Batman in the '70s

[The Laughing Fish]

I've been reading a few stories from the 1970s - mostly stuff by Dennis O'Neil and Steven Englehart. Beside the goofy exposition here and there, I think this is probably my favorite decade for Batman comics. I can never get over the classic art, especially by Marshall Rogers.

Some of favorites at the moment are The Laughing Fish and Sign of the Joker stories - where the Joker poisons fish with smiling gas in a misguided attempted to get them trademarked, until a legislator told him that nobody can copyright fish because they're a natural resource. The Joker's reasoning is he if Colonel Sanders can trademark chicken, there he be allowed to trademark fish! And there is the love interest who figures out Batman's identity, but decides it would be best to go their separate ways to prevent heartbreaking tragedy should it happen to either of them.

But surprisingly, the stories in this decade aren't always cheerful like in the '60s, there's still a fair amount of dark moments here and there i.e. Joker poisoning copyright  legislators to death with smiling gas, Rupert Thorne has Hugo Strange beaten to death for not revealing Batman's identity. I'm still confused about why many people think the 1980s is considered to be the first decade that introduced darkness in comics...unless they mean it was the first decade where comics were nothing but grim & gritty? 

[Paul (ral)]

O'Neil and Adams introduced a darker Batman towards to end of the 70's. the 80's brought in a more dystopian Gotham City/society.

[Silver Nemesis]

The Bronze Age is easily my favourite era of the Batman comics. The tone was perfect back then. Not too light, but not too dark; exactly how I like it.

The transition from the camp era to the darker, more realistic comics of the seventies actually started in the late sixties with writers like Gardner Fox. The Frank Robbins/Irv Novick run in particular (around 1968-70) heralded a significant change in the tone of the comics.

These covers by Novick all date from 1969, just one year after the Adam West show ended.

The late sixties stories aren't necessarily classics on a par with the O'Neil/Adams material, or the Englehart/Rogers run, but they are significant steps in the evolution of the darker Batman during the post-West era.

[thecolorsblend]

The Bronze Age is easily my favourite era of the Batman comics. The tone was perfect back then. Not too light, but not too dark; exactly how I like it.

Yep. And you had some really classic artists back then too. Obviously Neal Adams but there was also Jim Aparo and Marshall Rogers. Great time for Batman.

The transition from the camp era to the darker, more realistic comics of the seventies actually started in the late sixties with writers like Gardner Fox. The Frank Robbins/Irv Novick run in particular (around 1968-70) heralded a significant change in the tone of the comics.

It's surprising how widely known that factoid isn't. I've noticed that people tend to think the Adam West era lasted until the O'Neil/Adams or even the Miller stuff in the 80's. Um, guys? The comics got... well, not "dark", but pretty dim in the late 60's.

The late sixties stories aren't necessarily classics on a par with the O'Neil/Adams material, or the Englehart/Rogers run, but they are significant steps in the evolution of the darker Batman during the post-West era.

The optimist in me hopes this is the reason for these stories being overlooked these days. Had the material been better written, would they be more widely (and fondly) regarded? Makes you wonder...

[The Laughing Fish]

Very interesting analysis Silver Nemesis. I thought the return of Hugo Strange in the Englehart stories was another step towards the bleaker direction, outsmarting Batman by stealing his secret identity, only to have it backfire against him by losing his own life at the hands of Rupert Thorne. Until he returned as a ghost to take revenge against Thorne.

The optimist in me hopes this is the reason for these stories being overlooked these days. Had the material been better written, would they be more widely (and fondly) regarded? Makes you wonder...

To be honest I'd rather read the vintage stories from the '60s than read some of the crap that's out today. 

[Silver Nemesis]

It's surprising how widely known that factoid isn't. I've noticed that people tend to think the Adam West era lasted until the O'Neil/Adams or even the Miller stuff in the 80's. Um, guys? The comics got... well, not "dark", but pretty dim in the late 60's.

True. People like to generalise and say that the sixties era was all Adam West camp. But it was actually one of the most diverse decades in Batman's history. I'd divide it up into four distinct eras:

•   1960-1964: the tone during this time period was basically the same as in the fifties, with light, fantastical adventures featuring aliens and Batmen of the future
•   1964-1966: the classic 'New Look' era, with a renewed emphasis on traditional detective stories and classic rogues; tonally very similar to the 1940s comics
•   1966-1968: the camp Adam West era, consciously reflecting the absurdity and ironic humour of the sixties TV show
•   1968-1970: an increasingly dark and serious approach to the material that would ultimately flow into the Bronze Age

There was a movement towards a darker Batman between 1964 and 1966, but the combination of dwindling comic sales and the popularity of the TV show prompted the writers to shift into a lighter gear. Once the whole camp fad went out of fashion they were able to pick up where they'd left off in 1966. And that's when the dark Batman began to emerge.

I thought the return of Hugo Strange in the Englehart stories was another step towards the bleaker direction, outsmarting Batman by stealing his secret identity, only to have it backfire against him by losing his own life at the hands of Rupert Thorne. Until he returned as a ghost to take revenge against Thorne.

That was a great story arc. Probably the best Hugo Strange story of all time.

To be honest I'd rather read the vintage stories from the '60s than read some of the crap that's out today.   

Amen to that. I've said this before in other threads, but I'd really love to edit my own series of comic anthologies, collecting some of these forgotten stories and restoring them for the younger generations. But for now I'm just happy we can have threads like these to draw attention to these stories and celebrate the talented writers and artists who created them.

