I am borrowing Travis' idea but I am narrowing the subject matter. I bought a large Batman collection from a friend of mine. I am pulling them out of the box as my friend had them. In the case of a multi-book story line I am going to set the book aside until I have the full story. The collection includes Catwoman, Azrael, Robin and other Bat related books. Since there are three long boxes of books, this will take awhile. I would love to hear anyone elses takes on these books.
Batman 0
Creature Of The Night.
Writer Doug Moench
Artist Mike Manley
Inker Josel Rubinstein
This is the Batman origin circa 1994. The origin is sandwiched around a current Batman investigation where he tries to stop a mugger who has killed three so far. This is also shortly after his return from the Knightfall saga. For someone who knows as much about Batman as I do, it really isn't much of a story, but it does give a good overview of the story so far, which as I recall the 0 issues were supposed to do. there were a couple of questions that I have that the story brought up. Where was Alfred at this time? It is clear he hasn't done anything at Wayne Manor, which is in a little disrepair. Second question, What did Two-Face do to Dick Grayson? To quote the story, "Dick's greatest mistake, his near-fatal encounter with Two-Face, which was an event from which he never truly recovered...even after striking out on his own to become Nightwing." What issue was that story in? The story was good and I enjoyed the art. This actually was a good book to start this project on.
I scanned the comic to post the image here, but for some reason it wouldn't upload. Any suggestions on that? Otherwise, I will just do the reviews with no images.
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What did Two-Face do to Dick Grayson? I barely remember -- I haven't read those stories since they were published back in circa 1994 -- but it was something about one of Robin's early missions in which Two-Face tortured him, or something.
Very cool, Howard. I hope you can be more consistent that I am.
Anyways, I believe this is one of the times that Alfred quit working for Bruce, since he had just recovered from his back being broken. Alfred didn't want to see him put himself out there any more. I think that is right. If I am wrong I am certain someone will chime in.
I know the Two-Face Robin thing was put into a 2 issue prestige format series in the '90s. I think it was Two-Face Strikes Twice.
As for images, I use Image Shack to host mine, and then direct link to it with the little camera button.
Here's Wikipedia's summation of the Two-Face/ Grayson encounter -
Dick enjoys his first year as Robin, regarding the job as an adventure until a confrontation with Two-Face serves as a rude awakening for the young hero. The villain captures Judge Lawrence Watkins and Batman, and has each suspended from a hangman's noose in a "double gallows death-trap". Robin, trying to save the judge, convinces Two-Face to flip his trademark coin on whether or not Watkins would hang. Robin wins the flip, but Two-Face "honors" the deal by drowning the judge instead. Robin is unable to prevent Watkins' death, and receives a beating at the hands of Two-Face; a beating that Batman witnesses, still tied up on the platform. Eventually, Batman frees himself and apprehends the villain. This event, however, emotionally scars the young crime-fighter. Rather than see Dick be further endangered, Batman "fires" his partner, sidelining the 13-year-old Boy Wonder for a while, only to bring him back shortly afterwards.
If I remember correctly, Chuck Dixon alluded to this event on numerous occasions during his runs on Detective & Robin, but didn't actually tell us the full story until Robin #0.
The Two-Face Strikes Twice mini-series was a completely unrelated story about Harvey kidnapping the twins of his ex-wife, Gilda.
Batman 1 (Millennium Edition, of course. I do not have that much money.)
It is always interesting to see where the characters start out. It is fascinating to see how far they have come. Of course, the storytelling is much simpler. What Batman 0 told in 22 pages Batman 1 tells it in 2. Some of the plot-holes boggle the mind, but then they were written for a much younger audience than today. Of course too it makes it fun to ridicule.
