Obviously, it’s been a bad few weeks for comic book fans, as first Neal Adams and then George Pérez died, and if you’re feeling particularly marginalized for loving this wonderful art form of ours, not only did two icons die but most of America barely noticed and you’re grumpy about that (John Trumbull, I’m looking at you!). There’s been a lot of stuff written about these two men (we’re working on one about Adams, but some of our fellow bloggers have *ahem* been slacking off on contributing), and people have been commenting on the most important work they did, but sometimes … that’s not the favorite thing of yours they did. I might do one of these posts about Pérez, but for now, I’ll ask: What’s your favorite Neal Adams comic? It can be one he wrote and drew, wrote but didn’t draw (although I don’t think he ever did that), or just drew. I’m not particular!
For me, it’s Detective Comics #395 (cover dated January 1970). Yes, it’s a minor Batman story, and he drew major Batman stories along with a well-regarded run with the Greens, but dang, ‘Tec #395 is just awesome. Let’s take a look at it, with the caveat that I’m going to spoil a 50-year-old story.
Ah, “The Secret of the Waiting Graves.” A great title, and a great half-splash to begin the story. Denny O’Neil could really set a scene, couldn’t he? Adams, more than so many of his time, used different “camera angles” to present the visual information in fresh and exciting ways, and the composition of this panel is tremendous. Bruce Wayne is in Mexico because he was invited to a big party at the Muertos’ estate (a bit on the nose there for O’Neil, but whatever), and while he’s there, he realizes something evil is afoot. He rescues a man whose hot-air balloon is sabotaged by trained falcons, and then, while he’s dancing with Dolores Muerto, he not only wonders why someone his age is speaking to him as if he’s a child, he realizes someone is shooting at the same man he just rescued. So he heads into the hills and thwarts the baddies, who use a whistle to summons wolves, which Bats avoids by jumping into a tree:
I adore that second panel. Batman silhouetted against the moon, crammed into the side of the panel so Adams can show the vastness of the landscape and the depth of the canyon, because Bats is about to leap over the cliff and into the chasm (not pictured: the rope he conveniently left hanging there, which he grabs on his way down). The baddies think he’s dead, natch, and the Muertos take Valdes, the unlucky almost-dead dude, to the old monastery on their property. Valdes, it turns out, is a government agent, and he’s been ordered to arrest them because they … grow flowers? Yep, immortality flowers, which drive the users mad. Dolores Muerto doesn’t take kindly to that:
This is just a perfect panel. You can feel the impact of her hand on his neck, and Adams draws a wonderful face on Valdes as he’s clocked and an even better face on Dolores as she strikes. This is superb.
Batman, who has followed them, sees this and jumps in to stop them. They lure him into the flowers, which are, of course, a hallucinogenic:
Dang, Bats – you gotta be smarter than that! I love how O’Neil and Adams were never afraid to make Batman human – he fell victim to his emotions quite often, even ones that made him look weak, and it makes him more human. Adams, of course, draws his cringing beautifully.
Juan bonks Batman on the head and they tie him and Valdes up with vines that “resist efforts to pull them loose by contracting all the more!” Handy, that. They don’t unmask Bats because they seriously don’t give a fuck who he is, and they leave. They release their falcons on them, but Batman, using the power of super-concentration, is able to overcome the hallucinations, cut through the vines, and take out the birds. Then he chucks a torch into the monastery, which is the only source of the flowers, freaking out the Muertos and leading to this superb page:
What a great page. Adams really goes all out, as you can almost feel the Muertos getting slower and slower as they age, until they fall into their open graves (probably not a great idea to dig those, eh?). In Panel 1, they’re both drawn rather fluidly, but by Panels 5 and 6, Adams shifts to a slightly more angular style, making them appear creaky as they desiccate. I loved this page when I was but a lad, and I love it still!
The story, ultimately, has some holes. Yes, the Muertos are insane, but it’s unclear what crimes they were committing that made the government get onto their trail in the first place. Is living forever illegal in Mexico? They committed some crimes in the story, but it’s all attempted murder, so not the biggest deal in the world. But who cares about that? This is 16 pages of gorgeous art in service of a terrific and creepy story, and I love it. It might have something to do with the fact that everything we consume when we’re 12 is the greatest thing ever, as I first read this during my teen years, even before I started buying comics, when I took a collection out of the local library. It was there I first read several Adams Batman stories, and they stuck with me. Not only this one, but “Half an Evil,” “Ghost of the Killer Skies,” and, of course, “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge.” But for whatever reason, “The Secret of the Waiting Graves” remains my favorite.
So, what’s your favorite Adams story? A Batman tale? A Deadman tale? A Green Lantern/Green Arrow tale? An X-Men tale? An Avengers tale? Something creator-owned he did? Possibly – gulp – Batman: Odyssey? Don’t be shy! Sound off in the comments!
The Batman story is a very good choice, but the one that made the biggest impact on me as a kid was Avengers 93 with the awesome journey through the body of Vision. It took me quite some time before I got the compleet story because the translated comics came out irregular in Holland (with the Dutch text in typewriter style).
Yeah, I dig that one. It’s also one of those books that makes reference to DC’s superheroes (Scott talks about Superman, if I recall correctly), and I love when the Big Two do that sort of thing.
I was really impressed by Adams’ art making me feel how tiny Ant-Man is. It’s hard to do.
