Tag Archives: Don Newton

A month of Batman moments – Day 24

Detective Comics #515

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The despicable pre-Crisis Man-Bat

Man-Bat isn’t one of the most inspired concepts in Batman comics. Taking to the extreme the notion that great villains are an inversion of the heroes, Man-Bat’s name is a literal reversal of Batman’s… As for his origin, it’s just … Continue reading

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The looks of Vicki Vale

          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

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Anatomy of Batman #372 and Detective Comics #539

Back when I discussed Doug Moench’s 1980s Batman run, I singled out as its most striking features Moench’s literary emphasis on symbolism, characterization, politics, and intertextuality. This week, I’ll zoom in on one story in particular which powerfully combines all … Continue reading

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3 badass Batman sequences by Don Newton

Don Newton could draw gritty action better than most, so it’s pretty great that he got to work on so many Batman comics from the late seventies and early eighties, when writers such as Denny O’Neil and Gerry Conway gave … Continue reading

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Between Gotham City and Casablanca

I’m pretty sure I’m not breaking any new ground by stating that Casablanca is one of the most enjoyable films ever made. This 1942 classic about heartbreak and antifascism in a French colony bursting with contraband and political intrigue manages … Continue reading

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Doug Moench’s literary Batman

Doug Moench is up there as one of the most prolific writers of Batman comics ever. From an unforgettable 1983 tale about tentacle sex until the 2009 mini-series Unseen – in which the Dark Knight battles the Invisible Man – … Continue reading

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Collections of Batman stories – part 2

If you read the last post, you know what’s going on. Here are another five compilations of Batman stories worth seeking out: TALES OF THE DEMON (1991) Tales of the Demon collects the first handful of stories Denny O’Neil wrote … Continue reading

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Gerry Conway’s marvelized Batman

After being largely ignored for a long time, Gerry Conway’s Batman run in the early 1980s has been the object of well-deserved rediscovery in recent years (not least because of the haunting pencils by Don Newton and Gene Colan). These … Continue reading

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Smells Like Will Eisner’s Spirit

Detective Comics #600 In terms of stylish, offbeat crime stories featuring a masked vigilante and a pipe-smoking, irresponsibly lenient police commissioner, it’s hard to beat Batman comics. However, while The Spirit didn’t have such an engaging protagonist, such a fascinating … Continue reading

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