Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Comic

 

cover art by Mike Grell

Batman #288 (June 1977) picks up where the last issue left off--with Penguin now aware that Batman is aware of his scheme, but Batman is aware that Penguin is aware that Batman is aware of Penguin's scheme. Writer David Vern (using the pen name David V. Reed) and artist Mike Grell continue to emulate the structure and crazy bat-deductions of the Adam West TV series, while still keeping a straight face and keeping everything acceptable for the Batman of the Bronze Age Universe. 

Penquin has his henchmen rehearsing their next heist with the intent of trapping Batman when the Dark Knight inevitably shows up. Also, Penquin takes time to sit of a sculpture he's having made of himself.

In the meantime, a reporter named Chester Cole has been trying to get Bruce Wayne to allow him to tag along for a story on the millionaire's personal life. Bruce keeps putting him off, but Chester notices that Bruce has been doodling on the tablecloth and has sketched out a logo for a company. Chester figures Bruce is planning on buying that company and plans on dropping in to get a story at last.

The company is a chemical factory and Batman does indeed confront the Penguin. He gets the drop on the villain and his henchmen despite the Penquin's preperations and it looks like victory is at hand. Then Chester Cole comes in at the wrong moment and spoils everything. Both Batman and Cole are captured.

They are dropped in an empy chemical vat. While Penquin leaves to pull off his final heist--the end object of his entire complicated plan--two giant robot vultures attack Batman. Fortunately, he's able to damage them, then salvage parts to allow himself and Cole to get out of the vat. 

Using the same bizarre logic involving the death dates of historically important short people (this time, it's Atilla the Hun), Batman tracks Penguin to a furniture storage company and takes out the bad guys in a final fight. 

Why all this trouble to rob a furniture storage place? There was a million bucks in stolen bonds hidden in a bureau--the unrecovered loot from an old robbery.

Batman has Penguin's statue locked up with the villain, Chester Cole is glad he "misinterpreted" Bruce's doodle as it led him to a better story, and the tale comes to an end. Together, this issue and the previous one nearly perfectly emulate the structure and bizarre logic of the TV series. The inevitable death trap comes partway through the second part rather than be the cliffhanger for the first part, but that's really no big deal. It's a wonderfully done tale, walking that tightrobe between celebrating TV series while keeping the overall tone of Bronze Age Batman. And Mike Grell's artwork give us fantastic fight scenes.

Next week, we'll visit with both the Haunted Tank and ace pilot Johnny Cloud. 

Cover Cavalcade

 JANUARY IS HERCULES MONTH!

DC Comics tossed Hercules into a post-apocalyptic future in the mid-1970s. This Walter Simonson cover is from 1976.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Rocky Jordan: "The Beggar of Farar" 5/21/50

A beggar who works outside the Cafe Tambourine is accused of murder. Rocky thinks he's innocent and begins investigating.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Cormac Mac Art

 

cover art by Jeff Jones

It's interesting to read the Robert E. Howard tales that were unsold during his lifetime and wonder why the heck no one published them. I've yet to run into one that's bad.  REH was one of the best short story/novella writers of all time and even his weaker efforts are usually better than most other stuff. 

While he was alive, REH wrote two complete stories about Cormac Mac Art--a Gaelic pirate active not long after Roman rule in Britian collapsed. Cormac and his partner Wulfhere Skull-Splitter sail the violent seas of that era and find their share of adventure.

cover art by Ken Kelly

REH left two unfinished Cormac tales behind when he died. In 1975, Richard Tierney completed those two stories and all four were published in Tigers of the Sea, published by Zebra books. This went through five printings over the next few years and the anthology was reprinted by Ace in 1979. Baen Books reprinted all four stories in Cormac Mac Art in 1995.  Obviously, people enjoyed these stories.  They deserved to see the light of day. 

Cormac reappeared in 2014 in Swords of the North, published by REH Foundation Press. This includes the two complete stories and has the two unfinished tales in the appendix. This makes sense, of course. This publisher is giving us pure REH and, though I remember enjoying Tierney's endings to the unfinished tales, it wasn't Howard's work

I used to own the Zebra paperback, but lost track of it years ago. But I did recently acquire a copy of Swords of the North and last night, I read "Swords of the Northern Sea." And, by golly, it was just as much fun as I remembered it being.

Cormac is a guest of Rognor the Red, having been shipwrecked nearby. Rognor has a beautiful British woman named Tarala prisoner and plan to marry her. The fiery Tarala isn't happy with this, but she's not being given a choice.

