar & Queen Bee. The tale takes a stranger turn in #132 as Superman vanishes and Supergirl steps in to help against animals organised enough to conquer the country. Even then there was still one more tangled twist in the tale of ‘The Beasts Who Fought Like Men!…’

To Be Continued…

The Justice League of America was always the keystone of US comics and these tales are still among the most thought-provoking, controversial and purely entertaining episodes in their six and half decade history. These classical compendia are a dedicated fan’s delight: an absolute gift for modern readers who desperately need to catch up without going bankrupt. They are also perfect to give to youngsters as an introduction into a fabulous world of adventure and magic.

Come see for yourself…

© 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1946 cartoonist/scripter/letterer Rick Parker (Beavis and Butt-Head, Deadboy, Tales from the Crypt) was born, with mangaka Yumiko Ōshima (Gū-gū datte Neko de aru, Wata no Kuni Hoshi) arriving one year later and Brazilian Underground Commix exponent Arnaldo Angeli Filho AKA “Angeli” coming on scene in1956 and writer G. Willow Wilson (Air, Invisible Kingdom, Ms. Marvel, Poison Ivy) born in 1982.

Swedish cartoonist turned diplomat Jan Romare (Pyton) died today in 2017, and the day also marks Scott McCloud’s first 24-hour comic in 1990 and DC’s controversial relaunch The New 52 in 2011.

 

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Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls


By Paul D. Storrie, Jennifer Graves & J. Bone, with Brad Rader, Rick Burchett, Patricia Mulvihill, Phil Felix & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-9971-2 (TPB) 978-1-4012-9972-9 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Harley Quinn wasn’t supposed to be a star – or even an actual comic book character. As soon became apparent, however, the manic minx always had her own astoundingly askew and off-kilter ideas on the matter… and any other topic you could name: ethics, friendship, ordnance, coffee…

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 cartoon revolutionised everybody’s image of the Dark Knight and immediately began feeding back into the print iterations, leading to some of the absolute best comics tales in the hero’s many decades of existence.

Employing a timeless visual style dubbed “Dark Deco”, the show mixed elements from all eras and aspects of the character and, without diluting 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 eagerly enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance, sophistication and sheer panache that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to…

Harley was initially the Clown Prince of Crime’s slavishly adoring, abuse-enduring assistant in Joker’s Favor (airing on September 11th 1992) wherein 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 – soon graduated to mainstream DC continuity.

Along the circuitous way, Harley – AKA Dr. Harleen Quinzel – developed an outrageous support network of sorts including living bioweapon Poison Ivy and settled into a bizarre love/hate relationship with some of Gotham’s other female felons.

After a period bopping around the DCU she was re-imagined as part of the company’s vast post-Flashpoint, major makeover and appeared as part of a new iteration of The Suicide Squad. Now with numerous motion picture, TV animation and live action small screen presence all in play, let’s look back at one particularly fruitful and significant phase, At heart, Harley’s always been a cartoon glamour-puss, with big, bold, primal emotions and only the merest acknowledgement of how reality works…

Amongst the plethora of comic books generated by the original cartoon show was this smartly sassy romp featuring those aforementioned crime cuties as well some mismatched if not openly antithetical law enforcers. Crafted by Paul D. Storrie, Jennifer Graves & J. Bone, 5-issue miniseries Gotham Girls was released between October 2002 and February 2003: opening with ‘Cat’s Paw’ as super-thief Selena Kyle undertakes a commission to steal something very nasty from agricultural conglomerate Zehn Chemicals.

The Feline Felon’s still determined to open a lion sanctuary with her fee and doesn’t appreciate when the supposedly simple caper is interrupted by juvenile do-gooder Batgirl. However, as they trade kicks, punches and quips, overworked, under-appreciated and overlooked GCPD detective Renee Montoya is taking a closer look at the supposed victims and sees something dirty in the company…

Then, as Bat & Cat ferociously but inconclusively throw down all over town, the masterminds paying for the heist make their move, and it becomes clear that there’s a lot going on that needs to be properly unearthed…

‘Ivy League’ exposes murderous eco-terrorist Pamela Lillian Isley as bankrolling the caper, claiming justifiable and benevolent motives to reclaim her own property from unscrupulous, world-endangering corporate creeps. However, because her bestest pal Harley is as erratic and excitable as ever, a potential Bat/Cat/Plantgirl/Dingbat alliance is thwarted by mutual mistrust and excessive, utterly unnecessary violence. Montoya, meanwhile, is diligently following clues, interviewing greedy biologists and uncovering something at rival agri-company Kayle Corporation…

The fast-moving melee ends in leafy Robinson Park, with Batgirl holding the stolen chemical soup, until ‘Harlequinade’ sees manic, attention-starved Quinn pull a martial masterstroke, delivering the bio-booty to her disturbingly abusive gal-pal and a heavy defeat to Catwoman & Batgirl. Naturally, that’s just when solid police practice explosively brings Montoya to their secret lair for penultimate power struggle ‘I Carry a Badge!’…

Brilliant deduction and a standard-issue firearm aren’t much use against supervillains and giant carnivorous vines though, so it’s a good thing Batgirl & Catwoman have both independently tracked Harley & Ivy. With action amped to maximum, good girls and bad girls clash yet again, and sides are finally drawn for a climactic conclusion, with frustrated cop and masked vigilante hero united at last and resolved to end the chaos in ‘Bat Attitude’.

Of course, that means not just Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn are going to jail…

A superbly riotous rollercoaster ride for kids of all ages, each chapter also deftly explores the interior life, history and motivations of successive stars; offering canny character building and definition most mature-reading tales would be proud to deliver.

Coloured by Patricia Mulvihill, lettered by Phil Felix and with additional layouts by Rick Burchett and Brad Rader, this classy, classically cops ‘n’ robbers riot plays very much like a 1940s movie chapter-play – albeit with outrageous gags, biting dialogue and a blend of black humour and bombastic action. A frantic, frenetic hoot, this is an absolute delight, well worth the price of admission and an irresistible treasure to be enjoyed over and over again.
© 2002, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1927, Charlton Comics editor and Popeye illustrator George Wildman was born, as  was letterer Cory Petit in 1976; both all-star creators Lee Bermejo (Batman: Noel, Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, Rorschach) and Leinil Francis Yu (Superman: Birthright, X-Men, Wolverine) in 1977 and Graphic Novelist Nate Powell (March, The Silence of Our Friends, Swallow Me Whole) in 1978.

In 1933 today Milt Caniff’s Dickie Dare strip launched, and Neal Adam’s Ben Casey folded, albeit in 1966. Ten years later Mickey Finn ended, having run continuously since Frank Leonard began it in 1936.

In 2000 we lost Lars Jansson, brother of Tove and continuer of the magnificent Moomin strip (1954 to 1975 in The Evening News and sundry other newspapers). In 2003 controversial Italian comics maestro Guido Crepax (Valentina, Emanuelle, Anita, The Man from Harlem) died, followed three years later by countryman Mario Faustinelli (Asso di Picche, The Adventures of Topo Gigio, Kolosso).