The first Joker story appears here. The Joker announces a killing in advance and it comes to pass using one of the great fictional devices, the deadly drug that kills with no symptoms in exactly 24 hours. It is a very effective device, so why doesn't he use it again? In the second murder he hides in a suit of armor, kills his target, but only knocks out the police. I guess the Joker is proving he really is insane. The best part however is Batman's reaction. After the first killing Robin wants to go after The Joker but Batman is to busy smoking his pipe. After the second kill the third target is a criminal. That gets Batman into action. Two innocent men die, but threaten a criminal and here we go. The rest of the story is tracking down The Joker, Robin getting captured and Batman making the last minute save.
The second story is Batman fighting giants, who are men given drugs by Hugo Strange that make them grow giant size. The only notable thing I got from this story is that Batman intentionally kills two of Strange's henchmen, shooting them while they are driving a truck transporting one of the giants, with a machine gun from the Bat-plane. He does say he regrets it, but it was necessary. Of course since we are dealing with giants, the ending is an homage to King Kong.
The third story is a robbery at sea. Batman sends Robin on a cruise to foil a jewel thief. The thief turns out to be Catwoman, her first appearance. She is called The Cat here. A fairly straight forward story with two comments. The first is Batman giving the reader a lesson in not admiring criminals. He makes 4 men drop their guns and lets Robin beat them up. Isn't that child endangerment? Secondly, Batman obviously is enamored with Catwoman. She is dressed as an old woman. He removes her make-up. She protests and he says "Quiet or Papa spank." Then as she escapes from them Batman 'accidentally' bumps into Robin and enables her to get away. Of course Robin is no dummy and knows what is going on, especially when Batman just stares into the sky hoping he meets her again.
The final story actually has a title, The Joker Returns. Two days after the first story The Joker escapes from jail using explosives from two fake teeth he had. Good thing he didn't bite down on his food before them or would have really shot his mouth off. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.) In his early days The Joker was mainly a jewel thief who always announced before time what he was going to steal. Of course he also enjoyed killing people. The story called for The Joker to knock Batman out with a mace, but the artist drew a two headed axe instead. That gave Batman Excedrin headache number 456. The police tried to unmask him but fortunately Batman woke up in time and escaped. In his escape Batman showed he not only is athletic he is also a great contortionist. The Joker and Robin also have exceptional leaping abilities as both are able to leap from rooftop to rooftop across a street. I am going to scan all of these panels and will post them on my blog on Saturday. I will put a link to it in this thread.Batman and The Joker fight and The Joker stabs himself, apparently dying. Of course we know how that one turned out.
I hope I didn't come across as criticizing these stories. That is part of the charm of comic books. It is like having Superman walk in through the door or bust the wall out. Batman has come a long way from this but it was fun reading. Thanks to Travis and KSwolf for those answers. I have a Photobucket account and will use it starting tomorrow. I have not gone through all of the boxes yet, but I imagine Robin 0 is there. Keep following and we will find out.
So your Batman 1 has a collection of stories from different issues? Do you know which issues?
The most surprising one was 'accidently' stopping Robin from apprehending The Cat. I might like this Batman better than our present po-faced version. We're all human after all, even Batman!
I like the idea of drawing them out as they are ordered in the longboxes. It sounds like they are sorted already though.... Batman 0 followed by Batman 1 so far.
In the case of a multi-book story line I am going to set the book aside until I have the full story.
How will you know if the other issues of that story are in the boxes at all?
I'm looking forward to your future posts. Who doesn't love some Batman?
So your Batman 1 has a collection of stories from different issues? Do you know which issues?
The most surprising one was 'accidently' stopping Robin from apprehending The Cat. I might like this Batman better than our present po-faced version. We're all human after all, even Batman!
I like the idea of drawing them out as they are ordered in the longboxes. It sounds like they are sorted already though.... Batman 0 followed by Batman 1 so far.
In the case of a multi-book story line I am going to set the book aside until I have the full story.
How will you know if the other issues of that story are in the boxes at all?
I'm looking forward to your future posts. Who doesn't love some Batman?
This was a reprint of the actual Batman 1 Spring 1940.
My friend put them in backwards of the way I do. I put the newest issue first.
I won't know if I have the full story until I get through all the boxes. We should know in about two years.
