When Cutting Up a Comic Book Was Charming

Recently I was reading through a comic published in 1976 and I was struck by something: DC Comics actively encouraged kids to destroy their comics.

Bicentennial Mania

To help celebrate the American Bicentennial summer, DC Comics published a total of 23 issues in June, July, and August 1976 with a special banner across the top that read “DC Comics Salutes the Bicentennial” in red, white, and blue. In the upper right corner was a number. Nice, huh?

Well, inside there’s a house ad. Here it is.

If you take a read, you’ll see that kids back then could get a free Superman belt buckle *if they cut out and sent in at least 25 cover headings*!

Yes, you would actually have to cut up the covers to 25 brand-new comics.

I did this sort of thing for Star Wars figures when I cut out and sent proofs of purchases to get my Boba Fett action figure. But those were cardboard boxes.

This situation was comic book covers. I’d like to think that, even then, I wouldn’t have done that. And even then, the comic book collector market was in full swing. Did they just not think comics from 1976 would be worth anything?

The Charm Factor

But here’s what I like about it now. I like the charm factor of it all. Over the decades, companies always had drives like this. “Eat 5 boxes of [insert cereal] and send in the box tops for [insert cool toy].” Yes, campaigns like this promoted binge buying, but it was actually kind of fun, no?

Do companies even do that anymore, or has our culture just moved on to kids simply asking parents to buy them whatever they want? Not sure, but at least by buying 25 DC Comics in the summer of ’76 or however many box tops of cereal, you felt like you were actually working for your prize.

Batman Summer Spectacular 1978

(In the run-up to this summer's 30th Anniversary of Batman '89--not to mention this month's celebration of the 80th Anniversary of Batman's first appearance-- I'm diving into lots of Bat-Stuff. Here's a piece I wrote last summer that I didn't post on this blog.)

To commemorate the end of summer 2018, let’s take a trip back forty years.

The summer of 1978 was smack dab in the middle of one of my favorite pockets of my life. You see, Star Wars had debuted the year before and it consume much of my imagination. It had awakened in me a love for all things science fiction and I sought out as much as I could, eventually discovering Edgar Rice Burroughs’s A PRINCESS OF MARS. I had discovered the rock and roll superheroes known as KISS through their albums, comics, and trading cards. And every issue of Circus or Hit Parader magazine I could find.

And, of course, there was the constant: comic books. I have memories of certain issues—where I bought them; what kind of day it was—but not all. Interestingly, as summer 2018 wound down, I was drawn to a forty-year-old comic of which I have no memory buying at the time. But I also have no memory of buying it in the years since, so it’s a logical conclusion that my ten-year-old self forked over a dollar bill for this unique issue.

Officially issue fifteen of the DC SPECIAL SERIES, the 1978 Batman Spectacular boasted of 68 pages of content and no ads. In reality, you get to 68 pages by using both interior covers. This issue is a true gem of my favorite era of Batman’s history: the Bronze Age. More or less, the Bronze Age of comics ran from 1970 to 1985. For Batman, the Bronze Age started with the pairing of writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams in the early 70s to the publication of Frank Miller’s seminal THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. In the 1970s, Bruce Wayne moved out of Wayne Manor and the Batcave and took up residence in the Wayne Foundation building. He was a detective, a creature of the night, and, most importantly, still a man. He could be hurt, both emotionally and physically, and he was, including this book.

The Batman Spectacular features three tales. The first, “Hang the Batman,” was written by David V. Reed and pencilled by Mike Nasser. The story centers on the death, by suicide, of a famous author, Archer Beaumont. But Beaumont believed it was possible to communicate from beyond the grave, a belief given new relevance when various signs start popping up around Gotham City. A cryptic note admonishes the Dark Knight Detective to solve Beaumont’s murder or Batman himself will meet death. He investigates, gets into fisticuffs, and, no spoiler here, solves the case.

Reed’s writing is crisp, fast-paced, and typical of the type of story from the 1970s. He provides all the clues the reader needs to solve the crime along with Batman. But it is the visual way Nasser (now Netzer) drew the panels that really set this story apart. His Batman is lithe yet muscular. He rarely treats a single page with traditional panels and borders. He visualizes the entire page as a canvas, seeking out new ways to tell the story. And he gives you interesting angles. I read this tale twice in a row I was so enthralled by his art.

The second story is by Dennis O’Neil and drawn by Michael Golden. It features Batman’s (likely) best nemesis, Ra’s Al Ghul, and Batman’s unwitting and unwanted marriage to Talia, Ra’s’s daughter. O’Neil co-created Ra’s with Neal Adams and this is a perfectly serviceable story, but it seems rather small. Ra’s is best when he’s trying to take over the world or do something for which he sees as right. Here, he’s just trying to steal some diamonds—in a manner fitting a James Bond villain. Golden’s art is as realistic as you could get from art in the 1970s, and helps elevate this story.

