Remembering Artist Dick Sprang

Remembering artist Dick Sprang on his birthday (July 28, 1915 - May 10, 2000) with a couple of covers with the Dynamic Duo going medieval...Detective Comics #89 (July, 1944) featuring the Cavalier, and Batman #32 (December-January, 1945/1946), as Batman and Robin go back in time to meet the Three Muskateers.

Remembering Artist Tim Sale

Remembering artist Tim Sale on his birthday (May 1, 1956 - June 16, 2022) with a couple of his covers featuring Batman and Commissioner Gordon, as the two prepare to fight crime in Gotham, in Detective Comics #779 and #784 (April and September, 2003).

Celebrating Artist Scott Hampton

Celebrating the birthday of artist Scott Hampton (April 10, 1959) with his three covers for Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, where Batman fell into a coma...

...and had to fight his way through a dreamland to regain consciousness.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #76 and #77 (October and November, 1995)

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Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #78 (December, 1995)

Celebrating Artist Rick Burchett

Celebrating the birthday of artist Rick Burchett (March 9, 1952) with his covers to the six issue mini-series Batman/Huntress Cry For Blood...

...wherein the Huntress is framed for murder, and she has to go through her past as Helena Bertinelli and confront some of the horrible truths of her mob related family, all while avoiding the Gotham City Police, Batman and his family, and working with the Question.

Batman/Huntress Cry For Blood #1 and #2 (June and July, 2000)

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Batman/Huntress Cry For Blood #3 and #4 (August and September, 2000)

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Batman/Huntress Cry For Blood #5 and #6 (October and November, 2000)

Batman Fights Time

Batman and Robin are literally under the gun as time winds down (and we get daylight saving time), here with this suspenseful cover to Detective Comics #375 (May, 1968) by Irv Novick.

Celebrating Artist Val Semeiks

Celebrating artist Val Semeiks on his birthday (February 5, 1955) with a couple of his covers to The Demon (issues #23 and #24, of May and June, 1992),  where the reader is reminded that Etrigan lives in Gotham, as Robin and Batman get involved in his adventures with the Howler, yet it ends up being Jason Blood's girlfriend, Glenda Mark, who solves the problem.

Batman And Santa Claus

Batman helps Santa Claus battle Krampus in a four issue mini-series from 2024, Batman Santa Claus: Silent Knight...

...where the DC heroes help to save Christmas in a story by Jeff Parker, with interior art by Michele Bandini and Trevor Hairsine, with main covers by Dan Mora.

Batman Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1 and #2 (February, 2024)

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Batman Santa Claus: Silent Knight #3 and #4 (February, 2024)

The End Of Batman Family

Batman Family ended with issue #20 (October-November, 1978) but, Robin, Batgirl and Man-Bat all migrated to Detective Comics (along with Batman) starting with Detective Comics #481 (December-January, 1978/1979), with both covers by Jim Starlin.

Detective Comics was the one that originally was scheduled to end due to low sales, but it was decided that the title the company was named after should still be published by the company!

Batman As Santa

Batman as Santa?

That's how it looks on this Neal Adams/Dick Giordano cover for Batman #239 (February, 1972).

But, inside, in a story by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano, it starts with Batman helping a street corner Santa who was robbed, leading him to the robber, his poor daughter, and the robber's boss, who he actually was trying to help....and Batman instead taking the sleigh to save the boss' life.

Batman Day 2025

Celebrating Batman Day this year by showing Batman wasn't the loner that he was portrayed as by the movies, with a couple of Best of DC Digest covers by Jim Aparo, featuring Batman and some of the other stars of Brave and the Bold (issue #26 of July, 1982, with Deadman, Viking Prince, Robin Hood, the Suicide Squad, Cave Carson and the Silent Knight) and some of his fellow Detective Comics stars (issue #30 of November, 1982, with Martian Manhunter, Jason Bard, Mysto, the Elongated Man, the Human Target, Robin, Batgirl, Captain Compass and Roy Raymond).

Remembering Artist Joe Kubert

Remembering artist Joe Kubert on his birthday (September 18, 1926 - August 12, 2012) with a couple of incredible Batman covers he did, featuring the Gentleman Ghost....for Batman #310 (April, 1979) and Batman #319 (January, 1980).

Remembering Artist Jim Aparo

Remembering artist Jim Aparo on his birthday (August 24, 1932 - July 19, 2005), who was known for his Batman art, as well as Batman team ups...

...but, you might not be aware of his World's Finest Comics covers....specifically these from the Dollar Comics era, that wraparound the comic, showing off not only Batman, but Superman and as additional features, Captain Marvel (as the Shazam feature), Green Arrow, Black Canary, Creeper, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Black Lightning!

