Saturday, December 31, 2011

Most Reprinted DC Comics Story Part II

Part I of this series discussed the origin story of The Flash from Showcase 4 (October 1956). Here is a second contender for most reprinted story from DC Comics.

The Bat-Man was introduced in Detective Comics 27 (May 1939) without an origin. The origin was finally seen as two page introduction to the story in Detective 33 (November 1939)- "The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom". The two pages were reprinted in Batman 1 (Spring 1940) with an illustration from the first page of the story in Detective 34 replacing the dirigible. The first panel's caption has been slightly changed. This is the version usually reprinted.

Great Comic Book Heroes, (The Dial Press) 1965
Batman from the Thirties to the Seventies (Crown Publishers) 1971
Famous First Edition (DC) #F-5 February-March 1975
Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes (Crown Publishers)
Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Volume 1 (DC) 1992
Millennium Edition: Batman 1 (DC) February 2001
Batman Chronicles, The 1 (DC) 2005

The original origin story is reprinted in

Batman (Signet Books) #D2939  1966
Secret Origins 1 (DC) February-March 1973
Batman Archives Volume 1 (DC) June 1990
Batman in the Forties (DC) 2004
Batman Chronicles, The 1 (DC) 2005


The original version below is followed by the version in Batman 1.

Batman Archives Volume 1 page 66

Batman Archives Volume 1 page 67

Batman from the Thirties to the Seventies page 26

Batman from the Thirties to the Seventies page 27