O’Neil redeemed himself with the third tale of this issue. Advertised as “Something New..Something Bold!”, “Death Strikes at Midnight and Three” is a Batman story told in prose by O’Neil and illustrated by the great Marshall Rogers. All three artists are fantastic at creating interesting visual storytelling. Rogers drew a series with writer Steve Engelhart many consider to be among the best Batman stories every told. The scenes he draws for O’Neil’s story are, like Nasser’s very visually interesting and almost minimal despite the exquisite detail.


But that’s okay, because the real stars here are O’Neil’s words. Free from a traditional comic book story, O’Neil’s prose is lavish in detail and is spun like a magician. And the details provided give a glimpse of a Batman rarely seen on comic pages. In one scene, Batman confronts a brute who thinks he can best the Caped Crusader. “The Batman shrugged. ‘Take your best shot.’” I loved the noncommittal nature of Batman here, the hero who knows he’ll win, the hero who has confronted countless thugs who think they’ll be the one to take down Batman.

As a writer, I especially appreciated how O’Neil didn’t always conform to proper grammar to paint his pictures with words. “The footfalls stopped. Snick of lighter. Odor of tobacco.” That’s it. Sure, you could write a paragraph, but why when a short few words will do the trick. The way he describes Gotham City is also splendid.

It is a monster sprawled along 25 miles of eastern seaboard, stirring and seething and ever-restless. Eight million human beings live on streets that, if laid end-to-end, would stretch all the way to Tokyo, crammed into thousands of neighborhood from the fire-gutted tenements of Chancreville, where rats nestle in babies’ bedclothes and grandmothers forage in garbage cans,to the penthouses of Manor row, where the cost of a single meal served by liveried servants would support an immigrant family for a year. It is countless chambers and crannies and corners in bars, boats, houses, hotels, elevators, offices, theaters, shacks, tunnels, depots, junkyards, cemeteries, buses, cars, trains, terms, bridges, docks, sewers, parks, jails, mortuaries—the shelters of living and dead, millionaires and bums, fiends and saints.
Napoleon’s armies could search for a lifetime and leave places unseen.
An exceptionally energetic investigator could visit the likely ones in a month.
The Batman had less than sixty minutes.

Come on! You can see that as clear as any artist. O’Neil’s love of old pulp fiction, especially The Shadow, bleeds off the page. And how’s this description of Batman emerging to take on a couple of crooks in front of a movie screen: “The Batman, stark and implacable against the expanse of white, a grim figure congealing from the shadows.” So, so good.

I highly encourage you to seek out this issue. The entire thing has not been republished elsewhere. The Ra’s tale you can find in Tales of the Demon. The prose story is reprinted in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers and in Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told.

Len Wein’s Batman: Batman 308

Writer Len Wein’s second issue of Batman, ‘There’ll Be a Cold Time in the Old Town Tonight,” brings back an old foe: Mr. Freeze. But this isn’t your TV’s Freeze. No, this is an odd hybrid of what came before and what Paul Dini did so masterfully with Freeze in Batman: The Animated Series.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Based on the splash page, Jacob Riker sees Batman swinging near his balcony window and pines for the Dark Knight Detective’s help. Because Mr. Freeze is at Riker’s door. The criminal is very unhappy and decides to make an example of Riker. As Wein writes, “And Jacob Riker’s final scream is mercifully brief!”

The Bat and the Cat

The next day, Bruce Wayne is working in his office when he receives an interesting visitor: Selina Kyle, AKA The Catwoman. She doesn’t know Bruce and Batman are one in the same. She’s done her time and now wants to invest some money in Wayne Enterprises. Bruce initially balks, but then relents. Not before pissing off the former criminal and allowing her a cagey smile.

No sooner does Bruce lament his predicament—even ordering Lucius Fox to check out Selina’s story—than the Bat Signal graces the Gotham sky. Batman’s on the case. When he meets up with Commissioner Gordon, the Caped Crusader sees Jacob Riker frozen to death in a block of ice.

Meanwhile…on the 13th Floor

An older man named McVee enters another office building across town. A young woman--who turns out to be his girlfriend, Hildy--greets him and hands him a parka. Inside his special lair, Mr. Freeze awaits. Unlike Riker who refused Freeze’s request, McVee is all in. In a bid to make himself immortal, McVee lays down in a clear coffin. Cryogenic gases fill the chamber. When the doors open, McVee is no longer himself. He is now an ice zombie.

Hey. It’s 1978.

That's yet another failure. Freeze wants to find a way to convert Hildy into something like himself so they can live happily ever after. She, however, isn't buying it. She's already planning on double-crossing the criminal.

