{"id":30038,"date":"2024-06-22T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T08:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30038"},"modified":"2024-06-21T13:32:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T13:32:59","slug":"showcase-presents-batman-volume-4-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/06\/22\/showcase-presents-batman-volume-4-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Showcase Presents Batman volume 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Gardner F. Fox<\/strong>, Frank Robbins, <\/strong>Bob Kanigher<\/strong>, Mike Friedrich<\/strong>, John Broome<\/strong>, E. Nelson Bridwell<\/strong>, Chic Stone, <\/strong>Frank Springer<\/strong>, Irv Novick, Bob Brown, <\/strong>Gil Kane<\/strong>, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito<\/strong>, Sid Greene, Joe Giella<\/strong>, Dick Giordano<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN13: 978-1-84856-357-5 (TPB)<\/p>\n

After three seasons (perhaps two and a half would be closer) the overwhelmingly successful Batman TV show ended in March, 1968. It had clocked up 120 episodes since the US premiere on January 12, 1966. As the show foundered and crashed, global fascination with \u201ccamp\u201d superheroes – and no, the term had nothing to do with sexual proclivities no matter what you and Mel Brooks might think about Men in Tights – burst as quickly as it had boomed and the Caped Crusader was left with a hard core of dedicated fans and followers who now wanted their hero back.<\/p>\n

For the editor who had tried to keep the most ludicrous excesses of the show out whilst still cashing in on his global popularity, the reasoning seemed simple: get him back to solving baffling mysteries and facing genuine perils as soon and as thrillingly as possible.<\/p>\n

No problem. This fourth monochrome compendium gathers Batman<\/strong> & Robin<\/strong> yarns from the eponymous star title #202-215 and the front halves of Detective Comics<\/strong> #376-390. The back-up slot was delightfully filled until #383 by whimsically stretchable sleuth The Elongated Man<\/strong>, before his unceremonious ejection to make room for Batgirl<\/strong>\u2019s solo sallies.<\/p>\n

The 27 stories here (some Batman<\/strong> issues were giant reprint editions, so only their covers are reproduced within these pages) were crafted by an ever-evolving team of creators as editor Julie Schwartz lost some of his elite stable to age, attrition and corporate pressure, but the \u201cnew blood\u201d was only fresh to the Gotham Guardian not the industry, and their sterling efforts deftly moulded the 30 year veteran star into a hero capable of actually working within the new \u201cbig thing\u201d in comics: suspense, horror and the supernatural…<\/p>\n

The book leads off with \u2018Gateway to Death!\u2019<\/em>\u00a0 from Batman<\/strong> #202, cover-dated June 1968, as delivered by Gardner Fox, and un-attributed artist (it\u2019s Chic Stone inked by Sid Greene). The tale is a spooky graveyard chiller finding the Dynamic Duo chasing a psychic plunderer towards their own prognosticated doom, after which Detective<\/strong> #376 (by the same creative team) ask \u2018Hunted or …Haunted?\u2019<\/em> as a time-traveller inadvertently puts the fear of death and worse into the Gotham Gangbuster.<\/p>\n

Batman<\/strong> #203 was an 80-Page Giant with a Neal Adams cover, before an old foe returns in Detective<\/strong> #377. \u2018The Riddler\u2019s Prison-Puzzle Problem!\u2019<\/em> by Fox, Frank Springer & Greene precedes Frank Robbins (creator of newspaper strip icon Johnny Hazard<\/strong>) joining the writing team for \u2018Operation: Blindfold!\u2019<\/em> as limned by Irv Novick & Joe Giella – a 2-part criminal conspiracy saga wherein a legion of thugs and sightless beggars almost take over Gotham.<\/p>\n

With veteran penciller Bob Brown on Detective<\/strong> and Novick on Batman<\/strong>, artistic quality was high and consistent, but sadly strictly chronological reprinting works against the reader as the concluding episode is postponed and derailed here by Detective<\/strong> #378 – first half of Robbins, Brown & Giella\u2019s generation gap murder-mystery \u2018Batman! Drop Dead\u2026 Twice!\u2019<\/em> which itself climaxes after \u2018Blind as a\u2026 Bat?\u2019<\/em> from Batman<\/strong> #204, with a rollicking rollercoaster ride of spills & chills in \u2018Two Killings For the Price of One!\u2019 <\/em>in Detective<\/strong> #379…<\/p>\n

Issue #380 follows, introducing new love-interest Ginny Jenkins<\/em>, Robbins, Brown & Giella\u2019s \u2018Marital-Bliss Miss!\u2019<\/em> who only pretends to be the new Mrs. Bruce Wayne<\/em> for the very best of motives – saving his life – before Batman<\/strong> #206 sees Novick & Giella illustrate canny thriller \u2018Batman Walks the Last Mile!\u2019<\/em>, pitting Caped Crusader against a conman claiming to be the brains behind the Dynamic Duo\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

In an era when teen angst and the counter-culture played an ever more evident and strident part, Robin\u2019s role as spokesperson for a generation was becoming increasingly important, with disputes and splits from his senior partner constantly recurring. Detective<\/strong> #381 featured one of the best as Batman literally dumped the Boy Wonder in \u2018One Drown… One More to Go!\u2019<\/em> – another clever crime conundrum by Robbins, Brown & Giella. Batman<\/strong> #207 carried a classy countdown-to-catastrophe drama as all Gotham hunted the atomic nightmare of \u2018The Doomsday Ball!\u2019<\/em> whilst DC <\/strong>#382 continued a theme of youth in revolt with \u2018Riddle of the Robbin\u2019 Robin!\u2019<\/em> The disagreements were never serious or genuine, although that would soon change.<\/p>\n

