Detective Comics: 80 Years Of The Batman: The Deluxe Edition (graphic novel review).
Of the three introductions, only Senator Patrick Leahy ignored Bill Finger’s contribution to the Batman mythos. Dan DiDio notes that Batman debuted in Detective #27 and that the comic book had other vigilantes and detectives before and after. Here, we see the Crimson Avenger and Slam Bradley as examples.
With the origins of Robin, in the final part of the story, there were two deaths as criminals were kicked off high-up girders. However, one of these deaths was caused by the boy wonder himself.
We see more examples of its own spawn of detectives, and some of their origins, like PowWow Smith and even the Martian Manhunter, are included here. Manhunter pops up twice with stories by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson. Objectively, you do have to wonder if a costume with large white lapels can act covertly. Batman encompasses the origins of the original Clayface, Batwoman, Batgirl, and Man-Bat.
Looking at the stories as a collective, it’s easy to see the evolution of both artists and writers in terms of display and content. You do have to make any assessment based on page rates, panel construction, editors, deadlines, and so forth. Up to the early 1970s, the original pages were twice the size of the printed page and later only a third up. Of course, the quality of the art was bound to go up. You can see the differences between Carmine Infantino’s portrayal of Batman in this instance and Neal Adams’ and Dick Giordano’s respective roles. DC Comics primarily operated as a writer-driven company, with the artists following their instructions. When they became more collaborative, things changed drastically. After the success and then fall of the 1966 ‘Batman’ TV series and DC Comics initially copying and then breaking away from this and sales dropping, they were seriously considering dropping the character, but they couldn’t drop ‘Detective Comics,’ mostly because that was what their company was named after.
One story I was glad to see here is ‘There Is No Hope In Crime Alley’ because this is the one editor, Dick Giordano, read and wanted to do the art for, and it is truly stunning. It can be argued that the abundance of Batman stories that explore his origins is a noteworthy observation. His main villains, the Penguin and Joker, barely get a mention. All indicators of some odd selection choices.
If you don’t believe this book is solely about Batman stories, then feel free to add it to your collection.
GF Willmetts
January 2025
(pub: DC Comics, 2018. 416 page anthology graphic novel hardback. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-4012-8538-8).
check out website: www.dc.com