Batman Annual #21, July 1997
As noted previously, DC’s annual “Batman Day” is tomorrow Saturday, September 18. Although not exactly a national holiday, DC and Warner use the occasion to commemorate the caped crusader and launch and market new products.
So, as in the past two years, we continue to honor the celebration with the rest of the month’s posts devoted to The Dark Knight….
Despite its initial appearance, this page is not from a lost Shang-Chi/Batman crossover. (Nor is it Batman in the world of Big Trouble in Little China. But as always, we digress.)
It’s from a pulpy crossover in DC’s annuals back in 1999. A clever editorial idea that produced a handful of fun stories, including this one from Doug Moench, who appropriately, had written an acclaimed eight-years worth of Master of Kung-Fu (Shang-Chi) comics for Marvel.
The key note about this page of course is that’s it’s a terrific looking example from the criminally underrated JH Williams III. (Promethea). I overpaid for it (at least it was a part of a trade) but I don’t focus on that. It’s beautifully rendered, and like much, if not most, of Williams work, Mick Gray, his traditional inking partner, gorgeously embellishes it to boot.
That closeup panel of Batman is pretty much perfect. Who would want to argue with that guy?
