Batman Knightcast 27: BATMAN #234

It’s Part 1 of THE OVERLOOKED DARK KNIGHTCAST crossover/team-up/event thing!

On this special episode, Ryan Daly and Chris Franklin welcome their fellow Batman fans and podcast hosts Michael Bailey and Andrew Leyland from The Overlooked Dark Knight Podcast. Join them as they discuss the all-time classic story from BATMAN #234 featuring the return of Two-Face by the legendary creative team of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams.

This crossover/team-up/event thing will continue on an upcoming episode of The Overlooked Dark Knight!

Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com or supermatespodcast@gmail.com.

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This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK.

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Music from the Batman and Batman Returns original motion picture soundtracks by Danny Elfman. Additional music: “Come Together” by The Beatles.

Thanks for listening!

15 responses to “Batman Knightcast 27: BATMAN #234

  1. I was already loving the Batman cross-promo before the feedback but when Chris added that stinger at the end I damn near spit out my coffee. Perfect.

  2. Can’t argue with the love for this story or its inclusion among the best or greatest Batman stories. It’s a real one-issue wonder from Mssrs. O’Neil and Adams.
    Otherwise, I also first read it in that little digest-size black & white paperback, and it’s the story I remember most from that book. I know I read it multiple times, while I can hardly remember any of the other stories.

  3. That was a fun episode, but I’m biased.

    One problem…that Michael Bailey guy…did he actually make it seem like done in ones weren’t the norm back in the time this book was published? I mean, he kind of made up for it a few moments later, but it seriously sounded like he was suggesting continued stories were as common in the seventies as they are now. Add to that him saying that the Two-Force origin recap was shorter than it would have been in the seventies, as compared to now…man, that guy has got to stop drinking so much before podcasts.

  4. BBQ my ass in molasses?

    Well, sugar does burn quickly, doesn’t it?

    Great episode, guys. This is more of a Teen Titans/X-Men level team-up. Don’t sully yourselves by likening this to an Outsiders crossover. Those are…well, let’s just say Siskoid has a very strong point here.

    Me, I love me some good Two-Face. It can go a little far with the whole twinning/double-crime stuff, but he’s always been my favorite Bat-villain who isn’t Mr Freeze or Ras Al Ghul.

    Chris can’t help but get in a Curt Swan plug! While I do often feel his work can be super-stiff, Chris is right – Swan’s pencilled work is something to see. I apologize for all the times I called him “Curt Yawn,” except for the times I was right about that.

    1. Lots of crow will be eaten when I produce my “In Defense of Curt Swan Podcast Special”. You may want to change that Katana Banana Stand to a Crow-N-Go.

      Chris

      1. Cfranks – again, the KB is permanently closed. Legal fees. Shag. Lawsuits. Harassments. Multiple settlements. That’s all I can legally say.

  5. Impressive podcast. Most Impressive. Was cool seeing ya’ll team up with Mike B and Andy. Yep I realy did take the Joe Kubert Correspondence course. I put up my credentials on the Fire and water Twitter page. ell photos of them. Ignore my Kempo Aikijujutsu teaching credentials that were on the wall when I put up the photos of my diplomas from Joe Kubert school. And I was to lazy to move my teaching certificate from M.arts so they all show up. Oh my art school certicfacets I hadn’t mentioned till now cause they didn’t fit the topics till now. It wasn’t relative to any of the topics so I didn’t mention them. Nope my patience is terrible. But, thanx for saying I have good patience. Any way on to the comics.

    This was a cool return of Two Face. And I’m glad it was Neal and O’Neal that brought him back. Their kind of the perfect team to make this villain work. I don’t know I like Two Face in the Bat Man 60s cartoon bit that was Adam West’s last work as the Bat-Man. When Will Shatner played 2 face. It was funny when Bats scared Mr. Reeves. I liked Two face in the 2nd Bat Man Nowland movie. But, yeah he’d have probly died from infection if he looked like that. Was cool seeing the recap. And yeah Adams did a great job on recreating the original version from the comics.

    Though that was the Harvey Kent Two Face that got hit with the blast. So in a way this is the first appearance of Earth 1 Two Face. Wow the Bat Mobile looked basic here. Just a expensive care with the Bat Man’s Silhouette on the hood. Wow, Bruce don’t put so much effort in the design their buddy. Mr. Wayne went all out there didn’t he? Not sure if the balloon trick would work and how did the ship move under waters if he scuttled it? Wouldn’t it just sink ware Two Face blew it up? Even if the Balloon bit would bring it up. Maybe, but wouldn’t it just sink down? How did he get it to move under water?

