{"id":33429,"date":"2025-07-28T11:19:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T11:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=33429"},"modified":"2025-07-28T11:19:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T11:19:33","slug":"batman-the-dark-knight-archives-volume-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/07\/28\/batman-the-dark-knight-archives-volume-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Batman: The Dark Knight Archives volume 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Bob Kane<\/strong>, Don Cameron<\/strong>, Bill Finger<\/strong>, Joe Samachson<\/strong>, Alvin Schwartz<\/strong>, Dick Sprang<\/strong>, Jerry Robinson<\/strong>, Ray Burnley<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-3744-8 (HB)<\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s an absolute crime that the comics stories of Richard W. Sprang have never been gathered in a properly curated edition. On the 110th<\/sup> anniversary of his birth in Fremont, Ohio, I\u2019m flogging another dead comics horse by re-reviewing one of my favourite collections, but even that is a venue he shared with others. Surely his astounding, compelling contributions particularly to DC key icons Batman & Superman have earned him a dedicated Sprang Legends<\/strong> or Tales of<\/strong> omnibus or compendium? <\/em><\/p>\n

Dick Sprang (July 28th<\/sup> 1915 – May 10th<\/sup> 2000) began earning money from art and narrative early on, working as a designer and illustrator in Ohio whilst still in high school: editing and contributing art to magazines and pulps from the early 1930s onwards. On graduation in 1934 he 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.<\/p>\n

Regular clints included Popular Detective<\/strong>, Popular Western<\/strong>, Phantom Detective<\/strong>, G-Men<\/strong>, Detective Novels Magazine<\/strong>, Crack Detective<\/strong> & Black Hood Detective\/Hooded Detective<\/strong>, for which he also wrote stories. In 1937, Sprang began ghosting\/assisting on newspaper strips including Secret Agent X-9<\/strong> and The Lone Ranger<\/strong>, which led to his scripting episodes of the latter\u2019s radio show.<\/p>\n

As pulps declined and comic books proliferated, he capitalised on the trend, forming a studio shop with Ed Kressy (Fact Finders<\/strong>, The Lone Ranger<\/strong>, Power Nelson<\/strong>) & Norman Fallon (Speed Comics<\/strong>, Shock Gibson<\/strong>, World\u2019s Finest Comics<\/strong>). 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<\/strong> #18 (August\/September 1943) whilst his first full outing was the next issue. For Batman<\/strong> #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 \u201cPat Gordon\u201d, she took off some of the load until their divorce in 1951. Gordon carried on working for DC until around 1961…<\/p>\n

In 1955, despite still being unknown to fans, Sprang took on the Superman\/Batman team-up feature in World Finest Comics<\/strong> and soldiered on with it, newspaper strips, countless covers and more. His astounding artistry enhanced DC titles for 20 years, including Real Fact Comics <\/strong>#1\u20133, 18, Strange Adventures<\/strong> #1, Superman<\/strong>, Superman\u2019s Girl Friend, Lois Lane<\/strong> & Superman\u2019s Pal, Jimmy Olsen<\/strong>, and he fully recreated Batman\u2019s look for the forward-facing 1950s, with a new Batplane, Batmobile and other paraphernalia. Sprang\u2019s Joker <\/strong>was definitive and he also co-created the Riddler<\/strong> and the character who became Supergirl<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That all ended on his retirement in 1963. When he wasn\u2019t 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\u2019t. 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.<\/p>\n

Under recommendation here in my What the \u00a3*^&$!?<\/strong> section is a tome chockfull of Sprang in full bloom, but which still only has him as just one of the guys. Nevertheless what is there is totally unmissable and on the 110th<\/sup> anniversary of his birth there\u2019s something to look for as the material is rarely reprinted and utterly eternally beguiling…<\/p>\n

Batman: The Dark Knight Archives volume 8<\/strong><\/p>\n

Launching a year after Superman<\/strong>, \u201cThe Bat-Man<\/strong>\u201d (and latterly Robin, the Boy Wonder<\/strong>) cemented DC\/National Comics as the market frontrunner and conceptual leader of the burgeoning comic book industry. Having established the fantastic parameters of metahumans with their Man of Tomorrow, the strictly mortal physical perfection and dashing derring-do of DC\u2019s Dynamic Duo then became the swashbuckling benchmark by which all other four-colour crimebusters were measured.<\/p>\n

