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Michael Cho — Man Of A Thousand Costumes

Original Art and The Artists

Detective Comics #1000, April 2019

Today concludes our special series celebrating Batman’s 80th birthday.

I’m not a child of the ’50s. Didn’t make the cut.

But… I was a little kid in the ’60s when DC published many great 25-cent annuals (80 pages!) and specials reprinting classic tales of classic characters.

Like Batman, for instance.

It was in these annuals that I learned abut Giant Batman, Rip Van Batman, Rainbow Batman and more. I had no idea when these stories first appeared, and I didn’t care. It also didn’t matter that they didn’t quite fit in with the “new-look” Batman. They were goofy fun, and I was a kid, and goofy fun was a job requirement.

I hadn’t thought much about those iterations of Batman in recent years. Many of those stories have yet to be reprinted in the current DC omnibus collections because of, well, pesky chronology.

Then at SDCC, Preview Night, Michael Cho’s art representative put this original of Detective #1000 on display while I was chatting with him.

It floored me.

Michael captured so many of those wondrous Batman moments in one stunning and giant (Its drawn on a double-size board) original. And as noted previously, I’m a passionate admirer of his art.

I asked the price. The dealer answered. I gulped. My art budget would be shredded.

But I understood the pricing — it’s obviously a one-of-a-kind piece. A classic cover for a milestone comic book.

I hesitated for one millisecond. And then I was smart enough to say: “Yes, I want it.”

Good thing too. Turned out there was another buyer literally right behind me. (Typically, I’m the collector who just misses out, so this was unusual.)

I confess that I didn’t recognize ALL the Batmen on the cover at first. (Some of course are covered by the final trade-dress.) But fortunately, with Michael’s help, it’s now sorted out:

17 visible front-facing Batmen surrounding “Conventional” (Regular? Traditional?) Batman and Robin, and seven additional Batmen with a back view to the reader. Below is the complete list, with the original appearances noted as well. The art gallery features the original covers, as wells Michael’s preliminary art, created digitally.

These are not all the odd versions of Batman. Michael himself laments that he couldn’t fit in Batman Jones (Batman #108) or Batman Creature (Batman #162), and a few others, but hey, there’s only so much room.

As for Invisible Batman? (Detective #199.) Who’s to say he’s not also on the cover somewhere? I’m certainly not ruling it out.

Detective 1000 by Michael Cho:

  • Front view (17):
    • Jungle Batman – Batman 72
    • Rainbow Batman (full) – Detective 241
    • Mummy Batman – Detective 320
    • Giant Batman (leg) – Detective 243
    • “First” Batman (Thomas Wayne costume) – Detective 235
    • Alien Batman (weird face & body) – Batman 140
    • Alien Batman (orange ears) – Detective 251
    • Bat-Baby – Batman 147
    • Genie Batman – Detective 322
    • Swindle Batman – Detective 222
    • Captive Planet Batman (weird helmet) – Detective 256
    • Rip Van Batman – Batman 119
    • Scuba Batman – Detective 253
    • Robot Batman – Detective 239
    • Dragon Society Batman (tunic with #1) – Detective 273
    • Scottish Batman (kilt bottom) – Detective 198
    • “Original” Batman (cape open like wings) – Detective 195
  • Back View (7):
    • Bronze Batman – Detective 302
    • Clayface Batman – Detective 312
    • Zebra Batman – Detective 275
    • Interplanetary (space helmet) Batman – Detective 165
    • White Snow Suit Batman – Detective 165
    • Luminous (radiation) Batman – Detective 165
    • Rainbow Batman (pink) — Detective 241
Young brains explode — at a bargain price of a quarter!
Michael’s cover jarred my memory into recalling this 1994 cover by Jon Bogdanove which features many different versions of “traditional” Batman in one place, and the matching “reverse” version featuring Batman surrounded by Supermen. I think that one appeared as a poster only. Not as cool, certainly, but fun in their own right.

Dan Jurgens / Norm Rapmund — No Joke

Original Art and The Artists

Booster Gold #21, August 2009

Part five of a multi-part series celebrating Batman’s 80th birthday.

Booster Gold goes back in time to save Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) from being crippled as depicted in Alan Moore’s classic Killing Joke. Of course it doesn’t work, and of course, this being a Booster Gold comic, things go from bad to worse. Batman (at this point in the timeline, Dick Grayson) is none too happy.

Jurgens wrote much of this Booster Gold series, and he plays to his own specific artistic skills and interests. I enjoy the storytelling here, as well as the expression on Booster’s face, a combination of dismay and disappointment as he explains his failure to Batman. And extending Batman’s “ears” into the upper panel is a clever and splashy touch.

The New 52 reboot ended this series a few years later, which was unfortunate. It combined action and wit (and mind-bending time paradoxes) avoiding outright camp or satire while providing a joyful and thoughtful ride through the DC time stream. 

