Maybe Batman Will Appease You?

Due to circumstances both out of and fully within my control, I'm only just now posting on this blog for the week. Ugh. To make this even more frustrating, I really do have a draft half-finished for a follow-up to that entry on MARS MEN. Alas, it's just going to have to wait a bit longer. I'm declaring this week a wash as far as this blog goes, with an eye on doing better next week. I'm shooting for completing that post and wrapping up my overview of the Doctor Fate Archive, too. Here's hoping!

Since we're here, I'll pass along something that bobbed back up to the front of my brain during the past week. It involves Batman, and experience shows me that everyone loves a good Batman post.

I was reading a piece not long ago that brought up the story in Batman #237 (Dec. 1971) in comparison to some of the more recent Batman tales. I was reminded of just how good "Night of the Reaper", and indeed that entire era of Batman stories, truly is. Yes, Batman was grim and it was serious business, but there was still room for humor and real unabashed heroism.

"His way is WRONG!"

I wonder if something so simple and powerful would even fly today. I'd like to think it would, but I don't know.

And then, we have one of the pivotal moments in the story. Here's where Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams, and Dick Giordano demonstrate comic art at its finest.

"Please--mister...for God's sake..."

So much power in one simple panel. It doesn't matter what YOU may believe, but what the CHARACTER believes. And that is the moment when he realizes he has lost his way.

Sometimes, I think superhero comics have lost their way, too. Not even O'Neil and Adams have managed to find this sort of spark in recent years. But as long as they keep making them, there's always hope for classics.