I have always wanted to do something like this. I am going to try and get a little ahead on my next days off so I can keep with the daily posts.
The only credit is to Bob Kane, although the cover is signed by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson.
Beware Of Poison Ivy.
This is the first appearance of Poison Ivy. Bruce and Dick are "admiring" an exhibit of the top three female world Public Enemies, Dragon Fly, Silken Spider, and Tiger Moth. I assume these three were made up for this story and not used elsewhere. Ivy makes her appearance and wants everyone to know she should be number one. Bruce is immediately smitten with her. She uses her lipstick to send out an electrical charge which makes all of the photographers flash bulbs explode. Don't look at me, I didn't write it. Since everyone is blind, Bruce changes into Batman. Obviously he wears his costume under his suit. Even though he is blind he runs after her. Unfortunately for him, the maintenance crew is working on the elevators and of course they left the doors open. Incidents like this obviously helped Congress to decide to create OSHA. I could go on but this was only a 12 page story and I don't want this review to be longer than that. To speed it up, Ivy sets up the three public enemies to fight among themselves. She sets them up to get captured by the police. As she tries to escape Batman and Robin confront her. She kisses Batman, which due to her lipstick puts him under her spell, and tries to escape. At the last minute Batman comes to his senses and she is captured. What a story. Of course, considering the age group these were aimed at it makes more sense. Wasn't DC's audience at this time 8-12 year olds?
The Perfect Crime--Slightly Imperfect!
This story features a group that I had never heard of, The Mystery Analysts Of Gotham City. I know that when Julius Schwartz took over Batman he wanted to get back to Batman's roots as a detective. This group featured the District Attorney, a mystery novelist, an armchair detective,(I never knew that was an occupation), Commissioner Gordon and Batman. I want to get this posted today so I am not even going to try to make sense of this story. I love mysteries but this was one of the most convoluted and confusing tales that I have ever read.
This is probably the oldest book my friend had, unless there are some old Detectives. We will jump 200 issues with the next review.
The only credit is to Bob Kane, although the cover is signed by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson.
Beware Of Poison Ivy. This is the first appearance of Poison Ivy. Bruce and Dick are "admiring" an exhibit of the top three female world Public Enemies, Dragon Fly, Silken Spider, and Tiger Moth. I assume these three were made up for this story and not used elsewhere. Ivy makes her appearance and wants everyone to know she should be number one. Bruce is immediately smitten with her. She uses her lipstick to send out an electrical charge which makes all of the photographers flash bulbs explode. Don't look at me, I didn't write it. Since everyone is blind, Bruce changes into Batman. Obviously he wears his costume under his suit. Even though he is blind he runs after her. Unfortunately for him, the maintenance crew is working on the elevators and of course they left the doors open. Incidents like this obviously helped Congress to decide to create OSHA. I could go on but this was only a 12 page story and I don't want this review to be longer than that. To speed it up, Ivy sets up the three public enemies to fight among themselves. She sets them up to get captured by the police. As she tries to escape Batman and Robin confront her. She kisses Batman, which due to her lipstick puts him under her spell, and tries to escape. At the last minute Batman comes to his senses and she is captured. What a story. Of course, considering the age group these were aimed at it makes more sense. Wasn't DC's audience at this time 8-12 year olds?
The Perfect Crime--Slightly Imperfect! This story features a group that I had never heard of, The Mystery Analysts Of Gotham City. I know that when Julius Schwartz took over Batman he wanted to get back to Batman's roots as a detective. This group featured the District Attorney, a mystery novelist, an armchair detective,(I never knew that was an occupation), Commissioner Gordon and Batman. I want to get this posted today so I am not even going to try to make sense of this story. I love mysteries but this was one of the most convoluted and confusing tales that I have ever read.
This is probably the oldest book my friend had, unless there are some old Detectives. We will jump 200 issues with the next review.
