Batman Comics in the 90's

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. It's been super miserable temperature wise outside this week, so I've been stuck indoors for most of the week because it's been too hot to do much of anything. Which is why this is the only blog post that I'm doing this week. Today I'm talking about Batman comics in the 90's through the lense of the first six issues of the main DC Universe Batman comics that I got when I was a kid. I just finished re-reading all six issues as I picked up new copies of all six at conventions and various geek sales before the pandemic hit in 2020. I'll talk about where Batman was at the time I got these comics, my (brief) history with the character, the stories in each issue, the artwork and the ads in each issue. So, let's get into it.

As you are probably all aware of by now, my history with Batman began on television. As I'll talk about when I get around to talking about the show as part of my series of posts on YTV, I was introduced to the Caped Crusader through reruns of the 1966 TV series starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. These reruns aired at 5 pm on YTV from 1992 until 1996, a year or two before they began airing on the brand new specialty channel, Space Channel (now known as CTV Sci-Fi Channel). I loved it. At the same time, Batman Returns had just come out and Batman: The Animated Series had just started airing. As a result, Batman was everywhere in the 90's. 

My introduction to comic books was through the third issue of Star Wars: Dark Empire and the Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation comics that DC published throughout the 80's and early 90's. But, eventually I started getting issues of The Batman Adventures, the comic based on Batman: The Animated Series. Which led to me getting my first mainstream DC Universe Batman comic.

That first issue was Batman #493 which has a cover date of Late May 1993. During this time, DC was just starting the massive story arc, Knightfall, which culminated in Batman having his back broken by a villain called Bane. In this issue, Batman faces off against a killer named Zsasz, who is at the center of a hostage situation at a prestigious all girls school just outside of Gotham City. The story is written by Doug Moench with art by Norm Breyfogle, one of the three major Batman artist of the 90's. The other two being Jim Aparo and Kelley Jones, who was the cover artist for both Batman and Detective Comics during this time.

Of course, I was six years old when I got this issue so I didn't know any of that. I had no idea who Bullock and Montoya were as I hadn't seen the animated series yet, nor did I know who Zsasz was, because, none of those characters were in the 1966 TV series because they hadn't been created yet. I was excited to see Robin show up for a single page, but, I had no idea who Tim Drake was yet, as Dick was Robin in the 60's TV series, AND was still Robin in the animated series. So I was introduced to alot of new characters with this issue. Which was cool. Of course, I didn't care about the differences I was seeing in the comic. I was six. I was just glad to be reading a Batman comic. I just thought that was really cool

I really like Norm Breyfogle's art in this issue. He uses the colours extremely well, changing the colours of both Batman's and Robin's costumes in the school's dark hallways in comparison to outside or in rooms that have lights in them. His backgrounds are really good too. 

I got this issue at the CHEO gift shop sometime in 1993, probably not long after the issue had been published. I think my mom was going to pass it by because of the cover (you can see it above), but after flipping through it, and seeing Robin in the book, she bought it for me.

I think I like this issue better now, as an adult than I did when I was a kid. Just because I've read all of Knightfall now, and so I have better context for who Bane is, and everything going on in Gotham City at this point in Batman's comic book history. I still liked it as a kid, just not as much as I do now as an adult.

Next is Batman #495, which has a cover date of late June 1993. This issue was once again written by Doug Moench, with another Kelley Jones cover, but this time, the interior artwork was done by Jim Aparo, who has a very classic feel to his artstyle. Which makes sense since he had a stint as artist on the Batman books in the 70's and his artstyle didn't change from then to when this issue came out. However, certain characters, like Jean-Paul Valley a.k.a. Azrael ends up looking like a blond Bruce Wayne because Aparo seems to use the same character model for all of the men who are close to being Bruce's age in his work. 

Speaking of Jean-Paul Valley, this issue was my first introduction to the character. He's only in two scenes, and he's wearing the generic costume that Tim made for him when Bruce approved Jean-Paul for training as a hero instead of as an assassin, so he doesn't make a huge impact on the story. In this issue, Batman has to face Poison Ivy, another character I hadn't encountered in the 60's TV series. Same with Lucius Fox and Dr. Leslie Tompkins.

Once again I got this issue at the CHEO gift shop. This time though I wasn't at the hospital for an appointment or anything like that. 1993 seemed to be the year for big events at CHEO that my family was invited to. I don't remember which one we went to this time, but Mom bought it for me before whichever event we went to.

In terms of being an introductory issue for new readers, I liked this issue better than I did 493. While that issue felt like I'd been dropped into the middle of a situation that I had no context for, this one felt more reader friendly. Like I didn't need to have read the issue of Detective Comics that came before this issue.

Batman #496 was a big issue for me because it was my first encounter with the comic book version of the Joker, AND my first introduction to the Scarecrow, as well as my first look at the 90's comic book version of the Batcave. It was also my introduction to Jason Todd as Robin, because when the Scarecrow uses his fear gas on him, Batman sees the Joker beating Jason to death. Of course I had absolutely no context for any of this because I didn't know about A Death in the Family or The Killing Joke or even The Dark Knight Returns. All I had to go on was Joker's comment to the Scarecrow early in the issue that he'd killed Robin though Batman's sidekick seemed to be back somehow. I also had no idea what had happened to Dick Grayson, because Nightwing hadn't shown up yet, and he clearly wasn't Robin anymore. 

