Batman Part V

No comic has had more anniversary issues than Detective Comics. In addition to being the oldest continuously published comic with issue and year anniversaries, there is Batman's first appearance in Detective 27 (May 1939) to remember. The most important was the 25 year anniversary for Detective 27 - Detective Comics 327(May 1964). This is also the 301st appearance of Batman in Detective. Neither anniversary was mentioned. Interestingly DC messed up the anniversary of the 600th appearance which was in Detective 626 but celebrated in 627 (March 1991).

That issue introduced the "New Look" Batman which is pretty much the Batman we have today. Out went most of the accumulated baggage of the old Batman - Bat-Mite, Bat-Hound, Batgirl etc. Gone were the alien and time travel stories; art and stories more sophisticated. A new second feature, Elongated Man, replaced Manhunter from Mars. And, most importantly, a new editor.

The Batman story in that issue, "The Mystery of the Menacing Mask!", was not reprinted until 2003 in the first volume of Batman: The Dynamic Duo Archives. But the Elongated Man story, "Ten Miles to Nowhere" was reprinted in the 1970s, in Detective Comics 445 (Feb-Mar 1975).



Blackhawk Part I

There were only four non-funny comic characters published continuously from the early forties to the late sixties - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Blackhawk. The first three are still very much around but Blackhawk is nearly forgotten.

The original team first appeared in Military Comics 1 (August 1941) and last appeared in Blackhawk 273 (November 1984). There was a late eighties revival with a bit different team. The 2000 Millennium Edition reprint of Military Comics 1 is below.

There were no Blackhawk reprint collections until a single Archives Volume in 2001. But a few stories made it into the "100 Pages" reprint series in the early to mid seventies. There were a hundred or so of these collections published as part of the regular continuity of a number of DC Comics. "The Menace from Inner Space", was reprinted in The Brave and the Bold 117 (Feb-Mar 1975).

As a bonus here is Jim Steranko's Freddy Mercury version of Blackhawk and his team from the back cover of The Steranko History of Comics 2 (Reading, Penn: Supergraphics, 1972).

Flash Part I

I'm constantly surprised at the amount of editing DC stories were subjected to when reprinted. Since 1989 DC Comics has published nearly 200 Archives Volumes. As far as I know no story has been modified. But the policy for other reprints from the 60s on appears to be "just do it!" (editing that is). Here are examples from 1992 and 2000.

The cover to Showcase 4 (October 1956), the comic book introducing the modern-age Flash, is one of the most famous in comics. But that didn't stop arbitrary editing in 1992 and 2000.

The Silver Age Classics version of Showcase 4 is modified with the small "NO. 4" and the price below the date removed and a large "#4" added to the title. The Millennium Edition version has also been inexplicably changed with the small outline of North America on the far left next to the date and the price removed. The North America outline remains on the other version.

The original cover is from The Flash Archives Volume 1 (DC Comics, 1996).

Original cover

Silver Age Classics - 1992

Millennium Edition - 2000

Comic Value Part I

The price of comics remained 10 cents from 1933 until 1961 but the size decreased. After this size and price were more and more often adjusted resulting in reduced value for the comic buyer's pennies. For example here is the size and price for Detective Comics from 1937 to 1973:
  

issue #	size	price	value in
			pages/cent
1-75	68 page	10 cents	6.8
76-89	60 page	10 cents	6.0
90-176	52 page	10 cents	5.2
177-211	44 page	10 cents	4.4
212-297	36 page	10 cents	3.6
298-387	36 page	12 cents	3.0
388-413	36 page	15 cents	2.4
414-424	52 page	25 cents	2.1
425-437	36 page	20 cents	1.8

So by 1973 the value had dropped by 75%, from 6.8 pages/cent to 1.8 pages/cent. The current value for Detective Comics is .12 pages/cent, a further reduction of 93% from 1973. Over the life of Detective Comics value has dropped 98%.

