Should I taint the well.....

[TheLazy]

I've been strictly post crisis with my reading and now I've almost run out of stuff to read, coupled with the raving I keep hearing about Neal Adams, I'm asking myself, "Should I taint my image of batman and go through all his incarnations?"

[DonC]

This is the first time I've ever seen someone talk about Neal Adams' Batman work as if it was a bad thing. Neal Adams is to Batman what Curt Swan was to Superman.

[TheLazy]

I just don't like the idea of diluting 'my batman' (if that makes sense) by reading all these different interpretations of him from 70 years of history.

[Captain Jim]

The Batman from 1970-1986 really wasn't all that different from the post-Crisis Batman, just a bit less obsessed and grim.

[Trey Krimsin]

You won't be tainting your image of the Batman by reading other interpretations. You will be expanding the legend in your mind. Neal Adams' work on the Batman character and mythos created a mood of darkness, without making the character obsessive and paranoid.

[Bat_Fan2232]

sorry im a neal adams hater, but pick it up.... You never know until your try it out

[Mia]

While the Kane/Finger stuff is obviously aimed at kiddies. If you look closer at it you'll find far more depth and substance to what we have now. Batman actually ferets out clues himself.

I just really, really,really wish they'd put all the 70's stories out in black and white volumes. I would be so happy!!!!

[Captain Jim]

While the Kane/Finger stuff is obviously aimed at kiddies. If you look closer at it you'll find far more depth and substance to what we have now. Batman actually ferets out clues himself.

Of course, that's all pre-1970, so it doesn't pertain to what I was talking about.

I just really, really,really wish they'd put all the 70's stories out in black and white volumes. I would be so happy!!!!

Well, Showcase is up to 1966 now. So, just give it another 3-4 volumes or so... I'm sure they'll continue into the 1970's.

[sabongero]

You won't be tainting your image of the Batman by reading other interpretations. You will be expanding the legend in your mind. Neal Adams' work on the Batman character and mythos created a mood of darkness, without making the character obsessive and paranoid.

Trey I am sorry as I am not familiar with Neal Adam's Batman. I hope you can add some more information on how Neal created a mood of darkness on the Batman character without making him obsessive and paranoid. What kind of format did he use, or let me make it clearer by asking how did Neal convey this ?

Thanks man.

[the goddamn batman]

Neal Adams was the man when it came to Batman. It was his work on Batman that changed the face of comic art at the time.

I suggest checking it out.

[Captain Jim]

Trey I am sorry as I am not familiar with Neal Adam's Batman. I hope you can add some more information on how Neal created a mood of darkness on the Batman character without making him obsessive and paranoid. What kind of format did he use, or let me make it clearer by asking how did Neal convey this ?

Thanks man.

It wasn't just Adams, he's just the most popular artist of that period. (His is a realistic style that's a lot like Jim Lee's, IMO, but Adams came first.) In the years following the campy Batman TV show, Batman's sales dropped, as people were associating the comic book with the show (despite the fact that the comic was never as campy as the show). Then, in the December, 1969, issue of Batman, the character was totally revamped. When Robin went away to college, Batman decided to return to his roots as a "creature of the night" who "struck terror" into the hearts of criminals. This has been the same basic portrayal that has continued ever since.

COIE didn't really change Batman at all. The change came from Frank Miller's Year One that followed a few months later. Since then, people have tried to follow Miller's lead and we have gotten a Batman who's obsessed and driven. But IMO, Miller only gave the character a minor tweak. The major revamp is what happened in late 1969. So any stories you read that are post-1969 are not going to be all that different than something you might read today.

[Omega the Unknown]

check out the adams issues, they are well worth it.
I can still remember one issue where batman went to mexico I think and ran into this couple who had lived forever due to some kind of flower.
creepy story, and adams art really was stunning on it.

also check out marshall rogers run, excellent stuff.

joker fish, what a concept!

[Captain Jim]

check out the adams issues, they are well worth it.
I can still remember one issue where batman went to mexico I think and ran into this couple who had lived forever due to some kind of flower.
creepy story, and adams art really was stunning on it.

Sounds like The Secret of the Waiting Graves from Detective #395. I believe this may have been Adam's first penciling job on a Batman solo story.