This month, join Shawn, Paul, and special guest Chris Franklin at the revamped Wayne Family Gardens! We move over to Detective Comics and share some corned beef on rye and carrot cake as we get Marshall Rogers, Jim Starlin, and Don Newton (twice!) on art in this issue. The PI firm of Bard and Langstrom gets off the ground, and Babs visits China! Robin battles the Raven (no, not that one!) as Batman rides the rails (literally) and then comes face to face with a nemesis from his father’s past! You won’t want to miss this one!
This month's Bat Family History links for Dan Adkins:
http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/creator.php?creatorid=525
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Adkins
https://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/07adkins.html
https://www.tcj.com/dan-adkins-march-15-1937-may-8-2013/
https://inkwellawards.com/dan-adkins/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArtofDanAdkins/
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- E-MAIL: batmanfamilyreunion@gmail.com
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Fun show, Uncles Shawn, Paul, and Chris. Since someone was talking about bringing mustard brownies, I decided to bring mayonnaise cake. Don’t let the name throw you off. It is actually a chocolate cake that uses mayonnaise in place of the eggs, milk, oil, and butter. It was the first cake my sister and I learned to make when Dad was teaching us how to bake at ages 8 and 10, so I have gotten pretty good at making it since, so give it a try…
No? Well, more for me then. Mmmmm.
Just so there is something for everyone, I also brought my sister’s old karaoke machine (featured in the Done-in-One Wonders Karaoke Wonder Show), so we can hold a contest of who can give the best performance singing the Batman poem from Batman Family 17 to the tune of “The Ballad of Jed Clampett”. Back in the day, Terra-Man did a really good show of it, but my money is on Uncle Shawn in this go-round.
***
The first Batman story was really fun. But where are Uncle Chris’s pictures of the Batcopter toy in the image gallery? One “logic hole” for me was Batman lassoing the train on page 13/15. The disconnected part of the train was already rolling backwards. If you do the math (sorry, Uncle Shawn), that means the relative speed of the front of the train would be its actual speed *plus* the speed of the backward-rolling disconnected cars. Batman must use a very heavily weighted rope to be able to throw it that far and that fast.
The DC subscriptions person in the house ads, whom Uncle Chris mentioned, is Carol Fein. I found an image of the ad from CBR…
…and an actual photo of her at a staff retreat on Todd Klein’s blog (standing behind Jenette Khan)
I am not sure if Ms. Fein was the model of the flight attendant on page 12/14 though…
***
Robin’s fan-made outfits do look like they were created with the Tomy Mighty Men and Monster Maker toy (yes, I looked it up). I think the “mustard brown” one was meant to evoke the actual colors of the robin bird (sans the red breast), to go with the wings and stylized gloves and boots.
That reminds me, I should check out the science department at my college to see if they have any jet packs I can… experiment with.
***
Uncle Shawn, JLA #161 was my dad’s first encounter with Zatanna in the comics as well. That’s why he tended to draw Zatanna in her sorceress outfit in his pieces for “The Line It Is Drawn” on CBR, much to the viewers’ dismay, because they wanted a free Xum Yukinori drawing of Zatanna in fishnets.
I used to watch Batman the Animated series on Dad’s video tapes (before he got the DVDs), which were direct recordings by his Uncle Kenzo of the Fox afternoon airings in 1992-1993. I remember during the end credits of “The Man Who Killed Batman”, the music was lowered under an audio promo voiced by Kevin Conroy for the next day’s “Zatanna” episode, and I am sure he pronounced her name as “Zan-tanna” too. If I still had the tape and a VCR I would capture the audio, but maybe another listener remembers that promo and can verify whether my memory is correct.
***
According to DarkMark’s Comics Indexing Domain (https://darkmark6.tripod.com/indexintro.html, which my Dad had used, and now I use, to track character histories for the Xum’s Who entries), this Batgirl story was indeed Leslie Tauburn’s first appearance, and the following issue was her last (at least pre-Crisis). I suppose she was created just to be a “secret identity decoy” and served no other purpose, which is too bad.
I thought the “Sino-Robin” on page 9/39 was actually a miscolored Sino-Supergirl, who was featured prominently in the next issue’s continuation, which had no Sino-Robin in sight. (She also appeared to be flying and carrying Sino-Batman in those panels where they descend to the hotel balcony.) That was why I did not include Sino-Robin in the Sino-Supermen Xum’s Who entry (available eventually once Xum’s Who Volume II is finished and released). However, don’t feel you have to give up on the idea of a Sino-Robin just because she wasn’t featured in an unofficial Who’s Who entry…
***
Well, I have to bow out of this reunion early to go to class. I’ll come back after the homework is done to pick up the karaoke machine at least, if the party had already died down by then.