Interlude 

In S.T.A.R. Labs, there's a figure on an operating room, shrouded with a sheet. The scientists chat about how the Wayne Foundation made it possible for the body to be delivered. One scientist utters the words "Yea, this new radiation treatment will either cure him--or kill him."

No sooner are the words out of his mouth than the figure rises up, breaks the bonds holding him on the table, and proceeds to lay waste to the lab.

Until he falls dead.

What? Fear not. All will be explained.

Tracking Down Freeze

Through a contact--in the 1970s, it seemed every issue had Batman talk to some street man to get information; this time, it's "Benny the Buzz"--Batman sneaks into a building owned by Mr. Freeze. Benny was right. Batman walks into a trap. It seemed Benny telephoned Freeze before Bats even arrived.

The Caped Crusader leaps into action against the ice zombies which Mr. Freeze calls...wait for it...his ice pack. Yup. If you've ever fallen while ice skating, you'll know ice is hard. Batman finds out the hard way after socking one of the zombies in the jaw...and nearly shattering his knuckles.

The fight is short and Bats is thrown in the same cryo-tank as the unfortunate Mr. McVee. (Think he was named after the husband-and-wife team in Fleetwood Mac?) Freeze doesn't want to make the same mistake he did with McVee on his lady love. Despite our hero's attempts to get out, he nonetheless is rendered into an ice zombie!

The Twist

Now, we know Batman has something up his sleeve. He's already revealed to the reader he applied insulating salve to protect him against the cold air of Freeze's hideout. That's the answer, right? Well, partially.

In a small soliloquy, Hildy talks about her plans. She also marvels at how handsome Batman is. She goes so far as to kiss him.

And knows the truth at the exact moment Freeze confronts her for her double-dealing. But she can't get a word in edgewise because Freeze won't let her. Batman comes to her rescue. Freeze is dumbfounded. How could Batman not be a zombie. Well, our hero disabled muct of the cryogenic hoses before he even stepped foot in the hideout!

A fight quickly ensues. Batman can't beat the zombies so he turns his attention to Freeze. As you can see from the cover image, this version of Freeze has a costume and a glass helmet. Batman shatters the glass, the only means of communication Freeze has to his ice pack. They stop moving. Batman leaps to action. Hildy picks up the damaged Freeze Gun and aims it at both men. She pulls the trigger.

The freeze ray backfires. She's frozen solid. "Your Hildy wanted to stay young and beautiful forever," Batman says to Mr. Freeze as they leave. "And it looks like she's finally gotten her way!"

The Tag Ending

Remember that sheet-shrouded figure? Well, the same pair of scientists now stand over a freshly dug grave. They name the dead man: Mark Desmond. They lament not being able to help poor Desmond, but now he at least has peace. They depart.

Then, the earth begins to rumble. Dirt shakes. And a thick pair of hands emerges from the ground. Mark Desmond is alive!

Thoughts

I don't know about you, but having what is basically a prelude to the next issue buried (natch) in this issue is pretty nifty. It's good storytelling, but it's also good marketing. What kid in December 1978 is not going to search for that next issue?

Wein's writing really shines in the sidebars. With the comic medium, you've got pictures. The writer doesn't need to say a lot, at least as it appears on the page. But Wein does more. He adds depth to these panels, whether it be descriptions of the city or the inner thinking of Bruce Wayne and Batman. When Wein came over to DC from Marvel, Batman was the character for which he wanted to write. He adds more than simply a comic adventure. He helps to reveal the man behind the hero.

The art is by the combo team of John Calnan and Dick Giordano. They make a good pair. Their illustrations of both women are very good and, oddly, quite sensual. How they stage certain sequences is also well done, almost like a movie. All in all, Wein, Calnan, and Giordano produced a good issue.

See Also

Batman 307

Batman Summer Spectacular 1978

To commemorate the end of summer 2018, let’s take a trip back forty years.

The summer of 1978 was smack dab in the middle of one of my favorite pockets of my life. You see, Star Wars had debuted the year before and it consume much of my imagination. It had awakened in me a love for all things science fiction and I sought out as much as I could, eventually discovering Edgar Rice Burroughs’s A PRINCESS OF MARS. I had discovered the rock and roll superheroes known as KISS through their albums, comics, and trading cards. And every issue of Circus or Hit Parader magazine I could find.

And, of course, there was the constant: comic books. I have memories of certain issues—where I bought them; what kind of day it was—but not all. Interestingly, as summer 2018 wound down, I was drawn to a forty-year-old comic of which I have no memory buying at the time. But I also have no memory of buying it in the years since, so it’s a logical conclusion that my ten-year-old self forked over a dollar bill for this unique issue.