[The Laughing Fish]

Over the weekend, I read Len Wein's short story from Detective Comics #444 to #448, where Batman was framed for the double murder of Talia and Ra's al Ghul.

I've read comics where Batman proves himself to be a master of disguise, but none of them has him constantly adopting multiple disguises as this five-issue run. The first time he adopts a disguise is when he assumes the identity of one of Talia's goons and catches her and her gang by surprise during their raid at the public event - moments before he had been assumed to shooting Talia in cold blood. In the second issue, he is disguised himself as a guard when he interrogates Ra's in prison, until he it was too late to realise he fell for a trap and Ra's commits suicide to frame him. In the third issue, he masks himself as a janitor to investigate a murder mystery while still on the run from the police, and finally in the last issue, he dresses up like a hobo as he closes in on a suspicious circus that would prove to be Ra's and Talia's hideout.

What catches my eye is Batman acknowledges the Shadow has been an influence on him, as he said in a thought bubble during his investigation as the janitor, how "the Shadow used to pull this stunt -- collecting info while disguised as the old police janitor Fritz!". I've always thought Zorro had been a subconscious influence on Bruce Wayne's becoming of Batman, as The Mark of Zorro was the last movie he saw together with his parents before their murders. But if Zorro was the primal influence behind Batman the crimefighter, I suppose the Shadow served as an influence for Batman to adopt methodical, ingenious ways of becoming a detective. A necessary skill for him to have when he is suddenly seen as a fugitive.

I got to say though, I really love how convenient it was back in the day when Batman strips his disguise and his cape and cowl with the long ears suddenly emerge, hahaha! But that's not really a criticism, it does make for great comic material - as does Batman's "ghost" or reflection in a mirror emerge while he assumes another identity. You don't see that sort of stuff nowadays, most comics try to ground itself in some sort of realism.

Meanwhile, I've read this review of Wein's story on this blog here: http://notahoaxnotadream.blogspot.com/2019/06/detective-comics-444-448.html

I agree with this reviewer's point that the story appeared to be setting up as an ongoing arc. But as that reviewer rightly suggests, DC Comics weren't prepared to be committed to long storylines across all their titles back then. All it had at the time was an editor's disclaimer saying the story took place after all the titles currently running, so my guess is maybe it was to appease the writers who weren't committed to compromising their stories to accommodate what Wein was doing. Maybe Wein might've been ahead of his time?

As for the supposed "Marvelisation" of the story, I'm not so sure, nor am I totally convinced Commissioner Gordon can be blamed for believing Batman was a murderer. The story made it clear the "murder" weapon used to frame Batman was technologically sophisticated to trigger a gunshot that immediately implicated on Batman killing somebody, and would automatically remove any evidence proving otherwise. It was designed to fool anybody to believe a person who held the gun pulled the trigger themselves. Besides, the whole idea behind the frame-up was Batman's reputation would be forever tarnished and without a chance to prove his innocence, that it would make him desperate into joining Ra's as his right hand man in the League of Assassins.

But if there is one criticism I have, it was pretty stupid of Batman, who had just caught the gun Talia threw at him as she tries to make her escape during the first issue, to still hold it straight at her before it opens fire. It became rather obvious Talia was setting him up, and he unwittingly took the bait. I'd blame Batman's thoughtlessness in the spur of the moment before I go blaming Gordon for getting tricked. Thankfully, he was clever enough to clear his name in the end.

[The Laughing Fish]

Man, I got to say, Marshall Rogers is one of my favourite Batman artists of all time. Perhaps my favourite overall. You look at this trippy sketch when Bruce Wayne is poisoned by Hugo Strange and uncovers his Batman identity during Detective Comics #471, and it sums up his backstory to such a terrifying degree.



I just don't feel you get that sort of creativity in superhero comics that much nowadays.

[thecolorsblend]

Rogers was indeed a master. The great tragedy of his career, imo, is how thin his bibliography is considering when he entered the industry and when he passed away. You'd think he drew a TON of stuff. But he didn't.

For a comparison, Bill Sienkiewicz is significantly younger but he has had a much more prolific career. Similar things can be said of Frank Miller, George Pérez and others.

I can't imagine that popularity was a factor in that since I've never met anyone who has had a critical word to say about Rogers.

Anyway, one huge flourish that Rogers employed was incorporating text into his art. I'm a big fan of comics doing things that only comics can do. And combining the written word with graphic art is one of Rogers's most endearing trademarks.

A master.

[The Laughing Fish]

I'm reading this pretty cool interview with Steve Englehart as he discusses his run on Batman back in the Bronze Age. One of the snippets that caught my attention was he expressed his annoyance growing up while reading how Superman would resist any sexual attraction from Lana Lang or Lois Lane due to some contrived excuse thanks to comics censorship, and as soon as he got his chance to write Batman, he wanted to shape him as an adult with a realistic sex life. At least as far as comics would go, hence his tense relationship with Silver St. Cloud.

Englehart acknowledges The Joker's Five Way Revenge of making the Joker a killer again after being toned down as a harmless character for decades, but claims his version is much crazier. I think they're both insane in their own right, but Englehart's Joker is more ridiculous and over-the-top with his desire to trademark fish. Whereas the Joker that O'Neil and Adams did in that other story was more straightforward by going on a vengeful killing spree.

It's a bit long, but it's worth reading.

https://13thdimension.com/steve-englehart-i-wanted-to-do-the-definitive-batman/