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DC Finest: Robin – The Origin of Robin


By Ed Hamilton, John Broome, Gardner F. Fox, Cary Bates, Mike Friedrich, E. Nelson Bridwell, Frank Robbins, Dennis O’Neil, Bob Haney, Elliot Maggin, Bob Rozakis, Ross Andru, Curt Swan, Sheldon Moldoff, Pete Costanza, Chic Stone, Gil Kane, Irv Novick, Murphy Anderson, Dick Dillin, Rich Buckler, Bob Brown, Mike Grell, A. Martinez, Al Milgrom, José Delbo, Bill Draut, George Klein, Joe Giella, Sid Greene, Murphy Mike Esposito, Anderson, Vince Colletta, Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin, José Mazzaroli, Terry Austin, José Luis García-López, Ernie Chan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-829-8 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Robin the Boy Wonder debuted in Detective Comics #38 (cover dated April 1940 and on sale from March 6th). Co-created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger & Jerry Robinson, he was a juvenile circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by a mob boss. The story of how Batman took the 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. Grayson fought beside Batman until 1970 when, as an indicator of those turbulent times, he flew the nest, becoming a Teen Wonder college student. His creation as a junior hero for younger readers to identify with inspired countless 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 to 1952, a solo spot in the back of Detective Comics from the end of the 1960s as covered here (but a position he alternated and shared with Batgirl) and a starring feature in anthology comic Batman Family. In the 1980s he led the New Teen Titans, initially in his original costumed identity but eventually in the reinvigorated guise of Nightwing, all while re-establishing a (somewhat turbulent) working relationship with his masked mentor.

This broad-ranging full colour but strictly non-digital compilation covers the period from Julie Schwartz’s captivating reinvigoration of the Dynamic Duo in 1964 until 1975 with Robin-related stories and material from Batman #184, 192, 202, 213, 217, 227, 229-231, 234-236, 239-242, 244-246, 248-250, 252, 254 & 259; Detective Comics #342, 386, 390-391, 394-395, 398-403, 445, 447, 450-251; World’s Finest Comics #141, 147, 195, & 200; Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #111, 130 and Batman Family #1 & 3-5, spanning cover-dates May 1964 to May/June 1976.

With covers by Curt Swan, George Klein, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Bill Draut & Vince Colletta, Neal Adams, Murphy Anderson, Mike Grell, Ernie Chan & Tatiana Wood, the developmental wonderment and rocky road from boys to men begins with ‘The Olsen-Robin Team versus… the Superman-Batman Team!’ Taken from World’s Finest #141, May 1964, by Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan & George Klein, it’s a stirring blend of sci fi thriller and crime caper, wherein the underappreciated sidekicks fake their own deaths to undertake a secret mission even their adult partners must remain unaware of… for the very best of reasons of course.

The sequel (WFC #147, February 1965) delivers an engaging drama of youth-in-revolt as ‘The Doomed Boy Heroes!’ quit their assistant roles to strike out on their disgruntled own. Naturally there’s a perfectly reasonable – if incredible – reason here, too. Then in Detective Comics #342 (August 1965) cover-featured ‘The Midnight Raid of the Robin Gang!’ (John Broome, Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella) sees the Boy Wonder defy his mentor’s orders to infiltrate a youthful gang of costumed criminals. Following that, ‘The Boy Wonder’s Boo-Boo Patrol!’ (originally a back-up in Batman #184; September 1966 by Gardner Fox, Chic Stone & Sid Greene), shows the daring lad’s star-potential in a clever tale of thespian skulduggery and classic conundrum solving, before ‘Dick Grayson’s Secret Guardian!’ (Batman #192, June 1967, Fox, Moldoff & Giella) showcases his physical prowess in one of comic books’ first instances of the exoskeletal augmentation gimmick.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #111 (June 1968) brought ‘Jimmy Olsen, Boy Wonder!’ by Cary Bates & Pete Costanza, which finds the cub reporter trying to prove his covert skills by convincing the Gotham Guardian that he was actually Robin (!), whilst that same month in Batman #202 the genuine article tackles the ‘Menace of the Motorcycle Marauders!’ (Mike Friedrich, Stone & Giella), consequently learning a salutary lesson in the price of responsibility. Then April 1969’s Detective Comics #386 featured the Boy Wonder’s first solo back-up in what was to become his semi-regular spot for years.

‘The Teen-Age Gap!’ as described by Friedrich, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito depicts a High School Barn Dance which only narrowly escapes becoming a riot thanks to Grayson’s diligent intervention. Its followed by an all new story from reprint collection Batman #213 (July/August 1969 and a 30th Anniversary reprint Giant) which offers an updated retelling of ‘The Origin of Robin’ courtesy of E. Nelson Bridwell, Andru & Esposito, reinterpreting those epochal events for the Vietnam generation. Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson assume the art-chores with Detective #390’s ‘Countdown to Chaos!’ (August 1969), bringing the support-series stunningly alive for the unfolding “Relevancy era” with Friedrich concocting a canny tale of corruption and kidnapping, leading to a paralysing city ‘Strike!’ for the Caped kid to spectacularly expose and foil in the following issue.

Next up is a modern landmark in the character’s long history as Batman #217’s ‘One Bullet Too Many!’ (December 1969, by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick & Dick Giordano) sees Dick leaves home to attend Hudson University. With the boy gone, Alfred and Bruce move with the times, shuttering both Mansion and Batcave and relocating to the penthouse of the Wayne Foundation Building in the heart of Gotham. It too offers subterranean lair extras and acts as base as Bruce sets up his Victims Inc. Program to aid the suffering survivors of crime. He also formally rededicates Batman to terrifying evildoers whether they be thugs, masterminds, or the new breed of semi-respectable “legitimate” businessmen who are little more than bandits with lawyers. His first mission is to solve the seemingly senseless murder of paediatrician Jonah Feilding.  Although not really a Robin tale, it is included here, and is closely followed by all of Detective #394 from the same month, with lead Batman feature finding ‘A Victim’s Victim!’ (Robbins, Bob Brown & Giella) in the crime-infested race car scene. This neatly segues into back up yarn ‘Strike… Whilst the Campus is Hot!’ (Robbins, Kane & Anderson) as callow freshman Dick Grayson stumbles into a campus riot organised by criminals backing radical activists, forcing the Teen Wonder to ‘Drop Out… or Drop Dead!’ to stop the seditious scheme. DC #398-399 (April & May 1970) then ran a 2-part spy-thriller with Vince Colletta replacing Anderson as inker. ‘Moon-Struck’ has lunar rock samples borrowed from NASA apparently causing a plague among Hudson’s students until Robin exposes a Soviet scheme to sabotage the Space Program in ‘Panic by Moonglow’.

The 400th anniversary issue (June 1970) finally teamed the Teen Wonder with his alternating back-up star in ‘A Burial For Batgirl!’ (Denny O’Neil, Kane & Colletta): a college-based murder mystery which again heavily references political and social unrest then plaguing US campuses, but which still finds space to be smart and action-packed as well as topical, before chilling conclusion ‘Midnight is the Dying Hour!’ wraps up the saga. Never afraid to repeat a good idea, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #130 (July 1970, by Bob Haney & Anderson) details the exploits of ‘Olsen the Teen Wonder!’ with the junior reporter again aping Batman’s buddy to infiltrate an underworld newspaper.

World’s Finest #195 (August 1970) sees Jimmy & Robin targeted for murder by the Mafia in ‘Dig Now, Die Later!’ (Haney, Andru & Esposito, whilst simultaneously in DC #402 ‘My Place in the Sun’ (Friedrich, Kane & Colletta), embroils Grayson and fellow Teen Titan Roy Harper Speedy in a crisis of social conscience, before our scarce-bearded hero wraps up his Detective run with corking crimebusting caper ‘Break-Out’ in the September issue. From #227 (December 1970) Robin’s romps transferred to the back of Batman, beginning with ‘Help Me – I Think I’m Dead!’ (Friedrich, Novick & Esposito) as ecological awareness catastrophically collides with penny-pinching Big Business on campus, launching an extended epic tracking the Teen Thunderbolt’s exploration of communes, alternative cultures and the burgeoning spiritual New Age fads of the day.

