Every Bat fan should at least read one volume of golden age, just to see how mad it is, that body count racks up, and theres no mercy, knuckle sandwiches dished out left and right.. made me laugh a lot when I first read it, its just fast paced fun. I felt the same about the art at first, the golden age material is such a different style, it was kinda cool and strange and it really does grow on you, now I love it even more as over time I've been drawn more and more to older comics. After I've finished golden age Phantom Lady I think I'll dig out my Batman Archive book too, its been too long. Have you ever seen the 1940s Batman cinema serials? entertaining fun for those with a taste for vintage good stuff, strange plots, classy wheels, and no CG effects.. the boy wonder constantly getting thumped by grown men, poor boy. Great action, they just go at it like mad men.
"I'm glad you gave Finger his due..." You mean the Ghost Writer who stole his stories and ideas from other creators? His "dues" have not been given in the slightest. This man did do some good work in the comics, however his crimes should not be ignored. Yet so many people are trying to hide Bill's crimes and place them on Bob Kane instead. Bill had nothing to do with the creation of Bat-Man. He did write some of the stories for Bat-Man, but it was Bob Kane who created the character. If you don't believe me, I have a link for you to look at. " ruclips.net/video/w51i97OKsoI/видео.html " The link above leads to another video talking about Bat-Man's creation. I have a comment or two below that video braking down this matter further. So I recommend reading them if you can find them. It saves me from rewriting it all here. If that still doesn't convince you, I will then list further proof below this statement.
I love those Golden Age Batman stories, and the Archive editions are very well done. It's fun to see the earliest version of the character, when they're trying to figure out his personality and how to draw him; the split cape, no gloves at first, the occasional gun and, my favorite, lassoing a corner on a building before discovering batarangs. The artwork may be crude, but it is effective in telling the story and building the feeling of a Batman comic. Great subject for your video.
Golden Age is my favorite specifically because of the cruder art and more pulpy stories! Batman felt more like an adventure hero in those who could do things like fight mad scientists without it feeling out if place in some bigger world. Funny you shoukd day you disliked Robin too, I adored him as a kid! He was my favorite super hero because he was just a young kid like me.
I enjoyed your overview of Golden Age stories of Batman. It's made me want to read them. I have read that the plot of The Case of the Chemical Syndicate, which was the first Batman story is identical to the first pulp adventure story featuring The Shadow. I think you would appreciate watching the excellent documentary, produced for the Hulu channel, about the life of Bill Finger and his creation of Batman, called Batman and Bill.
"One thing you notice...just how crude the artwork looks..." Whew. Glad I'm not the only that thinks that. Wouldn't stop me from picking golden age Batman though. The price alone does that. :)
19 years old in 1990? Oh you youngster! You're right about the price of the Archive Editions, I could only afford them years later by buying them second-hand on Ebay, but it's true that the production values are very high (as they are with the Marvel Masterworks volumes). Those early Batman stories I feel reflected the films and serials of the time, with a lot of deaths and a much more black-or-white view of morality. Interesting point you make about how Robin, a potential liability in the crime-fighting game, improves the quality of the stories so much. Happy reading to you Michael.
Back in the mists of time (the 60s and early 70s), I had a subscription to Batman and my brother had a Superman subscription. They came reliably in the mail like my parents' Time and Saturday Evening Post. I never missed an issue because the drug store was sold out and I felt like a bigshot.😁
I've only read a little of the golden age Batman, but it was better than I thought it would be. A lot of Golden Age comics were actually pretty bad. There are exceptions: Will Eisner's The Spirit was great, Plastic Man and Captain Marvel were a lot of fun. That said they were more experimental than a lot of modern comics. I think the eighties Batman was best. The Doug Moench and Alan Grant years. Speaking of Batman's training, I read Batman: The Knight which is a prequel about his years training to be a crime fighter. I liked it for the most part. (I can quibble here and there.) The same writer's run on the regular Batman title I have been less than enthusiastic about. That said I am liking Ram V's run on Detective Comics.
Something about those early Batmans remind me of the Dick Tracey comics.. the villains were all crazy nuts…and it was very violent indeed… there was little subtlety… everything was wrapped up in the last two panels..the good guys were good, the bad guys bad… later it all got a bit complex… but the early ones are special in documenting the evolution.
