My First Batman

(Photo Credit: DC Wikia)

When I was a lad, there existed a thing called a comic book digest. The most common use of this now (and then for that matter) was Archie Comics. But back in the day, DC Comics would put together five or six issues of random comics, put them in a digest, and sell them cheaply to promote their current titles.

A couple that I remember vividly are a villains origins digest featuring the origins of the Parasite (Superman), Red Dart (Green Arrow), etc. The other, though, was one of my greatest treasures as a child: a Batman digest featuring stories revolving around the five greatest members of his Rogue's Gallery. They were Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman, and the Riddler, each story ending with a one-page origin of the villain.

The one story I remember vividly was the Two-Face story and thanks to the internet, I found the issue. It was Batman No. 234, written by Denny O'Neal and pencilled by Neal Adams, two of the faces on my Batman Mt. Rushmore (along with Bill Finger and Bruce Timm, because fuck Bob Kane). A piece of trivia for this issue: it's the Silver Age debut of Two-Face.

Back then, I thought it was gritty and hardcore and now, I'm amazed at how well it has stood the test of time. It's a true testament of just how good the duo of O'Neal/Adams really was.

With the success of the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy, the upcoming Batman vs. Superman movie, and this being the 75th anniversary of the Caped Crusader, I have found it fun and educational to go back and look at the older issues of Batman and Detective Comics. The first issues of the book hold up reasonably well, while the 50s and 60s are pretty campy. The 70s Batman was where I got my start, so they will always hold a place in my heart and with stories like this one and the legendary Batman No. 251, it's a great example of how quality will truly transcend its time.

I'm a terrible hypocrite

 

(I win the internets.)

I am a terrible person. No, don't argue with me; it's true. I will take to Twitter on a regular basis and mock people who beg for RTs because it's their birthday or because some relative survived skin tag-removal surgery. The worst are the people who asked to be RTed due to a tragedy e.g. "Hey @BigTimeCeleb, please RT in memory of the heroes who were killed in the blah, blah, blah..."

If you've done that, you're a dick. Stop it.

Now, while I've never done that, I will say nice things about people I respect and I will use their Twitter names while doing it. They get their respective balls busted on the reg, they should see compliments, too.

I've been a fan of Kevin Smith since I saw Clerks on VHS in Guantanamo Bay in 1995. I own all his stuff (even Jersey Girl) and am particularly a fan of his comic book work, specifically Batman: Cacophony and Batman: Widening Gyre. His podcast Fatman on Batman is an absolute must-listen for anyone who loves comics, even if you're favorite character isn't Batman.

On a road trip to Chicago, I was listening to a recent edition featuring my all-time favorite artist, Jim Lee. For me, Neal Adams and John Byrne and George Perez are the masters and Jim Lee makes them all look like slow children scribbling with broken crayons (NOTE: Not an insult to the three; just my opinion on the greatness of Lee). The back and forth between the two was brilliant. They were talking about the books I grew up on and I found my self numerous times nodding my head and smiling and even talking along with them.

I felt the need gush about the experience on Twitter. Now, I'd be lying if I didn't hope a little bit that maybe one of the two would throw me a RT for my effort, but that wasn't the genesis of the tweet. I simply wanted them to know how great I thought the episode was. Kevin Smith did me one better, as you can see by the pic.

Yeah. I'm a pretty big deal.