World's Finest Comics #253 (October-November, 1978)

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World's Finest Comics #254 (December-January, 1978/1979)

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World's Finest Comics #255 (February-March, 1979)

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World's Finest Comics #257 (June-July, 1979)

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Celebrating Artist Jim Lee

Celebrating the birthday of artist Jim Lee (August 11, 1964), who is currently President, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics....

...here with a couple of iconic covers featuring two of DC's main characters, Batman and Superman, from Batman #608 (December, 2002) and Superman #204 (June, 2004).

Celebrating Artist Hugh Fleming

Celebrating the birthday of cover artist Hugh Fleming (July 1, 1967) with some legendary covers featuring Green Arrow (and the painted work of the artist) from Legends Of The DC Universe and Legends Of The Dark Knight (that featured early tales of your favorite heroes, here, the first meetings of Green Arrow and Green Lantern, and Green Arrow and Batman).

Legends of the DC Universe #7 and #8 (August and September, 1998)

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Legends of the DC Universe #9 and Legends Of The Dark Knight #127 (October, 1998 and March, 2000)

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Legends Of The Dark Knight #128 and Legends Of The Dark Knight #129 (April and May, 2000)

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Legends Of The Dark Knight #130 and Legends Of The Dark Knight #131 (June and July, 2000)

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Batman War On Crime

Batman:War On Crime (November, 1999) was the second in a series of treasury comics DC did with art by Alex Ross and written by Paul Dini (after Superman: Peace On Earth) that distill a character down to his essence, and showcase what makes that character special.

Here, it was focused on a short time in the life of Batman, dealing with corporate dealings as Bruce Wayne, and muggers as Batman, and he sees how these slowly relate.

The mugger he caught killed a man and woman at his robbery, with their boy, Marcus, as a witness.  Batman relates to this (having watched his parents die), and it weighs on his conscious.  Next night, stopping a gang, Batman sees Marcus there...but let's the boy run off.  Night after that, Batman confronts the gang again, but this time with Marcus there, and threatening to shoot Batman.  Batman talks him down, saving the boy, but knows there is much more to do.

The next day, as Bruce Wayne, he decides instead of raising the neighborhood Marcus was in to make way for a new project, instead that Wayne Foundation will invest in the neighborhood as is, to improve it for those who live there, showing the basic strength of Batman...not the bat motif, the gadgets or even the billionaire, but that he is just a man, fighting to make the world a better place, one day at a time.

Planet DC JSA And Batman

Here are the last two of the 8 Planet DC Annuals of 2000, focusing on heroes you know meeting heroes from foreign lands...

...this time around, the new heroes are Nemesis and the Boggart, who meet with the JSA and Batman.

JSA Annual #1 (October, 2000)

First up is Nemesis (Soseh Mykros) in a story by David Goyer, Uriel Caton and Wade von Grawbadger, as she fights the clones of Sportsmaster (an old JSA foe) as a way to battle the Council.  Soseh was the daughter of Dr. Anatol Mykros (who worked with the Council, which were thought to be defeated by Batman and the Mark Shaw Manhunter long ago.  Mykros experimented and had two daughters, Soseh and Ellina, both of whom had incredible regeneration abilities, as well as Eidetic Kinesthesia (the ability to duplicate any fighting style she encountered).  Meant to lead the Sportsmaster clones, Soseh felt what her father was doing was wrong, and opposed him, drawing her into battle with her sister.  While Soseh defeated Ellina and got away, she was injured and floated away in the Aegean Sea...

...where, in the second story in the annual (by Geoff Johns, Buzz and Jim Royal, as Buzz did the cover as well), Soseh ended up on Themyscira, home of the amazons, where, at the time, Hippolyta was acting as Wonder Woman, and training newer JSA members Black Canary, Star-Spangled Kid and Hawkgirl.  There, she related her tale and, having encountered the Sportsmaster clones before, the JSA decided to help, going to the back to the secret facility in Greece where the Council was cloning Sportsmaster, and destroyed it, with Soseh killing her sister along the way (a setback for the Council, who was allied with JSA foe, the Ultra-Humanite as well).  Nemesis continued fighting the Council with the help of the JSA, but ended up allying with Black Adam, where she was killed by Eclipso (all in the next few years of JSA books).

Batman Annual #24 (October, 2000)

The last of the new heroes from the Planet DC was the Boggart, as detailed in this story by John Ostrander, Jim Aparo and Sal Buscema (with a cover by Michael Kaluta).  On a rare vacation to England, Alfred Pennyworth ran into the beast...leaving him comatose, inviting a visit by Bruce Wayne (and Batman) to investigate.  Going to the place Alfred last was, Elsbeth Fields (call her Gran Puddin) was set to give Bruce her granddaughter, Rosemary....until Bruce was chased from the house by the Boggart.  Having Rosemary calm the Boggart, Gran Puddin explained that her son Harry, and new bride, Diana, had Rosemary with help from Lord Malvern, who, now claimed Rosemary.  

