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Post by zaku on Mar 24, 2024 12:54:44 GMT -5
Another figure that always fascinated me was the pre-Crisis Uncle Philip. I know he was practically invented to explain why an orphaned boy grew up practically alone with a butler without being entrusted to adults, but I wonder why he basically only appeared a couple of times. Keep in mind, pre-crisis Bruce did not grow up with Alfred. He came into the picture when Batman already had Robin. Right! |
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Post by Hoosier X on May 3, 2024 22:37:12 GMT -5
I got back to my project to read every issue of Detective Comics from #242 to the present. I’m up to #410.
Art by Neal Adams! This is the one with the cover where some big scary guy is going to throw a turtle boy out of the bell tower. And Batman has to stop him!
(The turtle boy’s name is Flippy. And he’s OK at the end!)
The art has been very nice in recent issues. Aside from Adams, we’ve had some Bob Brown, including some issues inked by Frank Giacoia. The Brown/Giacoia team looks very nice!
There’s been a couple of Man-Bat stories (including the first time that Francine takes the Man-Bat formula!) and the first few appearances of the League of Assassins (led by Dr. Tzin-Tzin!) and some one-shots with Batman solving some weird Gotham-type crimes.
Next up is Detective #411, the first Talia!
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Post by Hoosier X on May 26, 2024 20:57:40 GMT -5
I am up to Detective Comics #424.
This is the one where Barbara Gordon wins a seat in Congress, so it’s the last appearance of the Batgirl feature in Detective for a while. I kind of liked the Batgirl series. We had Jason Bard and Commissioner Gordon for supporting characters. Nice art from Don Heck. And I really like the continuity in the last six months or so, as the commissioner figures out that his daughter is Batgirl and would really like for her to confide in him. And then the last few issues, where she’s running for Congress.
The Batman stories in this round of Detective have been mostly one-shot stories, with almost all the emphasis on Batman and just a few references to the Bruce Wayne aspects of his life. The stores are pretty good, though some of them are a little rushed to fit them into 15 pages.
This is the last of the 48-page, 25-cent issues. They padded the books with lots of really cool crime-detection stories from the late 1940s and the 1950s, lots of stories from a series called Gang-Busters, with a couple of Mysto appearances, and one appearance each by Roy Raymond, Captain Compass and Sierra Smith. I love this stuff!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 4, 2024 0:31:42 GMT -5
I’m up to Detective Comics #429. “Man-Bat Over Vegas!” Written and drawn by Frank Robbins.
I love this one so much! I first read it many years ago. I think it’s re-printed in the Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, the earliest addition. I didn’t really like it much when I first read it. I just hadn’t read enough early 1970s Batman to get it, I think.
It’s really grown on me over the years. I’ve had my own copy for almost 15 years now. I’d forgotten how nice it is! It doesn’t have any nicks or marks on the spine or along the outside. It’s just a little discolored from age. A solid 6.0, maybe?
And a Jason Bard back-up with nice Don Heck pencils and inked by Joe Giella. It’s a great combination.
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Post by MDG on Jun 4, 2024 7:32:02 GMT -5
I’m up to Detective Comics #429. “Man-Bat Over Vegas!” Written and drawn by Frank Robbins. I love this one so much! I first read it many years ago. I think it’s re-printed in the Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, the earliest addition. I didn’t really like it much when I first read it. I just hadn’t read enough early 1970s Batman to get it, I think. It’s really grown on me over the years. I’ve had my own copy for almost 15 years now. I’d forgotten how nice it is! It doesn’t have any nicks or marks on the spine or along the outside. It’s just a little discolored from age. A solid 6.0, maybe? And a Jason Bard back-up with nice Don Heck pencils and inked by Joe Giella. It’s a great combination. And am I correct that it's the first Batman story written and drawn by the same person? |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jun 4, 2024 13:52:05 GMT -5
I’m up to Detective Comics #429. “Man-Bat Over Vegas!” Written and drawn by Frank Robbins. And am I correct that it's the first Batman story written and drawn by the same person? According to GCD, Frank Robbins had previously written and drawn Batman in Detective Comics #416, 420, 421 & 426. |
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Post by MDG on Jun 6, 2024 15:28:51 GMT -5
And am I correct that it's the first Batman story written and drawn by the same person? According to GCD, Frank Robbins had previously written and drawn Batman in Detective Comics #416, 420, 421 & 426. So is Robbins the first to write and draw Batman? |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 6, 2024 16:48:03 GMT -5
According to GCD, Frank Robbins had previously written and drawn Batman in Detective Comics #416, 420, 421 & 426. So is Robbins the first to write and draw Batman? That’s a very good question. My instincts tell me that there’s a very good chance that it’s true. But I’m going to look into it when I get home. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 6, 2024 21:51:31 GMT -5
According to GCD, Frank Robbins had previously written and drawn Batman in Detective Comics #416, 420, 421 & 426. So is Robbins the first to write and draw Batman? After an online search, I haven’t found anybody who’s made an elaborate or detailed search of the credits for the 1930s, the 1940s, the 1950s or the 1960s, but I found several articles that simply state that, yes, Frank Robbins is the first person to both write and draw a Batman story. The Man-Bat story in Detective Comics #416. He also inked and lettered it! Here is probably the best article that I came across. whosoutthere.ca/2019/06/13/the-batmans-first-true-auteur/ |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 12, 2024 18:24:19 GMT -5
I am up to Detective Comics #438, cover dated December 1973/January 1974. Detective Comics had gone bi-monthly a few months before. It’s the first Super-Spectacular issue of Detective, 100 pages for only fifty cents!
