Denny O'Neil's Bat-Bible

In 2021, Scott Peterson, writer and former assistant editor to Denny O'Neil, posted O'Neil's Batman Bible from 1989. It was a writer's guide to the character and his world for that era of comics and from the perspective of O'Neil.

Obviously, the mythos has evolved over that time and some of O'Neil's takes would not have been universally accepted by other writers at the time (like, "he never kills"), but it's a good distillation of the understanding of the character and his world from a man who did a whole lot to shape that mythos over the years.

Check it out here.

The Flashback Holiday Gift Guide

 With the gift giving season looming, here are some gift suggestions for those in your life interested in the sort of media this blog focuses on:

Hey Kids! Comics! by Howard Chaykin: This collects the first limited series by Howard Chaykin about the history of comics from the 40s to the 2000s as seen through the eyes of three (fictional, though clearly inspired by aspects of real people) creators who got their start in the Golden Age. The through-line is the proof of the reputed Jack Kirby adage: "comics will break your heart, kid," or at least leave you embittered and angry, as editors and publishers profit from your work and fandom misunderstands the real history. There are 2 more volumes in the whole series.

The New Adventures of Batman: The Complete Collection: Holy Blu Ray, Batman! Featuring the voices of Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin (reprising their roles from the 60s TV series), this 1977 Filmation series was likely many young fan's first introduction to Bat-Mite and likely raised the profiles of Clayface, as well.

Wandering the Wild Wild West by Don Presnell: Its subtitle says it's a "critical analysis of CBS series" but I would say it's more a good overview of show. Still, a book well worth it for fans. There just aren't many WWW books out there!

The Atlas Artist Edition vol. 1: Joe Maneely: With this volume, Fantagraphics starts giving the Atlas Comics artists the same lavish showcases they've been giving the EC artists. The woefully under-appreciated Joe Maneely was a great place to start.

These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One by Marc Cushman and Susan Osborn: This volume and its companions are the most comprehensive guide to Star Trek the Original Series available. Cushman's commentary on the episodes as tv drama is limited (though as much as many other guides available), but he presents a wealthy of information on the development of each episode from story idea to final aired version, with quotes from interview with creative staff and memos from producers and network execs. If it has a flaw, it's that you wouldn't call the series concise; Every season is its on volume, and every volume is sizable. 

Flash Gordon: Classic Collection Vol. 1: On The Planet Mongo by Alex Raymond and Don Moore: Mad Cave Studios is the latest company to undertake reprinting the classic Sunday strips. This volume covers January 1, 1934 to April 18, 1937, and includes additional background material and an introduction from Alex Ross. I haven't looked at this version to compared it the IDW or Titan reprints of the past, but hey, this one is in print!

Batman: The Caped Crusader Review

I've been able to watch the entirety of the new Batman: The Caped Crusader show on Amazon Prime. The show brings Bruce Timm back to the animated Batman--thought also apparently features J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, and Ed Brubacker and executive producers. 

Originally, the show was presented maybe as an update or maybe even continuation of Batman: The Animated Series and was to stream on Warner Bros' Max service, but neither of those things wound up being the case. Rather, BTCC ends as a kind of second take on some of the ideas behind BTAS, but also it has been updated for a 2024 audience.

Timm has said aesthetically he wanted to "blend the atmospherics of Universal horror movies and the drama of Warner Bros. gangster movies and the action of Republic serials and mix it all together with a lot of film noir on top." BTAS took place in a retro- decopunk 1990s, but BTCC seems more placed in a more of a relatively more grounded, alternate 1940s. There is much less high tech (no computers or bat-gadgets) and alas no police airships, but SWAT gear and psychiatric facilities seem unaccountably modern. Indeed, Arkham looks perhaps as modern on the inside as we've ever seen it. The racism and sexism of the 40s is understandably discarded in deference to modern sensibilities, and we get a multiethnic main cast (more so than the modern comics!).

This is a more "adult" perhaps, certainly grittier take. The Gotham Police department is corrupt, not unlike it was presented in Batman: Year One. I'm fine with this approach in that respect, but a focus on "realism" and noir means the villains are less flamboyant, and most seem likely "done in one," not recurrent menaces. While this adds some greater poignancy in some cases (the tragedy of Harvey Dent, for one), I don't know that it's worth the tradeoff. 

In general, the cast is very good. Hamish Linklater may not quite deliver the goods as Batman/Bruce Wayne as well as the late, great Kevin Conroy, but he does a much better Batman voice than the majority of the live action portrayals. Everyone acquits themselves well, but I think Minnie Driver wasn't the right choice for the Penguin.

At the end of the day, I definitely think it was worth seeing, and I do hope it gets a second season, but I liked some aspects of BTAS better. High points here are the re-imaging of Harley Quinn and the character arc for Bruce Wayne/Batman who is clearly early in his career.

Who Put the THE back in The Batman?

Reading the classic Night of the Hunter from Detective Comics 439, a panel where a criminal referred to Batman as THE Batman caught my attention.

I had always assumed that was sort of a modern addition to the character's name, but in looking it up on the web I discovered that using the article THE was originally how the character was called in the Golden Age.

This got me to wondering, when did THE disappear from Batman's name and when did it reappear?

Discussing this with FBU contributor Trey Causey, he directed me to OverthinkingIt.com which has a good article on the use of the Definitive Article THE in superhero names. As interesting as this article is, it didn't really answer my question. So, I decided to do some random sampling to see when the THE showed back up.

Here's what I determined. The article disappeared sometime during the period when Robin became a regular. While it would show up sometimes early on, as the 40's gave way to the 50's The Batman and Robin just got shortened down to Batman and Robin.

This stuck with Batman all during the Atomic Age stories as Batman was less a creature of the night and more an adventurer dealing with strange aliens.

My first assumption was that the article got added back sometime around the 70's, possibly when DC got rights to publish The Shadow. So, I checked out Batman 259 where the Shadow makes a guest appearance:

Sure enough, Batman is called THE Batman in this issue.

Still, I wondered if the use of the article hadn't been one of the changes that occurred as a result of the New Look Batman era. What I found is that during this era, a lot of stories featured Batman dealing with socially relevant issues:

So, without a real criminal element to the stories, for the most part of this era Batman is just called Batman.

However, around issue 213, E. Nelson Bridwell retells the origin of Robin with a panel where Batman introduces himself as THE Batman.

Shortly thereafter, in Batman 224, current Batman writer Frank Robbins (also well known for his awesome art on Marvel's The Invaders) has a criminal use the phrase The Batman.

Two things may have precipitated this:
1) This is near the time that Frank Robbins was also drawing The Shadow
2) This also happens to coincide with the time that Robin has left the comic as Batman's sidekick.

The combination of no sidekick and the original pulp avenger floating around DC may have caused Robbins to reintroduce the THE into Batman's name. This is also a period when DC Editorial (Julius Schwartz) gives Robbins the freedom to move away from the socially relevant stories and return Batman to darker story lines.

While we may never know the exact catalyst, the result is that from this point on, the THE continues on into modern usage.

And despite some creators attempts to put a new spin on his name:

The Batman is still with us.

- Jim