Peace On Earth

Batmobile At ACMI

Here’s a couple of photos that I took.

Superman & The Special Olympics

Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali

In November DC Comics are releasing a hardcover reprint of the legendary 1978 SUPERMAN VS. MUHAMMAD ALI comic book.

I do have an old, beat up copy of that book that I purchased from Ebay about a decade ago but I will probably get the new version as well.

Now if only DC would re-release another earlier crossover Superman story where he fought against wrestling champion Antonino Rocca…

Perhaps in the coming weeks I will post the Superman stories written by Jack Kirby where the Man of Steel meets his greatest nemesis… Don Rickles.

Read more about Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali at Dial B For Blog.

Batman Meets Fatman

No really…

The Batmobile must be pretty wide to fit Batman, Robin and Fatman on the front seat.

Obviously the Batman writers were taking the piss here…

This is another “unique” Bat-story of the 1950s that shows just why most people disregard this era of the Caped Crusader’s career.

Perhaps DC should put out a collection of Weird Tales from Gotham City. It could be filled with all the stupid stories from the 1940s, 50s and 60s such as the one above. It could feature the ‘many strange transformations of Batman, like the stories where he turned into a giant, merman, gorilla etc. There could also be a section on all the many times Batman travelled back in time, fought aliens or met others that he inspired such as Fatman, Batboy, Mogo the Bat-gorilla, Batmite, Ace the Bathound, Batman Jones etc. I’m not sure it would sell many copies although I am sure some people would pick it up just for a laugh.

Commando ‘Krak-A-Jap’ Machine Gun

Krak-A-Jap… an absolutely ‘safe’ and ‘harmless’ machine gun…

My how times have changed!

For anyone wondering a real Krak-A-Jap is pictured below.

He Knows What They “Go For”…

Is that a Baby Ruth in your pocket or are you just happy to see us?

The Crimes Of Kite Man

Batman may have the greatest rogues gallery in all of comicdom but there are also a few duds too. The Eraser comes to mind as does Crazy Quilt and the Ten Eyed Man, but I think Kiteman takes the cake.

I wonder whether there is a Kiteman origin story.

Supermen Of America

Stuff

Last night I listened to ‘Remember When’ on 3AW. It was interesting listening to people two to three decades older than me talking about the topic of the night which was cartoons and comic books, which is something that I am interested in. (Duh!) There were a few things said, mainly by Bruce Mansfield that need a little correcting though.

Firstly the Batman comic book has not been cancelled. In 2000 Batman was named the most popular comic book character of the twentieth century and he has at least three comic books (Batman, Batman & Robin and Detective Comics) devoted to his adventures. Sure Bruce Wayne was killed off last year but that proved to be a hoax or something (I dropped reading the book during that run) and he is set to take back the mantle of the Bat in the next few months. The reason Wayne was killed was because… I don’t know really… perhaps it was just some gimmick designed to annoy readers… or perhaps it was because writer Grant Morrison had taken a potent mixture of drugs before he came up with the story line… who knows!

Batman did come close to being cancelled once, in the mid-1960s, and this was caused by a rumour more than anything else. It all started in 1953 when Senator Estes Kefauver decided to run for the office of President of the United States and decided to assert that comic books led to juvenile delinquency. His based his ascertain on the work of psychologist Dr. Frederic Wertham, who mainly targeted crime and horror comics put out by EC. As ridiculous as it seems Wertham also declared that Batman was a pederast and that his comic books promoted a gay lifestyle to impressionable children.

Naturally enough this shocked the writers who always maintained that Batman was like a big brother to Robin. As a result of Wertham’s rants many changes were instituted into both Detective Comics and Batman. Love interests in Batwoman and Bat-Girl were introduced for Batman and Robin as was Ace the Bat Hound, Mogo the Bat Ape and Bat Mite, an imp from another dimension who just wanted to create mischief for the Dynamic Duo. Batman and Robin rarely fought crime during this period. Batman now would fly to distant planets, travel back in time or be transformed into a fantastic being, while grotesque criminals like Two-Face disappeared altogether. Batman’s greatest foe the Joker now just played elaborate pranks on the Dark Knight Detective rather than his usual modus operendi of theft and murder.

These changes alienated fans and sales dropped. In 1964 new Bat-editor Julius Schwartz tried to revive the title by giving Batman a new look (the yellow shield on his chest) and by killing off Alfred, whose presence Wertham thought added to the gayness of the strip. A new woman was added to Wayne Mansion in Robin’s Aunt Harriet. The books were under threat of cancellation until… the Batman TV show debuted. Alfred also returned from the dead. Phew!

Bruce Mansfield also noted about how he remembered that the Comics Code Authority stamp appeared on the cover of Archie Comics. This stamp was a direct result of Wertham’s crusade and until the 1970s all comics had to be approved.