Inked by Frank Giacoia ‘Temperature Boiling… and Rising!’ (#229, February 1971) continues the politically-charged drama, albeit uncomfortably interrupted by a trenchant fantasy team-up with Superman sparked when the Man of Steel attempts to halt a violent campus clash between students and National Guard. The tale shifts to WFC #200 (February 1971) – crafted by Friedrich, Dick Dillin & Giella – where ‘Prisoners of the Immortal World!’ has brothers on opposite sides of the teen scene abducted with Robin & Superman to a distant planet where undying vampiric aliens wage eternal war on each other. A return to more pedestrian perils follows in Batman #230 (March 1971) sees ‘Danger Comes A-Looking!’ for our young hero in the form of a gang of right-wing, anti-protester jocks and a deluded friend who prefers bombs to brotherhood, courtesy of Friedrich, Novick & Giordano. ‘Wiped Out!’ (#231, May 1971) then offers an eye-popping end to the jock squad whilst #234 sees a clever road-trip tale in ‘Vengeance for a Cop!’, when a campus guard is gunned down forcing Robin to track the only suspect to a commune. ‘The Outcast Society’ has its own unique system of justice, but eventually the shooter is apprehended in cataclysmic closing ‘Rain Fire!’ (#235 & 236 respectively).

The Collective experience blooms into psychedelic and psionic strangeness in #239 as ‘Soul-Pit’ (illustrated by new penciller Rich Buckler) finds Grayson’s would-be girlfriend, “Jesus-freaks” and runaway kids all sucked into a telepathic duel between a father and son, played out in the ‘Theatre of the Mind!’ before exposing the ‘Secret of the Psychic Siren!’ and culminating in a lethal clash with a clandestine cult in ‘Death-Point!’ (Batman#242, June 1972). Elliot Maggin, Novick & Giordano then open an age of cosy-mystery capers by setting ‘The Teen-Age Trap!’ (Batman #244, September 1972), with Grayson mentoring troubled kids and finding plenty of troublemakers his own age, before ‘Who Stole the Gift from Nowhere!’ is a delightful old-fashioned change-of-pace yarn where our hero seeks out a hidden wealthy benefactor. Batman #248 offers ‘The Immortals of Usen Castle’ (Maggin, Novick & Frank McLaughlin) wherein another deprived-kids day trip turns into an episode of Scooby-Doo, Where are You?

Pencilled by Brown, the ‘Case of the Kidnapped Crusader!’ then puts the Student Centurion on the trail of an abducted consumer advocate prior to ‘Return of the Flying Grayson!’ (Maggin, Novick & McLaughlin from #250) painfully reminding the hero of his Circus past after tracking down pop-art thieves. Batman #252 (October 1973) sees Maggin, Dillin & Giordano’s light-hearted pairing of Robin with a Danny Kaye pastiche/avatar for charming romp ‘The King from Canarsie!’, before ‘The Phenomenal Memory of Luke Graham!’ (#254 January/February 1974 and inked by Anderson) causes nothing but trouble for the hero, his college professors and a gang of robbers. Issue #259 provides a fashion spread of new costumes suggested by readers in ‘A New Look for Robin’ before the next tale as year-long adventure drought ends with ‘The Touchdown Trap’ in Detective #445 (February/March 1975) as new scripter Bob Rozakis and artist Mike Grell catapult our hero into a 50-year-old college football feud that refused to die, after which ‘The Puzzle of the Pyramids’ (#447, illustrated by A. Martinez & José Mazzaroli) offers another cunning crime conundrum. Action-packed, chase-heavy human drama ‘The Parking Lot Bandit!’ & ‘The Parking Lot Bandit Strikes Again!’ (DC #450-451, August & September 1975, by Al Milgrom & Terry Austin) gives the titanic teen one last chance to strike a bit of terror into the hearts of evil-doers in his titular home before the next big change comes.

In the midst of another expansion, DC launched a line of double-length titles with Batman Family as possibly its strongest contender. A supersized anthology of new and vintage Bat-fare highlighting a vast themed cast, it paired Robin & Batgirl as a semi-official crimebusting duo. On sale from June 5th 1975, the first issue led with Maggin & Grell’s ‘The Invader from Hell!’ as the ghost of Benedict Arnold attacks Washington DC in a Satan-sponsored sortie to clear his name and rehabilitate his reputation.

With #2 all-reprint, we return for #3 as Maggin, José Luis García-López & Colletta bring the pair to Princetown and a fantastic clash with dinosaurs, future-men and the Spanish Inquisition in thrilling but deceptively peril-free lark ‘Isle of a Thousand Thrills!’ before seasonal shocker ‘Robin’s (Very) White Christmas!’ ( #4, Rozakis, José Delbo & & Colletta) sees Batgirl, Robin and Gotham Police Commissioner Jim Gordon unite to keep Syndicate snitch Tad Wolfe alive and out of the hands of infallible assassin Diamond Lilly.

The eccentrically eclectic collected collation of Teen Wonderments concludes with BF #5’s ‘The Princess and the Vagabond!’ by Maggin, Cary Bates, Swan & Colletta, wherein whilst babysitting foreign dignitary Princess Evalina, Congresswoman Barbara Gordon, her alter ego Batgirl, student guide Dick Grayson and Robin collectively inspire a mismatched romance by foiling the murder plot of sinister agency MAZE…

These stories span a turbulent and chaotic period for comic books: perfectly encapsulating and describing the vicissitudes of the superhero genre’s premier juvenile lead: complex yet uncomplicated adventures drenched in charm and wit, moody tales of rebellion and self-discovery, and rollercoaster, all-fun romps. Action is always paramount, and angst-free satisfaction is pretty much guaranteed. These cracking yarns are something no fan of old-fashioned Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction should miss.
© 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1926 saw the birth of American cartoonist George Booth (Spot, Local Item), with artist/inker Mike Royer (Magnus, Robot Fighter, Silver Star, Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, Kamandi) arriving in 1941 and iconic groundbreaking French fantasist Philippe Druillet (Lone Sloane saga, Yragaël, La Nuit, Salammbô, Nosferatu) in 1944. Romanian artist Sandu Florea (Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Justice Society of America, X-Men, Dou? palo?e) came along in 1946 and abstract expressionist/Underground Commix pioneer David Geiser (Demented Pervert, Uncle Sham, Edge City) one year later; colourist Adrienne Roy in 1953 and Belgian stylist Benoît Sokal (Inspector Canardo, Syberia) in 1954.

In 2007 we lost American cartoonist, sculptor, author and illustrator Howie Schneider (Eek & Meek, Chewy Louie).

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Superman: The Man of Steel volume 3


By John Byrne, Jerry Ordway, Ron Frenz, Dan Jurgens, Jim Starlin, Arthur Adams, , Curt Swan, Karl Kesel, John Beatty, Brett Breeding, Dick Giordano, Steve Montano, Roy Richardson, Leonard Starr, Keith Williams & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0966-6 (HB), 978-1-7795-1378-6 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In 1985 when DC Comics rationalised, reconstructed and reinvigorated their continuity with Crisis on Infinite Earths they used the event to simultaneously regenerate key properties. The biggest gun they had was Superman and it’s hard to argue that 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 & 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 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 and inked by venerated veteran Dick Giordano. The bold manoeuvre was a huge and instant success. So much so that when 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 relaunch 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, and the sheer quality of the stories and art convinced them to stay. Such cracking, clear-cut superhero exploits are a high point in the Man of Tomorrow’s near- nine decade 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 new look that by the early 1990’s Superman was carrying four monthly titles as well as numerous 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 third one…

This monumental compilation traces the Never-Ending Battle in unfolding, overlapping story order, not chronological release dates, spanning cover-dates October 1987 to May 1988, re-presenting Superman #12-15; Action #594-597; Adventures of Superman #436-438 and each title’s first Annual. Also included are crossover issue Booster Gold #23 and one-shot Superman: The Earth Stealers with relevant informative bio-pages from Who’s Who Update ‘87 #5 and Who’s Who Update ‘88 #2. Covers throughout are by Arthur Adams, Giordano, Ron Frenz, Brett Breeding, Dan Jurgens, Jim Starlin, Byrne and Jerry Ordway.

