{"id":30926,"date":"2024-11-16T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30926"},"modified":"2024-11-14T18:32:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T18:32:02","slug":"the-batman-annuals-volume-1-dc-comics-classic-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/11\/16\/the-batman-annuals-volume-1-dc-comics-classic-library\/","title":{"rendered":"The Batman Annuals volume 1 – DC Comics Classic Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Bob Kane<\/strong>, Bill Finger<\/strong>, Edmond Hamilton<\/strong>, Leigh Brackett<\/strong>, France Herron<\/strong>, David Vern Reed<\/strong>, Lew Sayre Schwartz<\/strong>, Sheldon Moldoff<\/strong>, Dick Sprang<\/strong>, Stan Kaye<\/strong>, Charles Paris <\/strong>& various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-84856-215-8 (HB)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Nostalgia Box to Celebrate the Season… 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

DC\u2019s Classics Comics Library of hardbacks was a remarkably accessible, curated collectible range of tomes, much missed by all today. One of the best of them was this wonderful aggregation of three of the most influential and beloved comic books of the Silver Age.<\/p>\n

Originally released in June 1961, Batman Annual<\/strong> #1 hit newsstands a year after the startlingly successful Superman Annual<\/strong> #1. The big, bold anthology format was hugely popular with readers. The Man of Steel\u2019s second Annual was rushed out before Christmas 1960 and the third came out a mere year after the first! That same month (June 1961) the first ever Secret Origins<\/strong> collection and this Bat-Blockbuster all arrived in shops and on newsstands. For us budding fanboys, it was like what I imagine one\u2019s first hit of recreational narcotics must feel like…<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably hard to appreciate now but these huge books – 80 pages instead of 32 – were a magical resource with a colossal impact for kids who loved comics. I don\u2019t mean the ubiquitous scruffs, oiks and scallywags of school days who read them and chucked them away (most kids were comics consumers in the days before computer games) but rather those quiet, secretive few of us who treasured and kept them, constantly re-reading, discussing, pondering. Only posh kids with wicked parents read no comics at all: those prissy, starchy types who were beaten up by the scruffs, oiks and scallywags even more than us bookworms. But I digress…<\/p>\n

For budding collectors these Annuals were a gateway to a fabulous lost past. Just Imagine!:<\/em> adventures your heroes had from before you were even born<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Those colossal compilations of the 1960s changed comics publishing. Soon Marvel, Charlton and Archie Comics were also releasing giant books of old stories, then new ones, crossovers, continued stories, et al. Annuals proved two things to publishers: that there was a dedicated, long-term appetite for more material – and that punters were willing to pay a little bit more for it. This vast compendium reassembles the first three Batman Annuals<\/strong> in their mythic entirety: 21 terrific complete stories, posters, features, pin-ups, calendars and those iconic compartmentalized covers. There are also creator biographies and articles from Michael Uslan and Richard Bruning to put the entire experience into perspective, and original publication information and credits (the only bad thing about those big books of magic was never knowing \u201cWho\u201d and \u201cWhere\u201d\u2026)
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\nThe editors wisely packaged Annuals as themed collections, the first being \u20181001 Secrets of Batman and Robin\u2019<\/strong><\/em> starting the ball rolling with \u2018How to be the Batman\u2019<\/em> by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz & Stan Kaye, wherein an amnesiac Caped Crusader must be re-trained by Robin. As always there\u2019s a twist in this tale, before \u2018The Strange Costumes of Batman\u2019<\/em> (Edmond Hamilton, Dick Sprang & Charles Paris) highlights specialised uniforms the heroes use over their outrageous careers.<\/p>\n

