Tag: Batman Day
Graham Nolan — Widescreen
Detective Comics #0, October 1994
Graham Nolan delivers an action-packed three-panel page from the peak period of the his and Chuck Dixon’ Batman run in the early 90s. This is of course the same dynamic duo that brought us the supervillain Bane a year earlier.
(I still break into a cold sweat from that page where Bane breaks Batman’s back. But I digress.)
I’m fascinated that 100 percent horizontal panel layouts took such a long time to become more commonplace, especially given the frequent storytelling relationship between comic books and film. Although Hollywood introduced widescreen in the 50s (a marketing ploy primarily to lure audiences away from their TV sets) the square format panel was standard for many years.
Now of course the horizontal panel layout is ubiquitous, but even in 1993 it stood out among the crowd. And this one specifically is a dynamic example of how it can enhance the action.
(All The Batman books had “Zero” issues as part of the broader Zero Hour DC crossover event.)
Fun fact #1:
The first bar I ever (illegally) hung out at as a kid in my Long Island hometown was built by Graham’s grandfather — who had sold it by then. (Pub still there, by the way, hopefully it will survive Covid.)
Fun fact #2:
My pal Joey Cavalieri and I both had an English HS teacher who was a classic barfly at said bar. (Good teacher though).
But these are stories for another day.
Neal Adams — Jailbreak
Brave and Bold #81, January 1969
Here’s a splashy Neal Adams page from his fourth overall Batman story.
As always, Neal’s facial emotions are spot on. I love Bork’s smug face, Commissioner Gordon’s shocked expression, and Batman’s frustration with the entire situation. The body language on all the characters on the page also adds drama to the storytelling.
Vince Colletta was the first inker on the story, and Neal wasn’t happy with the results so he and Dick Giordano re-inked some of it. You can see some corrections on this page, and others in the story, when viewing scans of the original art.
Neal Adams Batman from the Silver Age — Definitely pleased to own this one.
A little whiteout never hurt anyone.
Darwyn Cooke — Detective Duo
Detective Comics # 338 and #356 Mashup Re-imagination, 2010
As noted last year, the late, great Darwyn Cooke produced a number of these reinterpretations and homages of classics during his all too short lifetime.
In this dynamic drawing, Darwyn combined two classic covers into one, taking the iconic “punch scene” from Detective #356 and fitting into the #338 layout. Carmine Infantino (pencils) and Joe Giella (inks) created both of the memorable original covers.
When you dive the detail of the re-imagination, you might notice that the crooks in the right frame now more closely resemble the hoods that populate the Darwyn’s astonishing Parker graphic novel series that we published at IDW. It’s a wonderful touch.
Definition of a comics geek?
When I saw this piece offered for sale, I recognized what Darwyn had done — without it being specifically noted in the item description. Issue #356 was one of the first Batman comics I remembered reading as a kid.
Mike Allred — Batusi?
Batman ’66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel #5, January 2017
I’ve expressed my appreciation for Mike Allred way back when I started this blog. (Here and here.) His style is lively, clear, clean and “retro” — absolutely perfect for some great covers on DC’s Batman ’66 publishing program.
Batman ’66 seems to have now gone the way of all defunct universes, but before they wrapped up creating new content, they created quite a few fun crossovers with other similarly adventourous 60s TV shows, including The Green Hornet, Man From U.N.C.L.E., and the British TV favorite “The Avengers.”
DC couldn’t call them that of course, so its Batman ’66 meets Steed and Mrs. Peel.
Whatever you want to call them, a full cover Adam West Batman and cast hypnotically doing the Batusi seems like a great addition to a collection.
The Batusi? Well, in 1966, you just had to be there I guess.
The Batusi is performed by making a horizontal V-sign with one’s index and middle fingers of both hands, and drawing them across in front of the eyes, away from the center of the face simultaneously, with the eyes roughly between the fingers. This is performed in time with the music, and is improved upon by continuing to dance with the lower half of the body, simultaneously. — From Wikipedia
Pete Poplaski — Family Affair
Batman: The Silver Age Newspaper Comics Vol. 3 (1969-1972), November 2016
Pete Poplaski has been called an “artist’s artist” by many creators. His name might not be known as well as other artists, but his talent is unquestionable.
Pete, who broke into comics in the 70s underground community, ultimately became Kitchen Sink Press’ art director, and among many accomplishments helped give some of Robert Crumb’s projects just the right design touch.
Kitchen had the rights to reprint the DC Batman and Superman comic strips in the early 1990s, and Pete created brand new covers that evoked the classic style of those strips.
When we acquired those reprint rights at IDW in 2012, we went back to Pete to see if he would be interested in picking up where he left off, and fortunately he was.
Wayne Boring. Dick Sprang. Al Plastino. Carmine Infantino. You name a classic artist, and Pete can replicate the style.
And perhaps most astonishing of all is this giant wraparound cover for Batman Silver Age Volume 3. Featured on these covers are nearly everyone in the Bat family from that era. Good guys and villains alike. All the type is hand lettered.
And when I say giant, I’m not kidding. When combined, the two pieces are nearly four-feet wide.
I’ve never seen another piece of comic art quite like it.
September 19 is “Batman Day,” so we’re going to ride the Bat-train for a few weeks and post some additional theme-appropriate art. No “Bam or “Pow” included.
Neal Adams — Happy Batman Day
Convention Commission, 2012
We interrupt our multi-part look at Spider-Man vs. Mysterio in honor of today’s “Batman Day” (9/21) celebration. Our regularly scheduled programming will continue tomorrow.
Neal Adams first Batman story appeared more than 50 years (!) ago in World’s Finest Comics #175. The art blew my mind then, and still does today. Happy Batman Day, Neal, and thanks for all of it!
Tomorrow, we conclude our multi-part look at Spider-Man vs. Mysterio with none other than “the Dude” — artist Steve Rude.