The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
THE BEATLES IN COMICS Part Seven YESTERDAY and THE BEATLES AND ELVIS
More tomorrow…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 28,075Chief of Staff
edited January 4
They left out the fact that Mal Evans went with them - as he was a bigger Elvis fan than any of them…plus, for once, he’d forgotten to take spare plectrums with him (something he’d never forget to do again), so he fashioned plectrums from some plastic cutlery Elvis had in his kitchen so they could play…Elvis was learning the bass guitar at the time, so Paul gave him some pointers…
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are going to be entirely devoted to the Earth-1 (hopefully @caractacus potts will expand on this) Batman Family for the foreseeable future. It will encompass the huge range of titles that the extended Batman Family have appeared in and many other superheroes will appear alongside these characters. Some advertisements and promotions of other DC comics from various issues will be included whenever possible.
The first team-up of Batman/Superman villains occurred in World’s Finest #88 where The Joker and Lex Luthor joined forces…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
good to see a run of Batman stories! I think everyone likes Batman
and I like seeing the house ads, much appreciated! DC was publishing many licenced properties at this time, based on radio and tv shows. also, Bob Hope, and Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis both had their own comics that ran many years
I was thinking I might write a post on the history of Worlds Finest Comics, but I wont have the time before CoolHand moves on to other comics.
the important bit is, starting from World Finest 71, Jul/Aug 1954, this series was headlined by a feature in which Superman and Batman teamed up in one adventure. This format was mostly followed for the next 32 years
Worlds Finest Comics was one of DC's earliest titles, running from 1940 through to 1986
in its original format, Worlds Finest was a sort of giant sized superanthology. At the time the standard format was a 64 page anthology published monthly, with maybe a half dozen different stories about a half dozen different characters. Worlds Finest originally came out quarterly, was 96 squarebound pages for 15c, and featured bonus adventures for the more popular characters from the various monthly anthologies, Superman would be the lead story, Batman the final story, and thered be a half dozen stories about other characters in between.
The prototype for Worlds Finest was a one shot comic entitled New York World's Fair Comics
in 1939, New York hosted the World's Fair, with the actual fair site in Queens. DC published a special comic to be sold at the Worlds Fair (hopefully to introduce its product to new customers), 96 pages for 25c, more than twice the price of a regular comic! Superheroes were a brand new concept at this point, so the contents were more typical of the mix of humour comics and generic adventure stories which made up DC comics before Superman.
Superman, in a new story only available in this special comic, had the lead spot, in which he had an adventure at the Worlds Fair. in fact, most of the stories happened at the Worlds Fair, there was a strong educational component to this comic.
Batman had been introduced in Detective 27 a month before, but did not get a spot in this comic.
The only other superhero was the Sandman, in his first published appearance. Sandman was more of a plainclothed Shadow type character, distinguished by his gasmask disguise and the sleep gas gun he used to incapacitate the bad guys. Sandman would become the cover feature of Adventure Comics.
also somewhat superhero adjacent: Slam Bradley, the tuffguy detective created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel for Detective Comics. their most successful creation til they finally got Superman published.
and Zatara the Magician, a backup feature from Action Comics.
a year later DC published a followup, this time priced at 15c. They probably found the 25c pricetag was much too high, whereas 15c for 96 pages was proportionate to the price of a regular comics. note the change in logo.
Batman was included this time, getting the closing spot. And for the fist time, Superman, Batman and Robin appeared together on the cover, though they were in two separate stories inside.
Sandman, Zatara, and Slam Bradley reappeared, as well as Hourman from Adventure Comics, and Johnny Thunder from Flash Comics. Otherwise it was still the mix of humour comics, generic adventure stories, and educational content from the first issue
in 1941 DC published the first issue of a regular comic, maintaining the 96 page format and similar logo of the Worlds Fair specials, but now sold at the newsstands. Called Worlds Best for just this issue. The title would be changed to Worlds Finest for the second issue, which would stick for the rest of its long existence.
