Writer: Len WeinArtist: John Byrne and Jim Aparo
Publisher: DC Comics (July-September 1980)
Includes: The Untold Legend of the Batman Issues #1-3
I loved these issues when I originally bought them in 1980. The three issues contain both Jim Aparo and John Byrne artwork. Yeah, John Byrne during his Marvel time.
Jim Aparo defined Batman for me with his staggering 100 issue run (roughly) on Brave and Bold, much in the same way Curt Swan did for Superman.
I enjoyed the mini-series, because it introduced the concept of Bruce/Batman's father being part of his "bat mythos". It gave us a wider glimpse into Thomas Wayne; which up to this point I had never seen. Overall, these back-stories or untold tales reveal a much deeper world that Batman lives in then the run of the mill fighting bad guys bit.
This 3 issue mini-series did come out as a regular sized paperback along with some Superman and Teen Titans stories. However, these paperbacks were not designed well. Pages were not only shrunk down but cut up into chunks or panels. The reasoning for this I have no idea, but it really doesn't do justice to the stories or artwork.
I would like to see this released as a regular sized TPB.
If three issues are not enough to flesh out a TPB I would recommend reprinting...
-the first appearance of Batman in Detective Comics#27.
-the origin pages of Batman in Detective Comics#33.
-the first appearance of Robin in Detective Comics#38.
-Plus the original pre-crisis Who's Who pages of Batman, Robin, Alfred, the Batmobile and the Batcave.
It's so weird how small they were, didn't they come with cassette tapes that acted out the comic book stories? Or am I thinking of something else. I have these in my collection and I specifically remember they are a smaller sized comics.
ReplyDeleteThe Thomas Wayne bit of that story was originally told in "The First Batman" (Detective 235) in the Silver Age. Essentially, this mini-series was a collecting and re-telling of all that had been told to that point.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was well done...one I really enjoy