But another Viking named Hakon has fallen for Tarala and she, it turns out, has fallen for him. This gets Hakon tossed into a cell. Rognor plans to have him killed after forcing him to watch the marriage ceremony. Rognor isn't a nice guy.

Cormac, by the way, is planning on stealing a longship. Wulfhere (an arch-enemy of Rognor) and 40 Danes are hidden nearby, having also survived the shipwreck. Hakon also has a dozen followers ready to follow him and, after Cormac springs him from jail, expresses a desire to team-up. If Hakon can usurp Rognor's position as leader, Cormac can take his pick of the longships.

So all Cormac has to do, aside from rescuing Hakon, is also rescuing Tarala, then come up with a plan to launch a surprise attack on Rognor and his men. Cormac and his allies are outnumbered 6 to 1, so this plan has to be a really, really good one.

It's an excellent story, ending with the sort of brutal battle scene that Howard excels at writing. Cormac is a great character--someone willing to split an enemy's skull, but expressing a desire to avoid killing when it's not necessary. Hakon and especially the fiery & brave Tarala are great characters in their own right. And, of course, it's impossible not to want to follow along with someone named Wulfhere Skull-Spliter. 

I'm glad the Cormac stories are in print again. Though I may see if I can find Tigers of the Sea at a reasonable price on the used book market. I'd love to own it both for nostalgia and to read Richard Tierney's endings to the two unfinished stories. 

Robot Birds and Adam Westian Logic

 

cover art by Mike Grell

Batman #287 (May 1977) accomplishes something notable. Writer David Vern (using the pen name David V. Reed) and artist Mike Grell put together a story that is a shout-out to the Adam West Batman series from the 1960s, but still keep it relatively grounded in the no-less-fantastical but more serious DC Comics universe.

We get that right from the start, with an alliterative narration box that you can't help hear in the voice of William Dozier, who narrated the TV show: "That pitiless, pestiferous prince of pain and plunder--that pedantic patriarch of predators--the Penguin--reaches for a new pinnacle as he proclaims: BATMAN: EX AS IN EXTINCT!"

A robot pterodactyl destroys a statue of Napoleon at a high-society party. Batman manages to bronco-ride the robot and force it to crash, but later learns that there was a jewel heist being pulled at the exact same time.

Several other robot duplicates of extinct birds launch their own attacks on other days. Each time, their rampage coincides with a robbery at another location.

Batman has a hunch that the Penguin is behind it. And, in trying to figure out what the Waddling Master of Foul (Fowl) Play is up to, he follows a chain of logic that would have made Adam West proud.

The attack on the statue of Napoleon happened at 6:21 pm. At the same time, a jewelry store at 1821 Waterloo (get it?) Road was robbed. 1821 was the year of Napoleon's death, which translates in military time to 6:21 pm.

The other two attacks involve times and street addresses relating to Nelson and Machiavelli. 

So it's off to the library. He discovers the book Big Small Men of History was earlier checked out by a Mr. Whitehead. The Welsh roots of "penguin" are PEN = HEAD and GYWN = WHITE. 

AH HA! It is the Penguin. And the next name in the book is Alaric of the Visigoths. Batman returns home to Alfred, who knows off the top of his head that Alaric died in 410 AD. Alfred and Batman do some word association and come up with a target for the next robbery.

Batman foils the robbery, but the Penguin pulls the old "propeller umbrellas hidden in his sleeves" trick to escape. In the meantime, another robot prehistoric bird had attacked a museum and destroyed an Alaric artifact.

So now Batman knows Penguin's scheme. But Penguin knows Batman knows his scheme. BUT Batman knows that Penquin knows that Batman knows Penguin's scheme. We'll see how that plays out next week when we look at the next issue.

Mike Grell's striking art looks great and the action sequences are all a ton of fun. But its the script that deserves special credit here. The Adam West series was deliberately campy while still giving us an iconic portrayal of Batman. With this story, David Vern takes the silly logic that drove the series and fits it into the DC Comic universe without making it campy. He gives tribute to the series while still recognizing his story is set in a thematically different universe. It's a loving tribute without descending into parody. It's quite an accomplishment.

Cover Cavalcade

 JANUARY IS HERCULES MONTH!

A 1968 Sam Glanzman cover from Charlton Comics' version of the demi-god.

