Detective Annual #5, 1992
This past Saturday (September 18) was DC’s annual “Batman Day.” Although not exactly a national holiday, DC and Warner have used the occasion to commemorate the caped crusader and launch and market new products around the event.
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….
This Tom Mandrake Batman page was among the first pieces of original art I acquired when I re-entered collecting again about 15 years ago.
In many ways, it’s the perfect Batman page. It’s dark and moody, and Batman is actually “detecting”, something his many writers occasionally forget is actually one of his primary skills.
Mandrake delivers some knockout art in this issue. And Sam Kieth’s terrific cover is the cherry on top.
Detective in the first panel, and Dark Knight mysteriously swooping over the wrecked car in the last. Yes, definitely pretty perfect.