Worlds Finest 3 was significant for the Batman story, which introduced one of his classic Golden Age villains the Scarecrow, who you might remember from the Batman Begins film
for the next 13 years, Superman, Batman and Robin would appear together on every cover, but in separate stories inside. usually seen doing silly things together, never seen saving the world. other superheroes like Green Arrow and the Star Spangled Kid would be added to the backup features, though the series always kept a mix of genres, not just superheroes.
in early 50s covers, they often seem to be picking up chicks (but note the page count has dropped to 76 pages, then 68 pages: shrinkflation in times of rising paper costs)
despite their close friendship as seen on the covers, Superman and Batman never met in a story in all these years, until Superman 76, May 1952. In which Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne shared a cabin on an ocean voyage and learned each others secret identities.
as noted above, paper costs were going up and it was getting harder to sell a 15c comic. In July/Aug 1954 was reduced to the size and price of a regular comic (the now standard 32 pages by this point) starting with issue 71. and rather than drop a feature, the Superman and Batman features were combined, using the Superman 76 story as a prototype for the new teamup format that would last for most of the remainder of Worlds Finest's existence. From now on, DC's two top superheroes were best buds and hung out together and saved the world together every other month.
this coincides with the start of Batman stories getting sillier and more science fictional, and the Superman/Batman teamups could get mighty silly too. (the whole concepts inherently silly since their power levels are so mismatched) but rather than pick on poor silly late50s Batman, lets just look at a few more key covers.
Above CoolHand showed us the Luthor/Joker teamup. Heres the Mr Mxyzptlk/BatMite teamup
and of course Supergirl and Batgirl would get to teamup
I think thats about enough for now. hopefully I included enough pictures this time?
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
Comments
Holy Christmas, Batman!
NOTICE
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
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THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Chapter Thirteen - The Rabbit Hole - Part One
Continues tomorrow…
It's gripping, isn't it? More required!
Yes, it’s a gripping tale, no doubt. Thursdays and Fridays are Department Of Truth days.
WARNING NOTICE
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Chapter Thirteen - The Rabbit Hole - Part Two
More next week.
Yea, it certainly doesn’t let up…👏🏻
I'm a story and dialogue person, not an art one, but the art here is terrific and of course IS part of the story.
THE BEATLES IN COMICS Part Seven YESTERDAY and THE BEATLES AND ELVIS
More tomorrow…
They left out the fact that Mal Evans went with them - as he was a bigger Elvis fan than any of them…plus, for once, he’d forgotten to take spare plectrums with him (something he’d never forget to do again), so he fashioned plectrums from some plastic cutlery Elvis had in his kitchen so they could play…Elvis was learning the bass guitar at the time, so Paul gave him some pointers…
Thank you @Sir Miles
THE BEATLES IN COMICS Part Eight A HARD DAY’S NIGHT and JOHN’S OPINION
Continues next weekend…
Thanks CHB, this is fab.
VICTOR DRAGO Part 5
Continued next Monday…
All of that seems pretty close to the truth 😁
Na, they'd never pump sewage into the sea there. Oh, wait...
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are going to be entirely devoted to the Earth-1 (hopefully @caractacus potts will expand on this) Batman Family for the foreseeable future. It will encompass the huge range of titles that the extended Batman Family have appeared in and many other superheroes will appear alongside these characters. Some advertisements and promotions of other DC comics from various issues will be included whenever possible.
The first team-up of Batman/Superman villains occurred in World’s Finest #88 where The Joker and Lex Luthor joined forces…
I enjoyed reading that, thanks.
There’s someone else called Batman in Batman #108…
And an in-house advertisement…
More Batman Family next week…
good to see a run of Batman stories! I think everyone likes Batman
and I like seeing the house ads, much appreciated! DC was publishing many licenced properties at this time, based on radio and tv shows. also, Bob Hope, and Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis both had their own comics that ran many years
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
the Luthor/Joker teamup from World's Finest 88, May/Jun 1957. story by Edmond Hamilton, art by Dick Sprang
Sprang drew many of these Superman/Batman stories through the 1950s, and Curt Swan took over for most of the 1960s
this is a classic story I've read many times, reprinted in several giant size issues and trade paperback collections over the years
the Batman Jones story from Batman 108, June 1957 (hey! same month!), story by Bill Finger, art by Sheldon Moldoff
now this one I've never even heard of before!
I note the cover with Batman Jones on his bicycle is basically the same as the first Batwoman cover from a year previous
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was thinking I might write a post on the history of Worlds Finest Comics, but I wont have the time before CoolHand moves on to other comics.
the important bit is, starting from World Finest 71, Jul/Aug 1954, this series was headlined by a feature in which Superman and Batman teamed up in one adventure. This format was mostly followed for the next 32 years
Thanks, guys.
Worlds Finest Comics was one of DC's earliest titles, running from 1940 through to 1986
in its original format, Worlds Finest was a sort of giant sized superanthology. At the time the standard format was a 64 page anthology published monthly, with maybe a half dozen different stories about a half dozen different characters. Worlds Finest originally came out quarterly, was 96 squarebound pages for 15c, and featured bonus adventures for the more popular characters from the various monthly anthologies, Superman would be the lead story, Batman the final story, and thered be a half dozen stories about other characters in between.
