Tag Archives: Dick Sprang

On giant cash registers

Posted on April 16, 2019 by I.M. Baytor

To celebrate eighty years of stories featuring the Caped Crusader, each day of this week I’ll be highlighting something I find especially neat about Batman comics. Today, let’s look at over-the-top action scenes set among giant props. Batman #185 Batman … Continue reading →

Posted in GOTHAM CITIZENS | Tagged Alan Davis, Brent Anderson, Dave Cockrum, Dick Sprang, Ed Brubaker, Gotham City, Jim Mooney, Joe Giella, Lew Schwarz, Max Allan Collins, Mike W. Barr, Rick Burchett, Sheldon Moldoff, Sholly Fisch, Silver Age, Will Pfeifer | Leave a comment

The looks of Vicki Vale

Posted on March 28, 2019 by I.M. Baytor

Among the fascinating things about Batman comics is the fact that, because they have been going on for eight decades, you get to trace social and aesthetic evolutions on all sorts of fronts. One of those fronts is the … Continue reading →

Posted in GOTHAM CITIZENS | Tagged Adrienne Roy, Alex Sinclair, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Bob LeRose, Carl Potts, Charles Paris, Chuck Patton, Dick Sprang, Don Newton, Doug Moench, Fabien Nicieza, Frank Miller, Gene Colan, Gerry Conway, Jim Aparo, Jim Lee, Julie Schwartz, Julius Schwartz, Klaus Janson, Lew Schwartz, noir, Norm Breyfogle, Paul Gulacy, Rick Hoberg, Scott Snyder, Scott Williams, Sheldon Moldoff, Steve Bove, Tom Grindenberg, Tom Mandrake, Vicki Vale | Leave a comment

My ideal deluxe omnibus volume – part 2

Posted on November 21, 2018 by I.M. Baytor

If you read the last post, you know what’s going on. Here are another ten stories that would definitely be included if I had a chance to put together a giant Batman omnibus collecting personal favorites: ‘The Underworld Olympics ‘76!’ … Continue reading →

Posted in BATMAN COMICS FOR BEGINNERS | Tagged Adrienne Roy, Alan Brennert, Alan Grant, Andrew Helfer, Ben Oda, Bill Finger, Chris Sprouse, Chuck Dixon, Dave Gibbons, David V. Reed, Dick Giordano, Dick Sprang, Doug Moench, Ernie Chua, Frank McLaughlin, Gary Martin, Gaspar Saladino, Jim Aparo, John Costanza, John Wagner, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Kelley Puckett, Kim DeMulder, Michael Golden, Mike DeCarlo, Mike Parobeck, Mike W. Barr, Norm Breyfogle, Paul Gulacy, Peter Milligan, Rick Burchett, Rick Taylor, Scott Hanna, Steve Leialoha, Steve Mitchell, Tex Blaisdell, Tim Harkins, Todd Klein, Tom Lyle | Leave a comment

Minor but cool sci-fi comics

Posted on March 22, 2018 by I.M. Baytor

After the remarkable Ex Machina, Alex Garland has now put together another tense, intelligent science fiction film in the form of Annihilation. The movie feels like a welcome reminder that, even though cinema tends to simplify the dense, heady tales … Continue reading →

Posted in FANTASTIC ADVENTURES | Tagged 7 Against Chaos, Alan Moore, Alex Toth, Bernard Devillers, Brian Bolland, Bruno Gazzotti, Caliban, Carmine Infantino, Clear Blue Tomorrows, Daniel Clowes, Dick Sprang, Fabien Vehlmann, Facundo Percio, Fatima: The Blood Spinners, Frank Frazetta, Gardner Fox, Garth Ennis, Gerry Conway, Gil Kane, Gilbert Hernandez, Harlan Ellison, Heartburst, Hernan Cabrera, horror, Jack Kirby, Jim Mooney, Joe Kubert, Ken Steacy, Larry Niven, Len Wein, movies, Murphy Anderson, Mystery in Space, Otto Binder, Paul Chadwick, Ralph Meyer, Rick Veitch, Robert Kanigher, science fiction, Sebastian Cabrol, space opera, Stuart Moore, Tom Yeates, Virgil Finlay | Leave a comment

Batman, the urban legend?

Posted on December 1, 2015 by I.M. Baytor

There have been many wrongheaded decisions in the history of Batman comics (often involving the use of guns). A particularly puzzling one was the notion, in vogue in the late 1990s and early 2000s, that the Dark Knight is perceived … Continue reading →

Posted in GOTHAM CITIZENS | Tagged Batman's personality, Charles Paris, David Vern, Dick Sprang, Ed Brubaker, Gotham City | 2 Comments

The Dick Sprang challenge

Posted on November 24, 2015 by I.M. Baytor

Of Bob Kane’s various ghost artists, probably none was more defining than Dick Sprang, with his bold, clean-cut, upbeat, square-jawed, barrel-chested, Chester Gould-ish depiction of the Caped Crusader. But besides being one of the most recognizable and stylish Batman artists … Continue reading →

Posted in ART OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged Bob Kane, Dick Sprang | Leave a comment

Batman comics and World War II

Posted on June 29, 2015 by I.M. Baytor

Although nowadays movies set in World War II have become mostly synonymous with tearjerker melodramas or grim military epics, this wasn’t always the case. The gravitas of that conflict and the overwhelming consensus about who the heroes and villains … Continue reading →

Posted in POLITICS OF BATMAN COMICS | Tagged Archie Goodwin, Bill Finger, Bob Haney, Bob Kane, Dick Sprang, Don Cameron, espionage, Gary Gianni, George Roussos, Jack Burnley, Jack Kirby, Joe Greene, Neal Adams, politics, 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