Bill Finger and Bob Kane um... "borrowed" ALOT from fellow pulp stories such as The Shadow, The Phantom and your totally right a character like Clayface could totally be a Dick Tracy villain it's funny how very few people nowadays appreciate these stories yet sooo much of the entertainment they do love is directly spawned from it
My best friend and I sat in the Batmobile from the 60s TV show. We were at a car show and it had a rope around it and a sign saying "do not touch" but everyone there was over at another spot watching the Playboy models talk so we decided to sneak over and get in it because the models were going to be there all day but that would probably be the only time the Batmobile would be unguarded 😉
To the best of my knowledge there were 4 different series from DC featuring Batman and company during the "Golden Age" Detective Comics, Batman, World's Finest, and Robin had his own series in Star Spangled Comics. I've been collecting the DC omnibuses the past few years, (still alot of reading to do). They have started The Silver Age and the final addition of The Golden Age which collects all the Detective Comics/Batman/World's Finest should be out this Summer/Fall. Unfortunately they only partially collected the Star Spangled stories in the old Archives Editions and I don't know of any future intentions to do a complete collection.
I also have _The Batman Archives Volume 1_ and it is interesting to see how different the character was in his first year. There is another golden age Batman and Robin collection that gives much more room for the stories to develop, and that is _Batman: The Dailies._ It is a collection of the newspaper strip from 1943 though 1946, available in three volumes or one.
I also have a collection of "The Batman Dailies" as well. It's a wondrous read and I couldn't recommend it more. I'm glad to see someone else mention them.
In trying to make a series out of a spooky radio voice, the innovation that Street and Smith, and Walter Gibson, pretty much stumbled upon was to take the hidden, cloaked mystery villain that was a staple of old stage and silent film melodramas and turn him into a hero. (The earliest Batman comics, to me, have all the disorienting strangeness of silent movie serials.) It would have been just as likely to incarnate that weird disembodied voice as an evil mastermind like Fu Manchu, who had a successful series of pulp adventures well before the Shadow. And how would that have changed the Batman?
You let your Golden age Batman reading slide? Tut tut. You don't have to turn in yyour suave man about town card, but You are banned from the hottest nightclubs for a week,
Every Bat fan should at least read one volume of golden age, just to see how mad it is, that body count racks up, and theres no mercy, knuckle sandwiches dished out left and right.. made me laugh a lot when I first read it, its just fast paced fun. I felt the same about the art at first, the golden age material is such a different style, it was kinda cool and strange and it really does grow on you, now I love it even more as over time I've been drawn more and more to older comics. After I've finished golden age Phantom Lady I think I'll dig out my Batman Archive book too, its been too long.
Have you ever seen the 1940s Batman cinema serials? entertaining fun for those with a taste for vintage good stuff, strange plots, classy wheels, and no CG effects.. the boy wonder constantly getting thumped by grown men, poor boy. Great action, they just go at it like mad men.
I saw the serials years ago. I need to watch those again.
I'm glad you gave Finger his due, but don't overlook Jerry Robinson. He was the other one that Bob Kane famously tried to swindle.
"I'm glad you gave Finger his due..." You mean the Ghost Writer who stole his stories and ideas from other creators? His "dues" have not been given in the slightest. This man did do some good work in the comics, however his crimes should not be ignored. Yet so many people are trying to hide Bill's crimes and place them on Bob Kane instead.
Bill had nothing to do with the creation of Bat-Man. He did write some of the stories for Bat-Man, but it was Bob Kane who created the character. If you don't believe me, I have a link for you to look at.
" ruclips.net/video/w51i97OKsoI/видео.html "
The link above leads to another video talking about Bat-Man's creation. I have a comment or two below that video braking down this matter further. So I recommend reading them if you can find them. It saves me from rewriting it all here.
If that still doesn't convince you, I will then list further proof below this statement.
I'm not surprised to hear how enjoyable these are, considering how much I enjoyed Superman in the 40's!
I love those Golden Age Batman stories, and the Archive editions are very well done. It's fun to see the earliest version of the character, when they're trying to figure out his personality and how to draw him; the split cape, no gloves at first, the occasional gun and, my favorite, lassoing a corner on a building before discovering batarangs. The artwork may be crude, but it is effective in telling the story and building the feeling of a Batman comic. Great subject for your video.
Golden Age is my favorite specifically because of the cruder art and more pulpy stories! Batman felt more like an adventure hero in those who could do things like fight mad scientists without it feeling out if place in some bigger world.
Funny you shoukd day you disliked Robin too, I adored him as a kid! He was my favorite super hero because he was just a young kid like me.
Good video. Glad that you gave Bill Finger his due.
Fun video. I never thought of Batman in light of Doc Savage before. I saw the similarities to the Shadow because it was so much more obvious.
I enjoyed your overview of Golden Age stories of Batman.
It's made me want to read them.
I have read that the plot of The Case of the Chemical Syndicate, which was the first Batman story is identical to the first pulp adventure story featuring The Shadow.
I think you would appreciate watching the excellent documentary, produced for the Hulu channel, about the life of Bill Finger and his creation of Batman, called Batman and Bill.
Yo u really make me want to read so many things. Sands are running through my hourglass, though.
"One thing you notice...just how crude the artwork looks..."