    I think even the titanic fell ware it sunk. At any rate can’t wait to hear the next podcast.

  6. Oh, I do love a good team-up, nice one chaps I’ve never actually read this, I think I came across the cover in Batman From the Thirties to the Seventies (is there a more beloved book among Batman fans? Why the heck don’t they do an update? Keep all the original stories and add a few more decades? Or just do a volume two]. Did Andy say this was in Egmont’s DC The Super Heroes Monthly? I don’t remember it there, but that means nothing… great comic, editor Vanessa Morgan printed my first ever LOCs.

    Any road up, is a ship on display such an outlandish thing in the States? We have the Discovery in Dundee, and the Cutty Sark at Greenwich at Portsmouth… of course Gotham has a pirate ship! I’m sure I saw a Boston tea party ship the other year when I was lucky enough to set Ryan and Dr Anj.

    Hands up, I got it wrong on John Workman when I said the Forties-style flourishes HAD to be his work. In a comment on my review of the aforementioned Wonder Woman #234, new parish member Terence Stewart (an old, dear chum) put me straight:

    ‘I thought you might like to see this bit of info I came across about the Cheetah’s word balloons while reading an old issue of Back Issue…

    “In the main comic, Pasko penned a different take on his Wonder Woman/Cheetah conflict, notable for the distinctive spotted word balloons used by the villainess. Issue #230 was done pencils-first, drawn from Marty’s breakdowns. Marty dialogued the story after it was drawn. The speech-effect was designed by Marty and masterfully executed by crack letterer and cartoonist John Workman“.”

    But if Marty hadn’t thought of it, surely John would have! Anyway, I’m delighted Chris is receptive to the idea of interviewing Mr Workman.

    I realise this is sacrilege, but I appreciate Neal Adams’ work more than I love it, it’s brilliantly naturalistic but lacks the sheer cartoony fun of a stylist like Carmine Infantino.

    Please don’t hit me.

  7. So I got this issue from the DCU app, and when I saw the page with the mustard model and stealing the hot dog balloon, BOOM! “I’ve read this story! But where??!” It *feels* like something I read when I was a kid, but checked that it wasn’t in Batman From the 30s to 70s. (Although its cover is.) I don’t recognize the cover of Best of DC #14 Batman’s Villains (high school), so I guess it was Greatest Batman Stories (college). But if so, I can’t find a copy in my books anywhere which is weird, and is much later than I’d have expected. Still, that’s probably it. I must be blending it with the 70s stories from 30s-to-70s. Or I’m getting *more* senile. Groan!

    But what a great story! No surprise that I still remember it. My favorite part is the Batmobile driving on remote to distract the clowns while Batman blindsides them. So crafty!

    Glad this issue was used 2 bring you 2 podcasts of 2 podcasters 2-gether 2 di-alogue. (Wait, I’ve got one more.) Thanks, guys! Bi! I mean Bye! (I’m so so sorry.)

  8. Great show, guys. I enjoyed it and thanks for sharing.

    Does anyone else find it odd that at a time when Batman went solo and comics were trying to move away from the TV show image, DC gave Robin more prominent logo placement? As a 70s kid, the two main 70s logos are my favorites, but I think the one on this cover looks tacky since it was stretched to include the Robin information. Just my opinion.

    Like apparently everyone else, I first read this story in the 70s Tempo paperback. I got the set of all of the DC/Tempo books for Christmas 77 or 78. My first exposure to Two-Face was on a Batman board game, so I was glad to get to read a Two-Face story and find out just exactly who he was. That Batman’s Villains digest that reprinted the story in the early 80s was real manna to a young Bat-Fan starved for knowledge in those pre-internet, pre-collected edition days. I loved the little one page origins in that digest. I finally got to read the story in full-size in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. Since I had so many reprints of it, I didn’t buy the original issue until close to the end of acquiring my consecutive issue Bat-Run.

    For anyone who is interested, here are a few web finds of the game I mentioned:

    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/dDgAAOSw6ZRdGhYg/s-l1600.jpg

    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5C0AAOSwmSZbO9h3/s-l1600.jpg

    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/PfMAAOSwUvldAahQ/s-l1600.jpg

    Chris, I would enjoy a Curt Swan podcast. I think Swan isn’t as appreciated because there is so much material from him to enjoy, and that causes some readers to take him for granted. Would we appreciate some of the artists we hold in such high esteem if they had produced more content, making it seem less rare and special?

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