Using the US inflation rate from the first issue of Detective Comics in March 1937 to today of 1450% would give a comic value of .48 pages/cent, four times its real value of .12. So comics have inflated at four times the general inflation rate over that period. Or, to put it another way, comics have lost four times as much value as the average American good.

That's value as quantity. Value as quality is another post. Here are some DC Annuals from the sixties - when value was 3 pages/cent.

Batman Annual 6 - Winter 1963-64

Superman Annual 8 - Winter 1963-64

Flash 160 (80 Page Giant 21) - April-May 1966

 Flash Annual 1 - 1963

Batman Part IV

There was a mystery in the 1960s Batman reprint collections that bothered me. I wrote a letter to DC asking why stories clearly drawn by different artists were always signed "Bob Kane". DC didn't answer my letter. One of the artists was OK but the other one drew a dynamic Batman and Robin fighting crime and solving mysteries in an off-kilter Gotham populated by "Dick Tracy" like villains.

Many years later I learned the "good" artist was Dick Sprang who drew hundreds of B&R stories from 1941 to 1963. Before he died in 2000 he had received the recognition that he deserved. In 1987, for the 50 year anniversary issue of Detective Comics, he drew a two page spread with all the B&R characters of the 1940s and 50s. The bald gentleman middle far left is Professor Nichols. The good professor sent B&R on 35 time travel adventures, six of which were reprinted in the Batman Annuals and 80 Page Giants. Here is a Dick Sprang Professor Nichols story from Batman 112 (December 1957) reprinted in 80 Page Giant 12 (July 1965).

Batman Part III

The 22 Annuals DC Comics published from 1960 to 1964 were different in an important way from the 80 Page Giants which followed - they didn't have ads. This allowed for one of their most appealing aspects - special features. Reproductions of covers, lists of superpowers or batgadgets, maps of planets or batcaves - all were indeed special.

Here is one from Batman Annual 2 (1961) - a signed portrait of the Batman Family. The back cover of the 40th anniversary of the Batman's appearance in Detective Comics 483 (May 1979) has a later Batman Family. Gone are Bat-Mite and Bathound, the old Batwoman and Batgirl. A new Batwoman is the only new Family. This was as simple as the Family became. Since then there have been three more Robins, the old Robin became Nightwing then a second Batman, a third Batwoman.

Batman Origin Part I

The Batman origin story is one of the best known in popular culture. It is first seen as a two page lead in "The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom" in Detective Comics 33 (November 1939). The reprint below is from Batman Archives Volume I (DC Comics, 1990). The story has been revisited many times with two examples below from the 80 Page Giants.

The first, "The Origin of the Batman!", was reprinted in Batman 198 (January-February 1968). First seen in Batman 47 (June-July 1948), there is a significant change in the origin story - Martha Wayne is now not shot but dies from heart failure.

The second, "Batman's First Case", is from Batman 187 (December 1966-January 1967). It was first published in Detective Comics 265 (March 1959) and follows the original story closely.

It is interesting to note that Batman's training changes from "master scientist' to "master[ing] scientific investigation' to "attending a School of Criminology".

Batman Part II

The March 2011 issue of Detective Comics (873) is a milestone - the beginning of Detective Comics 75th year of continuous publication. No other comic is as old, with Action Comics next. It was the first non-reprint comic with stories from one genre.  And, of course, it is the "DC" in DC Comics.

Below is a facsimile from 2001 of the first issue originally published in March 1937. Also below is Detective Comics 326 (April 1964), the final issue before a complete makeover of Batman and Robin in Detective 327, the 25th anniversary issue of the first appearance of Batman in Detective 27. Fittingly the final old Batman is one of the many alien stories seen in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A few of these were reprinted in the Annuals and we'll see them in another post.



Comics Code Authority

The March 2011 comics from DC have something missing that has been on DC covers for 56 years - the seal of approval from the Comics Code Authority. A remnant of Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent scare of the early fifties the code had arguably lost any relevance long ago.

