Batman in "The Peril of the Penguin"

While digging through some old boxes in my closet recently, I found a ziplock baggie filled with some minicomics that I must have accumulated when I was a kid. Several of them are small DC Comics that came inside packages of Super Sugar Crisp back around 1979-80. Each comic is 16 pages, with two panels per page. I'll spend the next few posts going through some of these odd novelties.

The first one, "The Peril of the Penguin," is a perfect little Batman story in which the Dynamic Duo stop The Penguin from robbing a rodeo.

I can't find any credits for this comic online, but I'm going to take a guess that the art is by Adrian Gonzales and Dave Hunt (I'm pretty certain on the inker, but not the penciller). The cover is by Dick Giordano (at least the inks). I don't have a clue as to the writer, though at this time Bob Rozakis was writing a lot of stuff like this for DC, so I'm going to make that my guess.

The story opens in typical fashion for the time, with Batman scaring and beating up some thugs for information.



He's so effective at this that he doesn't even have to take them to the police--he just scares the crap out of them so they do it themselves.

The thugs give him a vague clue that the Penguin is at a "Bull Dog Contest." Robin jumps to the logical but dead wrong conclusion that this means he's going to rob the Gotham Dog Show (which, in the world of Gotham City in the 70s, makes perfect sense). Instead, Batman points out that a "Bull Dog Contest" is slang for a rodeo. From then on, Batman will not shut up about how right he is all the time.


I like how Bruce gets down to business and makes sure that Commissioner Gordon understands his question here. This isn't idle chit-chat as someone, using the vernacular of the times, might ask "What's happening?"

The Penguin, inconspicuously disguised as a cowboy, uses one of his trick umbrellas to rile up the bulls and start a stampede:


This calls for Bruce and Dick to get in on the action:

"But as the Batman I can move!": whoever wrote this deserves a medal for that line alone.

And we end up with one of my favorite things: Batman interacting with members of the animal kingdom. First, with the steers:

Second, on a horse:

Finally, Batman and Robin catch up to the Penguin and his henchman at the rodeo box office. Penguin tries to get away with a helicopter umbrella, but Batman manages to lasso the criminal's feet:

Leaving Robin to make a series of demoralizing puns at the Penguin's expense.

In the span of 29 panels, "The Peril of the Penguin" provides a formula for the basic Batman story: Batman interrogates punks, punks give up clue, Batman decodes clue and tracks down the villain, fighting ensues.

The Gil Kane Punch of the Week 5

Perhaps one of the greatest punches in comics history, from Amazing Spider-Man 121, written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gil Kane, and inks by John Romita, Sr.

Thanks to Chris Sims for the tip and the scan.

Who's a Brave Boy?

Recently, the Other Dr. K and I took a trip to London. Among the touristy things we did was ride the London Eye. If I do say so myself, this was an accomplishment for me, as I don't like heights. I think you can see that from this picture in particular, where I'm scowling and gripping my seat:

As the flight went on, however, I started to fee better, so I stood up and tried to look cheerier:


Also, while standing in line for the Eye, we saw the host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Ty Pennington:
:
Unfortunately, he did not get on the same flight as we did. If he had, I would have walked off the Eye with a new house--guaranteed!

Dr. K Reviews: Blazing Combat!

Holy crap, this book is awesome!

In 1965, Warren Publshing sought to build on the success of their horror comic magazine Creepy. Since Creepy was modeled after the the EC horror comics of the previous decade, the decision was made to duplicate another famous EC genre: war comics. The result was Blazing Combat, written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by some of the greatest artists in comics history, including Wally Wood, Alex Toth, Joe Orlando, Gene Colon, Reed Crandall, John Severin, and Russ Heath.

The series, unfortunately, only ran for 4 issues, and the book spends some time explaining the series's downfall through interviews with publisher James Warren and writer Archie Goodwin. In brief, Goodwin took a critical, realistic approach to war stories, including stories about the Vietnam War, which was then in the early days of American involvement. These Vietnam stories, which anticipated the country's antiwar sentiment, raised the ire of the US military and the American Legion. The military stopped the sale of the comic on all military bases and the American Legion encouraged wholesalers to keep it from newstands. Thus, after only a few issues, Warren had to pull the plug.

What made it into these four issues, however, are some of the greatest war comics ever made. In reading this collection, I was struck not only the progressive attitude toward war that these stories present, but also the breadth of stories told here. Each issue includes stories ranging from the American Civil War to Vietnam, and, with the exception of World War II, rarely is a historical period repeated in an issue. Each issue contained 7-8 short stories. When these stories are presented collectively like this, Archie Goodwin's accomplishment here can be seen as on par with Harvey Kurtzman's work on the EC war books.

