Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Batman And Robin

Carmine Infantino — Batman’s New Look

Original Art and The Artists

Detective Comics #329, July 1964

Carmine Infantino Batman art (Detective Comics #329) From the collection of Greg Goldstein.

I always wanted an early Carmine Infantino Batman page, and I couldn’t resist this one: four tall vertical panels on a large-art 1964 page, from only the third issue of the “New Look” Batman.

I love the layout. Infantino uses those narrow panels beautifully, moving Batman steadily downward through the page until that terrific final shot of him dropping into the darkness. (And, as a bonus, we are essentially looking at the cover scene.)

As Robin might have said: “Far out.”

Large-art Infantino Batman pages seem much tougher to find than his Flash work. There were simply fewer of them to begin with, and unless somebody is sitting on a hidden stash, they’re pretty scarce.

This page is from Detective Comics #329, published just a few months after DC decided Batman needed a bit of an overhaul.

By 1964, most of the company’s superhero line had moved pretty decisively into the Silver Age — the Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman, along with the Challengers, Adam Strange, Doom Patrol and plenty of others.

Batman, meanwhile, was still dealing with goofy space aliens, mutant creatures, time travel, color variations of his costume — and whatever else somebody could dream up that month.

To be clear, as a very young kid, I loved those stories in the 25-cent reprints. But sales suggested readers at the time were a little less enthusiastic.

DC handed the Batman reins to Julius Schwartz, and the result was the “New Look” — more grounded stories, a redesigned costume, and a renewed emphasis on mystery and crime.

Infantino’s art made the change feel immediate. His Batman was sleek, elegant and modern, and this page is a great example of why I’ve always wanted one.

As for the stories?

Well, of course, not long after that, the TV show came along.

Things got silly again.

But that’s another tale.

Batman Day, an annual event, is Saturday, September 19.

Batman went from a specimen in an interplanetary zoo to a somewhat more grounded superhero, complete with the new Bat-symbol — and a bigger, bolder logo for the comic itself. (It’s obvious from those early issues that consistency in the placement of the Bat-symbol was still a little sketchy.)

Brian Stelfreeze — Zero Hour, Plus 30

Original Art and The Artists

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #31, September 1994

Brian Stelfreeze provides this amazing “Golden Age” style cover for a Batman story in the 1994 Zero Hour event. The “original” portly Alfred suddenly reappears (from another timeline) — and, spoiler alert — disappears at the end of the story.

No matter: Stelfreeze’s cover painting is terrific, and Brian purposely added all the stains and scratches to give it an aged look.

Bonus: I can cover up his signature and no one realizes Brian painted it; it’s (obviously) nothing like his traditional painting style.

Zero Hour — The first large-scale crossover event at DC since Crisis on Infinite Earths, is celebrating its 30thanniversary. It’s a timeline event, designed primarily to clean up some continuity holes left behind by “Crisis.” Some get fixed, some don’t, but it’s a fun crossover, regardless. (And of course I’m biased, because pal Dan Jurgens wrote and drew the original mini-series.  A brand new 30th anniversary special featuring a new story by Dan and Ron Marz landed on shelves last week.)

Alfred makes his first appearance in Batman #16; He loses weight a year or so later when a thinner actor is cast in the role in the first Batman movie serial.

Patrick Gleason — Demon Child

Original Art and The Artists

Batman and Robin #0, November 2012

Nothing pleases an editor (and publisher) more than when a creative team gels in such a way that they define a character(s) for a long time, and deliver consistently quality storytelling issue after issue. 

The readers, obviously, notice.

Case in point: Writer Peter Tomasi, penciller Patrick Gleason and inker Mick Gray delivered a great run on Batman and Robin during the “New 52” period. 

(They had actually created a cool three-parter in the “Batman Reborn” period prior. So many eras, so little time.)

This page is the phenomenal closing splash from a prequel “zero” issue featuring the full origin of Damien Wayne, the (genetically-engineered) offspring of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. As you can see from the published page, this is the first time father and son meet.

The composition and use of negative space work seamlessly. Batman looks pissed, and the much-smaller Damien isn’t intimidated at all upon meeting his legendary father.

Perfect.