Isamu, I am so sorry, I forgot to include the pics of Chris’s toy copter! Totally my fault! We will post them on social media and / or next month. Thanks for pointing it out!!
Or I could post them now!
Well, you were spot on there, Bat-Cousin Chris!
Bat-Cousin Isamu, you always bring the Knowledge Cake, please tell me you’ve booked an appearance in Batman Family Reunion.
Oh, no it makes sense there’d be in Sino-Robin cos they want super-people, not pixie-booted normies.
Thanks, guys, for the shout out to me when you hit the lettercol of this issue. The editor actually snipped out the Batgirl portion from a longer letter I had sent about the whole issue – my comment about Babs must have been one of the better ones to use there.
As I mentioned to you all when you had me on, my Batman Family subscription was converted to a Detective Comics subscription when the books merged. I kept up my Detective sub for a few more years, well into the time when the book went back down in size.
I am back between textbook chapter readings for a little more commentary:
Uncle Paul, you had mentioned that the DC Implosion caused some comics to cut their main 17-page features to 15 pages to include some of the back-up stories. Well, it appears that this issue of Detective Comics had to cut their Batman Family stories in order to fit in this Dollar Comic with the original Denny O’Neil and Marshall Rodgers story that was planned for this issue.
Courtesy of Heritage Comics, here is the original art to page 5 of the Batgirl story as originally planned for Batman Family #21. As you can see, two panels have been discarded and the rest were moved back to page 4.
And here is the original page 8 of the Jim Starlin and P. Craig Russel Batman story, which was completely removed from the printed tale.
It would not surprise me if the Robin and Man-Bat stories had been trimmed as well.
Panel 6 of the Batgirl page also revealed that Sino-Superman was originally drawn to have the Superman S-shield, but was changed to just the diamond shape in the inking by editorial edict. It still doesn’t explain why he switched from a speedo to a short qun (skirt) (and back to the speedo on the following page)…
Great work, Isamu!
355 Lexington Avenue, Gotham… looks like Denny subscribed to the ‘Gotham is New York by night’ theory.
Thanks for sharing that artwork! Especially that page from the Batman story.
Back to the “Mystery of the Missing Pages”:
Sharp-eyed viewers may have noticed the last page of the Robin story (in the gallery) is numbered 12, but there were only 11 pages in the story. So which page was removed? I suspect that page 7 is a combination of the original pages 7 and 8 (similar to how the Batgirl story page 4 was a combination of original pages 4 and 5). Page 7 is one of the few pages in the story with simple rectangular panel borders with no jigsaw-cut, overlapping, or diagonal borders that would be difficult to cut and paste up on a new board. And that aerial dogfight with Raven ended rather abruptly with that wall Robin struck on page 7, panel 5 literally coming out of nowhere. One would think that big empty space in the bottom right corner of panel 4 could have shown the building Robin was going to crash into — unless there used to be one of those overlapping panels in that spot of the original art which was cut out.
I cannot find any images of the original art online to prove my theory though.
Hi Bat Family!
I’ve brought Twinkies and red velvet cupcakes and am trying to recreate the second Robin-Rooters costume variation on my soggy paper plate. The rocket pack is tricky.
Super Hypnotism? I finally understand the source of the humor behind that issue of the Tick where he needs a disguise so he puts on his “hypnotic tie”! 30 years is never too late to understand a joke.
Has anyone seen a recent Tim Drake costume? You know, when he changes his super hero name to “Drake”? It is brown like the first costume Robin tries. Coincidence? I think Joe Montgomery of Abilene Kansas should be made aware of this!
I have to run, the Twinkies look like they’re about to explode. I probably shouldn’t have gone for authenticity by adding jet pack fuel to my design. Time to submerge it in on the cooler before it … >SPLABOOM!<
Hey everyone it’s cousin Bucky Aka The American samurai Alias Rocky Starwind I’ve picked another alter ego not sure how ?? What you gonna do at least sounds cool . Any ways I brought blackberry & strawberry short cake and cousin Jeremy is setting up the movie screen where showing the classic battle star Galactica movie and Doctor who the tv movie shags already in front row he’s one with the doctor who t-shirt and starbuck doll along with Chris Franklin who has a Galactica shirt and Tom baker mego doll , well when in rome ( pulls second doctor figure out of pocket ). (Put on Doctor who retro t-shirt ) next time we will do both episodes of legends of the super heroes .