Favorite is tough. There are two that I keep coming back to: Batman 237 – Night of the Reaper or Brave and Bold #79 – the first Batman / Deadman team up. For story / art and just the dynamic spreads and odd panel placements and perspective and also the period I really loved comics. There are so many Adams art pieces I love (including the Green Lantern stuff, Batman stuff, Deadman etc..) but Adams works better for me in the original published comics. The collections and the retouched and colored reprints just are too glossy and artificial looking. (I love that his work will always be available to be discovered and re-discovered but there is a grittiness in the originals that is lost in the reprints.) The tougher question for me is Best Adams cover. His work was all over DC in the late 60’s / early 70’s and he and Cardy defined that era of DC covers for me. Still having trouble processing both Adams and George Perez in the same week. They both define my time as a pure comics fan and a lot of their work is the stuff I keep going back to and makes up a large part of my accumulated books. If you do a Perez question, it will be tougher choosing favorite Perez work.
Yeah, asking about covers might be even harder, because the dude did a lot of them, and he knew how to draw one!
I will probably do a Perez question. Maybe next week!
I’m almost tempted to go with a sentimental favorite, Ms. Mystic #1, which is – as far as I can recall – the first Neal Adams comic I had read that wasn’t a reprint. I came into comics in the mid-1970s, at which point the then already legendary Adams was mainly just doing covers and special projects like Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (which I never had back then). But, quite frankly, the story (also by Adams) is pretty so-so.
Hard to really think of an absolute favorite, otherwise. All of those Batman stories are great (esp. the Ra’s al Ghul stuff and “Half an Evil”), but I think I’ll go with the Sentinels story from X-men #s 57-59. I first read those in this odd duck of a book called the “X-men British Annual” or something like that which I bought from the Lone Star Comics mail order catalog without even knowing what it was. I was delighted when the book arrived in the mail: it was a thin hardcover edition filled with gorgeous Adams art. And even though those three issues are in the middle of a longer arc about the trials and travails of Alex Summers, they tell a full, gripping story (kudos to writer Roy Thomas) while the art is just stunning. Adams really made those issues seem like an almost cinematic experience.
Those X-Men comics are gorgeous. I was reading Jose Villarrubia’s write-up on them right after Adams died, where he talked about Adams basically forcing Marvel to do shading rather than harsher CMYK coloring, and so he basically changed comic book coloring, as well (although covers had done shading for years, interiors didn’t). Just another reason he was so iconic!
I would have to go with Skate-man.
I cannot say I have read it!
One doesn’t read Skate-man, so much as “experience” Skate-man.
On a more serious note, I have always been fond of X-men 57 – 59. I had the Greatest Battles of the X-men tpb as a kid, and like many of those early collections, I re-read them countless times. Also his Frankenstein from Echo of Futurepast is keen.
“Moon of the Wolf” isn’t a great Batman story but it’s a good one and Adams does a great job, of course.
Also Spectre #4 is an early example of Adams writing as well as drawing, showing he’s good at both.
Interesting trivia note, Adams and Jeanette Kahn were a thing for a while (according to Twomorrows’ book on the DC Implosion era).
“some of our fellow bloggers have *ahem* been slacking off on contributing)”
If you’re including me in that, I didn’t know about it (I got driven away from this site’s behind-the-scenes Slack years ago), but I’ll see if there’s anything of value I can contribute to the article.
Favourite Neal Adams? Probably his Batman run. It was a great run, and I understand he brought back the supervillains and supernatural after a years-long drought.
Hollywood Batman could use a Neal Adams.
I do like your specific choice of story, ‘Tec #395. Pretty sure living forever is legal, but who wants to do it?
Although, wasn’t the plot that the government wanted the immortality flowers for themselves, not that the Muertos were to be arrested for having them? (It’s been a while since I read it.)
“They committed some crimes in the story, but it’s all attempted murder, so not the biggest deal in the world.”
Insert Sideshow Bob rant.
(Also, the attempted murders were in response to government interference, not the other way around, iirc?)
Also, the first appearance of Ra’s Al Ghul.
I didn’t know you weren’t on the Slack, sir, but I wasn’t referring to you specifically. Plus, I’m joking – everyone is busy, I know, and it’s not that big a deal! 🙂
In the story, Valdes gives literally no reason for arresting the Muertos – he just says he’s been ordered to arrest them. Batman has a thought balloon explaining that if the flowers were distributed among the population, there would be mass madness, but there’s no indication the Muertos are planning to do that – why would they? So it’s just the government being dicks!
And yes, the attempted murders were simply in response to government overreach. The Republicans would be furious if the Muertos only lived in Texas instead of Mexico! 🙂
I like the first appearance of Ra’s al Ghul, but it’s not one of my favorite stories. I don’t know why. The second one is better, but not much. I guess I’ve just never been the biggest Ra’s fan.
Pretty obvious choice but I’m going for Batman #234, the Two-Face issue.
It was only original floppy I had from Adams era. I read that book untill it came apart at the seams, I still have it today cello tape and all.
Kind of went off Adams work in recent years though, Batman Odyssey was such a damn mess that I still haven’t forgiven him.
The ship coming out of the water in “Half an Evil” is such a cool visual.
Batman: Odyssey was wonderful, sir! Pure batshit insanity!!!!!
It may be the obvious choice but Batman #251 “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge!” is to iconic not be my favorite. Almost every page has some moment or piece of art that has been talked about to this day.
A couple of honorable mentions:
“The first Ras Al Ghul Saga”- Detective Comics #411, Batman #232, 235, 240, 242, 243, 244 *Adams drew four of the seven issues
“The Sentinels Live!”- X-men #54-59
Superman vs. Muhammad Ali
How did I not think of Five Way Revenge? I even got the autographed cover for my brother as a Christmas present.
I was originally gonna say that Avengers issue during the Kree-Skrull War storyline where Ant-Man went into Vision’s body. And that’s wayyyy up there for me, but then I remembered that my real answer has to be Superman vs. Muhammad Ali.
It’s close but probably his XMen run with the sentinels just ahead of the Avengers with the cows and inside the Vision’s body.
Runners-up – Thor 180 & 181
and Batman 232, 244