Chew the Fat: A Treasury of "Batman's Strangest Cases"

Limited Collector's Edition C-59, 1978

Batman's Strangest Cases

Redartz:  Ever since I first started collecting comics, I've been a Marvel Zuvembie. And this is reflected, no doubt, in the many Marvel-themed posts you've seen from this aging fanboy. But today it's time to give DC a little love. Specifically, a spectacular issue of the "Limited Collector's Editon" featuring everyone's favorite Darknight Detective. DC's treasury-sized books predated the "Marvel Treasury Editions" , but I had never sampled them. I'd focused entirely on the Marvel giants. Until this one, that is. 

 



"Batman's Strangest Cases"; from the striking Neal  Adams wrap-around cover to the all-star lineup of creators, this treasury offered a wealth of pleasures. And as for the story selection- wonderful; most of the included tales, it turned out, I'd never read. So finding this gem at a flea market for two dollars was an irresistible temptation. Oh, a couple notes regarding that cover: according to the Grand Comic Book Database (and many thanks are due those folks for some of the information in this post), the cover was pencilled by Adams and inked by Bernie Wrightson. That may be the first time I've encountered that creative teaming. Also, Robin is featured prominently on this cover, but never appears inside. Ah well...

The lineup included:

"Red Water Crimson Death" by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams
This is an eerie tale of ghosts, plots and menace. Originally presented in  Brave and the Bold 93, featuring Batman and the House of Mystery (or more specifically, Cain from the House of Mystery, who narrated the story). This story starts the treasury off beautifully, with some truly fine artwork. That first page is really sharp...






















 Here's the final spread from the story; the colors here are spectacular and quite effective (and are credited, incidentally, to Bob LeRose).
 

 "Night of the Bat" by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson
This story, from Swamp Thing 7, was the only story I'd previously read in this collection. A classic, made all the better by the larger size of the artwork (a big advantage to the Treasury-size format).  

 

  
"The Batman Nobody Knows" by Frank Robbins and Dick Giordano
This was a novel little short, with Bruce Wayne chaperoning a group of kids at a campout. But rather than ghost stories, the group shared their impressions of Batman. Reprinted from Batman 250.

 
"The Demon of Gothos Mansion" by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano
 Another ghost story, with the added threat of a group of cultists. As with the first story in this book, Denny O'Neil delivers a good one, nicely illustrated by Novick and Giordano. Batman seems well-suited for these somewhat more macabre tales; a nice change of pace from super-villains. This first appeared in Batman 227.

 
"A Vow From the Grave" by Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano 
I remembered the cover from this story, showing the 'boy with flippers', but this marks the first time I've actually read it. Batman follows a killer, and the trail leads him to meet some rather unusual folks. First seen in Detective Comics 410, this story concludes the collection with yet another entertaining yarn; and with typically striking art from Adams/Giordano. Again colored by Bob LeRose; he does some nice work. By the way, that opening page seems a bit evocative of Joe Kubert. Not that that's any fault; far from it!

This treasury ends with an informative write-up, by Mike W. Barr,  of some other 'strange tales of Batman' (occupying the inside back cover) . He discusses several other notable stories from several points in Batman's lengthy history, and summarizes each nicely. It makes for compelling finish to a full package of comic entertainment. The 2 dollar price for this edition would have been well worth it in 1978. Much, much more so as a lucky find in this day and age!

The Brave Or The Bold: Invaders, Freedom Fighters, or the Various Crusaders?

Martinex1: Here we are with a new edition of  The Brave Or The Bold  where we  conduct a face-off between like entities and get your opinions and preferences.   When I started developing today's post, I thought it was going to be a simple compare and contrast of two retconned WWII super-hero teams - the Invaders and the Freedom Fighters.  And indeed it is that but it is also something more as I will go off on a few tangents this time around.   So please stick with me here folks as my comments start to meander.   Let's get started.

In 1969, Roy Thomas created the Invaders, a team from the war years in Volume 1 / Issue 71 of The Avengers.  During a convoluted game of chance and wits between Kang the Conqueror and the Grandmaster, Yellowjacket, Vision, and the Black Panther were transported back to occupied Paris where they fought the reimagined Timely era heroes.  Captain America (with his triangular shield), the original Human Torch, and Namor the Sub-Mariner were banded together as an allied fighting force for the first time in the Marvel years. (Just for fun I share below not only the original Avengers cover, but also the cover from the UK reprint, and a scene from the battle penciled by Sal Buscema, as well as the scene reimagined from the Invaders' view with Frank Springer art from Invaders Annual #1).