I was also amazed at how well these stories hold up after more than 40 years. Warren published its comics as magazines in order to circumvent the censorship of the Comics Code, so while the level of violence depicted here may be higher than that acceptible in mainstream comics of the time, it is by no means gratuitous. The Vietnam stories are probably the most remarkable. The opening story of the series, "Viet-Cong" (with art by Joe Orlando, who draws most of the Vietnam stories) features an American soldier advising the South Vietnamese army and witnessing the murder of civilians and the torture of enemy soldiers (including waterboarding).

If anything unifies these stories, other than the focus on war, it is a dominant sense of irony. Stories of military heroism are rare, and when they do occur, they are often balanced by this irony--in one Revolutionary War story, the heroism of an unnamed general is celebrated, and we only find out at the end that it's Benedict Arnold.

Among my favorite stories are those involving fighter pilots in various wars, especially those stories drawn by Alex Toth and Wally Wood. Toth drew what is probably my all-time favorite war comic story--"F-86 Sabre Jet!" in EC's Frontline Combat 12. Toth's "Lone Hawk" and "The Edge!" are easily on par with that earlier story, and "The Edge!" itself forms a perfect companion piece, where Toth uses a deceptively minimalist style to tell a gripping story of Korean War fighter combat. Wally Wood did two amazing fighter pilot stories: "The Battle of Britain!" (which he wrote--the only story in the collection not written by Goodwin) and "ME-262!" The latter story is especially remarkable because it tells of the frustration of a German pilot in WWII who knows that the new Messerschmitts should be used as fighters, while Hitler keeps insisting on making them bombers.

Probably my favorite story in the collection, however, is "Give and Take," with art by Russ Heath. Heath has always been one of the greatest war comics artists, but this story goes well beyond any of the work he did in DC and Atlas's war comics. The art is almost photo-realistic here, especially in the use of shadows and evocative facial expressions.

In all, this is an essential collection, featuring truly important stories from an unfortunately brief period of incredible creativity on the part of Archie Goodwin and a stable of some of comics' greatest artists. Fantagraphics has been knocking out a lot of great archival collections lately, including Paul Karasik's rediscovery of Fletcher Hanks's work, Craig Yoe's collection of bizarre Boody Rodgers stories, Greg Sadowski's Supermen anthology, and the complete, essential collection of Harvey Kurtzman's Humbug series (not to mention the work they are doing on comic strip archives).

The Gil Kane Punch of the Week 4

Midnight punches a goon over a desk and out of the panel! From "The Secret Origin of Midnight" in Secret Origins 28 (1988), written by Roy Thomas, art by Gil Kane. Thanks to reader Seth for the recommendation.

ISBook Club: Hunt at the Well of Eternity

So, as Chris Sims recounts here, he and I have decided to start a cross-blog book club with the first installment of the Hunt for Adventure series, Hunt at the Well of Eternity, written by James Reasoner.

Much like Chris, I was excited to hear about this series about a treasure-hunting hero named Gabriel Hunt when series creator Charles Ardai announced it. Ardai is the creator of the Hard Case Crime series, which I've been enjoying tremendously for the last few years. Unfortunately, the first book in the series doesn't live up to those expectations, but I'm going to stick with this series in hopes that it does live up to its potential.

I agree with Chris on most points. I also wish that the book used first-person narration, especially since "Gabriel Hunt" is listed as the author, and I also found the contemporary setting off-putting. And, in the end, Gabriel Hunt is too much of a generic adventure hero to care much about. But, as Chris also points out, the book moves along at a fast clip, with one action set-piece following quickly after another--in the first 40 pages, we get a fight at a museum benefit, a car chase across the Queensboro bridge, and an airboat chase through the Florida Everglades, all with considerable gunfire.

The book could also benefit from a more self-aware, ironic approach. Hints of that occur in the suggestion that Gabriel learned to use a bullwhip from a friend of his parents who may have been Indiana Jones. In fact, my hopes for ironic self-awareness came in the first page, when we're introduced to Gabriel's brother:

His brother Michael leaned closer to him. Without altering the beaming smile on his face, Michael said from the corner of his mouth, "Stop fidgeting."

I would think, if you named a character "Michael Hunt," you would absolutely have to know what you were doing. And if so, then the reader should expect much of the novel to be written with the tongue planted firmly in the cheek. However, that is really not the case here, and Reasoner writes the rest of the novel with such a bland earnestness that it seems as if he were willfully avoiding ironic self-awareness. Take, for example, the turgid prose used in the introduction of the novel's damsel-in-distress, Mariella Montez:

A mass of midnight-black curls framed a compelling, high-cheekboned face dominated by dark, intense eyes. Those curls tumbled over honey-skinned shoulders left bare by the strapless evening gown of dark green silk that clung to the generous curves of her body. She possessed a timeless, natural beauty that was more attractive to Gabriel than anything the multitude of stick-thin, face-lifted society women attending this reception could ever muster.