I wanna stop and talk about the ads in these first few issues. There are alot of ads for video games such as The Incredible Crash Dummies, which I have the Game Boy version of, the original version of NBA Jam and a game for the Sega Genesis called Flashback, which had versions for both the Genesis, the Amiga, and for computers. Which is crazy. There are also tons of ads for Reign of the Supermen, which was huge, coming off of the Death of Superman story arc, which I also didn't know about at the time, as well as future issues of Knightfall, which happened to be Detective Comics as this first part of the storyline went back and forth between Batman and Detective Comics.

I actually felt more in my element as a Batman fan when I first read this issue back in 1993. Batman, Robin, the Joker, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon were all here, and even though the issue opens on the previous Detective Comics issue's cliffhanger, it felt more like I'd started watching an episode of Batman: The Animated Series as the episode came back from a commercial break, where I didn't necessarily need to see what happened earlier in the episode to be caught up with what was going on in the opening of this issue. And, like I said, all of the elements of Batman's universe I was familiar with, minus the Batphone, the Batsignal, and Wayne Manor, were in this issue.

Switching gears slightly, the next Batman comic I got was issue #5 of Robin by Chuck Dixon, with art by Tom Grummett and Ray Kryssing. I got this issue, along with the next issue of Batman that I got, when I had to go in for day surgery. I don't even remember what the operation was for. I just remember it was minor enough that it didn't require me to stay in the hospital overnight or for any length of time.

This issue was my introduction to Stephanie Brown, a.k.a. the Spoiler. Naturally, she became one of my favourite characters in the Bat-Family, which was quite a bit smaller in the 90's compared to today. There was just something about her that made me like her instantly. I think it's because she was capable as a vigilante, but also flawed and not great at regular life stuff. 

This was also my first full interaction with Tim Drake as Robin. By the time this issue had come out, I had seen Dick Grayson as Robin in Batman: The Animated Series, where he wears Tim's original Robin costume rather than the original one that he wore from 1940 to 1984, and that Jason wore from 1984 to 1988. 

Because this series is focused on teen superheroes, I actually felt like this was the final episode in a multi-part episode of Power Rangers when I first read this issue back in 1994. Because by this point, I'd fallen in love with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I mean MMPR was the only TV show that focused on teenage superheroes that also contained elements of sitcoms like Saved by the Bell, which is why I used it as a comparison, since I hadn't seen any other teenage superhero show or movie at that point (this was long before the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies had ever come out), and I hadn't read any Spider-Man or X-Men comics at the time either. I really enjoyed this issue, but it would be almost a decade before I got anymore Robin comics, and almost two decades before I ever read Spider-Man comics set during Peter Parker's teen years.

Batman #506 was probably my least favourite issue of this first batch of Batman comics I got when I was a kid. Doug Moench was still the writer and I enjoyed Mike Manley and Josef Rubenstein's artwork (they took over for Jim Aparo after Batman #500). It just didn't feel like Batman. The character didn't even look like Batman. I'd missed Batman #497, where Bane broke Batman's back, and Batman #500 when Jean-Paul Valley first donned his armored Batsuit, so I had no idea who this guy was, or why Bruce Wayne was in a wheelchair. I just knew that the Batman I knew didn't use missiles or guns or razor sharp claws against his enemies. 

Part of what I didn't like about this issue is that, not only was Commissioner Gordon unsure about Batman, but I didn't understand where Dick Grayson was, and why he wasn't Batman, if Bruce was incapacitated to the point where he needed a wheelchair and couldn't be Batman anymore. I also had no idea who the new character, Ballistic was, or whether this was his first appearance or not (spoiler: it's not), or who the villain, Abattoir was. 

As an adult I like this issue alot more than I did when I was a kid, just because I now have more context for who the armored Batman is, having read all of Knightfall and Knightquest: The Crusade. I still dislike Jean-Paul Valley as Batman though.

Last but not least is Batman #514. I don't even remember why I was in the hospital when I got this issue. I THINK it was for an appointment. In fact I'm about 99% sure it was for an appointment because I wasn't in for day surgery anymore by this point and my stays in the hospital were becoming less and less frequent. This is my favourite issue of the bunch. I finally got to meet the main comic book version of Dick Grayson, AND he was finally Batman, something I thought DC should've just done in the first place.

Not only that but the Batcave looked even bigger than the quick glimpse I got of it back in issues 496 and 506. Heck, it was even bigger than it was in the 60's TV show. The issue also felt a bit more simple. Even though it was part of the larger Prodigal storyline, this issue felt more standalone than almost any of the previous issues I'd gotten up to that point. Batman is facing off against three common thugs who had escaped from Blackgate Penitentiary after Two-Face had messed with the facility's computer system in a previous issue of this storyline. Even though he manned the Batcomputer, it was kinda nice seeing Tim in action in an actual Batman comic, since Bruce and Jean-Paul had basically sidelined him in the previous issues. Which is why he got his own monthly title.

Mike Manley and Kelley Jones had been replaced by Ron Wagner as both interior artist and cover artist. Jones would be back as the main artist of Batman following the end of Prodigal. I actually like Wagner's work in this issue. It feels more modern than Aparo's work, but also less pointy (look at the ears on Batman's cowl on both Kelley Jones's covers and Norm Breyfogle's interior art) than Aparo and Manley's work was. 

Overall all six of these issues hold up pretty well after 30 years. The 90's was a pretty weird time for the comic book industry, but, it still produced some pretty great stories. If you've never read these before, I highly recommend picking them up. They're all collected in trade paperback collected editions with five of them also appearing in hardcover omnibus editions as well. So they should be pretty easy to get your hands on, even if you can't get them individually.

Alright my friends, that is it for me for today, and for this week. I'll be back on Monday though for a very special blog post where I'll be looking at the 1997 version of the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, as well as the hype surrounding this monumental theatrical re-release of the Original Trilogy. Until then have a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.