The self-explanatory \u2018Untold Tales of the Bat-Signal\u2019<\/em> (writer unknown, Schwartz and Paris) again uses past exploits to solve a contemporary case, whilst \u2018The Origin of the Bat-Cave\u2019<\/em> (Finger, Sheldon Moldoff & Paris) is only revealed by a quick time-trip back to revolutionary war days. \u2018Batman\u2019s Electronic Crime-File\u2019<\/em> (anonymous, Sprang & Paris) is a cracking thriller confirming the Dynamic Duo\u2019s love of cutting-edge technology. \u2018The Thrilling Escapes of Batman and Robin\u2019<\/em> (Finger, Moldoff, Kaye) concentrates on their facility at escaping traps, and excitement peaked in a dazzling display of \u2018The Amazing Inventions of Batman\u2019<\/em> (Hamilton, Sprang, Paris).
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\n\u2018Batman and Robin\u2019s Most Thrilling Action Roles\u2019<\/strong><\/em> opens with tension-packed mystery \u2018The Underseas Batman\u2019<\/em> (Hamilton, Sprang, Paris), then explores Wayne\u2019s Scottish connections in \u2018The Lord of Batmanor\u2019 <\/em>(Hamilton, assisted by his wife Leigh Brackett, Sprang & Paris) before once more tapping into the Westerns zeitgeist with \u2018Batman – Indian Chief\u2019<\/em> (France Herron, Moldoff & Kaye). \u2018The Jungle Batman\u2019<\/em> (David Vern Reed, Schwartz & Paris) is pure escapist joy and we get a then-rare glimpse of Bruce Wayne\u2019s training in \u2018When Batman Was Robin\u2019<\/em> (Hamilton, Sprang, Paris) before returning to foiling deathtraps with \u2018Batman the Magician\u2019<\/em> (Finger, Moldoff, Paris), and this section concludes with a pivotal tale \u2018Batman – The Superman of Planet X\u2019<\/em> (Herron, Sprang & Paris): one forming a key thematic plank of Grant Morrison\u2019s epic Batman R.I.P.<\/strong> storyline and later exploits.<\/p>\n

The third Annual (which came far more frequently than once a year) featured \u2018Batman and Robin\u2019s Most Fantastic Foes\u2019<\/strong><\/em> beginning with \u2018The Mad Hatter of Gotham City\u2019<\/em> (Finger, Moldoff & Paris), special-effects bandit \u2018The Human Firefly\u2019<\/em> (Herron, Sprang, Paris) and hyper cerebral mutant \u2018The Mental Giant of Gotham City\u2019<\/em> (Hamilton, Sprang, Paris) before the Clown Prince of Crime steals the show with a squad of skullduggery specialists in \u2018The Joker\u2019s Aces\u2019<\/em> (Reed, Schwartz, Kaye).
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\nEerie and hard-hitting \u2018The Gorilla Boss of Gotham City\u2019<\/em> (Reed, Schwartz, Kaye) was one of DC\u2019s earliest Ape epics, and although gripping, \u2018The New Crimes of Two-Face\u2019<\/em> (Finger, Schwartz & Paris) starred only a stand-in for the double-dealing psychopath. \u2018The Mysterious Mirror Man\u2019<\/em> (Finger, Moldoff and Paris), however, was the genuine article and well worth a modern do-over…<\/p>\n

For me Christmas is inextricably linked to Batman. From my earliest formative years every Yule was capped by that year\u2019s British hardcover annual, often reprinting US comics (if somewhat imaginatively coloured) but occasionally all-new prose stories liberally illustrated and based slavishly on the Adam West\/Burt Ward TV series. As I grew older and became a more serious reader and collector (the technical term is, I believe, addict<\/em>) I became an avowed appreciator of regular seasonal tales appearing in Batman<\/strong> or Detective Comics<\/strong> or the \u201cGolden Age Classics\u201d that too infrequently graced them. Over decades some Batman\u2019s very best adventures have occurred in the \u201cSeason of Good will\u201d and why DC has never produced a Batman Christmas Album is a mystery even the World\u2019s Greatest Detective could not solve…<\/p>\n

This book might not actually contain any X-Mas exploits but it is the kind of present I would have killed (or died) for all those hundreds of years ago, so how can you possibly deny your kids the delights of this incredibly enjoyable book? And just like Train Sets, Scalextric and Quad Bikes, when I say kids of course I mean \u201cDads\u201d\u2026
\n\u00a9 1961, 1962, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, France Herron, David Vern Reed, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Sheldon Moldoff, Dick Sprang, Stan Kaye, Charles Paris & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-84856-215-8 (HB) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Nostalgia Box to Celebrate the Season… 8\/10 This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. DC\u2019s … <\/p>\n

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