The magic kicks off with ‘Skeeter’, originally published in Action Comics Annual #1. A vampire shocker written by Byrne and illustrated by Art Adams & Dick Giordano, it plays out in the swamplands of Fayerville, South Carolina, with guest star Batman hunting a deceptively deadly bloodsucker before being forced to call in the biggest Big Gun he knows.

The brutal ending serves to underscore the big differences between the Post-Crisis Dark Knight and Man of Steel…

Next is a poignant updating of a Silver Age classic. ‘Tears for Titano’ (Byrne, Frenz & Breeding) first saw print in Superman Annual #1 cover-dated August 1987 and puts a modern spin on the sorry saga of a giant ape that menaced Metropolis. It all starts when Lois Lane objects to the treatment of a lab chimp by her old nemesis Dr. Thomas Moyers. The heartless, ambitious energy research scientist’s callous disregard for procedure, or even simple humanity, results in the anthropoid mutating into a colossal out-of-control rampaging menace only Superman can stop… even if he doesn’t want to…

The Adventures of Superman Annual #1 spawned ‘The Union’ by Jim Starlin, Jurgens & Steve Montano, wherein Superman is asked by President Ronald Reagan and über-Fed Sarge Steel to ferret out what happened to the people formerly living in the instant ghost-town of Trudeau, South Dakota. This edgy, chilling by-the-numbers sci-fi shocker showed audiences that the new Man of Steel wasn’t the guaranteed winner he used to be, and set the scene for a momentous future confrontation with the monstrous alien life-consumer Hfuhruhurr the Word-bringer., as well as showing the limits of a pledge to never take life…

In the monthly periodicals ‘All that Glisters’ (Byrne & Keith Williams) comes from November 1987’s Action Comics #594: a big battle team-up with fugitive from the future Booster Gold sneakily and accidentally orchestrated by Lex Luthor employing his robot duplicates. The acrimonious clash carried over and concluded in Booster Gold #23, with ‘Blind Obsession’ (art/story by Jurgens, inked by Roy Richardson) seeing the bad guy billionaire (is there any other kind?) thwarted and frustrated again…

Next up is the magical retelling of another classic Wayne Boring Superman tale. ‘Lost Love’ (Superman #12, by Byrne & Karl Kesel) recounts the tragic tale of college boy Clark Kent’s brief affair with mysterious Lori Lemaris, a unique girl he twice loved and lost. Then, Action Comics #595 brings us back to the present with a bump in the night. Courtesy of Byrne & Williams ‘The Ghost of Superman’ introduces eerie, life-stealing Silver Banshee in a mystery team-up with a sneaky superstar who saves Metropolis from terror and dread and whose Big Identity Reveal I’m not going to spoil for you…

Next come the Kryptonian corners of DC’s third inter-company mega-crossover event. After Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends there was Millennium, which saw writer Steve Englehart expand on an iconic tale from his Justice League of America run (#140-141) as well as his tenure on the Green Lantern Corps title. But first, a little background…

Billions of years ago robotic peacekeepers known as Manhunters rebelled against their creators. The Guardians of the Universe were immortal and desired a rational, orderly, emotionless cosmos – a view not shared by their own women. The Zamarons abandoned the Guardians on planet Oa at the inception of their grand scheme but, after billions of years, the two factions had reconciled and left our Reality together. Now they had returned with a plan to midwife a new race of immortals on Earth, but the Manhunters – who had since infiltrated all aspects of every society throughout the universe – were determined to thwart the plan, whether by seduction, connivance or just plain brute force. Earth’s heroes were summoned by the reunited immortals and subsequently gathered to see the project to completion but were continually confronted by Manhunters in their own private lives… and their own comics.

DC Comics third braided mega-series was a bold effort intended to touch all corners of their universe, introduce new characters, tie-in titles and do so on a weekly, not monthly, schedule. In addition to the 8 weekly issues of the miniseries itself, Millennium spread across 21 titles for two months – another 37 issues – for a grand total of 44 comic books, with the Superman-related crossover craziness opening here with ‘Toys in the Attic!’ (Superman #13, by Byrne & Kesel) .

In Metropolis, elderly British craftsman Winslow Percival Schott opens a campaign of murder and wanton destruction targeting Lex Luthor, the ruddy Yank who ruined his little company and forced him to become the murderous Toyman. No sooner has the Man of Tomorrow intervened in that fracas than he’s drawn back to sleepy hometown Smallville in ‘Junk’ (Adventures of Superman #436, script by Byrne, art by Ordway & John Beatty) to discover trusted confidant Lana Lang has for years been an agent of the Manhunters.

In truth the insidious mechanoids have been watching the Last Son of Krypton since before that world died, but had botched capturing the space infant when he first arrived on Earth. As a back-up plan, Manhunters replaced local medical practitioner Doc Whitney and he subsequently turned every child born since into a mind-controlled sleeper agent. With Clark a key factor in the Millennium, Whitney rallies his forces to capture Superman, but utterly underestimates the power and resourcefulness of the Man of Steel. Although victorious, Superman’s triumph is tainted by tragedy. In defeat, all Whitney’s unwitting agents – two generations of Smallville’s young folk – keel over dead…

Then, in Action Comics #596, ‘Hell is Where the Heart Is…’ (Byrne & Williams) as Ghostly Guardian The Spectre is drawn to the catastrophe and facilitates Superman’s odyssey to the Spiritual Realms to rescue all the recently and unjustly departed deceased…

Byrne & Kesel’s Superman #14 offered a bombastic team-up with Green Lantern Hal Jordan wherein Emerald Gladiator and Action Ace chase colossal super-Manhunter Highmaster through uncanny dimensions as that mechanical maniac seeks to attack the sequestered, enervated Guardians and Zamarons in ‘Last Stand!’, after which events take a far more moody turn in Adventures of Superman #437. A twinned tale by Byrne, Ordway & Beatty, ‘Point of View’ simultaneously reveals how Luthor attempts to seduce one of the Millennium candidates to his evil side even as Lois Lane helplessly watches the brutally crippling struggle of merely mortal vigilante Jose “Gangbuster” Delgado against Lex’s hyper-augmented cyborg warrior Combattor…

The repercussions of that clash are examined in ‘Visitor’ (Action Comics #597) wherein Byrne, Leonard Starr & Williams impishly referenced Silver Age catfights between Lois Lane and Lana Lang, whilst the story itself establishes the false premise that Superman was raised as Clark’s adopted brother to throw off Lois’ growing suspicions…

With the Millennium complete, Superman #15 returned to regular wonderment as Superman is asked to find Metropolis Police Captain Maggie Sawyer’s missing daughter Jamie, just as the city is hit with a rash of flying bandit children. ‘Wings’ (Byrne & Kesel) debuts repulsive monster Skyhook: a horrific bat-winged Fagin who beguiles and mutates runaways whilst concealing even greater ghastly secrets…

The Fights ‘n’ Tights fun intensifies with Adventures of Superman #438 (March 1988, by Byrne, Ordway & Beatty) and another modern-day re-imagination of a past icon. ‘…The Amazing Brainiac’ sees a trip to the circus disastrously coincide with drunken mentalist Milton Fine developing uncanny psionic abilities and going wild. Despite his mental assaults being particularly effective against the Man of Steel, Superman eventually overcomes the furiously frantic performer, but is the defeated man simply deranged by his own latent abilities, or are his ravings of being possessed by an alien named Vril Dox of Colu somehow impossibly true?

