Tag Archives: Mike W. Barr

Spotlight on Slam Bradley

The Dark Knight isn’t the only detective in Batman comics. In fact, having finally read last year’s six-part mini-series Gotham City: Year One, my mind has been on the astounding significance gained by one of the oldest detectives around: Slam … Continue reading

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Gotham City’s sex workers – part 1

Detective Comics #464 While City on a Hill has been doing its damned finest to emulate The Wire (albeit in Boston), in recent years the show that came the closest to recapturing that kind of TV magic was The Deuce, … Continue reading

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Spotlight on The Unknown Soldier, 1980-1982

This is the final installment in my overview of Bob Haney’s neglected run on The Unknown Soldier, which ended with a bang. By 1980, this World War II-set comic had turned into a fairly mechanic, well-oiled enterprise. Haney churned out … Continue reading

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1990s’ Batman comics reading guide – part 2

Batman #440 As promised a couple of weeks ago, here is the second installment of my recommended reading order for the various Gotham City-based comics of the 1990s, which tended to play particularly well off each other. What follows is … Continue reading

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On giant cash registers

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

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My ideal deluxe omnibus volume – part 2

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

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Spotlight on Batman’s Z-list villains

Welcome to Gotham Calling’s 200th post! Solo #7 Back when we reached the first hundred posts, Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was about to come out and I wrote about a handful of oddball villains whom I … Continue reading

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Elseworlds tales of sword & sorcery

After another season of Game of Thrones, my mind has been on sword and sorcery. I still think the series’ most engaging contributions to this genre take place on the edges of the adventure stuff, as the characters count the … Continue reading

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Scars of Vietnam in Gotham City

As an embodiment of changing fads and obsessions of US pop culture, Batman’s adventures could hardly stay immune to the social impact of the Vietnam War. And while the Caped Crusader’s TV incarnation could initially be seen advertising war bonds, … Continue reading

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Jim Aparo’s schlocky Batman

Batman #415 For some, it may sound odd to describe Jim Aparo’s Batman comics as ‘schlocky,’ given that not too long ago Aparo came in second at CBR’s poll of greatest Batman artists, right after the immensely talented Neal Adams. … Continue reading

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