Ty Templeton and Rich Burchett — Very Animated

Original Art and The Artists

The Batman and Robin Adventures #2, December 1995

Batman Animated remains a timeless version of the character more than 25 years after its debut. That’s a well-known fact. Lesser well known perhaps is that the comic books published to support the award-winning TV series are pretty terrific in their own right.

Similar to the series itself, DC assembled an all-star group of creators to support these tie-ins including Burchett, Templeton, Joe Staton, and the late Mike Parobeck among many others.

Stories were typically self- contained, and the writing style was “all-ages,” sophisticated enough for adults, but not too complex for kids. 

On this absolutely great opening splash page by the Templeton/Burchett team, the artists dramatically illustrate how Batman can get very, very animated indeed. Cartoon or not, this version of Batman is a deadly serious guy.

As he should be. Always.

John Byrne — Riddle Me This

Original Art and The Artists

Batman 3D Graphic Novel, May 1990

Part three of a multi-part series celebrating Batman’s 80thbirthday.

I missed this story, published nearly 30 years ago, the first time around. I don’t care much for 3D in media — comics, film, etc. And this cover didn’t do anything for me. I probably never even noticed that it contained a new story by Byrne, since his credit is poorly noted at the bottom. I’m guessing I thought it was a straight reprint collection at the time.

Well, the joke is on me. This is great Byrne Batman art, a fact that’s pretty obvious when examining the original pages.

The story itself is fine and, in support of plot, Byrne brings in Two-Face, Joker, Penguin, and of course, the Riddler. Art-wise though, the 52-page story is gem, featuring many catchy and dynamic pages. Byrne may have created the story to take advantage of 3D effects, but it works perfectly well in traditional form, as evidenced by its recent black and white reprinting in the DC Universe by John Byrne Omnibus (2017).

But… Black and White? No budget for color? Batman? John Byrne? Really?

Hey DC — how about coloring it for its 30thanniversary next year and issuing it in deluxe format one-shot?

If that doesn’t make a few nickels, nothing will.

Enrique Alcatena — Haunting Homage

Original Art and The Artists

Batman of Arkham #1 (Elseworlds one-shot), June, 2000

When you think of homages — or outright swipes — to classic comic book covers, a few classic and obvious issues come to mind:

  • Action #1
  • Fantastic Four #1
  • X-men #141

But there’s an issue slightly less obvious that  may be the record holder with the most homages, especially with the same character:

Detective #31 (1939) by Bob Kane is just the third Batman cover ever, and a great one. It inspired Neal Adams to create his own version about thirty years later, and at that point, the floodgates opened. See below for as near a complete gallery as I could assemble. (Some are looser than others, but they all aim to capture the spirit of original cover.)

Meanwhile, on this gorgeous original cover by Alcatena (why isn’t he doing more comic book work?!) third time was a charm for me. I was under-bidder when it came up at auction. Shortly thereafter, when a major art dealer had it for sale, I missed it, and it sold again.

But that owner only had the cover a short while before he sold (or traded) it back to the same dealer, and this time I quickly managed to stake my claim on this beautifully detailed cover.

  • Original homage by Adams
  • Neal adams homage to… Neal Adams
  • Matt Wagner
  • Tony Harris
  • Klaus Janson
  • Freddie Williams III
  • Michael Cho
  • Joe DeVito
  • Frank Quietly
  • Recreation by Murphy Anderson
  • Brian Stelfreeze
  • Commission — Unpublished
    by Marc Hempel
  • Commission — Unpublished
    by Sheldon Moldoff
  • Commission — Unpublished
    by Kelly Jones
  • Commission — Unpublished
    by Dave Devries
  • Anniversary Litho by Tim Doyle

And a few from non-Batman titles…

Tim Sale — “Mrrow!”

Original Art and The Artists

Batman: The Long Halloween, #6, June 1997 

Wait.

It’s November 1, and we’re still discussing Halloween?

Of course — we are talking about Batman: The Long Halloween, one of the greatest long-form (13 issues) Batman stories ever created. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale craft an inventive and gorgeous story that takes place early in Batman’s career, centered on a serial killer who only kills on holidays. 

The story also features the Calendar Man, once a silver age joke, who taunts the caped crusader in the manner of Hannibal Lechter. He knows who the murderer is, but will only provide tantalizing and taunting clues, not the killer’s actual identity.

On this great action page, Catwoman attacks Poison Ivy in an attempt to break her spell over Bruce Wayne, but the somewhat hypnotized Bruce breaks Catwoman herself from the attack.

Mrrow indeed!

(And happy anniversary Mr. Wayne. Our next few posts are in honor of your 80th year as the Caped Crusader.)