BLack Spider? HIS murder started off my 18 page Batman pitch which would have a two year story, if it had’nt flooped,
I love Electro! remember there were three other Electros two at Marvel 1 at dc. But we only know the main one,
Wizzer is funny but the modren way they draw him is much better. He had bare arms in the 40s wich looked goofy,
The only DC Electro I know is the one from that episode of the 1977 Filmation Batman series, where Electro is an alien who hypnotises Batman and Robin.
Another great episode.
Impressive podcast most impressive. The Bat story looks cool. Yeah Don’t care what boots his waring you not sliding down that train rail. Wouldn’t the electric from the train still be running threw the rails? Not sure. The cover is cool, but it looks like Bat Man is being controlled by the skull. Or he’s standing on a skull shaped carpet.
Low tech or not it’s not a bad make up bit by bats. Yeah the doc is a bit of a diva. Or drama king. The last page is cool. Next story.
Yeah Dick should have dated Margie. Way better than Lori. For him. I won’t Judge the costumes since these are fan creators . Paul’s seems to be the best. I respect the other’s creativity in making costumes they sent in and leave it at that. Though Paul’s does remind me of the look Jason first wore before becoming Robin. Not quite the same, but close.
Raven… he ware that in public. Ooooh skinny dipping Robin oh my. Yeah Lori should be nice to Robin. But we’ve established she’s coco for coco puffs. next story.
Hey if the photographer is fighting the bad guys people could think she was bat girl. They could think she wares a wig like black cannery did. Before she died her hair. And Bat girl even has a Cowl. So I could see some one jumping to that though. After all she is a pro photographer whom was sent to cover this and didn’t have her camera ready. And all she has is combat skills.
So I can see the confusion. I’ll skip the whole rest of the story. Though Babs…. Green and yellow? Oy. Just no. Was she trying out for wacky racers with this outfit? This is like if Penelope Pit stop wore green and yellow. Is she moon lighting as a crossing guard? Next.
Ah the Man bat tv PI show we should’ve got. Lol fun story. Next. Murder in the Night really? I like old blue eyes as much as the next person. But, Oy a play on strangers in the night. Anyway ok part 1 of a story. Ah the man became a gorilla la la. Hmm. Y’all should probably have Cindy on the next podcast. Since she’s a fan of gorillas.
– [ ] Hey a back to back Franklins podcast. Could work. Ah y’all are going to a convention cool. I just got back from Geek’d con. It wa fine. No one got I was dressed as Super Girl. But, meh. I met a few famous people. Marilyn Ghigliotti er she was in Clerks. The Guy whom voiced Miles Morales Spider Man in the video games.Nadji Jeter And Scrapy Dos voice actor Scott Innes from the movie. He’s also voiced Scob and Shaggy in a few cartoons. He was the best of the bunch
Anyway can’t wait to hear the next podcast.
This is the comics version of where the kids moved out a couple of years ago, built their own brand new pad, and had just completed an addition, but the economic downturn has forced them to move back into Dad’s ancestral home. But it feels right; didn’t all these characters have their first appearances in Detective Comics?
So does this mean this issue is Batman Family legacy number #21?
Yes, the dreaded cover boxes are back, but they do seem needed for an anthology comic like this to showcase all the characters. At least a wraparound cover doesn’t seem too crowded. And I don’t know what it is, but I still keep thinking of 80s songs to fit the stories. I blame you, Shawn and Paul, for this Bat-earworm!
Batman story one – “Crazy Train” by Ozzy, because “The Loco-motion” by Kylie Minogue is too peppy of a song for Batman.
A relatively simple story with a Golden Age feel to it, but an enjoyable read from two of the best Batman creators ever.
One thing about Rogers I’ve always loved is how he integrated the sound effects into the action. The gunshot on page 2 and Batman punching Greeny on page 4 are perfect examples. Plus, look at that gunshot panel with the Webley revolver and the Luger; you can see the motion of the Luger ejecting the shell. Details like that may not always be necessary but are great to see.
And the way things are made these days, I think boot soles from the 1970s might hold up better on those tracks than modern day soles.
Robin – “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top
Got some great Don Newton artwork with Robin’s putting on a fashion show for his fans. Let’s run through these threads.