The prototype for Worlds Finest was a one shot comic entitled New York World's Fair Comics
in 1939, New York hosted the World's Fair, with the actual fair site in Queens. DC published a special comic to be sold at the Worlds Fair (hopefully to introduce its product to new customers), 96 pages for 25c, more than twice the price of a regular comic! Superheroes were a brand new concept at this point, so the contents were more typical of the mix of humour comics and generic adventure stories which made up DC comics before Superman.
Superman, in a new story only available in this special comic, had the lead spot, in which he had an adventure at the Worlds Fair. in fact, most of the stories happened at the Worlds Fair, there was a strong educational component to this comic.
Batman had been introduced in Detective 27 a month before, but did not get a spot in this comic.
The only other superhero was the Sandman, in his first published appearance. Sandman was more of a plainclothed Shadow type character, distinguished by his gasmask disguise and the sleep gas gun he used to incapacitate the bad guys. Sandman would become the cover feature of Adventure Comics.
also somewhat superhero adjacent: Slam Bradley, the tuffguy detective created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel for Detective Comics. their most successful creation til they finally got Superman published.
and Zatara the Magician, a backup feature from Action Comics.
a year later DC published a followup, this time priced at 15c. They probably found the 25c pricetag was much too high, whereas 15c for 96 pages was proportionate to the price of a regular comics. note the change in logo.
Batman was included this time, getting the closing spot. And for the fist time, Superman, Batman and Robin appeared together on the cover, though they were in two separate stories inside.
Sandman, Zatara, and Slam Bradley reappeared, as well as Hourman from Adventure Comics, and Johnny Thunder from Flash Comics. Otherwise it was still the mix of humour comics, generic adventure stories, and educational content from the first issue
in 1941 DC published the first issue of a regular comic, maintaining the 96 page format and similar logo of the Worlds Fair specials, but now sold at the newsstands. Called Worlds Best for just this issue. The title would be changed to Worlds Finest for the second issue, which would stick for the rest of its long existence.
Worlds Finest 3 was significant for the Batman story, which introduced one of his classic Golden Age villains the Scarecrow, who you might remember from the Batman Begins film
for the next 13 years, Superman, Batman and Robin would appear together on every cover, but in separate stories inside. usually seen doing silly things together, never seen saving the world. other superheroes like Green Arrow and the Star Spangled Kid would be added to the backup features, though the series always kept a mix of genres, not just superheroes.
in early 50s covers, they often seem to be picking up chicks (but note the page count has dropped to 76 pages, then 68 pages: shrinkflation in times of rising paper costs)
despite their close friendship as seen on the covers, Superman and Batman never met in a story in all these years, until Superman 76, May 1952. In which Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne shared a cabin on an ocean voyage and learned each others secret identities.
as noted above, paper costs were going up and it was getting harder to sell a 15c comic. In July/Aug 1954 was reduced to the size and price of a regular comic (the now standard 32 pages by this point) starting with issue 71. and rather than drop a feature, the Superman and Batman features were combined, using the Superman 76 story as a prototype for the new teamup format that would last for most of the remainder of Worlds Finest's existence. From now on, DC's two top superheroes were best buds and hung out together and saved the world together every other month.
this coincides with the start of Batman stories getting sillier and more science fictional, and the Superman/Batman teamups could get mighty silly too. (the whole concepts inherently silly since their power levels are so mismatched) but rather than pick on poor silly late50s Batman, lets just look at a few more key covers.
Above CoolHand showed us the Luthor/Joker teamup. Heres the Mr Mxyzptlk/BatMite teamup
and of course Supergirl and Batgirl would get to teamup
I think thats about enough for now. hopefully I included enough pictures this time?
Thank you @caractacus potts for continuing posting all this superb information.
WARNING NOTICE
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - All That Glitters - Part One
Continues tomorrow…
🤯 love it.
Agreed, and I'm going to have to read the whole thing again when it's over just for the pleasure of it.
And thanks to both @CoolHandBond and @caractacus potts for all the Batman & co material. Loads to enjoy!
WARNING NOTICE
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - All That Glitters - Part Two
Another intriguing instalment next Thursday.
Building up nicely 🤔
No, no - that's not what's inside Fort Knox! We Bond fans know what's there, don't we?
THE BEATLES IN COMICS Part Nine NEW MUSICAL HORIZONS and THE TRIUMPH OF SGT. PEPPERS LONELY HEART CLUBS BAND
More tomorrow…
A splendid time is guaranteed for all.