Booktube video

 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Let George Do It: "The Flowers That Smelled of Murder" 11/1/48

A college professor is developing a new species of orchid. For some reason, this has apparently made him a target for murder.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

A Fake Baron and a Jealous Cowhand

 

1940's The Showdown is yet another entertaining entry in the long-running series of B-movies, with William Boyd's boisterous and authoritative portrayal of Hoppy giving the story a firm anchor to build upon.

Hoppy is asked by a ranch owner to pay a visit. The owner is hard up for cash and wants Hoppy to take the horses to San Francisco for auction. But then a European baron shows up who might want to buy them himself.

Hoppy's not sure about the Baron. And he has reason to be suspicious. The "Baron" is indeed a fake. He simply wants to find out when the horses are being taken to Frisco, so he can have his band of outlaws intercept and steal them.

Hoppy seems to foil this plan and expose the Baron in a clever way starting by foiling an attempt to cheat at a poker game. But the Baron is persistent, convincing Hoppy's friend Lucky that Hoppy is making a play for Lucky's gal. Because of this, Lucky unwittingly gives away where the horses will be initially taken after leaving the ranch. This results in Hoppy being captured and tied up in a burning barn.

Hoppy will, of course, win through in the end. This movie ends with a nifty action scene, but the real pleasure of this one is watching Hoppy stay one step ahead of the Baron and carry out that clever reverse con to expose the Baron's scheme.

Here's the movie on Youtube, but a print with better sound quality is available on the free streaming service Tubi.

An Eventful Stagecoach Ride

 

cover art by Jack Kirby

In 1955, when Marvel Comics was still Atlas Comics and westerns were king in comic books, movies and TV, the original Rawhide Kid (a blonde gunfighter whose real name we never learn) began a 16-issue run that ended in 1957.

In 1960, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revived the character name with a new gunfighter, keeping the same original numbering. Rawhide Kid #17 (August 1960) introduced us to dark-haired Johnny Bart, who has a reputation as an outlaw but is really a good guy. Taught to handle six-shooters by the former Texas Ranger who raised him after he was orphaned. 

His father-figure is killed in the very first story and Rawhide Kid becomes a wandering hero. The second story in that issue was used to both emphasis his public reputation as an outlaw, his status as a wanderer and his nigh-superhuman skill with a gun.

"Stagecoach to Shotgun Gap," by Lee and Kirby, starts with a great Kirby splash page that makes it look as if the Kid is indeed planning on robbing a stagecoach.

It turns out he just wants a ride, having missed the stage at its last stop. He climbs aboard, discovering that the other passengers are scared of him. Unwisely, a lady announces her entire life savings are in her bag. A kid traveling with his dad lets Rawhide Kid know they are carrying THEIR life savings as well, intended to pay a doctor to repair the boy's injured leg.

Gee whiz, these people are stupid. It's not the sort of think you should be telling the man you think is going to rob you.

Well, Stan Lee had only so much space to set up the situation and he was writing a zillion scripts a month at the time, so we can cut him a break. But the story is contrived in its set up.

The stage is stopped by a gang waiting along the road. It appears they've hit the jackpot with the passengers carrying so much cash. Of course, the owlhoots are indifferent to the pleas of those they are robbing.

Even when the outlaws have the drop on him, Rawhide still moves "like a bolt of unchained lightning," drawing and shooting the guns out of their hands. After that, he frankly shows off a little, holstering his guns so he can take the three guys in a fist fight.

The stage continues on its way. It's not clear what they did with the outlaws--tied up inside the stage, perhaps?--but the other passengers are now grateful and friendly to the Rawhide Kid.

It is a contrived story, but Kirby's dynamic art looks great and it is fun watching Rawhide's superhuman-level gunplay. Though I'm probably tossing around the word "superhuman" a little too casually. Gunplay such as this is common in various legendary versions of the Wild West. We're fortunate that no one at Marvel later retconned Rawhide Kid into being a mutant. Western gunfighters of legend (Rawhide, the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, etc) should be as good as they because they are simply as good as they are. 

Next week, we'll begin a look at a two-part Batman story involving the Penguin and a bunch of really big robot birds.

Booktube: Dinosaur-themed fiction, Part 1

 

Cover Cavalcade

 JANUARY IS HERCULES MONTH!

The Marvel Comics' version of Hercules fights Godzilla in this 1977 cover by Herbe Trimpe.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Life of Riley: "Mystery Fight" 4/19/47

Riley decides he has to teach his son how to fight in order to stand up to a bully. It does not go well.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Booktube: The last few books of 2025