Whew. Glad I'm not the only that thinks that. Wouldn't stop me from picking golden age Batman though. The price alone does that. :)
Michael, so where is Roger tonight? I hate for him to miss Golden Age BATMAN! And I will catch you next time!
Great accurate presentation!
19 years old in 1990? Oh you youngster!
You're right about the price of the Archive Editions, I could only afford them years later by buying them second-hand on Ebay, but it's true that the production values are very high (as they are with the Marvel Masterworks volumes).
Those early Batman stories I feel reflected the films and serials of the time, with a lot of deaths and a much more black-or-white view of morality.
Interesting point you make about how Robin, a potential liability in the crime-fighting game, improves the quality of the stories so much.
Happy reading to you Michael.
Great video.
Back in the mists of time (the 60s and early 70s), I had a subscription to Batman and my brother had a Superman subscription. They came reliably in the mail like my parents' Time and Saturday Evening Post. I never missed an issue because the drug store was sold out and I felt like a bigshot.😁
“The artwork is very crude in these golden age comics, but it’s got style.” Well said!
Great discussion, as always.
I've only read a little of the golden age Batman, but it was better than I thought it would be. A lot of Golden Age comics were actually pretty bad. There are exceptions: Will Eisner's The Spirit was great, Plastic Man and Captain Marvel were a lot of fun. That said they were more experimental than a lot of modern comics.
I think the eighties Batman was best. The Doug Moench and Alan Grant years.
Speaking of Batman's training, I read Batman: The Knight which is a prequel about his years training to be a crime fighter. I liked it for the most part. (I can quibble here and there.) The same writer's run on the regular Batman title I have been less than enthusiastic about. That said I am liking Ram V's run on Detective Comics.
Something about those early Batmans remind me of the Dick Tracey comics.. the villains were all crazy nuts…and it was very violent indeed… there was little subtlety… everything was wrapped up in the last two panels..the good guys were good, the bad guys bad… later it all got a bit complex… but the early ones are special in documenting the evolution.
Bill Finger and Bob Kane um... "borrowed" ALOT from fellow pulp stories such as The Shadow, The Phantom and your totally right a character like Clayface could totally be a Dick Tracy villain it's funny how very few people nowadays appreciate these stories yet sooo much of the entertainment they do love is directly spawned from it
My best friend and I sat in the Batmobile from the 60s TV show. We were at a car show and it had a rope around it and a sign saying "do not touch" but everyone there was over at another spot watching the Playboy models talk so we decided to sneak over and get in it because the models were going to be there all day but that would probably be the only time the Batmobile would be unguarded 😉
You did the right thing!
I knew Batman was loosely based on The Shadow and Zorro but I had no idea about the Doc Savage stuff 😮
40 USD in 1990 is worth $92 today. Wow, you must've been like, rich !! 🤭 Sounds like the stories were more fun.
To the best of my knowledge there were 4 different series from DC featuring Batman and company during the "Golden Age" Detective Comics, Batman, World's Finest, and Robin had his own series in Star Spangled Comics. I've been collecting the DC omnibuses the past few years, (still alot of reading to do). They have started The Silver Age and the final addition of The Golden Age which collects all the Detective Comics/Batman/World's Finest should be out this Summer/Fall. Unfortunately they only partially collected the Star Spangled stories in the old Archives Editions and I don't know of any future intentions to do a complete collection.
I also have _The Batman Archives Volume 1_ and it is interesting to see how different the character was in his first year.
There is another golden age Batman and Robin collection that gives much more room for the stories to develop, and that is _Batman: The Dailies._ It is a collection of the newspaper strip from 1943 though 1946, available in three volumes or one.
I also have a collection of "The Batman Dailies" as well. It's a wondrous read and I couldn't recommend it more. I'm glad to see someone else mention them.
I’ve never been a big fan of the older “crude” artwork. But based on your experience, maybe it’s just an acquired taste.😊
In trying to make a series out of a spooky radio voice, the innovation that Street and Smith, and Walter Gibson, pretty much stumbled upon was to take the hidden, cloaked mystery villain that was a staple of old stage and silent film melodramas and turn him into a hero. (The earliest Batman comics, to me, have all the disorienting strangeness of silent movie serials.) It would have been just as likely to incarnate that weird disembodied voice as an evil mastermind like Fu Manchu, who had a successful series of pulp adventures well before the Shadow. And how would that have changed the Batman?
A reprint of the Golden Age Vol 1 just got released. Time to witness the origin of the Bat!
I probably read a Batman comic about 50 years ago, but not since then. The Golden Age Omnibus cost about 10 times what would be reasonable.
Ha! Worth every penny!
Man,..bob screwed his own artist crew over,...it wasn't right. 🦇
It really wasn’t.
You let your Golden age Batman reading slide? Tut tut. You don't have to turn in yyour suave man about town card, but You are banned from the hottest nightclubs for a week,
😊