Gabriel Hardman — Like A Demon

Original Art and The Artists

Cursed Comics Cavalcade #1, October 2018

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Jack Kirby’s Demon — despite a short-lived original run of 16 issues — endures 47 years after his first appearance in 1972.

Talented creators have reinvigorated, and in some cases outright reinvented, Jack’s supernatural character in the ensuing decades. It’s an all- star list that includes Matt Wagner, John Byrne, Garth Ennis, John McCrea, and many others.

Add to that list Gabriel Hardman, who, on this splash, provides an iconic and frightening image of the classic character. Gabe’s use of deep black inks and the off-setting lightning and breaking glass create a haunting and dramatic page. (I think the art looks more impressive in black and white than in published color, but regular readers of this blog probably already guessed that.)

Hardman’s main professional work is creating storyboards for films, a list that includes Spider-Man, Batman, Logan and much more. He’s terrifically talented, and much sought after in Hollywood, so we don’t get enough of his work in comics, which is a definite pity for comic art aficionados. 

In the meantime, we can likely look forward to yet another artistic interpretation of Kirby’s character sometime in the future. 

After all, we all have our Demons.

An atmospheric storyboard from Logan. Even if Gabe were permitted to part with it, he couldn’t — he does most of his storyboards fully digital.



Michael Cho — Hip To Be Square

Original Art and The Artists

Justice League of America: The Silver Age Vol. #3, 2017

Green Arrow is back on the air (CW) for its eighth and final season, so before the emerald archer fades into the TV sunset, our next few posts will feature a few Green Arrow originals.

Green Arrow, in his original incarnation was definitely not a cool cat. As Neal Adams points out, he was basically a poor man’s version of Batman, complete with a young ward sidekick (Speedy) and an “Arrow car”, his own version of the Batmobile. (Probably a souped-up Corvair. Look it up.)

Still, as noted by pretty much all fans of comic book history know, the entire DC universe of the early silver age — especially when compared to upstart Marvel Comics — was “square.”

And I say, so what?  Lots of things in the Kennedy era were “square,” but simultaneously, super cool.

This JLA trade collection cover, by the incredibly talented Michael Cho, captures the exuberant spirit of “The New Frontier.” Green Arrow takes the lead with his fellow Justice League teammates right beside him. Here they can take on anything the world throws at them — and have fun doing it.

(This cover line-up represents the brief period in team history — Justice League of America #14 – #30 — after the Atom had joined, but before Hawkman had come aboard.)

This cover also embodies the energy and spirit of the late, great creator (and Michael’s good friend) Darwyn Cooke, while still very original in its own right. 

I have yet to see a Michael Cho cover that I didn’t enjoy. And I doubt I will.

  • Printed Cover
  • Published Print

Above: Covers and Interior Title Splash Pages For The First Appearances of Green Arrow and The Atom in JLA.

Carmine Infantino — History Calling

Original Art and The Artists

Flash #112, May 1960

The Flash returns to THE CW shortly for its sixth TV season, so the Scarlett Speedster receives his own multi-part blog series this week.

Some of the most talented superhero storytellers in comics couldn’t figure out what to do with the narrative and exposition elements that move the story along when no one is wearing spandex or a cape.  

Many comics were once filled with pages and pages of standard medium-angle shots of talking heads. Six panels per page. Rinse. Repeat.

Not Carmine Infantino’s pages. His innovative sense of panel composition and design, and use of varying and dynamic camera angles, made the “yada yada” part of the story much more engaging than most of his peers. 

In this very early Flash story from issue #112 (inks by Joe Giella) he even manages to innovate a phone call.  We take narrow “widescreen” (horizontal) panel layouts for granted now, but in 1960? Not so much. A page design like this is revolutionary 60 years ago.

Of course, superhero comics are ultimately about conflict and action, and re-reading these early Flash stories, his innovative style really jumps out. Those crazy speed lines that help give the illusion of 3D motion in a 2D medium. That sleek space age costume… designed before the space age really began. 

And those amazing covers? Carmine gave up pencilling The Flash when he was promoted to DC’s art director. His cover on the final full issue of his 11-year run as Flash artist blew my mind as a kid in 1967 — and still does today.

What else would you expect from the designer of the Silver Age of Comics?

  • First Appearance of The Flash, Siver Age Version
  • First Issue of The Flash in his own series
An exercise in futility when I tried this at home…
Infantino’s final pencilled issue of the Flash ended with this show-stopping cover.

Kevin Altieri — Happy New Year!

Original Art and The Artists

Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1, January 1995

This is a terrific three-page Batman / Joker sequence from the amazing Batman Animated team: Story by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, art by Kevin Altieri. Kevin is primarily known for his role as an award-winning director and storyboard artist for Batman and other animated series. As such, Kevin’s done little actual comic book work. As this sequence clearly illustrates, that’s a shame.

Kevin Altieri:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0022828/