* The brown and tan “Earth tones” outfit might be the most (late) 70s thing in this issue. Add some bright yellow and red and we have the San Diego Padres colors of the time. It resembles the outfits Terra and Geo-Force will wear in about 5 years. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not too crazy about the “Robin circle with Bat-wings” symbol. It’s like it ties Robin to Batman at a point where he’s been operating on his own and establishing himself separate from Batman. At the time I actually liked this one, but now I don’t know.
* I don’t mind the red and yellow one. Similar color scheme as his original outfit, minus the green. Maybe the highlights on the mask should have been green instead of blue. It resembles what Tim Drake has worn in recent years. But are the yellow parts black with yellow highlight, or yellow with black shading?
* “Generic” is the best way to describe the blue and green one. Maybe it’s the shades of blue and green that don’t work for me. Make the blue a darker shade. I’m not sure what’s going on with the ribbed trunks, much less why they’re divided by the utility belt.
Wait, #2 has a jet pack?? That’s handy since Daven – err, Rave Corby – I mean RAVEN attacks again. Does Raven use the same thing to fly? But is a cape a wise thing to wear over a jet pack? I keep picturing Edna Mode with her hand on her head thinking “no one listens”.
Page 5 last panel, Robin says “first you showed up when Dave disappeared ..”. Didn’t he mean Gary? Or was Lori’s rebound guy stuck in his head? Or was there a mistake in the script or by the letterer that wasn’t caught?
Batgirl – “China Girl” by Bowie, but “One Night in Bangkok” by Murray Head also came to mind. At least neither is as problematic as how the Chinese are depicted in this story.
Wo Fong needs to check out the real Firestorm and compare him with his “Firestorm”. Still think the same technology is responsible??
Batgirl is in China. Barbara Gordon is in China. Both have red hair. Therefore, Batgirl is — the dark-haired photographer???? Just because she stopped the guy with the grenade?? And people think Clark Kent’s glasses are ridiculous.
Man-Bat – “Dancing Queen” by ABBA
Kirk’s first case as a PI seems simple enough – rescue a kidnapped wife and perfect his Bogart impression. At least Bogey never had to deal with discos.
Okay, Bard, precisely where did you find Ms. Whittles? That cryptic comment doesn’t help dispel the double entendre in the title as just something in my dirty mind.
Batman story 2 – “Shock the Monkey” by Peter Gabriel
Jim Starlin gave us that awesome wraparound cover last issue, and now a second Batman story this issue. This is another from this era that I’ve found memorable. It starts off as a Poe-inspired mystery that involves Batman’s father, and ends up with a science-fictiony mind-swap-with-a-gorilla that predates the Ultra-Humanite and his gorilla body.
How can Batman say it’s impossible?? He’s on a team with aliens, an Amazon, and an android, and has been to an alternate Earth. Mind-transfer with a gorilla should be just another Wednesday.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one bugged by Thomas Wayne serving in WWI. It’s not impossible for Bruce to be born when his father was in his mid-50s, but Thomas and Martha have always been depicted in the same age range.
Can’t wait for next issue. It will be in this same title, right? And Batman in the same body, right?
It’s great to be back at the Batman Family Reunion barbecue, I’ve brought cornflake cakes – chocolate and treacly crunchy goodness.
Starting with the feedback, you misunderstand me, I do know that Letterman and Saturday Night Live were national programmes, I just meant ‘local’ in the sense that they were filmed in New York so would be local to Marvel. And while SNL has been shown on national TV a few times in the UK, it’s never caught on, it’s too American. I don’t think Letterman has appeared on UK screens at all.
I remember this front cover, it’s pretty terrible, too disjointed, with not not much dynamism to the figures. I’d not seen the rear previously, it’s pretty dorky, what with that silly Bat-Mask silhouette over a cityscape. And who forgot to begin every blurb with the name of the featured hero?
Batman in London…sigh. Were US creators taking the piss in their constant presentation of London as a city trapped in the 19th century? We’ve not actually had pea soupers since the Clean Air Acts, the first of which came after 1952’s Great Smog of London, which killed 4000 people (in the DCU that was definitely a supervillain plot).
Excellent work on the top pronunciation of Basil, Shawn. As in Fawlty Towers!
Re: the JLA #161 house ad, ‘Zantanna’ is the ‘Rouge’ of the silver age
Apropos of something I can’t remember, what the heck is ‘Robin cake’?