Batman<\/strong> #208 was another reprint Giant highlighting the women in his life. However, even though Schwartz varied the usual format by having Gil Kane draw interlocking framing sequences, turning the issue into one big single story, all that has all omitted here so you just get the rather nifty Nicky Cardy cover. Detective<\/strong> #383 was a straightforward (and painfully dated!) thriller set in Gotham\u2019s Chinatown – \u2018The Fortune-Cookie Caper!\u2019<\/em> before outlandish mind-bending mystery became the order of the day in Batman<\/strong> #209\u2019s \u2018Jungle Jeopardy!\u2019<\/em> whilst DC <\/strong>#384 asked \u2018Whatever Will Happen to Heiress Heloise?\u2019<\/em>: a crafty final tale of cross and double-cross from Fox, illustrated by Brown & Giella.<\/p>\n

Catwoman<\/strong> returned mob-handed – or is that murder-mittened? – in Batman<\/strong> #210 with eight other \u201ccat chicks\u201d in tow, leaving the Caped Crimebuster hard-pressed to solve \u2018The Case of the Purr-Loined Pearl!\u2019<\/em> after which Bob Kanigher wrote one of the best tales of his long and illustrious career for Detective<\/strong> #385 as a nameless nonentity became the most important man Batman never met in the deeply moving \u2018Die Small… Die Big!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Issue #386 found Wayne a \u2018Stand-In for Murder\u2019<\/em> (Robbins, Brown & Giella) and the heroes had secret identity woes in \u2018Batman\u2019s Big Blow-Off!\u2019<\/em> (#211, (Robbins, Novick & Giella) whilst Young Turk Mike Friedrich scripted a reworking of Batman\u2019s very first appearance for the 30th<\/sup> Anniversary issue of Detective Comics<\/strong>. \u2018The Cry of Night is\u2026 Sudden Death!\u2019<\/em> was a contemporary reworking of #27\u2019s \u2018The Case of the Chemical Syndicate\u2019<\/em> that launched the Dark Knight on the road to immortality (for the original check out any of many \u201cBest of\u201d or \u201cGolden Age\u201d collections to feature the landmark tale). However here the relationship between Batman and Boy Wonder came under probing scrutiny…<\/p>\n

\u2018Baffling Deaths of the Crime-Czar!\u2019<\/em> (Batman<\/strong> #212, Robbins, Novick & Giella) pitted a trio of exuberant hitmen against our heroes, after which John Broome returned to make one last scripting contribution, sagely moving The Joker<\/strong> away from campy Clown crimes and back towards the insane killer MO we all cherish. That all came about in Detective<\/strong> #388\u2019s \u2018Public Luna-tic Number One!<\/em>\u2019: a classy sci-fi thriller totally reinventing the Lethal Laughing Loon, in no small part thanks to the artistic efforts of Brown & Giella.<\/p>\n

Batman<\/strong> #213 is another reprint Giant, celebrating other landmarks of the 30th<\/sup> Anniversary and leading with a new retelling of \u2018The Origin of Robin\u2019<\/em>, courtesy of E. Nelson Bridwell, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, which is included here after the spiffy cover from Bill Draut & Vince Colletta. The rocky road to a scary superhero continued into Detective<\/strong> #389 and Robbins\u2019 \u2018Batman\u2019s Evil Eye\u2019<\/em> wherein The Scarecrow<\/em> afflicts Gotham\u2019s Guardian with the involuntary power to terrify at a glance – and obviously somebody saw the long-term story potential in that stunt…<\/p>\n

There was still potential to be daft too though, as seen in \u2018Batman\u2019s Marriage Trap!\u2019<\/em> (#214, Robbins, Novick & Giella) wherein a wicked Femme Fatale sets the unhappy spinsters of America on the trail of Gotham\u2019s Most Eligible Bat-chelor (See what I did there? Wishing I hadn\u2019t?) Not even a guest-shot by positive role-model Batgirl<\/strong> could redeem this peculiar throwback – although the art just might…<\/p>\n

The last Detective<\/strong> tale is from #390 and pits the Dynamic Duo against lacklustre costumed assassin The Masquerader<\/em> in \u2018If the Coffin Fits… Wear It!\u2019<\/em> before the end of an era is presaged in Batman<\/strong> #215 and \u2018Call Me Master!\u2019<\/em> by Robbins, Novick and soon to become legendary inker Dick Giordano. Although a clever tale of mind-control skullduggery, this tale trailled the loss of Wayne Manor and an all-out split between Darknight Detective and Boy Wonder: events which would come to pass within months, ushering in a bold new direction for the Bat-Universe.<\/p>\n

This volume brings three decades of Batman to a solid satisfactory conclusion. All too soon safe boy-scout Caped Crusader would become a terrifying creature of passion, intellect and shadowy suspense.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned: This book is wonderfully good but even better is still to come…
\n\u00a9 1968, 1969, 2009 DC Comics. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gardner F. Fox, Frank Robbins, Bob Kanigher, Mike Friedrich, John Broome, E. Nelson Bridwell, Chic Stone, Frank Springer, Irv Novick, Bob Brown, Gil Kane, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, Sid Greene, Joe Giella, Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics) ISBN13: 978-1-84856-357-5 (TPB) After three seasons (perhaps two and a half would be closer) the … <\/p>\n

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