This collection concludes with one-shot “Prestige Format” special Superman: The Earth Stealers by writer Byrne, inker Ordway and colourist Bill Wray who augment a post-Crisis return to the Action Ace for lifelong Super-Artist Curt Swan. Here the whole world is confiscated by a plundering alien seeking to sell it for scrap and resources, but the fiend and his brutal gladiator/legbreaker Gunge have not reckoned on this latest easy score being home to the last of the fabled and feared Kryptonians…

The bonus bit at the back consists of a ‘Cover gallery’ of previous MoS collections by Ordway, Byrne & Kesel, with excerpts from Who’s Who Update ‘87 #-5 and Who’s Who Update ‘88 #2, featuring illustrated fact-snacks concerning Booster Gold ( by Jurgens & Mike DeCarlo); Titano (Frenz & Byrne); Lori Lemaris (Byrne); Silver Banshee (Mike Mignola & P. Craig Russell) before a big bold pin-up of the Man of Steel finalises the fun for now.

Against all contemporary expectation the refitted Man of Tomorrow was a huge critical and commercial success. As one of the penitent curmudgeons who was proved wrong at the time, I can earnestly urge you not to make the same mistake. These are magically gripping and memorable comic gems to be enjoyed over and over again. So the sooner you get these books the sooner you can start the thrill ride reinvention of the ultimate comic book icon.
© 1987, 1988, 1989, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1844 Spanish painter/illustrator/cartoonist Josep Lluis Pellicer was born, followed by Disney comics maestro Tony Strobl in 1915, and comics editor, publisher and historian catherine “Cat” yronwoode in 1947. The post-war Fifties greeted cartoonist Tom Armstrong (Marvin) in 1950; artist/publisher Neil D. Vokes (Robotech, Fright Night, Eagle) in 1954 and Elizabeth Smith (Action Comics, Lex Luthor) in 1958.

Deaths this date include legendary British licensed properties artist British artist/illustrator George William Wakefield (Laurel & Hardy, Ben Turpin, Jackie Coogan, George Formby, The Funniosities of Fatty Arbuckle, The Screen Screams of Ford Sterling, Jolly Rover, Freddie Flip and Uncle Bunkle, Abbott & Costello) in 1942; US cartoonist/writer Dick Calkins (Uncle Bob’s Story Book, Buck Rogers, Skyroads) in 1962; children’s book illustrator/cartoonist Syd Hoff (Danny the Dinosaur, I Can Read…, Tuffy, Laugh It Off) in 2004 and legendary Belgian all star Eddy Paape (Valhardi, Buck Danny, Mark Dacier, Luc Orient, Surcouf, Johnny Congo) in 2012.

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DC Finest: The Joker – The Last Ha-Ha


By Dennis O’Neil, Elliot S! Maggin, Bob Haney, Martin Pasko, David V. Reed, Steve Englehart, Len Wein, Paul Levitz, Dick Dillin, Neal Adams, Irv Novick, Jim Aparo, Ernie Chan, José Luis García-López, John Calnan, Marshall Rogers, Walter Simonson, Don Newton, Joe Staton, Joe Giella, Dick Giordano, Vince Colletta, Tex Blaisdell, Frank McLaughlin, Bob Wiacek, Terry Austin, Steve Mitchell & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79951-025-3 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

HEY! WHO LET THAT CLOWN IN? IS THERE A PARTY SOMEWHERE?

An old adage says that you can judge someone by the calibre of their enemies, and that’s never been more ably demonstrated than with Batman. For most of his near century of existence, but most especially ever since the 1970s, the position of paramount antagonist has been indisputably filled by Clown Prince of Crime The Joker! He first hit newsstands in Batman #1 (cover-dated Spring and officially on sale from April 25th 1940). That’s 86 exploding candles and poisoned cakes and he’s still totally, lethally crazy after all these years…

Spanning cover-dates December 1969 to September 1981, this compilation collects stories from Justice League of America #77; Batman # 251, 260, 286, 291-294 & 321; Detective Comics #475-476 & 504; eccentric team-ups from The Brave and the Bold #111, 118, 129-130 & 141: The Joker volume 1 #1-10 and Earth-Two appearances from Wonder Woman volume 1 #280-283, a comprehensive but by no means complete carry on of one of the most conflicted and confusing characters in comics.

In the late 1960s superheroes experienced a rapid decline in popularity – presumably reaction to global media’s crass and crushing overexposure. When that bubble burst, Batman’s comic franchise sought to escape the zany, “camp” image by methodically re-branding the hero and returning to the original 1930s concept of a grim, driven Dark Avenger. Although hugely popular, TV’s sappy buffoon/thieving villain version of The Joker was almost fatal to the character on the printed page. However, a deftly calculated return to his Golden Age, eerie cheery killer persona began almost immediately. Thus this collection which kicks off with the Mountebank of Mirth manically upping his game and expanding his pool of enemies…

In Justice League of America #77 (cover-dated December 1969), the smugly complacent confidence and cheery worldview of the World’s Greatest Superheroes is shattered after enigmatic political populist Joe Dough suborns and compromises their beloved teen mascot in ‘Snapper Carr… Super-Traitor!’ This revelatory rite of passage comes from Denny O’Neil, Dick Dillin & Joe Giella: a coming-of-age yarn that saw the team lose public support and even their secret HQ, as the comfy, cosy superhero game changes forever… and no guesses for who Joe Dough really is!

The dark transformation of the Crime Clown was fully accomplished in Batman #251 (September 1973 by O’Neil & Neal Adams). ‘The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge!’ reinstated the psychotic, diabolically unpredictable Killer Clown who scared the short pants off readers of the 1940s. A true milestone utterly redefining the hero’s nemesis for the modern age, the frantic moody yarn sees the Mirthful Maniac stalking his old gang, seeking to eradicate them all, with a 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.

Cover-dated February/March 1974, The Brave and the Bold #111 boasted “the strangest team-up in history” as writer Bob Haney & artist on fire Jim Aparo had the Gotham Guardian join forces with the Harlequin of Hate for a brilliantly twisty tale of cross-&-double-cross in ‘Death has the Last Laugh!’ Complex and compelling, this murder-spree yarn possibly led to the Crime Clown’s own short-run series a year later.

Meanwhile, from Batman #260 (January/February 1975 by O’Neil, Irv Novick & Dick Giordano), ‘This One’ll Kill You Batman!’ finds the grim, po-faced Darknight Detective racing to save his own life after being poisoned by Joker Toxin that acts like irresistibly lethal laughing gas, after which B&B #118 (April) sees Wildcat and Batman forced to brutally battle each other in ‘May the Best Man Die!’ after being sucked into Joker’s scheme to poison boxers (and anyone else in range) with a deadly, blood-borne virus…

Within 18 months of the breakthrough revision in Batman #251, The Joker won his own series. Titles starring villains were exceedingly rare back then and provided quite a few problems for writers and editors still labouring under the edicts of the Comics Code Authority. The outré experiment ended after 9 issues – spanning May 1975 to October 1976, (plus one formerly unpublished digital issue in 2019) – and had utilised some of the most talented creators in DC’s employ. It remained a peculiar historical oddity for decades. Now, in these less doctrinaire times those strange tales of the Smirking Slaughterman have an appreciative audience…

The murderous merriment commences with ‘The Joker’s Double Jeopardy!’ Here fellow Arkham Asylum inmate Two-Face arrogantly escapes, pinking the Felonious Funnyman’s pride and compelling the giggling ghoul to similarly break out to prove he’s the greater criminal maniac. Their extended duel of wits and body-counts only lands them both back inside. That “revolving door” security at Arkham eventually leads to the firing of much-harassed guards Marvin Fargo & Benny Khiss in #2’s ‘The Sad Saga of Willie the Weeper!’ However, as the again-at-liberty Lethal Loon attempts to boost the confidence of a lachrymose minor-league larcenist for his own purposes, those defrocked jailers determine to restore their honour and fortunes and astoundingly, they succeed.