Credits for the first story:
Script:Robert Kanigher
Pencils:Sheldon Moldoff (ghosting for Bob Kane)
Inks:Joe Giella
For the second:
Script:Gardner Fox
Pencils:Chic Stone
Inks:Sid Greene
Replies
Anyways, I believe this is one of the times that Alfred quit working for Bruce, since he had just recovered from his back being broken. Alfred didn't want to see him put himself out there any more. I think that is right. If I am wrong I am certain someone will chime in.
I know the Two-Face Robin thing was put into a 2 issue prestige format series in the '90s. I think it was Two-Face Strikes Twice.
As for images, I use Image Shack to host mine, and then direct link to it with the little camera button.
Dick enjoys his first year as Robin, regarding the job as an adventure until a confrontation with Two-Face serves as a rude awakening for the young hero. The villain captures Judge Lawrence Watkins and Batman, and has each suspended from a hangman's noose in a "double gallows death-trap". Robin, trying to save the judge, convinces Two-Face to flip his trademark coin on whether or not Watkins would hang. Robin wins the flip, but Two-Face "honors" the deal by drowning the judge instead. Robin is unable to prevent Watkins' death, and receives a beating at the hands of Two-Face; a beating that Batman witnesses, still tied up on the platform. Eventually, Batman frees himself and apprehends the villain. This event, however, emotionally scars the young crime-fighter. Rather than see Dick be further endangered, Batman "fires" his partner, sidelining the 13-year-old Boy Wonder for a while, only to bring him back shortly afterwards.
If I remember correctly, Chuck Dixon alluded to this event on numerous occasions during his runs on Detective & Robin, but didn't actually tell us the full story until Robin #0.
The Two-Face Strikes Twice mini-series was a completely unrelated story about Harvey kidnapping the twins of his ex-wife, Gilda.
It is always interesting to see where the characters start out. It is fascinating to see how far they have come. Of course, the storytelling is much simpler. What Batman 0 told in 22 pages Batman 1 tells it in 2. Some of the plot-holes boggle the mind, but then they were written for a much younger audience than today. Of course too it makes it fun to ridicule.
The first Joker story appears here. The Joker announces a killing in advance and it comes to pass using one of the great fictional devices, the deadly drug that kills with no symptoms in exactly 24 hours. It is a very effective device, so why doesn't he use it again? In the second murder he hides in a suit of armor, kills his target, but only knocks out the police. I guess the Joker is proving he really is insane. The best part however is Batman's reaction. After the first killing Robin wants to go after The Joker but Batman is to busy smoking his pipe. After the second kill the third target is a criminal. That gets Batman into action. Two innocent men die, but threaten a criminal and here we go. The rest of the story is tracking down The Joker, Robin getting captured and Batman making the last minute save.
The second story is Batman fighting giants, who are men given drugs by Hugo Strange that make them grow giant size. The only notable thing I got from this story is that Batman intentionally kills two of Strange's henchmen, shooting them while they are driving a truck transporting one of the giants, with a machine gun from the Bat-plane. He does say he regrets it, but it was necessary. Of course since we are dealing with giants, the ending is an homage to King Kong.
The third story is a robbery at sea. Batman sends Robin on a cruise to foil a jewel thief. The thief turns out to be Catwoman, her first appearance. She is called The Cat here. A fairly straight forward story with two comments. The first is Batman giving the reader a lesson in not admiring criminals. He makes 4 men drop their guns and lets Robin beat them up. Isn't that child endangerment? Secondly, Batman obviously is enamored with Catwoman. She is dressed as an old woman. He removes her make-up. She protests and he says "Quiet or Papa spank." Then as she escapes from them Batman 'accidentally' bumps into Robin and enables her to get away. Of course Robin is no dummy and knows what is going on, especially when Batman just stares into the sky hoping he meets her again.
