The arrival of Batman’s New Look
in May 1964 cleared away not only the alien invaders he’d been fighting in
recent years, but deemphasized his colorful rogue’s gallery of costumed
villains as well.
Under editor Julius Schwartz
instead of Jack Schiff, Batman was back to fighting gangsters and criminal
masterminds with his wits and his fists.
The clean-lined yet elegantly moody
New Look really did get my attention as a 9-year-old, and the full-page ad in Detective Comics 327 also caught my eye.
“Be first in your neighborhood to read each issue of Detective! Special Subscription Offer –
10 issues of Detective only $1.00.
Just 10 cents each instead of 12 cents — like finding an extra 20 cents!”
I wrangled a dollar from my mom
and bought my first comic book subscription (and was disappointed to see the
issues arrive folded down the middle — a terrible thing to do to a young comic
book lover).
Batman’s archenemy the Joker was
still around, but new heavies included the mysterious, super-powered Outsider
(really a resurrected, mutated and deranged Alfred Pennyworth) and the
Blockbuster, Batman’s answer to the Incredible Hulk.
Chemist Mark Desmond increased his
own size and strength at the price of his sanity, and was manipulated into
committing crimes by his brother Roland.
Introduced in Detective Comics 345 (Nov. 1965) by writer Gardner Fox and artist
Carmine Infantino, Blockbuster returned in Detective
Comics 349 (March 1966) and then in Justice
League of America 46 and 47 (Aug.-Sept. 1966).
Obviously Batman, a costumed acrobat
and detective, would have a hard time handling a Hulk, so the conflict
intrigued me from the start.
The satisfying story might have
been written by Agatha Christie, with her famous surprise twists. Blockbuster
turned out to be the super-villain that Batman couldn’t defeat, but Bruce Wayne
could! Having saved the Mark’s life when he was a child, Wayne’s presence could
put a halt to his rampages.
I loved the irony of the setup — Blockbuster was the one foe
whom Batman defeated not by assuming his secret identity, but by exposing it.
The grunting, irresistible bruiser
also served the interests of the storytelling elements required for the New
Look.
“Since Batman had no super powers
to play variations upon, Schwartz asked his writers to supply more fisticuffs —
not wild Kirbyesque brawls, but choreographed gymnastics cleverly exploiting
props and settings,” noted Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs in their book The Comic Book Heroes.
Blockbuster filled the bill.
No comments:
Post a Comment