Written by O’Neil with art by Ernie Chan (nee Chua) & José Luis García-López, ‘The Last Ha Ha’ in #3 details a burglary and kidnapping of superstar cartoonist Sandy Saturn by a green-haired, cackling crazy. Witness accounts lead the cops to the ludicrous conclusion that The Creeper is the culprit. Cue lots and lots of eerie chortling, mistaken identity shenanigans and murderously manic explosive action…

The ethical dilemma of a star who’s arguably the world’s worst villain is further explored in ‘A Gold Star for the Joker!’ (Elliot S! Maggin, García-López & Vince Colletta) wherein our Perfidious Pagliacci inexplicably develops a crush on Black Canary’s alter-ego Dinah Lance and resolves to possess her or kill her. Typically, even though she’s perfectly capable of saving herself, Dinah’s beau Green Arrow (see what I did there?) is also the possessive aggressive kind of consort…

‘The Joker Goes Wilde!’ (Martin Pasko, Irv Novick & Tex Blaisdell) finds the Clown Prince in bombastic competition with similarly playing-card themed super-bandits The Royal Flush Gang. Everyone wants to secure a lost masterpiece, but even as he’s winning that weird war, the Mountebank of Menace is already after a hidden prize.

More force of nature than mortal miscreant, the Pallid Punchinello meets his match after assaulting actor Clive Sigerson in #6. Famed for stage portrayals of a certain literary detective, Sigerson sustains a nasty blow to the bonce which befuddles his wits and soon ‘Sherlock Stalks the Joker!’ (O’Neil, Novick & Blaisdell), foiling a flood of crazy schemes and apprehending the maniac before his concussion is cured…

We learn surprising facts about the Clown Prince of Carnage when he steals the calm, logical intellect of Earth’s most brilliant evil scientist. Naturally, psychic transference in ‘Luthor… You’re Driving Me Sane!’ (Maggin, Novick & Frank McLaughlin) is two-way and, whilst the newly cognizant Clown becomes ineffably intelligent, Lex Luthor is reduced to a risk-taking maniac unphased by potential consequences and determined to have fun no matter who dies. The Joker’s eighth outing covered a clash with Gotham’s self-acclaimed Master of Terror as ‘The Scarecrow’s Fearsome Face-Off!’ (Maggin, Novick & Blaisdell) saw the top contenders for scariest guy in town (not counting Batman!) steal each other’s thunder whilst vying for that macabre top spot, before the villainous vignettes conclude with a claws-out clash as ‘The Cat and the Clown!’ (Maggin, Novick & Blaisdell) sees an aged comedian and his million-dollar kitty targeted by rival rogues Catwoman and Joker. Unhappily for the crooks they had both underestimated the grizzled guile of their octogenarian victim…

In Fall of 2019 the unpublished tenth issue was released digitally and appeared in monolithic, print-only, rather inaccessibly expensive The Joker: The Bronze Age Omnibus (Collected). There – and here – Pasko & Novick’s tale ‘99 and 99/100% Dead!’ involves a deal with the Devil (AKA “Lou Cipher”) and scheme to murder Earth’s greatest heroes – The JLA – that doesn’t quite come about and ends on a cliffhanger…

Here, however, we resume with a rare two-parter from The Brave and the Bold #129 & 130: a jam-packed action-romp with ‘Claws of the Emperor Eagle’ pitting Batman, Green Arrow and The Atom against Joker, Two-Face and hordes of bandits in a manic race to possess a statue that had doomed every great conqueror in history. The epic, globe-trotting saga concluded with an ironic bang in ‘Death at Rainbow’s End’…

In Batman #286,‘The Joker’s Playground of Peril!’ (April 1977 by O’Neil, Novick & Bob Wiacek) sees The Clown escape Arkham Asylum prompting panic in the lawyer who failed get him off and the fence who cheated the loon when selling his ill-gotten gains. The fugitives make it easy for the manic by hiding in the same Amusement park but the Dynamoc Duo are clued in and waiting…

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

The only real contenders for the plaudits of being the best Joker yarn ever follows: a two-part saga from Detective Comics #475-476 (February & April 1978) concluding 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 peaked with the Dark Knight’s nemesis at his most chaotic, and began with ‘The Laughing Fish!’ and culminating in ‘The Sign of the Joker!’, comprising one of the most reprinted Bat-tales ever concocted. It was 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 seafood sporting 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…

The best was saved for last, with continuity altering sub-plots concerning Bruce Wayne’s current inamorata Silver St. Cloud, crooked politico “Boss” Rupert Thorne and the Gotham City Council who had outlawed the hero, and even the recurring ghost of Hugo Strange culminating in THE classic confrontation with The Joker.

B&B #141 (May/June 1978) offers another Batman team-up with Black Canary as ‘Pay – or Die!’ (by Haney & Aparo) finds Dinah Lance looking at a modelling career but pausing to help Batman and Alfred quash the Joker’s bizarrely byzantine extortion/loan sharking/crooked mortician scheme in ‘Pay – Or Die!’

The gleeful terror continues with ‘Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker…!’ by Len Wein, Walt Simonson & Giordano (from Batman #321 March 1980), wherein the Malevolent Mummer planned to celebrate his anniversary in grand style: kidnapping a bunch of old chums like Robin, Jim Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, Catwoman and others to be the exploding candles on his giant birthday cake…

The Joker has the rare distinction of being perhaps the most iconic villain in comics and can claim that title in whatever era you choose to concentrate on; Noir-ish Golden Age, sanitised Silver Age or malignant modern and Post-Modern milieus. This book captures just a fraction of all those superb stories and with the benefit of another two and a half decades of material since the release of this compendium, just think of what a couple of equally well-considered sequels might offer…

Cover-dated July 1981, Detective #504 – by Gerry Conway, Don Newton & Dan Adkins – details ‘The Joker’s Rumpus Room Revenge!’ Closing the Batman related portion of the book, here the Murderous Mummer again slips out of Arkham and murders an old puppet-maker to lure the Dark Knight into a killzone packed with killer toys and robots…

During the late Seventies and early Eighties Helena Wayne was the daughter of the deceased Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman Selina Kyle. As The Huntress, the immensely popular character sprang from a then-current Justice Society of America series in All Star Comics into her own relatively long-running back-up feature initially in Batman family and then in Wonder Woman (#271 September 1980 through #321, November 1984). She died in but notionally survived the Crisis on Infinite Earths by being retooled as mob-orphan Helena Bertinelli to become a post-Crisis Dark Knight adjunct.

From Wonder Woman #280 – 283 (vol. 1, June to September 1981) and crafted by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton & Steve Michell ‘Lion at Bay’ sees Huntress crush her mother’s old nemesis Lionmane, but not before his mass jailbreak allows a declining but still demented and deadly Harlequin of Hate to escape Gull’s island prison. Refusing to believe Batman is dead, elderly Joker proceeds to poison old foes like Commissioner O’Hara to draw out his enemy. Stalked by Huntress in ‘Always Leave ‘em Laughing’ before recruiting another old Crazy Clown combatant to help trick and trap the madman, the end comes in ‘First Laugh…’ and final encore ‘…Last Laugh!’

With covers by Murphy Anderson, Adams, Tatjana Wood, Nick Cardy, Aparo, Giordano, Ross Andru, Chan, García-López, Drew Moore, Rogers & Austin, Simonson, Jim Starlin, Rich Buckler, and George Pérez, this quirky oddment offers slick plotting and startling visuals as madcap misdemeanours are soundly upstaged and shoved aside by lunatic larks, malign malice and a more mounting degree of murderous mayhem than most classical fans might be comfortable with, but always sustained and supported by strong storytelling and stunning art to delight fans of traditional Fights ‘n’ Tights sagas.
© 1969, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1913 author and groundbreaking comics scripter John Broome (aka John Osgood & Edgar Ray Meritt) was born, followed in 1928 by Filipino art maestro Nestor Rendondo (Darna, Rima the Jungle Girl, The Bible, Swamp Thing); Belgian cartoonist Joseph Loeckx/“Jo-El Azara” (Taka Takata, Clifton) in1937, and our own astounding John Ridgway (Commando Picture Library, Famous Five, Young Marvelman, Judge Dredd, Bozz Chronicles, Hellblazer) in 1940.

