Author Archives: I.M. Baytor

More gold from Batman #50

Posted on October 28, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

My post on Golden Age splashes a while back highlighted a great opening teaser page from Batman #50. In fact, that was only one of a handful of funky-looking pages in this (otherwise not exactly a classic) comic. So, for … Continue reading →

Posted in ART OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged Bob Kane, Charles Paris, Lew Schwartz | Leave a comment

Batman’s very long beginning

Posted on October 23, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

Between Christopher Nolan’s movies and the Gotham TV show, a new generation of fans really seems to be digging dark, pseudo-realistic takes on Batman. But with 75 years’ worth of comics to choose from, people don’t necessarily know what to … Continue reading →

Posted in BATMAN COMICS FOR BEGINNERS | Tagged Archie Goodwin, Christopher Nolan, Chuck Dixon, David Mazzucchelli, Denny O'Neil, Doug Mahnke, Doug Moench, Ed Brubaker, Frank Miller, Jeph Loeb, Len Wein, Matt Wagner, Mindy Newell, noir, Scott Beatty, Scott Hampton, Ted McKeever, Tim Sale, Todd Klein | Leave a comment

Frank Miller’s goddamn Batman

Posted on October 20, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

All kinds of people have written Batman stories. Not just people: even Snoopy has done it. But one author has the particularity of having written both the most critically acclaimed Batman comics of all time, and the most … Continue reading →

Posted in WRITERS OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged Alex Sinclair, Batman's personality, Bernie Wrightson, Cold War, David Mazzucchelli, Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Jim Starlin, John Costanza, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley, politics, Richmond Lewis, Scott Williams, Todd McFarlane | 2 Comments

Terrific Joker Covers – part 2

Posted on October 16, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

Having already highlighted some incredible Joker covers, in this post I will further showcase the versatility of the Clown Prince of Crime as an attention-grabbing front man… For one thing, his presence can just as easily be whimsical as it … Continue reading →

Posted in COVERS OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged covers, Joker, rogues' gallery | Leave a comment

Terrific Joker Covers – part 1

Posted on October 14, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned how clever splash pages can draw skeptical readers into a comic through the use of exciting captions and inventive design. Actually, I just like those old comics and wanted to hype them… The … Continue reading →

Posted in COVERS OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged covers, horror, Joker, rogues' gallery | 2 Comments

Batman comics and the late Cold War – part 2

Posted on October 6, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

When people think of the end of the Cold War, they think of the fall of the Berlin Wall or of Boris Yeltsin standing on a tank in the Red Square. Me, I think of the Dark Knight fighting a … Continue reading →

Posted in POLITICS OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged Cold War, Doug Moench, espionage, Jim Aparo, Jim Starlin, Marv Wolfman, Mike Mignola, Paul Gulacy, Paul Kupperberg, politics | Leave a comment

Batman comics and the late Cold War – part 1

Posted on October 2, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

1980s’ sci-fi thrillers gave us some of the bleakest visions of the future. They dealt with either impending conflict between the US and the USSR – Escape from New York, The Day After, Red Dawn – or its post-apocalyptic outcome … Continue reading →

Posted in POLITICS OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged Cold War, espionage, Frank Miller, Mike W. Barr, politics | Leave a comment

Great Golden Age splashes

Posted on September 29, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

In my post about Mike W. Barr I mentioned that one of the many nostalgic elements in his acclaimed Detective Comics run was the inclusion of surrealist title pages teasing each issue’s themes and plot. Such opening splash pages can … Continue reading →

Posted in ART OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged World War II | Leave a comment

Mike W. Barr’s paradoxical Batman

Posted on September 25, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

Mike W. Barr’s Batman comics – particularly his work in the 1980s – tend to have a deeply recognizable authorial voice, for two very distinct reasons. On the one hand, you’d be hard-pressed to find a modern Batman writer able … Continue reading →

Posted in WRITERS OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged Batman: The Animated Series, Batman's personality, Bob Kane, Daerick Gross, Dave Gibbons, Dick Sprang, Ed Brubaker, Frank Miller, Gary Martin, Jiro Kuwata, Joe Staton, Michael Gilbert, Michael Golden, Mike DeCarlo, Mike W. Barr, Neal Adams, Tony Bedard | 3 Comments

Batman comics and the Cold War détente

Posted on September 22, 2014 by I.M. Baytor

While access to new sources and archives, not to mention shifting paradigms and the cultural turn, have helped produce a historiography on the Cold War that moved beyond orthodox, revisionist, and neorealist interpretations to embrace, among others, constructivist, postcolonial, pericentric, … Continue reading →

Posted in POLITICS OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged Batman TV series, Bob Haney, Cold War, David V. Reed, Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, Ernie Chua, espionage, Frank Robbins, Joe Giella, Marshall Rogers, Mike Friedrich, politics | Leave a comment