This may as well have said "generically attractive Latina," as there is very little here to give us much of a picture of the character, though that's par for the course with most characters in this novel. Reasoner may be intentionally resisting the kind of postmodern irony that accompanies many nostalgic genre revivals, but the bland style used here does not serve as a worthwhile replacement.

Reasoner, best known for his Westerns and Civil War novels, as well as the Mike Shayne mysteries that he wrote as "Brett Halliday," would seem perfectly suited to this kind of adventure tale. And the author does bring his historical expertise to a plot involving the quest for the fate of a Civil War general who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. But apart from strong pacing and action scenes that make the story mildly diverting and inoffensive, there isn't much to recommend here.

Later installments in the series do offer some promise, though. If the preview in the back of Well of Eternity is a sign, then the next novel, Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear by series creator Charles Ardai, should be a lot more fun. Ardai's contributions to the Hard Case Crime series, notably Little Girl Lost and Songs of Innocence (writing as "Richard Aleas"), are both fantastic crime novels, and he clearly has a love for these pulp genres. Also, Christa Faust and David J. Schow are both lined up for the series, and they wrote my two favorite Hard Case Crime novels: Money Shot and Gun Work (respectively). Both of these novels are fun and fast-paced, with strong characterization and some pretty wild twists. So, while I was disappointed in Hunt at the Well of Eternity, I hold out hope that this was merely a mild abberation, and that the series will live up to its potential.

Artists and Critics

I recently returned from a trip to the UK, where I got to see a marvelous, funny, and accessible production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godotstarring Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow, and Ronald Pickup (more on this in a later post, perhaps).

At one point in the play, in their endless quest to occupy their time, Didi (Stewart) and Gogo (McKellen) decide to play at hurling insults at one another. The back-and-forth ends when Gogo shouts "Critic!" and Didi falls to the ground as if shot. The line got the biggest applause of the play, and yet, this particular run has been almost universally praised by critics. Clearly, though, that applause would help cushion the blow that any negative criticism might unleash.

On this trip to London, I also got to see a performance of Yukio Mishima's Madame de Sade, starring Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike. Unlike the Beckett play, this one has been almost universally panned, though I found it quite good and found most of the negative criticism to miss the point of the play. However, the critical backlash has been so strong that it inspired Dame Judi to respond to Daily Telegraph critic Charles Spencer with a letter stating, "I've always rather admired you but now realise you're an absolute shit."

Now, when feuds between artists and critics enter the public sphere, it can be fun to watch, and Dame Judi manages to toss a perfect verbal barb at her detractor, especially as one can imagine just how the great actress would deliver such a line. But I use these two examples as a means of taking the long way to get to this recent example of what not to do when faced with negative criticism. Kevin Church assesses Joseph Larkin's Arcade of Cruelty using the famous reviews of Spinal Tap's albums, and this results in Larkin providing a response that lacks any kind of cleverness or class while also being legally actionable. Now, no one likes negative criticism, but responding with physical threats can be damaging to the point of being career-ending. At the very least, it doesn't reflect well on Larkin's creativity, providing an even more damning review of his work than Kevin's post does. Feuds between artists and critics can be a fun spectator sport, especially in the age of the Internet, but Larkin seems to have crossed a line here.

The Gil Kane Punch of the Week Extra

Payback time! The perfect full-page panel in "The Demon with a Cape!" from Superman Special 2 (1984), story by Cary Bates, art by Gil Kane.

The Gil Kane Punch of the Week 3

Say it ain't so! Brainiac punches a depowered Superman in "The Demon with a Cape!" from Superman Special 2 (1984), story by Cary Bates, art by Gil Kane.

The Gil Kane Punch of the Week 2

Robin punches Sebastian Sepastopol in "Stepping Stones for a Giant Killer," written by Mike Friedrich, pencilled by Gil Kane, and inked by Wally Wood. Originally published in Teen Titans 19 (1969) and reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2.

The Daily Death of Terry Tremayne

"The Daily Death of Terry Tremayne," written by David V. Reed and drawn by Ernie Chua, still holds up as one of my favorite Batman stories.

As you can see from this scan of my original copy, this comic is barely held together by tape and a 6-year-old's dreams.

