I got Detective Comics #366, #371 and #390 in the mail a few days ago, and I was especially pleased with Detective Comics #371. This contains the infamous "Batgirl's Costume Cut-Ups" story where Batgirl messes up while crimefighting because she's acting too much like a girl by straightening her mask or wiping mud off her costume, thus letting the bad guys get away. It's awesome! Very silly, very clunky but HILARIOUS!

I was afraid it would be really beat up, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The cover looks really nice, a bit worn of course, but still solid and bright. The back cover has a stain along the top that I don't know what it is and there's also a half-inch rip on the side about halfway down that goes about halfway through the book.

But it was in my price range and I'm very happy with how nice it is overall.

We've talked about this story on other threads so I'm going to move on to Detective Comics #390.



I thought this was a great late "New Look" issue! Especially since my copy is a very nice VG+ and I got it for a pretty good price.

(Does everybody else still consider this the "New Look"? I used to hesitate about calling it the "New Look" as you get to Detective #380 or so, but then I saw a letter column from around then when the editors are still talking about the "New Look." (I'm reading Detective Comics from about #376 to #386 right now, and I've been looking for that comment so I can quote it, but I haven't stumbled across it yet. There's also a letter from this period from Juan Cole, of the "Informed Comment" website.))

The Batman story is titled "If the Coffin Fits -- Wear It!" and it's written by Frank Robbins with art by Bob Brown and Joe Giella. I've come to really like these done-in-one Frank Robbins stories. Some of them are pretty silly, but you also get mini-masterpieces like "Die Small, Die Big!" in Detective #385.

Here's the story: Batman has been in a bunch of fights with thugs lately, and his costume keeps getting ripped to shreds! In the Bat-Cave, the takes off the latest shredded costume (he looks like Doc Savage wearing a bat cowl) and looks sadly at the wardrobe where there's one lone Batman costume left. So the next time he goes out on patrol, the costume gets ripped again ... and this time they get the tailor's tag!

SAM TWEED
BY APPOINTMENT TO BATMAN

It's true. During the "New Look" era, Batman had a tailor. And he put a tag with his name in it in the Batman costumes he created!

That's hilarious. I was enjoying this very very silly story anyway, but this little tidbit of information made me smile and I was onboard for this Silver Age craziness. The more I think about it, it just strikes me as the kind of thing you would do if you were a tailor and you lived in Gotham City and Batman was your client. Really, the way Gotham is portrayed, it would seem like a glaring contradiction if Batman used a Gotham tailor that DIDN'T put his name on the tag on the collar!

They're worried that the villain - the Masquerader - may have specifically been tearing up Batman's clothes to get the tag and find the tailor. (Because why wouldn't you go after Batman's tailor if you were a neophyte Gotham City super-villain wearing an orange skull mask with a fin on the top and a big "M" on your chest?) Anyway, they go to the tailor shop and Sam Tweed is dead on the floor and their worst fears are realized and they get involved in a few more pages of "New Look" bananashenanigans. And at the end ...

Well, I'm not going to tell you the end. You may read this story some day. (If you can't take it, send me a message and I'll reveal the secret.) At first, I rolled my eyes at how dumb it was, but after thinking about it for an hour, I realized there was a certain pulpy genius to it. It's kind of like one of those low-budget Bela Lugosi movies that seem so awful and so silly that you have to see a few of them before you appreciate them for what they are. At this point, I've read enough Frank Robbins stories to know when I'm looking at a classic of its kind.

You mileage may (and almost certainly will) vary. I hope some of the CCF members who were reading comics in 1969 will weigh in with their thoughts about "If the Coffin Fits -- Wear It!"

I was thinking of making a list of my ten favorite stories from the last few years of Jack Schiff's stint as editor on the Batman books. I'm planning on starting with 1959 and going up to Schiff's last issues before the start of the "New Look" Batman. I decided to limit my list to the 1959 to 1964 period because I've read a bigger proportion of the later stories, and I thought Detective #267 (the first appearance of Bat-Mite) was a good starting point.

A lot of fans dismiss this period as irredeemably silly. I used to be the same way ... until I actually started reading more of them. I love these comics! Weird transformations! Random aliens with really dumb motives! The classic Batman villains all but disappear! But you also get a bunch of new villains from the great (Catman and Clayface) to the silly (Polka-Dot Man!) to the weird but interesting (Double X and Professor Arnold Hugo). And last but not least, a parade of supporting characters that seem (to me at least) to be the heart of the series, the main reason I love these comics so much.

I have about 25 issues of Detective Comics from this period (but not many issues of Batman), so I'm relying on reprints as I'm considering candidates for a Top Ten. This includes old reprints (like the stories in the 80-Page Giants in the 1960s) and more modern reprints, like Batman in the Fifties and Batman in the Sixties.

I was trying to come up with two or three preliminary candidates for each of the major story types for this era (Best Bat-Mite story, Best Weird Transformation, Best Random Alien Story, etc.) and I was kind of surprised by how many of these stories feature Batwoman and Bat-Girl. (And I'm talking about the early 1960s Bat-Girl (Betty Kane), not late 1960s Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)). Bat-Girl only appeared in six stories in this period (she made a few appearances in the 1970s), but four of them showed up as I was putting together a few obvious candidates for the era's best stories.