This luxuriously lavish hardback Archive Edition covers another bevy of Batman<\/strong> adventures (#32-37 from his solo title, spanning December 1945\/January 1946 to October\/November 1946), with the Gotham Gangbusters resolutely returned to battle post-war perils and peacetime perfidies of danger, doom and criminality…<\/p>\n

These Golden Age greats comprise many of the greatest tales in Batman\u2019s decades-long canon, as lead writers Bill Finger & Don Cameron, supplemented by Joe Samachson, Alvin Schwartz and other – sadly unrecorded – scripters, pushed the boundaries of the medium. On the visual side, graphic genius Dick Sprang superseded and surpassed freshly-returned originator Bob Kane – who had been drawing Batman<\/strong>\u2019s daily newspaper exploits until its cancellation – making the feature utterly his own in all but name whilst keeping the Dauntless Double-act at the forefront of a legion of superhero stars, just as veteran contributor Jerry Robinson was reaching the peak of his illustrative powers and preparing to move on to other artistic endeavours. The sheer creativity exhibited here proved the creators responsible for producing the bi-monthly adventures of the Dark Knight were hitting their own artistic peak: one few other superhero titles might match. Within scant years they would be one of the only games in town for Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights fans\u2026
\n\"\"
\nFollowing a fascinatingly fact-filled and incisive Foreword<\/em> from the inestimable Roy Thomas, the all-out action begins with Batman<\/strong> #32 and another malevolently marvellous exploit of The Joker<\/strong> whose \u2018Racket-Rax Racket!\u2019<\/em> (by Cameron & Sprang) finds its felonious inspiration in college-student hazing and initiation stunts, after which Finger scripted \u2018Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder!\u2019<\/em> for your man Sprang, reprising the jaunty junior partner\u2019s origins to reveal how the lad earned the right to risk his life every night beside the mighty Batman in a blisteringly tense first case…<\/p>\n

Light-hearted supplemental feature \u2018The Adventures of Alfred\u2019<\/em> provides thrills and laughs in equal measure as the dutiful retainer reluctantly baby-sits a posh pooch and ends up \u2018In the Soup\u2019<\/em> after stumbling upon a gang of high society food smugglers (Samachson & Robinson), before Cameron & Sprang spectacularly combine a smidgen of sci fi flair and a dash of historical conceit to the regular adventure mix when Professor Carter Nichols<\/em> uses his hypnosis-powered time-travel trick to send Bruce & Dick to the court of Louis XIII to work with D\u2019Artagnan<\/em> and the Three Musketeers<\/em> in \u2018All for One, One for All!\u2019<\/em>
\n\"\"
\nIssue #33 was 1945\u2019s Christmas issue – complete with seasonal cover by Sprang – but is otherwise an all-Win Mortimer art-fest; beginning with Finger\u2019s \u2018Crime on the Wing\u2019<\/em>, wherein the Penguin<\/strong> pops up with a renewed campaign of crime employing trick umbrellas, just to prove to modern mobsters that he\u2019s still a force to be reckoned with, after which anonymously-scripted thriller \u2018The Looters!\u2019<\/em> has the Dynamic Duo hunting a heartless pack of human hyenas led by the Jackal<\/em>: raiding cities struck by disasters natural and not…<\/p>\n

As if that wasn\u2019t vile enough, the shameless exploiter also tries to steal or sabotage the invention of a dedicated seismologist who thought he\u2019d found a way to predict earthquakes. Thankfully, the Batman & Robin are on site to rock the Jackal\u2019s world…<\/p>\n

The issue ended with a similarly uncredited Holiday treat as \u2018The Search for Santa Claus\u2019<\/em> sees three broken old men redeemed by the season of goodwill. After selflessly standing in for Saint Nick, an innocent man who\u2019d spent 25 years in jail, an over-the-hill actor and a millionaire framed and certified insane by unscrupulous heirs all find peace, contentment and justice after encountering our industriously bombastic caped & masked elves…
\n\"\"
\nThree quarters of issue #34 was crafted by Finger & Sprang, beginning with \u2018The Marathon of Menace!\u2019<\/em> as an old man who dedicated his life to speed records organises a cross-country race across the US with enough prize cash to interest crooks – and the ever-vigilant Gotham Gangbusters, after which an insufferable chatterbox deafeningly returns in \u2018Ally Babble and the Four Tea Leaves!\u2019<\/em>; in which the chaos-causing manic maunderer consults a fortune teller and accidentally confounds a string of dastardly desperadoes…
\n\"\"
\nRobinson limned an anonymous yet timely tale as \u2018The Adventures of Alfred: Tired Tracks\u2019<\/em> finds the veteran valet stumbling upon opportunistic thieves before the issue ends with Finger & Sprang detailing \u2018The Master Vs. the Pupil!\u2019 <\/em>Here Batman tests his partner\u2019s progress by becoming the quarry in a devious manhunt, but Robin\u2019s early confidence and success take a nasty nosedive after an embarrassing gaffe which proves the danger of too much success…<\/p>\n

