I know im going to catch hell for this..... (Newbie Batman Question)

[Goggindowner]

Can you PM me that list? I'd like to see it.

Sent.

10 char

[_Pandora_]

A self contained story about a Batman from another world, Batman: Earth One. Good story & lots of fun. I liked it. If you also read stories besides Batman's regular timeline & what not, then that story will be awsome for you. I also highly suggest that you don't limit yourelf to just Batman's regular stuff. There are alot of other good stuff too. I haven't read it yet, but I heard that All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder was good.

[carabas]

But I think it is naive to think that back then (the golden age) it wasn't about money. Of course it was! The only difference is that back then artists (and not just only the comic artists) made things from the heart and business people believed they could sell that. Now business people ask (read: instruct) artists to make something they can sell!

You're mistaken.

The real origin of Batman: National Publications' editors wanted more characters like this Superman guy, and Batman was created to fill that niche. Batman is not something Finger and Kane wanted to do, it was 100% work-for-hire, writing what they were told to write.

Most people back then were in comics entirely for the paycheck, quite often only because they couldn't get a better paying job.

Nowadays, most people working in comics do it because they deeply love doing comics. Because unles you can create a "Walking Dead" or something, there's not that much money in it.

[OptimaX]

You're mistaken.

The real origin of Batman: National Publications' editors wanted more characters like this Superman guy, and Batman was created to fill that niche. Batman is not something Finger and Kane wanted to do, it was 100% work-for-hire, writing what they were told to write.

Most people back then were in comics entirely for the paycheck, quite often only because they couldn't get a better paying job.

Nowadays, most people working in comics do it because they deeply love doing comics. Because unles you can create a "Walking Dead" or something, there's not that much money in it.

Interesting point of view. I'm willing to believe you're right... Either way we both seem to back up the point that money makes the world go round no matter what era...

[carabas]

Interesting point of view. I'm willing to believe you're right... Either way we both seem to back up the point that money makes the world go round no matter what era...

I always have thought that Marvel was worse in this regard than DC. But look outside of the Big Two... Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Boom!... that's where the real action is.

[OptimaX]

I always have thought that Marvel was worse in this regard than DC. But look outside of the Big Two... Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Boom!... that's where the real action is.

But they don't have Gotham City!!

[carabas]

But they don't have Gotham City!!

Meh. Who cares?

[OptimaX]

Meh. Who cares?

I do! I live there! (going to UTOPIA on holidays... )

[Jeff Brady]

Very few young people I know listen to anything besides current rap and R&B or pop, except a few people I know who listen to metal. Most of the people in their early 20's that I know literally refuse to listen to the Beatles.

So you know a lot of stupid people. When I was 15, I was listening to everyone from Duke Ellington & Maurice Ravel to Public Enemy & Nirvana. And when I got to college, I knew more people who shared my taste than not.

No, it's your opinion that they don't age well, yet you state it like it is undeniable fact. The best comics-by far-were done from the late 30's to the early 70's. The best company by far for issue-by issue quality was EC in the early 50's. What kills me is how perfectly happy people are to embrace ignorance of comics history. If a story on Comics Vine or Bleeding Cool or CBR says that Silver/Bronze age comics were stupid, then people just accept it without even reading for themselves. My point is I can no easier grasp people dismissing Bill Finger's Batman than I can understand people not watching Nosferatu because it's silent.

No doubt, EC Comics had amazing creators.

However, the casual racism & misogyny don't age well. The static art and flat coloring don't age well. The stilted, verbose dialogue doesn't age well.

This script doesn't age well:

Page Ten, Panel Four:

Art Direction: Draw Superman punching Lex Luthor.

Caption: With all his might, Superman punches Lex Luthor!

Word Balloon: Superman is punching Lex Luthor!

And for the literalists, the paper itself doesn't age well.

Nice to see someone who actually appreciates music history, but there isn't enough of it, unfortunately. I guess that's why it's hard to find good modern music.

It's amazingly easy to find good modern music.

But ultimately, to me, Bill Finger's version of Batman and his cast takes precedence over the rest because to me they are his characters. It's the way I view all characters to be honest. I view most, not all, but most of the later versions as corporately commissioned alternate takes on the original done for the sake of profit. Occasionally someone like O'Neil or Morrison comes along and writes from the heart, but a lot of it is filling out a ledger, IMO.

Except for Superman, they were all corporate commissions, whether or not the creators were doing it from the heart.