For example, when I thought of the Weird Transformation stories, the two that popped into my mind were "The Colossus of Gotham!" from Detective Comics #292:

You can barely see tiny Batwoman in the tiny Batmobile. And you can barely read this tiny, italicized font I use for captions.

And "The Bizarre Batman Genie!" from Detective Comics #322:

This is the only time Bat-Girl appeared without Batwoman. The bizarre Batman genie is controlled by the bad guys!
And Robin and Bat-Girl have to defeat it without any help from the adults! (Unless you count the GCPD. Which you don't if you've ever read any of these stories.)

And my favorite Bat-Mite story is "Bat-Mite Meets Bat-Girl!" from Batman #144:

Yeah, you can tell this is one of the greatest comics ever just from the cover!

The best Random Alien story is "Prisoners of Three Worlds!" from Batman #153:

A Three-Part Novel! They really went all out with this one! (And it's probably my favorite Batman story from this period.)

(Although "Captives of the Alien Zoo!" from Detective Comics #326 is also a great story if you're looking for Random Aliens, even though there is no trace of Batwoman or Bat-Girl):

(The last Jack Schiff story in Detective Comics was kind of a big SCREW YOU to the fans who didn't like the Random Aliens stories.)

And the best appearance by a classic Batman villain (which are few and far between in this period) is "The Great Clayface-Joker Feud" from Batman #159:

Matt Hagen breaks into the big league!

I'm still looking and considering as many stories as I can find. If anybody has suggestions, feel free to speak up, even if they don't have Batwoman and Bat-Girl in them.

Hoosier and I will always disagree on the appeal of the Jack Schiff Batman era. I think the reason is this

I was reading them when they came out. Read them from 1962 and up. So even though I was 8-10 years old, it still felt like they were being "written down" to my age level or below. Yes, there were exceptions like Robin Dies At Dawn but otherwise I just had the feeling that the Batman character was better than the way he was portrayed

And it was so apparent they were copying many of the Superman schticks. Vicki Vale was a clone of Lois Lane. Bat-Mite was Mr. Mxyzptlk. Ace was Krypto and looked stupid with a mask. And the aliens were all cookie cutter. The New Look Barman seemed like a breathe of fresh air 

But I can see how a younger person then me, growing up on comics that took themselves more seriously, look back at this wacky juvenile stuff and think it was fun. Just as long they weren't trapped with it for years and years

Didn't he get the first promotion at the end of Year One? While it's not official continuity, I believe we hear that he's just received the second one at the beginning of Prey (Legends of the Dark Knight), but I could be wrong.

I'm glad somebody has responded to zilch's questions about Gordon. I'm not such a big fan of Year One or Year Two, so I couldn't add anything to his specific questions.

All this talk about Commissioner Gordon reminded me of something I've wanted to check for a while. As I read scattered issues of Detective Comics and Batman from the 1940s, the 1950s and the 1960s, it seems that there are bunches and bunches of issues where Gordon doesn't appear. (Sometimes he's only in one or two panels.) I'd really like to see a complete index for Gordon's pre-1964 appearances. And a short history of Commissioner Gordon might be fun to read if I came across it on the Internet. I can't do it because you'd have to read every issue of Batman, Detective and World's Finest for a 25-year period.

So does Gordon disappear from the Batman series for months (maybe years) at a time? Or is just a perception since I've read scattered issues, some as original issues and some as reprints?

I've noticed the same thing about Alfred. For Alfred, it's even worse! I just flipped through the five stories from 1960 to 1963 in the TPB Batman in the Sixties, and Alfred isn't in any of them. (Gordon is in four out of the five, but in three of them, he's in one panel only and in the remaining story, he's only in two panels.) And I've noticed a few stories from this period where Alfred will be in one or two panels only, opening the door or holding a coat, with minimal or no dialogue. But a lot of the time, he's just not there.

They killed Alfred in Detective #328, but I rather doubt that readers who missed that issue would have noticed that Alfred was no longer around because of how seldom he was appearing.

I think. I could be wrong.

I've collected Detective Comics #312 to #326 over the last few years, that's 15 issues in a row, and I have been thinking about going through them and reading carefully and taking notes on the Gordon and Alfred appearances.

I read Detective Comics #312 last night.

Look at that cover! It's so AWESOME I can barely cope with it!
Clayface is fighting Batman, who has just stumbled into the magic grotto and has the Clayface powers!
And look at poor Robin! He's helpless because he's so SHOCKED at how awesome this issue is,
and he's been shoved into a corner from which he may never escape!

It's pretty awesome. I've had it for six months or so. I read it when I first got it but I haven't looked at it since and I had forgotten how GREAT and CRAZY it is! I'm putting it on the list for consideration for the Top Ten list I was talking about.

Alfred does not appear at all. And Gordon is only in a single panel where he tells Batman that it might take the police a few hours to find the information Batman needs because it's after business hours. And he's not identified by title! Batman just calls him Gordon and orders him around. Gordon probably told the Gotham cops not to knock themselves out getting the information too quickly until Batman learns how to treat the police commissioner.

Gotham cop: "Batman needs an address. First place we'll look ... Gotham Donut Shop! Ha ha ha!"

Here's the 1952-1986 listing from Mike's Amazing World of Comics

Commissioner Gordon Appearances