Finger, Bob Kane & Ray Burnley crafted the lion\u2019s share of Batman<\/strong> #35, beginning with the landmark \u2018Nine Lives has the Catwoman!\u2019<\/em> wherein the slinky thief finally emerged as the Dark Knight\u2019s premier female foil. Escaping prison and going on a wild crime spree, the feline felon convinces the world – and possibly the Caped Crusaders – that she cannot die, after which the equally auspicious and influential \u2018Dinosaur Island!\u2019<\/em> catches the heroes performing a sociology experiment in a robotic theme park, only to find the cavemen and giant beasts co-opted by a murderous enemy looking to become king of the criminal underworld by orchestrating their deaths…<\/p>\n

An unknown creator scripted the whimsical exploits of \u2018Dick Grayson, Author!\u2019<\/em> (Kane & Burnley art) as the young daredevil deems comic book stories too unrealistic and is offered the opportunity to write some funnybook dramas which would benefit from actual crime-fighting experience. Of course, all that typing and plotting are harder than they look…<\/p>\n

Kane & Burnley also illustrated all the Batman tales in #36, beginning with Alvin Schwartz\u2019s \u2018The Penguin\u2019s Nest!\u2019<\/em> wherein the podgy Bird of Ill-Omen starts imperilling his new, successful – and legitimate – restaurant venture by committing minor misdemeanours just to get arrested. Unsure of what he\u2019s up to, the Masked Manhunters spend an inordinate amount of time and energy keeping him out of jug… until they finally glean his devious, million-dollar scheme…<\/p>\n

When Hollywood\u2019s top stuntman suffers a head injury on set and begins acting out assorted past roles in the real world, the panicked studios call in Batman as \u2018Stand-In for Danger!\u2019<\/em> (Cameron, Kane & Burnley), whilst Robinson\u2019s \u2018The Adventures of Alfred: Elusive London Eddie!\u2019<\/em> sees the mild-mannered manservant ferreting out a British scallywag gone to ground in Gotham, after which the issue ends on a spectacular high with another terrific time-travel trip. Courtesy of Finger, Kane & Burnley \u2018Sir Batman at King Arthur\u2019s Court!\u2019 <\/em>\u00a0sees our compulsive chrononauts crisscrossing fabled Camelot and battling rogue wizards to verify the existence of enigmatic Round Table legend Sir Hardi Le Noir<\/em>…<\/p>\n

This stunning and sturdy compilation concludes with the all-Robinson, all anonymously scripted #37, beginning with \u2018Calling Dr. Batman!\u2019<\/em> wherein the wounded crimebuster is admitted to hospital and uncovers dark doings and radium robbery. As if that wasn\u2019t enough, a very sharp nurse seems to have suspicions regarding the similarity of the masked celebrity\u2019s wounds to those of a certain millionaire playboy she recently tended to…<\/p>\n

Batman & Robin are back in Tinseltown to solve a dire dilemma as \u2018Hollywood Hoax!\u2019<\/em> sees them hunt thieves and blackmailers who have swiped the master print of the latest certified celluloid smash before the dauntless derring-do ends with a magnificent clash of eternal adversaries when \u2018The Joker Follows Suit!\u2019 <\/em>Fed up with failing in all his felonious forays, the Clown Prince of Crime decides imitation is the sincerest form of theft and begins swiping the Dark Knight\u2019s gimmicks, methods and gadgets; using them to profitably come to the aid of bandits in distress…<\/p>\n

Accompanied as always by a full creator \u2018Biographies\u2019 <\/em>section, this superb collection of comic book classics is a magnificent rollercoaster ride back to an era of high drama and breathtaking excitement: a timeless, evergreen delight no addict of graphic action can ignore.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s got lots of Dick Sprang in it!
\n\u00a9 1945, 1946, 2012 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Kane, Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Joe Samachson, Alvin Schwartz, Dick Sprang, Jerry Robinson, Ray Burnley & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-3744-8 (HB) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. It\u2019s an absolute crime that the comics stories of Richard W. Sprang have never been gathered in a properly curated edition. … <\/p>\n

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