Oh those costumes in the Robin feature, pants every one of ‘em.
The Dan Atkins spotlight was one of the best yet, I loved hearing about the rivalry with Jim Steranko.
That Batgirl nickname, ‘Dominoed Daredoll’, confused the heck out of me as a kid – she wasn’t a spot-themed character. Then I found out what a domino mask was – something Barbara Gordon has never actually wore. Stupid. As for the Sino Supermen, do we know if Gene Luen Yang read these stories as a kid and was inspired to create New Super-Man Kong Kenan, whose powers were gained via a government Super-Man of China Project?
It’s amazing how poor the art is on the second Batman story given it’s by Jim Starlin and P Craig Russell – the figurework is just awful at times (such as tiny-headed Thomas Wayne on page 7, and Commissioner Gordon, wearing the most unconvincing glasses this side of a Luke McDonnell character. The story’s a bit dull too… I find that if Denny doesn’t go gothic with Batman, he may as well go home.
I liked the Man-Bat story, I agree, Kyle was looking like himself again rather than some sweaty Seventies sex god, and that’s a good thing.
Regarding Gabriel’s Horn and the most Seventies moment, I got the Fear of Flying reference, naughty. DC writers liked to sneak in inappropriate references – remember how the cheeky documentary I Am Curious (Yellow) birthed the Lois Lane classic I Am Curious (Black)?
All in all, this isn’t a great issue, but it did give us another great podcast, which is nice.
“Robin Cake” I think is supposed to be playing off of “beef cake” and “cheese cake”.
That, or it’s a vintage recipe from Dylan Hollis’ cookbook.
It totally sounds like a recipe from his cookbook. And a perfect recipe for the Bat-Family reunion.
Thanks Matthew, I don’t know Dylan Hollis, but I do own the DC Superheroes Super Healthy Cookbook.
Please save one of those cornflake cakes for me, Uncle Martin. I haven’t had those since I was 12, and my dad made them with golden syrup instead of treacle, so I am curious to taste the difference.
I still have a piece of chocolate mayonnaise cake I can give in exchange.
You give me plenty, Isamu. And the cakes would be the same, we tend to use ‘treacle’ as a synonym for Golden Syrup. So it’s Tate & Lyle, but not the black stuff. That goes into the Boston Beans!
Bat-Cousins, another great podcast. Paul, you know you wouldn’t have gotten sick if you ate Zagnuts. Just saying. All I brought this time for the reunion is Christmas Punch. I don’t care if it’s out of season. Everyone needs that extra sugar rush from the pineapple juice and ginger ale. Just keep Cousin Jolene from licking the punch bowl and everything will be fine.
On to Detective 481, I recalled seeing this in an ad and I wanted to get this issue. The problem was I was first aware of this book in 1986, eight years after its release. So I spent years looking for this book among the many I had to find to collect as many Batman and Detective Comics issues as I could find. I remember trying to actually draw the cover inside a notebook I once had and trying to recreate the stories the cover depicted. I have to admit that the notebook featuring the stick-figured recreation of the Detective 481 cover and the crudely created stories I crafted is lost in a big landfill somewhere. Ahh, to wade in bags and bags of garbage to find that notebook…yeah, I don’t think I’ll ever do that.
Although there were plot holes in Ticket to Tragedy, I enjoyed the O’ Neill story more than Murder in the Night. I think it had the mystery hook that I enjoyed immensely. Marshall Rogers’s art was, of course, fantastic, but one can tell Terry Austin was not the inker. Austin’s inks made Rogers’s pencil art a little cleaner, but that doesn’t take away from the way Rogers draws the human form and the positions he places the characters in each panel. Rogers knew exactly where to put Batman and other supporting characters and objects in every panel he drew. Those are some of the reasons why I put Marshall Rogers in my Top Five Batman Artists all time.
The Robin story was overshadowed by the garish new costumes. The brown costume I figure had its basis on the actual bird, but brown works for Wolverine. The other two I wasn’t a fan of either. All three made the costume the Earth-Two Robin wore in the 60s to mid-70s look good.
The Batgirl story: ugh. Not a fan of this story. Not a fan of Don Heck. End of story.