The story opens with the murders of three men named "Terry Tremayne," all killed on successive days. Each was also killed with an exotic weapon, or, as the Gotham police refer to it, a "weirdo shiv": Batman goes on to explain that one of the weapons was a South African Assagai spear, another was a Malay Creese, and the third a Nepalese Gurkha Kukri. And it is here, on the first page, that we get one of the common features of David V. Reed's Batman stories: obscure knowledge that would educate you while you were being entertained.

After some quick investigation, Batman discovers that a 4th Terry Tremayne inhabits Gotham City, and he goes to find him before he becomes the next victim. Turns out, though, that he is a she:
As we can see, Batman has a way of talking to the ladies, and he quickly takes a shine to Miss Tremayne. And, in an unorthodox move, he pimps out his "friend" Bruce Wayne for a tennis date with the traumatized victim:
This seems a little ethically shaky.

Batman proceeds to investigate a mysterious "Florentine Box" that seems to be the objective of the murderer. In the process, he tracks down some thugs and beats the crap out of them.

This is a perfect Batman moment: he kicks the guy in the trachea, and then he makes fun of the guy's impaired speech. After that "KR-RACK!" that guy's never talking again.

Batman thinks he's solved the murders, and that frees Bruce Wayne to make some time with Miss Tremayne. Bruce falls hard for her, but unfortunately Batman ends up cockblocking his own alter-ego by solving the crimes and proving that Terry Tremayne was the real murderer:
That is some cold shit right there.

Also, this story reminds us of a very important fact:

Batman loves his job.

The Gil Kane Punch of the Week

I've been doing some research this week on Gil Kane, and this research has led me to a very important conclusion:

No one could draw someone getting punched like Gil Kane could.

Gil Kane's punches were dynamic, exploding out of the page with a sense of power, drama, and action that is unmatched. So, to honor one of the greatest superhero artists in the history of the genre, I'm going to start a regular feature called "The Gil Kane Punch of the Week."

Here's the first entry:

From Green Lantern 68, art by Kane and Joe Giella, story by Denny O'Neil.

The Curious Case of the Cross-Dressing Caped Crusader

It seems that, in the 70s, Batman got a lot more pleasure out of fighting crime than he has in recent years. Take, for example, the time he disguised himself as an old, rich Southern widow in order to catch a jewel thief:

Batman is so eager to take on this case, that he finishes Gordon's request before the commissioner can get it all out. And it's clear that Batman has this disguise all ready to go, just waiting for an excuse to use it.

Now, there are a lot of different ways Batman could have gone about this. He could have had Batgirl go undercover, for example. Or he could have had Alfred show off the jewels in public. But, clearly, Batman wanted to get some enjoyment out of this caper, so he went with Bertha Carrington-Bridgewater.

Also, there is no such town as Sprung Axle, Texas. I checked.

He even stays in character when he's out of the public view and alone in the suite with Alfred:

Batman always commits to a role.

This is yet another perfect Batman story from the mid-1970s: "The Curious Case of the Catwoman's Coincidences," written, of course, by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Irv Novick and Dick Giordano, from Batman 266.


This story opens with Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon playing backgammon on a train, when they are suddently accosted by a gypsy woman who warns Bruce Wayne that he will soon be plagued by coincidences. One thing that's not a coincidence: Bruce Wayne is on this train because it's carrying a carload of prisoners headed to the state pen, including Catwoman. Soon, the coincidences begin, as the train is derailed by a runaway tractor manufactured by the "Caterpillar" company:

Get it?

Interestingly, Catwoman was not planning on escaping--she wanted to serve out her time and eventually go straight. This may be the beginning of a status quo change for the character, who would eventually become an ally of Batman in the next few years.

Nonetheless, she slips back into her old habits and costume, and then she proceeds to initiate a string of jewelry heists, which inspires Batman's cross-dressing ploy.

And also, because it's a Denny O'Neil Batman story from the 70s, Batman has to abuse some animals--this time, Catwoman's ocelots:

I just want to point out that Batman fucks up a thug with a sack of ocelots. Then he finishes things off with a face-kick. I can't think of anything better than this page.

Batman Defeats Middle Eastern Villain with Hockey

In Batman 268, written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Irv Novick and Tex Blaisdell, Batman fights a brand-new villain known as "The Sheikh," a character who, as far as I can tell, never returned after this one appearance.

In looking back at these mid-70s Batman comics, one clear motif emerges: animal fighting. In Denny O'Neil's vision of Gotham City, there is a vibrant trade in exotic animals, both legal and illegal. In Batman 263, we saw that giraffes were such a valuable commodity that the Riddler saw fit to launch an elaborate heist in order to steal them. Inevitably, these animals inadvertantly get caught up in the violence that is also inherent in Gotham City.

