Adam West, the iconic Batman of my pre-school years, passed away earlier this month. The television series has been reappraised in this decade, not least because of the joyous kitsch of the Batman '66 series from DC. I'll be posting about the batman/Legion team-up ( and the LSH/Bugs Bunny one shot) in the coming weeks. But today's post is the first of two, looking at Hillhead Library's copy of DC Showcase Batman vol. 6.
As the trade dress with its Sixties Bat-logo indicates, this collection marks the point in my childhood reading experience at which West's Caped Crusader became the "Dread Batman". It was a thrilling but unsettling experience as the setting of Stately Wayne Manor and the puns of the Boy Wonder were ditched for Bondian exploits and Gothic Romance and Horror, in a conscious echo of the ghoulish Golden Age- as we saw previously in the Englehart/Rogers comics of 1977. http://somefantasticplace-dougie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/strangely-strange-but-oddly-normal.html
I'll use this font * to indicate the small handful of issues I read at the time; I was much more of a fan of Kirby's Fourth World comics and Marvel, of course - in the wake of the King's departure, taking tentative steps into the pulp worlds of Sword and Sorcery.
Asylum of the Futurians is the first story in this hefty paperback. The shlock-horror cover with its freakish hunchback and shocked Batman is very misleading. Inside, a band of militant telepaths elect Bats as their leader. There's no explanation of who they are, how they were organised and, to my knowledge, they never appear again. That's not unusual at all in Bronze Age DC. However, the cover sets the tone for much of the collection, which anticipates the horror craze, begun by Joe Orlando's "mystery" books, aped by Marvel and culminating in Swamp Thing and Tomb of Dracula.
The House That Haunted Batman is a collaboration by Adams, Wein and Wolfman. I detect the melodramatic style of Marv Wolfman in the second person narration; as regular visitors to my blogs will know, I'm not a fan. Visually, this is a blend of Adams techno-death-trap and haunted house story (obvs!). Sixties racial caricature Dr Tzin-Tzin reveals that he has been hired by the League of Assassins to dispatch Batman and Robin. On some levels, this feels like a dress rehearsal for the Ra's al Ghul stories to come.
Take Over of Paradise is a Black Power curio, narrated by Bats and, like many of the stories here, illustrated dynamically by Novick and Giordano.
Man in the Eternal Mask* was a bit gruesome for me as a kid. It's a Gothic revenge tale of an Adonis athlete turned disfigured killer. A Vow from the Grave is a celebrated but silly Adams/O'Neil tale of a freak show's inmates being terrorised by a criminal.
The eponymous and far-fetched antagonist in Blind Rage of the Ten-Eyed Man has contemporary origins in Viet Nam but the next story, Into the Den of the Death-Dealers mines the pulps. It's significant because it introduces Talia, abducted by Dr. Darrk. This modern version of Fah Lo Suee and her father (a blend of Fu Manchu and Christopher Lee's Dracula) return in Daughter of the Demon. This cinematic adventure is a bait and switch by the world-beating villain who is testing Bats as a prospective son in law. We are also misled about DC's willingness to kill off Robin - which, of course, they are quite prepared to do in the Eighties. Recently, the Arrow tv series has incorporated some of these characters and story elements, as did the Christopher Nolan Bat-movies.
Legacy of Hate is a Gothic mystery in Waynemoor Castle in the Dark Shadows vein where the butler definitely did it. Freak -Out at Phantom Hollow is a ludicrous tale where Lenny from Of Mice and Men torments some hippies by shearing their hair!
Half an Evil* was one of the many comics that made an impression on me in my childhood stay in Stonehouse Hospital. It reintroduced the Golden Age villain and here, he resembles Jack Palance. The spectral, two-masted schooner may have been lifted from the unfilmed tv script by Harlan Ellison. Unlike earlier -and later -stories, Dent's bifurcated face retains normal colouration. He is another grotesque madman in an era of freaks but the story itself is rather slight.
Legend of the Key Hook Lighthouse returns to the theme of "Are Ghosts Real?" explored in Legacy of Hate and, while otherwise forgettable, features a prologue in verse. Swamp Sinister* was my first exposure to a vengeful Talia but is a dreary story of biological warfare. Challenge of the Consumer Crusader is also a tedious story, about an extortion ring exposed through a ghostly masquerade by Batman.
Man-Bat Madness* was my second exposure to Kirk Langstrom and my first to the astonishing artwork of Frank Robbins. His bizarre story is a homage to both The Wolf Man and the Phantom of the Opera. Many comics fans are vocal about their dislike of his rubbery figures and unique, frenetic style. For my part, I loved his work on Marvel's Invaders and in particular, the Gothic stories of Baron Blood, the Nazi vampire. I wish his moody, fluid storytelling featured on more of the lacklustre stories in this book.
Wail of the Ghost-Bride is another Dark Shadows/ Gothic love story concerning the murder of the heiress to Hellbane Manor. In the unusual epilogue, Bats breaks the fourth wall, inviting us to accept a supernatural explanation for this tale of revenge.
Although you can't tell in this b/w collection, it's striking how many covers are a sickly, suppurating green. It's also interesting how few of these stories take place in the urban setting of Gotham City, the festering hellhole largely conjured from the 90s movies and Frank Miller's 80s comics. Often, it's Gothic stately homes, castles or mountainous terrain
From the graphics POV, aside from Robbins, whose work is "love it or loathe it", the Adams issues are highlights for mood and dynamism. O' Neil's stories tend to be awkwardly paced and end abruptly. I do like the way the readership is addressed directly and invited to review clues and evidence, however.
Next: Truckers, brain surgery, Shakespeare and The Lazarus Pit
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