For Man-Bat, I thought it was enjoyable. I think it was a good thing Kirk and Jason didn’t find “Snookums” at Studio 54. One might have never found “Snookums” unless she wanted to be found, especially if she was having a little pleasurable fun in a bathroom stall or doing who knows what in the Inner Sanctum with club owner Steve Rubell and Mick Jagger. I doubt that she’d be riding a white horse around the club like Bianca Jagger once did. (Now if that didn’t get a mention for most 70s paragraph, I may get angry like Anita Bryant seeing Cheech and Chong use an orange for a bong.)
As to Murder in the Night, It’s an okay story. I feel I may be the only person who is not a fan of apes in comic books. I think Julie Schwartz completely ignored the pleas from the gleam in my mother’s eye that said “No more apes in comics!” Seriously, the story of a former military felon seeking revenge on those who sold him out seemed intriguing, but the great difference in time and wondering how old Thomas Wayne would have been when Bruce became more important to me than the story itself. I’m STILL trying to figure it out. Was Thomas Wayne in his fifties or sixties?
Well, that’s all I have to say right now. Thanks again for another great episode of the Batman Family Reunion. Now I have to keep Jolene from sticking her head in the punch bowl. No one knows where that tongue has been.
Chris is right, the Bat Copter was a rare “miss” by Mego–it looks like one of those cars shaped like a football helmet that sports mascots would use to drive onto the field.
I can’t give Shawn that much grief for not being the hugest Aparo fan–either someone’s art looks “good” to your eye, or it doesn’t. But let’s keep the Aparo negativity to a minimum. Remember, you guys have your annual network performance review coming up.
Carol Fein should have gotten her own Who’s Who listing!
Hey, Bat Cousins, sorry I’m late, my train was uncoupled. I brought a big bag of pumpkin spice. That’s right, all you pumpkin spice-loving psychopaths can just sprinkle this stuff on everything. Toss some in your drinks and food and desserts. Snort lines of it off the picnic table. Dump some in the duck pond, too. Maybe it will give them super powers. Have your fill!
Nice to see the family successfully moved over to Detective Comics. A solid starting issue. The front and back cover have an interesting modern look with the segmented areas. Batman looks like he just tripped over that skull and Man-Bat looks like Nick Nolte’s mugshot, but overall, cool art.
Lot of Marshall Rogers car-waxing on the podcast, and you know what? I get it. I love the architecture. They should’ve turned the Detective Comics Batman stories into a European tour just so Rogers could draw Batman in different countries. Great stuff. He may be a sweet and fragrant complement to tomato-based dishes, but Basil is a real dick for thinking about torching his research. He even tells the attendant exactly what it is and his intention to burn it! “I created a way to save many lives, but you poors will never see it! Now fetch me another G and T!” Man, just let the bad guy shoot him.
It was nice to see the Robin stories get an artist upgrade. Don Newton is great. And I’m actually a little interested to see what the deal is with the Raven. Looks like the chief attended the “Commissioner Gordon School of Letting the Costumes Handle the Heavy Work So You Can Knock Off Early and Get a Few Drinks Before Heading Home and Getting Berated by Your Wife Because You’re Never Home and You Forgot You Were Supposed to Meet Her Friends You Hate for Dinner Downtown at That Italian Restaurant That doesn’t Have Your Brand of Scotch and the Waiter Always Gives You a Dirty Look When You Ask for Ketchup, But Whatever, At Least You’re Not Getting Shot at Like Robin.” Also, Wolverine is the only hero that can pull off a brown costume.
As for the Batgirl story, it’s nice to see giant rooms aren’t relegated to Kurt and Francine’s Manhattan apartment. How big was Barbara’s hotel room? There are five people fighting in a hotel room, jumping and spinning and flying, and no one even banged their knee on a workspace desk. And oh, that Don Heck artistry. It looks like Senator Cleary smash through the door using jazz hands.
The Man-Bat story was fun. It’s good to see the Langstroms aren’t leaving the baby home alone anymore.
Finally, Batman is back with some Starlin art. Word is he got paid more for 16 pages than he did for Endgame. Overall, I like Starlin, but he has some quirky aspects to his art. Characters are always doing deep knee bends and nobody seems to know what to do with their hands. Overall, a dark and gritty story. Especially when Colonel Sanders showed Batman the dismembered victim. That’s a horrified expression you don’t usually see from Batman.
Also, it was great hearing the Bat-Family historian Chris Franklin on the show. He’s always a fountain of knowledge.
Well, gotta run. Bat cousin Shawn is trying to pay for lunch by waving his Old Navy card over the mustard bottle, so I have to show him how to use a credit card again. See you at the next reunion.