The final story actually has a title, The Joker Returns. Two days after the first story The Joker escapes from jail using explosives from two fake teeth he had. Good thing he didn't bite down on his food before them or would have really shot his mouth off. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.) In his early days The Joker was mainly a jewel thief who always announced before time what he was going to steal. Of course he also enjoyed killing people. The story called for The Joker to knock Batman out with a mace, but the artist drew a two headed axe instead. That gave Batman Excedrin headache number 456. The police tried to unmask him but fortunately Batman woke up in time and escaped. In his escape Batman showed he not only is athletic he is also a great contortionist. The Joker and Robin also have exceptional leaping abilities as both are able to leap from rooftop to rooftop across a street. I am going to scan all of these panels and will post them on my blog on Saturday. I will put a link to it in this thread.Batman and The Joker fight and The Joker stabs himself, apparently dying. Of course we know how that one turned out.
I hope I didn't come across as criticizing these stories. That is part of the charm of comic books. It is like having Superman walk in through the door or bust the wall out. Batman has come a long way from this but it was fun reading. Thanks to Travis and KSwolf for those answers. I have a Photobucket account and will use it starting tomorrow. I have not gone through all of the boxes yet, but I imagine Robin 0 is there. Keep following and we will find out.
I thought it was funny.
The most surprising one was 'accidently' stopping Robin from apprehending The Cat. I might like this Batman better than our present po-faced version. We're all human after all, even Batman!
I like the idea of drawing them out as they are ordered in the longboxes. It sounds like they are sorted already though.... Batman 0 followed by Batman 1 so far.
In the case of a multi-book story line I am going to set the book aside until I have the full story.
How will you know if the other issues of that story are in the boxes at all?
I'm looking forward to your future posts. Who doesn't love some Batman?
This was a reprint of the actual Batman 1 Spring 1940.
My friend put them in backwards of the way I do. I put the newest issue first.
I won't know if I have the full story until I get through all the boxes. We should know in about two years.
I have always wanted to do something like this. I am going to try and get a little ahead on my next days off so I can keep with the daily posts.
The only credit is to Bob Kane, although the cover is signed by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson.
Beware Of Poison Ivy.
This is the first appearance of Poison Ivy. Bruce and Dick are "admiring" an exhibit of the top three female world Public Enemies, Dragon Fly, Silken Spider, and Tiger Moth. I assume these three were made up for this story and not used elsewhere. Ivy makes her appearance and wants everyone to know she should be number one. Bruce is immediately smitten with her. She uses her lipstick to send out an electrical charge which makes all of the photographers flash bulbs explode. Don't look at me, I didn't write it. Since everyone is blind, Bruce changes into Batman. Obviously he wears his costume under his suit. Even though he is blind he runs after her. Unfortunately for him, the maintenance crew is working on the elevators and of course they left the doors open. Incidents like this obviously helped Congress to decide to create OSHA. I could go on but this was only a 12 page story and I don't want this review to be longer than that. To speed it up, Ivy sets up the three public enemies to fight among themselves. She sets them up to get captured by the police. As she tries to escape Batman and Robin confront her. She kisses Batman, which due to her lipstick puts him under her spell, and tries to escape. At the last minute Batman comes to his senses and she is captured. What a story. Of course, considering the age group these were aimed at it makes more sense. Wasn't DC's audience at this time 8-12 year olds?
The Perfect Crime--Slightly Imperfect!
This story features a group that I had never heard of, The Mystery Analysts Of Gotham City. I know that when Julius Schwartz took over Batman he wanted to get back to Batman's roots as a detective. This group featured the District Attorney, a mystery novelist, an armchair detective,(I never knew that was an occupation), Commissioner Gordon and Batman. I want to get this posted today so I am not even going to try to make sense of this story. I love mysteries but this was one of the most convoluted and confusing tales that I have ever read.
This is probably the oldest book my friend had, unless there are some old Detectives. We will jump 200 issues with the next review.
Credits for the first story:
Script:Robert Kanigher
Pencils:Sheldon Moldoff (ghosting for Bob Kane)
Inks:Joe Giella
For the second:
Script:Gardner Fox
Pencils:Chic Stone
Inks:Sid Greene
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