With Batman #217, cover-dated December 1969, the New Look era of Batman ended. The Dark Knight era of the 1970s began.
The New Look era launched in 1964 to juice sinking sales on the Bat-books. Instead of the reliance on alien invaders or the Dynamic Duo getting trapped on alien worlds, we had Batman solving mysteries, battling clever crooks like the Getaway Genius and a smattering of the familiar super-villains.
Detective had Carmine Infantino providing the art (and covers like the one above) which improved things immensely. If it lacked the intensity of the Bronze Age Batman, it was a solid, consistently entertaining stretch of storytelling. I’ve come to appreciate it more in this Silver Age reread than I have in years.
While I don’t think the comics gave in to the camp of the TV show, that’s not how it seemed to fans at the time. According to Twomorrows’ Batcave Companion, letters by the end of the decade denounced the stories running in the comics as camp just like the TV show — for god’s sake, give us the real Batman of the 1940s again! We’re adults, can’t you show us some respect!
Since then, of course, fans have been much more affectionate towards the Adam West TV show.
Not so much the New Look — I’m not sure most people even remember it as its own thing. The TV show casts a long shadow and while the New Look era was good, it doesn’t stand out the same way.
The 1972 collection Batman From the 30s to the 70s ignores the New Look era completely, jumping from the Batman Family stories of the early 1960s — the kind of thing the New Look was supposed to bury forever — to the post-New Look period I’m about to discuss. Only Batgirl’s origin gets reprinted, perhaps because she’d still have been associated with the TV show. Regardless of the whys and wherefores, the era that started with this —
— ended with this Neal Adams cover and the story inside, Irv Novick and Frank Robbins’ “One Bullet Too Many.”
Inside we learn Dick has graduated college and is heading off to Hudson State University.
Dick, needless to say, is hiding a tear or two behind the smile.
With Dick gone — a far cry from the past 40 years when “Batman must have a Robin” is holy writ — Bruce informs Alfred more soft rebooting must follow (obviously in a dialog with earlier issues discussing whether the Bat has lost his mojo).
Fine words, though the next couple of issues show less interest in busting wolves in business suits and more in tackling street punks. The cops can’t do it because of those damn “rights of the accused” rules.
Part of that is launching a Wayne Foundation boutique charity, “Victims Incorporated,” a way for Bruce to help victims the way becoming Batman helped Bruce handle his trauma. Though meeting with the recently widowed Dr. Susan Fielding, he shows himself less than compassionate about victims.
Believe me, Susan, the same thought crossed my mind. Bruce makes up for it by assuring her Batman’s going to deliver justice.
After capturing Susan’s husband’s killer, the end of the story—
—segues into Detective Comics #394, “A Victim’s Victim” by Robbins and Bob Brown.
A Native American race-car driver accuses Bruce of shooting out his eye so that Wayne’s car could win a race. Robbins doesn’t hesitate to show Bruce is not the 1960s’ laid-back playboy.
Unfortunately Robbins can’t resist throwing in a Native American cliche.
Needless to say Bruce is not ressponsible for the man’s eye, and Batman exposes the real culprit. And in case you’re wondering about this post’s title, Batman now solves his cases in a cool new car.
I like the idea of Victims Inc., though as with the Secret Six, I’m in a minority. According, again, to the Batcave Companion, the writers dropped it after a few issues and nobody cared. C’est la vie.
My feelings about the New New Look are more mixed. Robbins tells solid stories with Batman pitted against down-to-Earth crooks. A steady diet of them doesn’t work as well. For most of Batman’s career he’s mixed battles against ordinary crooks with more colorful super-villains; dropping the latter to avoid the dreaded “camp” label doesn’t work. Though I know new super-villains in keeping with the Bronze Age style are on the way.
And so is Neal Adams. I like Novick on Batman but Neal Adams is … Neal Adams.
“Secret of the Waiting Graves” in Detective #395 isn’t much as a story. Hell, it’s almost a House of Mystery yarn. There’s an immortal couple whose flowery fountain of youth has nasty hallucinogenic side effects. A cop worries they’ll start exploiting the flowers to sell drugs (which appears to be completely wrong); Batman gets involved, destroys the flowers and the immortals wither and die. End story. Neal Adams, though, makes it look like a work of genius. I see no reason to add further commentary.
More than anyone else, Adams makes me believe Batman is truly a Dark Knight.
I mentioned this a while back when I wrote about Adams after his death – the funny thing about “The Secret of the Waiting Graves” (as much as I love the story) is that the immortal couple is literally doing nothing illegal until the cop shows up and they try to kill him and Batman. It’s a silly story in that regard, because there’s no reason for the cop or Batman to be there, but, as you note, it’s still amazing because of Adams!
That sums up my thoughts perfectly.
Just a quick correction, the cover to Batman 217 wasn’t by Irv Novick but by Neal Adams which is also one of my all time favorite Batman covers.
Love me some Bronze Age Batman and a lot the that came from the Batcave Companion when I picked it up years ago.
Corrected, thanks.
While I read Batman, I’m not sure I really got into him until the Englehart/Rogers run. Going back and reading the older material now, I enjoy it much more than I did when it was new. I’m not sure why.