(Yeah, I’m still on my big read-through on my Detective Comics collection. I started with #244 (June 1957) about a year ago and I’m slowly making my way to the present. The pace will pick up once I get a little further into the 1970s.)
Actually, there were a couple of big changes as of the previous issue, before it went to 100 pages. Frank Robbins and Bob Brown are gone. Jim Aparo is now the artist on the Batman stories. And the new writer is Archie Goodwin. He’s also the editor.
As for the back-up feature, that had been a rotating affair for a few issues, with Jason Bard, Atom, Hawkman and the Elongated Man. But #437 saw the debut of Manhunter, written by Archie Goodwin, art by Walt Simonson.
I like the Frank Robbins era. Sure, it was hit and miss at times. But I like an awful lot of it. One-shot crime stories. Man-Bat. The Spook. Art by Robbins, Bob Brown and Neal Adams. Batgirl. Jason Bard.
But we’re moving on. It’s the mid-1970s. Detective is going to be 100 pages for a while. It’s going to take forever to read every issue.
But I do love those reprints! #438 has Atom, Zatanna, Green Lantern and Hawkman!
And it also reprints the New Look story where Alfred dies! (They’re going to be reprinting the entire Outsider saga over the following months. Ooof!)
I had #438 when I was a kid. I bought it at a used-book store that had a roomful of comics. Half-price! So I got it for 25 cents!
I must have traded it or sold it at some point because when I started seriously collecting Detective about 2010, I didn’t have it anymore, so I bought this copy (about 2015) for $8.
When I re-read it in 2015, I barely remembered it. The only things I remembered were Batman fighting Ubu and the death of Alfred.
Nowadays, it’s nice that I have a lot more appreciation for Atom, Green Lantern and Hawkman, and the classic (but also silly) search for Zatara.
This issue is a Bronze-Age gem even if 1975 me couldn’t see it.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 16, 2024 17:23:19 GMT -5
I finished Detective #439 today. I read the Manhunter story last. Such great Simonson art!
I realize I’ve never read the Manhunter story as a separate entity. I’ve always read it just as one of the features in Detective, so I’ve read each chapter, out of order, spread over several decades. I read them in order a few years ago, when I was reading my entire Detective collection (I think it was from #390 to the end of the new #52 (#933 legacy numbering) and I didn’t keep going when I hit Rebirth) and I read Manhunter with each chapter separated by loads of DC reprints from the 1940s to the 1960s.
I’ve always liked the Manhunter series, but truthfully, it’s kind of vague to me. I’ve read each chapter at least four or five times, but I really don’t remember what happens next, after the chapter I just read.
I’m thinking about taking a break from Detective when I hit #450 and then go back and read only the Manhunter chapters.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 28, 2024 22:26:21 GMT -5
I’m reading Detective Comics #443, another one of those 100-Page Super-Spectaculars, and it’s a doozy!
It’s the final chapter of the Manhunter story arc! And it’s been moved to the front of the issue and Batman is the costar!
Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson!
And a great batch of reprints!
A looney Golden Age Spectre story!
Golden Age Green Lantern fights the Sportsmaster! 1948. Alex Toth Art!
The first appearance of the Creeper from Showcase #73!
And a 1940s Batman story with Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Tweed gang. I’ve always found the Tweed boys kind of interesting as a concept, but unfortunately the actual 1940s stories are kind of meh.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 29, 2024 23:14:13 GMT -5
I started Detective #444 today.
It starts off with the first episode of the “Bat-Murderer!” storyline, where Batman kills Talia in cold blood!
The second story is from Robin’s solo series, from a 1950 issue of Star-Spangled Comics. Art by Jim Mooney. Pretty good story. Dick does really well on an aptitude test and gets apprenticed to a police detective. He has to act dumb so nobody suspects he’s Robin.
And the next story is … Star Hawkins!
I love Star Hawkins!
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Post by swansong on Jul 4, 2024 7:04:17 GMT -5
People may get out their pitchforks, but overall, pre-Crisis Batman is not my favorite. I think the hard-edgedness that Miller introduced (okay, he wasn't the first) worked quite well for the character. Of course, by the late 90s, it had become too extreme. Interestingly, I did not like the obsession with his dead parents that writers gave him. What I liked about Bronze Age Batman is that he hardly brooded, but sadly, he seemed so incompetent at times.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 4, 2024 10:14:58 GMT -5
People may get out their pitchforks, but overall, pre-Crisis Batman is not my favorite. I think the hard-edgedness that Miller introduced (okay, he wasn't the first) worked quite well for the character. Of course, by the late 90s, it had become too extreme. Interestingly, I did not like the obsession with his dead parents that writers gave him. What I liked about Bronze Age Batman is that he hardly brooded, but sadly, he seemed so incompetent at times. I don’t think anybody’s going to get out the pitchforks. Welcome to CCF! You are so right about the writers’ obsession with the death of the Waynes! It just got stupider and stupider. The Harley Quinn cartoon decided to tackle it, and it was hilarious! Now, hopefully, they will leave it alone for a while and stop turning the death of the Waynes into a vast but senseless conspiracy involving thousands of Gothamites. |
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