Case in point, Batman 268 opens with Bruce Wayne attending the arrival of a herd of camels that the Wayne Foundation has purchased for various zoos. As the camels are being unloaded from their cargo ship, a burnoose (as Alfred identifies him), fires a rifle and causes the camels to stampede. Batman then has to take one of the camels down with a chokehold:

Batman comes across as a little judgy there--that camel's just being a camel.

Batman stops the stampede, but not before wealthy oil baron Fredrick Goforth is trampled by the beasts.

Batman suspects that Goforth was murdered, but his investigation will have to wait because he has a prior engagement: box seats at the Hudson University hockey match. I like his sense of priority.

Luckily, Bruce is able to kill two birds with one stone, as the Sheikh strikes again by assassinating the man in the box next to Bruce Wayne.

As Batman gives chase to the Sheikh, we can see that the Caped Crusader's anti-animal bias has clearly gotten out of hand:

(Just don't call him late for dinner!)

The Sheikh actually gets the better of Batman, and Batman falls off the roof of Gotham Sports Arena, only saving himself by sliding down a long neon sign. Unfortunately, this messes up his hands pretty badly, and Alfred has to put on these really clunky bandages:


Because he no longer has the use of his hands, Batman is unable to save the Sheikh's next victim, but he does find clues that lead him to discover that the Sheikh loves hockey:

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's cultural stereotypes.

It turns out that the Sheikh is actually two villains: Goforth and Hopkins, the two "victims" that Batman had failed to save earlier in the story. Their deaths were faked in order to cover their plan to murder their third partner in the oil business.

So, Batman and Robin confront the villains at the hockey rink, and, in a scene that undermines the positive image of the sport, the Dynamic Duo beat the crap out of them with hockey sticks:


Also in this comic: Alfred shares a little too much information about his private life with Dick Grayson:

My First Time

I don't remember the first comic that I read, but I would guess that it was probably an issue of Richie Rich from a stack of Harvey comics my babysitter had when I was about 5 years old. Whatever the case, I do have the first comic I ever owned as a kid, which was this issue of Batman from 1975:

Batman 263, story by Denny O'Neil, art by Ernie Chua and Dick Giordano.

However, the actual comic itself did not look like this; instead, it was missing the cover and the first page, and all the pages were loose (More than likely, it never had a cover while I owned it. I got a lot of my comics that way back then.). At the age of 6, I read the comic so many times that it literally fell apart.

Since then, I've been able to replace the comic with a complete copy, though it took some doing as I did not know the date or the issue number. Luckily, the cover reflects a key scene in the story, so it was easy to figure out once I saw the cover.

In looking at this comic today, it's easy to see why it hooked me right in to comics in general, and Batman in particular.

This scene, from the bottom of page 2, was missing from my original copy, paying a visit on a Gotham mob boss while the boss and his gang eat at "Mama Bell's"--a Gotham restaurant known for having a phone at every table. Batman takes advantage of the restaurant's unique feature:



Even Batman's ring kicks ass. These guys know they're fucked even before they pick up the phone.

This was the opening page of my original copy, and here we see Batman take out the entire gang with a phone.



Clearly, Phone : Dr. K :: car battery : Chris Sims. Also, this page had the added benefit of educating 6-year-old Dr. K on the definition of "gaucho."

In the rest of the story, Batman fights the Riddler, and the villain is pretty consistent with Frank Gorshin's portrayal on the Batman TV series. During occasional interludes in the story, the Riddler accosts pedestrians on the street with riddles. If they get the riddles wrong, he robs them, and if they get them right, he gives them money. But in this scene, a little kid turns the tables on the Riddler:


For the final challenge in the story, the Riddler gets all Alex Trebek up in the place and gives Batman the answer to a riddle, leaving the Caped Crusader to guess the actual riddle. The answer: "A centipede with fallen arches."

The riddle is, of course, "What's worse than a giraffe with a sore throat?" Batman goes on to prove this riddle true by using a giraffe's neck to launch a devastating face kick:

That giraffe looks unimpressed.

Re-reading this story after several years, I've been inspired to go through the Batman comics from this era, and there are some great comics that got me hooked into Batman at a young age. Over the next few weeks, I'll be going through my Batman collection to highlight some of these comics.

The Chronicles of Solomon Stone Debuts!

Chris Sims, whom I am funnier than, along with Matthew Allen Smith and Benjamin Birdie, as debuted part one of the first adventure of Solomon Stone, the world's greatest half-vampire detective, over at the Action Age site. I have had the pleasure of reading the whole story, and I can guarantee that it is a hoot and a half. Check it out! You'll be glad you did.