This date in 1953 welcomed US cartoonist/book illustrator Doug Cushman (Aunt Eater, Holiday Mice!); Canadian Underground artist Patrick Henley AKA Henriette Valium in 1959; Mad magazine illustrator Tom Richmond in 1966; Scott Kolins in 1968 and Ale Garza in 1977.

We lost today editor Lou Stathis in 1997, and Henry Sunday page artist Don Trachte in 2005 but the day did give us Richard F. Outcaul’s Buster Brown which launched in 1902, Ivy the Terrible’s debut in The Beano, courtesy of Roy Nixon in 1985 and the very first Free Comic Book Day today in 2002.

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Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham


By Mike Mignola, Richard Pace, Troy Nixey, Dennis Janke & Dave Stewart (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-5806-1 (TPB/Digital edition)
This book includes Discriminatory Content produced for dramatic effect.

The origins of the Dark Knight are so well-known now that it’s simple to twist and tweak them to suit almost any tale. It doesn’t hurt that the character has a universal recognition factor that holds up in almost any imaginary scenario…

Released in 2015, available in trade paperback and digital formats and collecting a 3-issue Elseworlds miniseries (from November 2000 – January 2001), The Doom That Came to Gotham was written by horror mood-meister Mike Mignola (Hellboy; duh!) and Richard Pace (Negative Burn; Ashes; Starman; Terror Inc.; Imaginary Fiends), limned by Troy Nixey (Harley Quinn; Trout; Only the End of the World Again; The Matrix Comics), inker Dennis Janke & colourist Dave Stewart.

In case you came in late: During the 1990s, DC regrouped to rebrand its frequent dalliances with alternate reality scenarios under the copious and broad umbrella of a separate imprint. The Elseworlds banner and credo declared heroes would be taken out of their usual settings and put into strange places and times – some that have existed, or might have existed, and others that can’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t exist…

No doubts here, however, as the tale deftly takes us back to Roaring Twenties America, dishing out a daring dose of pulp fiction plumb centre of the ghastly spine-chilling mythos of Clark Ashton Smith, H.P. Lovecraft and their darkly-dementing contemporaries…

It’s 1928 and orphaned Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City two decades after his parents were murdered by a maniac. He’s been roving the world, and recently uncovered the fate of long-lost Professor Cobblepot’s fabled Antarctic expedition. That jaunt resulted in a clash with a naked madman who talked to penguins and a large slab of ice with a creature inside it: a thing that never evolved on this world…

By the time he and his close associates Alfred, Dick, Jason and the rest have docked in his bleakly daunting home town, they have all had more than enough of the vile dreams the thing in the hold has generated…

There are more surprises when he reaches his long-shuttered mansion: a dead man who somehow speaks and a mysterious stranger named Jason Blood who claims he’s been sent to deliver a dire warning. Turning into an actual demon, the visitor warns that to save Gotham, Bruce must cut out its heart. Although shocked, Bruce is ready to act, and dons the bizarre outfit that makes him look like a human bat…

…And thus begins a skilful, macabre pastiche of classic noir horror traditions, as the desperate, driven mystery man haunts the alleys and byways of the city, testing corrupt cops, self-serving officials and outright villains – all with names most comics fans will recognise – uncovering a long-suppressed, centuries-old secret, even as literal Things From Beyond Human Comprehension and the borders of time and space congregate.

Can even a heroic Bat Man triumph against such odds and if so, at what cost…

Taking its title from H.P. Lovecraft’s 1920 novella The Doom That Came to Sarnath and inspired by August Derleth’s 1945 novel The Lurker at the Threshold (written from Lovecraft’s unfinished plot notes), the eldritch epic is complemented by a full cover gallery by Mignola and a hefty sketches & design section featuring pencilled pages by Pace (originally slated to illustrate the tale) and layouts by Nixey.

Bold, compelling, potently stylish and chilling in all the right places, The Doom That Came to Gotham is a supernatural romp to delight and impress: once read and never forgotten. Yes there’s an animated movie released in 2023, but truly that’s just gilding. This dark lily is what you must have…
2000, 2001, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1920 Belgian wonder Eddy Paape (Emmanuel, Valhardi, Luc Orient, Johnny Congo) was born, with Gray Morrow (Man-Thing, Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon) arriving in 1934 and Alan Weiss (Warlock, Batman: the Blue, the Grey and the Bat, Steelgrip Starkey) in 1948. In 1949 Godfather of British Comics Pat Mills was born and in 1967 mangaka marvel Ai Yazaw, (Nana, I’m No Angel, Neighborhood Story, Paradise Kiss) arrived. Two years later Cully Hamner (Down, Green Lantern: Mosaic, Blue Beetle, Red) came along, but it was 1978 before Australian horror star Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) turned up.

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Dc Finest: Batman – The Case of the Chemical Syndicate


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Gardner F. Fox, Whitney Ellsworth, Sheldon Moldoff, Jerry Robinson, George Roussos & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-670-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Although already much reprinted, archived and curated, here’s another sound and stunning collection of the Gotham Guardian’s earliest exploits in original chronological order, forgoing 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. There’s no fuss, fiddle or Foreword, and the book steams straight into the meat of the matter with the accumulated first two years of material featuring the masked mystery-man, as well as all those stunning covers (by Kane, Robinson, Roussos, Fred Gurdineer, Creig Flessel, Jack Burnley, Fred Ray and The Strauss Engraving Company). These span Detective Comics #27-51; Batman #1-5; the Dynamic Duo’s endeavours in New York World’s Fair Comics 1940 and World’s Best Comics #1, cumulatively encompassing every groundbreaking escapade from May 1939 to May 1941.

As Evri Fule Kno, Detective Comics #27 featured the Darknight Detective’s debut in the ‘Case of the Chemical Syndicate!’ by Bob Kane and as yet still anonymous close collaborator/co-originator Bill Finger. A spartan, understated yarn introduced dilettante playboy criminologist Bruce Wayne, drawn into a straightforward crime-caper as a cabal of industrialists were successively murdered. The killings stop when an eerie figure dubbed “The Bat-Man” intrudes on Police Commissioner Gordon’s stalled investigation to ruthlessly expose and deal with the hidden killer.

The following issue saw our fugitive vigilante return to crush ‘Frenchy Blake’s Jewel Gang’ before encountering his very first psychopathic killer/returning villain in Detective #29. Gardner Fox scripted these next few adventures beginning with ‘The Batman Meets Doctor Death’, in a deadly duel of wits with deranged, greedy general practitioner Karl Hellfern and his assorted instruments of murder: the most destructive and diabolical of which was sinister “Asiatic” manservant Jabah…

This is my cue to again remind all interested parties that these stories were created in far less tolerant times with numerous narrative shortcuts and institutionalised social certainties expressed in all media that most today will find offensive. If that’s a deal-breaker, please pass on this book… and most literature, pop songs and films created before the 1960s…

Confident of their new villain’s potential, Kane, Fox and inker Sheldon Mayer encored the mad medic for the next instalment and ‘The Return of Doctor Death’, before Fox & Finger co-scripted a 2-part shocker debuting the very first bat-plane, Bruce’s girlfriend Julie Madison and undead horror The Monk in expansive, globe-girdling spooky saga ‘Batman Versus the Vampire (part one)’. It all concluded in part two with an epic chase across Eastern Europe and spectacular climax in a monster-filled castle in #32.