In 1975, Thomas spearheaded an ongoing book starring the old-time trio and thus the Invaders title was born.  They fleshed out a gap in Marvel history and added another team book to the growing roster of Marvel comics. 


The following year, in April 1976, DC rolled out their own WWII heroes using the old Quality Comics' heroes in the Freedom Fighters ongoing.  The team consisted of Uncle Sam, the Ray, Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, Doll Man, and Black Condor.  The series was initially plotted by Gerry Conway, scripted by Martin Pasko, and pencilled by Ric Estrada.   The team had earlier appeared in Justice League of America issues 107 and 108 in 1973.

So in many ways Marvel and DC were following similar paths.  They resurrected heroes from defunct (or evolved publishers) Timely and Quality.  They modernized the heroes a bit in terms of scripting and action, and set them in adventures back during the battles of the early 1940s. 

Later in their series, additional characters would join such as Union Jack and Spitfire into the Invaders and Firebrand  into the Freedom Fighters.  Take a look at some of the art and covers from the two series.

Martinex1:  I followed the Invaders much more closely, but I did think the covers and art for Freedom Fighters was pretty effective, although I never quite liked Uncle Sam's fighting togs and hat.

Martinex1: It is pretty easy to see some of the parallels with these teams.  They even had similar tag lines in "The Greatest Superheroes of  World War II" for Marvel and "The Gallant Warriors from World War II" for DC.

Martinex1: Just as the series started to get some steam going, there was a wild unofficial crossover experiment conducted by the creators.  In the early months of 1977, both headlining teams battled enemies named the Crusaders.  These "villains" were analogs of the opposing company's heroes. 

So the Freedom Fighters fought Americommando (Captain America), Barracuda (Sub-Mariner), Fireball (Human Torch), Rusty (Bucky) and Sparky (Toro).  And the Invaders fought Spirit of '76 (Uncle Sam), Captain Wings (Black Condor), Ghost Girl (Phantom Lady), Dyna-Mite (Doll Man), Tommy Lightning (Ray), and Thunder Fist (Human Bomb).  All of this was conducted under the watchful creativity of Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins for Marvel, and Bob Rozakis and Dick Ayers at DC.

Martinex1: The DC villains had a convoluted origin as they were comic book heroes come to life (talk about meta, meta, meta - even their hidden identities reflected comic creators with the names Marvin, Roy, Arch, and Lennie).   They were the pawns of the archenemy Silver Ghost.  The Marvel villains were dupes of a Nazi spy who gave them their powers.  Invaders #15 was one of the first comics I ever purchased (bought in a three-pack poly bag) and still brings joy when I re-read it despite the quirky Frank Robbins art.   I liked those Crusaders and wanted them to stay together in the end but alas they disbanded never to be seen again.

Martinex1:  But there is another level of complexity in regards to Crusader teams as Archie Comics (later the Mighty Comics Group) has their own team in The Mighty Crusaders. The Archie team debuted prior to all of the above in September of 1965.  The initial series was written by Jerry Siegel with art by Paul Reinman and Frank Giacoia.   And even though the hero team fought in contemporary times, they were led by a flag costumed hero with the moniker of The Shield.   Other members included the Fly, Jaguar, Black Hood, and the Comet amongst many others.   The team had a few different incarnations including a version under the Red Circle Comics label (an arm of Archie Comics in the '80s) and another under DC's imprint Impact Comics.

Martinex1:  So we've covered a wide and varied amount of territory today from Invaders to Freedom Fighters to the Crusaders.  And please don't even get me started on the below characters!

So what do you think?  Which ongoing title did you like the best?  Did you like the time and setting of WWII comics and adventures?  Did you find a fascination in the various Crusader teams?  What did you think about the "unapproved" crossover?  And what about the Mighty Crusaders - did anybody follow that series?

There is so much to talk about, so join in gang and have your say about the brave or the bold on BITBA today!