Officially issue fifteen of the DC SPECIAL SERIES, the 1978 Batman Spectacular boasted of 68 pages of content and no ads. In reality, you get to 68 pages by using both interior covers. This issue is a true gem of my favorite era of Batman’s history: the Bronze Age. More or less, the Bronze Age of comics ran from 1970 to 1985. For Batman, the Bronze Age started with the pairing of writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams in the early 70s to the publication of Frank Miller’s seminal THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. In the 1970s, Bruce Wayne moved out of Wayne Manor and the Batcave and took up residence in the Wayne Foundation building. He was a detective, a creature of the night, and, most importantly, still a man. He could be hurt, both emotionally and physically, and he was, including this book.

The Batman Spectacular features three tales. The first, “Hang the Batman,” was written by David V. Reed and pencilled by Mike Nasser. The story centers on the death, by suicide, of a famous author, Archer Beaumont. But Beaumont believed it was possible to communicate from beyond the grave, a belief given new relevance when various signs start popping up around Gotham City. A cryptic note admonishes the Dark Knight Detective to solve Beaumont’s murder or Batman himself will meet death. He investigates, gets into fisticuffs, and, no spoiler here, solves the case.

Reed’s writing is crisp, fast-paced, and typical of the type of story from the 1970s. He provides all the clues the reader needs to solve the crime along with Batman. But it is the visual way Nasser (now Netzer) drew the panels that really set this story apart. His Batman is lithe yet muscular. He rarely treats a single page with traditional panels and borders. He visualizes the entire page as a canvas, seeking out new ways to tell the story. And he gives you interesting angles. I read this tale twice in a row I was so enthralled by his art.

The second story is by Dennis O’Neil and drawn by Michael Golden. It features Batman’s (likely) best nemesis, Ra’s Al Ghul, and Batman’s unwitting and unwanted marriage to Talia, Ra’s’s daughter. O’Neil co-created Ra’s with Neal Adams and this is a perfectly serviceable story, but it seems rather small. Ra’s is best when he’s trying to take over the world or do something for which he sees as right. Here, he’s just trying to steal some diamonds—in a manner fitting a James Bond villain. Golden’s art is as realistic as you could get from art in the 1970s, and helps elevate this story.

O’Neil redeemed himself with the third tale of this issue. Advertised as “Something New..Something Bold!”, “Death Strikes at Midnight and Three” is a Batman story told in prose by O’Neil and illustrated by the great Marshall Rogers. All three artists are fantastic at creating interesting visual storytelling. Rogers drew a series with writer Steve Engelhart many consider to be among the best Batman stories every told. The scenes he draws for O’Neil’s story are, like Nasser’s very visually interesting and almost minimal despite the exquisite detail.

But that’s okay, because the real stars here are O’Neil’s words. Free from a traditional comic book story, O’Neil’s prose is lavish in detail and is spun like a magician. And the details provided give a glimpse of a Batman rarely seen on comic pages. In one scene, Batman confronts a brute who thinks he can best the Caped Crusader. “The Batman shrugged. ‘Take your best shot.’” I loved the noncommittal nature of Batman here, the hero who knows he’ll win, the hero who has confronted countless thugs who think they’ll be the one to take down Batman.

As a writer, I especially appreciated how O’Neil didn’t always conform to proper grammar to paint his pictures with words. “The footfalls stopped. Snick of lighter. Odor of tobacco.” That’s it. Sure, you could write a paragraph, but why when a short few words will do the trick. The way he describes Gotham City is also splendid.

It is a monster sprawled along 25 miles of eastern seaboard, stirring and seething and ever-restless. Eight million human beings live on streets that, if laid end-to-end, would stretch all the way to Tokyo, crammed into thousands of neighborhood from the fire-gutted tenements of Chancreville, where rats nestle in babies’ bedclothes and grandmothers forage in garbage cans,to the penthouses of Manor row, where the cost of a single meal served by liveried servants would support an immigrant family for a year. It is countless chambers and crannies and corners in bars, boats, houses, hotels, elevators, offices, theaters, shacks, tunnels, depots, junkyards, cemeteries, buses, cars, trains, terms, bridges, docks, sewers, parks, jails, mortuaries—the shelters of living and dead, millionaires and bums, fiends and saints.

Napoleon’s armies could search for a lifetime and leave places unseen.

An exceptionally energetic investigator could visit the likely ones in a month.

The Batman had less than sixty minutes.

Come on! You can see that as clear as any artist. O’Neil’s love of old pulp fiction, especially The Shadow, bleeds off the page. And how’s this description of Batman emerging to take on a couple of crooks in front of a movie screen: “The Batman, stark and implacable against the expanse of white, a grim figure congealing from the shadows.” So, so good.

I highly encourage you to seek out this issue. The entire thing has not been republished elsewhere. The Ra’s tale you can find in Tales of the Demon. The prose story is reprinted in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers and in Batmam: The Greatest Stories Ever Told.