DC #33 featured Fox & Kane’s ‘The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom’: a blockbusting disaster thriller which just casually slips in the secret origin of the grim avenger, as mere prelude to intoxicating air-pirate action, before Euro-trash dastard Duc D’Orterre finds his uncanny SCIENCE! and unsavoury appetites no match for the mighty Batman in ‘Peril in Paris’. Bill Finger returned as lead scripter in #35, pitting the Cowled Crusader against crazed cultists murdering everyone who had seen their sacred jewel in ‘The Case of the Ruby Idol’ … although the many deaths were actually caused by a far more prosaic villain. Inked by new kid Jerry Robinson, grotesque crime genius ‘Professor Hugo Strange’ debuted with his murderous manmade fog and lightning machine in #36, after which all-pervasive enemy agents lodged in ‘The Screaming House’ prove no match for a vengeful Masked Manhunter in #37.

Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) changed the landscape of comic books forever with the introduction of ‘Robin, The Boy Wonder’ as child trapeze artist Dick Grayson – whose parents are murdered before his eyes – thereafter joins Batman in a lifelong quest after bringing to justice mobster mad dog Boss Zucco…

With the Flying Graysons’ killers captured, all-out action continued in #39 with Finger, Kane & Robinson’s ‘The Horde of the Green Dragon’ – “oriental” Tong killers in Chinatown – Batman #1 (Spring 1940) opened proceedings with a recycled origin culled from portions of Detective #33 & 34. ‘The Legend of the Batman – Who He Is and How He Came to Be!’ by Fox, Kane & Moldoff delivers in two perfect pages what is still the best ever origin of the character. ‘The Joker’ (Finger, Kane & Robinson – who also produced all the remaining tales in this astonishing premiere issue) then launches the greatest villain in DC’s pantheon via a macabre tale of extortion and wilful wanton murder.

‘Professor Hugo Strange and the Monsters’ follows as an old adversary returns, unleashing laboratory-grown hyperthyroid horrors to rampage through the terrified city, before ‘The Cat’ – who later added the suffix “Woman” to her name to avoid any possible doubt or confusion – plies her felonious trade of jewel theft aboard the wrong cruise-liner, thereby falling foul for the first time of the dashing Dynamic Duo. Then comics end with the ‘The Joker Returns’ as the sinister clown breaks jail to resume his terrifying campaign of murder for fun and profit before “dying” in mortal combat with the Gotham Guardians. pulse pounding premier package fun folds with Whitney Elsworth’s text piece ‘Meet the Artist’ and a superb Kane pin-up (originally the back cover of that premier issue) of the Dynamic Duo.

Tense suspense and eerie evil is also on show in DC #40 as ‘The Murders of Clayface’ sees the Dynamic Duo solving a string of murders on a film set which almost sees Julie Madison the latest victim of a monstrous movie maniac…

Batman & Robin solve the baffling mystery of a kidnapped pupil in Detective #41’s ‘The Masked Menace of the Boys’ School’ before enjoying a busman’s holiday in ‘Batman and Robin Visit the 1940 New York World’s Fair’ as seen in the second New York World’s Fair Comics. Here Finger, Kane & Roussos follow the vacationing troubleshooters as they track down a maniac mastermind with a metal-dissolving ray, before Detective Comics #42 again finds our heroes ending another murderous maniac’s rampage in ‘The Case of the Prophetic Pictures!’

The heroes’ second solo outing produced another quartet of comics classics in Batman #2 (Summer 1940). It begins with ‘Joker Meets Cat-Woman’ (Finger, Kane, Robinson & new find George Roussos) wherein svelte thief, homicidal jester and a crime syndicate all tussle for the same treasure, with our Caped Crusaders caught in the middle. ‘Wolf, the Crime Master’ then offers a fascinating take on the classic tragedy of Jekyll & Hyde prior to an insidious and ingenious mystery in ‘The Case of the Clubfoot Murderers’. Ultimately Batman & Robin confront uncanny savages and ruthless showbiz promoters in poignant monster yarn ‘The Case of the Missing Link’.

By now an unparalleled hit, Batman stories never rested on their laurels. The creators always sought to expand their parameters, as Detective #43 saw our heroes clash with a corrupt mayor in #43’s ‘The Case of the City of Terror!’ before rather jumping the shark with #44’s nightmarish fantasy of giants and goblins ‘The Land Behind the Light!’, in advance of returning to bizarre baroque basics in #45’s horrific Joker jape ‘The Case of the Laughing Death!’ wherein the Harlequin of Hate undertakes a campaign of macabre murder against everyone who has ever defied or offended him…

Batman #3 (Fall 1940) has Finger, Kane, Robinson & Roussos rise to even greater heights, beginning with ‘The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master’: an eerie episode of uncanny mesmerism and infamous espionage…

A grisly scheme unfolds next as innocent citizens are mysteriously transformed into specimens of horror, and artworks destroyed by the spiteful commands of ‘The Ugliest Man in the World’ before ‘The Crime School for Boys!’ registers Robin, allowing infiltration of a gang who have a cruel and cunning recruitment plan for dead-end kids, whilst ‘The Batman vs. the Cat-Woman’ lastly reveals the larcenous lady in well over her head when she steals for – and from – the wrong people…

The issue also offered a worthy Special Feature from Ellsworth & Burnley as ‘The Batman Says’ presents an illustrated prose Law & Order pep-talk…

Plunging right into perilous procedures, Detective #46 (Kane, Robinson & Roussos) features the return of Batman’s most formidable fringe scientific adversary as our heroes must counteract the awesome effects of ‘Professor Strange’s Fear Dust’, after which #47 delivers drama on a more human scale by proving ‘Money Can’t Buy Happiness’. This action-packed homily of parental expectation and the folly of greed leads into Detective Comics #48, finding the lads defending America’s bullion reserves in ‘The Secret Cavern’, and is followed by Batman #4 (Winter 1941) which opens with a spiffy catch-all visual resume.

Then its all-out razzle-dazzle as the Gotham Guardians visit and vanquish ‘The Joker’s Crime Circus’, prior to pulling the plug on the piratical plundering of ‘Blackbeard’s Crew and the Yacht Society!’. Immediately after, ‘Public Enemy No.1’ tells a gangster fable in the manner of Jimmy Cagney’s Angels With Dirty Faces, before ‘Victory For the Dynamic Duo!’ involves the pair in the treacherous world of sports gambling.

Detective Comics #49 (March 1941), finds them confronting another old foe when ‘Clayface Walks Again!’ with the deranged actor resuming his passion for murder by re-attempting to kill Bruce Wayne’s old girlfriend Julie before World’s Best Comics #1 (Spring 1941 and destined to become World’s Finest Comics with its second issue) offers an eerie murder mystery concerning ‘The Witch and the Manuscript of Doom!’.

DC #50 pits Batman & Robin against acrobatic burglars in ‘The Case of the Three Devils’, whilst sordid human scaled wickedness informs #51’s ‘The Case of the Mystery Carnival!’: a mood-soaked crimebusting set-piece featuring fairly run-of-the mill thugs, but serving as a perfect palate-cleansers for big bold Batman #5 (Spring 1941). Once again, The 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 ‘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, and surely that’s what heroic mythmaking is all about?

Kane, Robinson and their compatriots created a visual iconography which carried Batman well beyond his allotted lifespan until later creators could re-invigorate the concept. They added a new dimension to children’s reading… and their work is still captivatingly accessible. Moreover, these early stories laced with Fingers’ mood-soaked macabre madness 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 Finger & Fox 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.
© 1939, 1940, 1941, 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1914 All American editor Ted Udall was born, but we had to wait until 1953 for Richard Bruning, 1956 for animator, director and funnybook renaissance man Bob Camp and 1958 for astounding letterer and sublime illustrator Kevin Nowlan as well as Archie Comics writer/editor Paul Castiglia in 1966.

In the meantime, UK weekly mainstay The Topper began its 37-year run today in 1953, thereby launching Davey Law’s Beryl the Peril unto an unsuspecting world.