The first Detective Comics issue with the seal was 217 (March 1955) and for 656 issues the seal remained, although much shrunk in the last years. The Batman story, "The Mental Giant of Gotham City!", from that comic happens to be one of the early reprints in Batman Annual 3 (Summer 1962), which, of course, has the seal of approval.

Batman and Robin are discussed in Seduction of the Innocent. Below are pages from the British edition.

London: Museum Press, 1955

Batman Part I

There were 22 Batman reprint collections in the DC Comics early reprint series, second only to Superman's 23. Seven were Annuals (1960 - 1964) and 15 were 80 Page Giants (1964 - 1971). Most of the 80 Page Giants had a letter column with many correspondents complaining that few stories from the 1940s were being reprinted. The editor kept explaining that the negatives to those stories did not exist and therefore they were too expensive to prepare for reprinting. Only six (of 134) Batman and Robin stories from comics published in the 1940s were reprinted in the series. The earliest was 1943.

Eventually DC found a way to reprint these stories through the expensive hard cover Archives series. Hundreds of 1940s stories have now been printed in the 16 Batman Archives volumes.

Below is the collection (Batman 213 (G61) from July - August 1969) with the oldest Batman story from Batman 16 (April - May 1943). The story is also seen in Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Volume 4 (DC Comics, 2003). The only change made in the earlier reprint is a note in the last panel explaining when the fat Alfred became the thin Alfred that everyone is familiar with.

Superman Part IV

In the first of the Superman posts I noted three stories from the 1940s that were published in the twelfth Superman reprint collection. As it turns out these were the only 1940's stories reprinted in all 23 collections - a total of 151 stories. Interestingly all three were also reprinted in the first hardcover reprint collection that DC published in 1971, Superman From the Thirties to the Seventies.

The reprint in this book is a third version of the story I discussed in part I - "Superman, Matinee Idol". The changes to the cartoon credits and panels are the same as the earlier reprint. But the first page is a mix of the original and the first reprint. The introduction and title have been restored but the blurb, "OUR VERY FIRST IMAGINARY STORY", has been kept from the earlier reprint.

Superman 19 original

80 Page Giant G18 reprint

Superman From the Thirties to the Seventies reprint

Superman Part V

Mort Weisinger was the editor for most of the Superman reprint collections in the 1960s. He was the Winston Smith of DC Comics. Many Superman reprinted stories were changed to conform with the Superman history as it evolved, to correct errors, to revise explanations or for no obvious reason. Here is a classic example.

The original story was the last of a three part story from Superman 123 (August 1958). The pages below are from Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives Volume 1 (DC Comics, 2004). The reprint is in Superman Annual 8 (winter 1963-64).

The first change is the introduction and title.

The second is in the last panel on page 3 where the explanation for Superman being a phantom is removed. The explanation suggests that Superman will always be a phantom if he travels into a past before he is born. This had never happened in other time travel stories. The replacement panel leaves the question unanswered.





Superman Part III

There were 131 stories reprinted in the first 18 (of 23) Superman collections published from 1960 to 1971. None were reprinted more than once. But with the 19th collection, Superman 217 (80 Page Giant G60, Jun-Jul 1969) all five stories are reprinted a second time. Here is one of them.

Presenting ... The First Supergirl! is the title of the story reprinted in Superman Annual 6 (Winter 62-63) and G60. The original was the first of a three part story published in Superman 123 (August 1958). The two reprints are identical except for a couple of minor colour differences. But there is an important difference between the original and the reprints. The story introduction has been changed but the significant change is the colour of Super-Girl's costume and hair. The original colouring is identical to the second Supergirl's who was introduced nine months later in Action 252 (May 1959). The reprint changes were clearly done to remove any confusion between the two "Girls of Steel" for readers who were now familiar with the second Supergirl. The original below is from Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives Volume 1 (DC Comics, 2004).