Bruce went to confront Geoffrey, Lord Malvern, who directly shooed Bruce from his mansion and made light of claims of the beast.  Going back as Batman, Bruce encountered security guard Grayle, as Rosemary and the Boggart went to the mansion as well.  When the girl and her imaginary friend got in, they found other children who also had imaginary friends, and found that Lord Malvern was experimenting to give children telekinetic powers....which manifested as imaginary friends.  Grayle, as a security guard representing other interests, tried the formula on himself, manifesting the beast.  Lord Malvern had a cure for the formula, but needed Batman to distract Grayle, and the Boggart to distract the beast, wherein Malvern gave Grayle the cure, and the beast disappeared.  Realizing Malvern was not malevolent, Gran Puddin gave her blessing for Rosemary to be trained at the mansion (with the Boggart reluctantly agreeing).

In the second story, also by Ostrander, Aparo and Buscema, Rosemary (and the Boggart, the manifestation of her powers) met Roland Royce, who was to study the Boggart (but the Boggart would have none of that).  The Boggart manifested badly, and, after being admonished by Rosemary, disappeared for a while.  Rosemary learned why Malvern was so intend on protecting children, having lost his son, William, who was the first recipient of the experiment, and killed himself because he couldn't handle the power.  With the help of the Boggart, Malvern and the spirit of his son reconciled.  Sadly, Rosemary and the Boggart never reappeared.

A Deadly St. Patrick's Day

Have a happy St. Patrick's Day, but be careful to celebrate safely...

...that means no Poison Ivy, even if she is green, here on the cover to Batman: The Long Halloween #6 (May, 1997) by Tim Sale.

Batman In The Interplanetary Olympics

Batman, as a boxer in the interplanetary Olympics?

What an odd thing, but just one of many stories of Batman in space, here from Detective Comics #260 (October, 1958), with a cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.

The Mystery Of The Space Olympics

In a story drawn by Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris (writer unidentified), Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were startled awake by an alarm in the Batcave.  Gearing up as Batman and Robin, the Dynamic Duo went down there to find two Venusians, Xeo and Tog, who have been watching the duo from their planet, and want to recruit them to play in their own version of the Olympics representing Earth.  Batman and Robin agree, and are taken to a prepared asteroid by photonic light ray where they can compete.

Batman worries about how well he will do, but seems to have an easy time in the rocket race and meteor shoots.  Then, during the boxing match against a man from Jupiter a problem arises.  It is found Batman has magnetic gloves, and was cheating.  The officials check his previous games, to find foul play there as well.  Starting a near riot, Batman and Robin are forced to flee, aided in escape by the Plutoians.  Batman and Robin don't taking hiding out well, and head back to the compound of the Venusians, where they figure out someone else must have been cheating to frame the Earthlings and Venusians.  Going back in public, the Dynamic Duo are chased down by the mob, where they trick the Plutoians into revealing they were the ones behind the nefarious deeds, trying to frame the Venusians.  After, Batman and Robin realize it is time they return to Earth.

Batman, Robin And Santa Claus

Holy Terrific Trio, Batman!  

Santa Claus joins the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin to help spread Christmas cheer on this cover by Jack Burnley for Batman #27 (February-March, 1945).

Remembering Artist Darwyn Cooke

Remembering artist Darwyn Cooke on his birthday (November 16, 1962 - May 14, 2016) with a look at his covers for DC: The New Frontier...

...a six issue mini-series that tells of the secrets behind the formation of the Justice League of America, involving the heroes of the early 1960s as well as others to combat invading aliens with the Martian Manhunter at the forefront, all while police scientist Barry Allen deals with his new lightning speed in becoming the Flash and pilot Hal Jordan comes to terms with becoming Earth's Green Lantern.

New Frontier #1 and #2 (March and April, 2004)

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New Frontier #3 and #4 (May and July, 2004)

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New Frontier #5 and #6 (September and November, 2004)

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New Frontier collections #1 and #2 (February and June, 2005)

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Justice League: The New Frontier Special and DC: The New Frontier (May, 2008 and August, 2016)

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A wonderful story, with the charter members of the Justice League of America (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Flash and Green Lantern), along with a few others like the Losers, the Suicide Squad, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Blackhawks, Robin, Green Arrow, Adam Strange, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and members of the Justice Society...all based loosely on a secret origin of the JLA from long ago...