Panel by Panel: BATS!

Max Traver, network commenter extraordinaire and writer of Max Reads Comics pops his podcasting cherry with a new episode of Panel by Panel, one looking at a panel from 1941's Star-Spangled Comics #1. Is it Star-Spangled Kid? Is it the Tarantula? No, it's Armstrong of the Army! Who? Well, listen and find out. Plus, your feedback from our previous episode, which shows how PbP is training people's brains to look deep into small things.

A clean look at the image in the Panel by Panel Supplemental.

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Leave us a comment, we'll read it between the panels!

11 responses to “Panel by Panel: BATS!

  1. A great examination of the panel and a great debut for Max! I’m glad you deviated from procedure and gave us a little more background on Armstrong of the Army and this story in particular. All of the outside research (including the dream symbolism) was very interesting. Also, it was reassuring to know that I wasn’t the only thinking in non-stop Batman references.

    Regarding the feedback from last time, 1) I did go back and enjoy the actual podcast, and 2) Ward Hill Terry, I’m putting the second Love & Rockets trade on my Christmas list. I’ll check to see if it’s in stock at In Stock Trades, of course.

  2. Great debut from Max, I really liked the notes on the associations of bats and the colour red, which immediately had me thinking of so many great Batman and Detective Comics covers.

    1. I never got around to the few notes I had on the color red, but the bat stuff was more interesting anyway 🙂 Thanks for all the very kind appraisals of my first crack at being a guest, and thanks again to Siskoid for giving me a shot. This was a blast for me.

        1. That will teach me to toss out my notes the moment I took off my headphones! Okay, what I recall that would have maybe been pertinent to ramble about was this: Red is often associated with good luck, and it is fortuitous that Armstrong ran into the bats. Also, Red is highly visible to the human eye, and gives the illusion of forward movement, and as such is sometimes linked to the concept of “progress” or achieving a goal, symbolically. And with that, I rest my blathering horn 🙂

          1. Fascinating stuff, thanks you! Grey is, of course, the best colour of all. Let’s check the internet to learn about its awesomeness: ‘The color gray is an emotionless, moody color that is typically associated with meanings of dull, dirty, and dingy, as well as formal, conservative, and sophisticated. The color gray is a timeless and practical color that is often associated with loss or depression.’

            OK, try again: ‘ In the meaning of colors, gray is conservative, boring, drab and depressing on the one hand and elegant and formal on the other, yet never glamorous.’

            I think I’ll quit while I’m behind. It’s not necessarily derived from the colour anyway!

            Bring on the next panel!

  3. I like this panel. I agree, it’s well composed, and I like the weight of the uniform, etc. Yes, a lot of Golden Age art was very crude. The early Flash art by Harry Lampert, as Siskoid pointed out, is a particular offender. Martin Naydel ,the primary JSA artist for much of their All-Star Comics run (for their group intros and outros), also had a rather crude a simplified style, which was a shame because you had lovely individual hero chapters by guys like a young Joe Kubert and Sheldon Moldoff in his best Alex Raymond-like days to compare to.

    Fun show, and Max is a natural! Welcome to the club. The first taste is free, then you lose hours to this madness! BWAHAHAHA!!!

    1. I am just really beginning my journey into reading Golden Age books, so I look forward to all of this “variety” in the art work! And, Chris, as for me being a “natural,” I’ll chalk that up to Siskoid being a super accommodating host, and making things really easy and relaxed for me. But yes, I have the taste for it now…only my considerable powers of lethargy can save me now! 🙂

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