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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2014 21:01:08 GMT -5
As much as I know we're not primarily Golden Age readers here, I'm REALLY surprised to see no one going for the original creative team. It seems I hear so much from folks about Batman's roots, as well as writers claiming to take Batman back to those idealized roots, yet no one here seems to prefer those roots. I sure used the word "roots" a lot, there. I know what you are thinking and this is the most difficult question to answer because there are a lot of talent out there and the problem is that you were allowed to vote once and only once. If I were to choose one Golden Age Team - I would choose Sprang, Finger, and Kane. |
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Post by Dr. Poison on Nov 24, 2014 21:13:15 GMT -5
The Haney/Aparo years were my favorite. That was in the mid to late 70s right? If so, they really played up a diverse group of Batman's rogues which I enjoyed quite a bit.
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Post by Randle-El on Nov 24, 2014 22:33:15 GMT -5
When I think of comic book Batman, this is the image that I have permanently burned into my memory.  As a kid, I had a Batman t-shirt with this image of Batman, and during the summer of 1989 I must have worn that shirt at least twice a week for 3-4 months straight. I'm pretty sure I also tried to copy the drawing too, with what I'm sure were less-than-stellar results. So even though he wasn't drawing Batman comics at the time I was getting into comics, and I didn't learn until later who the artist of that image was, I always consider Adams to be the definitive Batman artist simply because that image left such a strong impression upon me at a young age. As for the animated series -- I'm sure I'm not the only one this happens to, but whenever I read any Batman comic, classic or modern, without fail it's Kevin Conroy's voice I hear in my head whenever Batman speaks. |
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Post by Action Ace on Nov 24, 2014 22:40:02 GMT -5
Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers are my creative team supreme for Batman. Their original run in Detective and mini series Dark Detective fuse everything I love about Batman in his history into one stellar package.
I also liked...
Animated series comics creators Kelley Puckett/Mike Parobeck/ Rick Burchett, Scott Peterson/ Tim Levins and Dan Slott/Ty Templeton/ Rick Burchett
Grant Morrison and friends
Ed Brubaker/ Greg Rucka/ Michael Lark on Gotham Central
Frank Miller with Dave Mazzuccehlli (because DKSA kills Miller's solo average)
Alan Grant/ Norm Breyfogle
Chuck Dixon/ Graham Nolan
Bob Haney/ Jim Aparo
Bill Finger/ Bob Kane/ Dick Sprang
Paul Dini/ Don Kramer and others
Mike W. Barr/ Alan Davis
Denny O'Neil/ Neal Adams/ Irv Novick and others
Greg Rucka/ Shawn Martinbrough and one color
Jeph Loeb/ Tim Sale
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Post by thwhtguardian on Nov 24, 2014 22:46:28 GMT -5
As much as I know we're not primarily Golden Age readers here, I'm REALLY surprised to see no one going for the original creative team. It seems I hear so much from folks about Batman's roots, as well as writers claiming to take Batman back to those idealized roots, yet no one here seems to prefer those roots. I sure used the word "roots" a lot, there. For me anyway, I think that's primarily because although the golden age creators came up with some great concepts the stories themselves were often inconsistent so I just can't say they were the BEST creative teams ever. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2014 22:49:53 GMT -5
As for the animated series -- I'm sure I'm not the only one this happens to, but whenever I read any Batman comic, classic or modern, without fail it's Kevin Conroy's voice I hear in my head whenever Batman speaks. I keep saying I want to see a Phantom Edit style remake of the Nolan Batman movies where they take out Christian Bale's dialogue/voicetrack and replace it with a new recording of the lines by Kevin Conroy... -M |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 24, 2014 22:54:36 GMT -5
A few more observations about the results thus far:
I expected Englehart and Rogers to do this well.
I did not expect O'Neil and Adams to do this poorly.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Nov 24, 2014 22:54:44 GMT -5
As for the animated series -- I'm sure I'm not the only one this happens to, but whenever I read any Batman comic, classic or modern, without fail it's Kevin Conroy's voice I hear in my head whenever Batman speaks. I keep saying I want to see a Phantom Edit style remake of the Nolan Batman movies where they take out Christian Bale's dialogue/voicetrack and replace it with a new recording of the lines by Kevin Conroy... -M If they did a kickstarter for this I'd chip in for sure. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2014 22:56:56 GMT -5
Also, if DC ever greenlit a Francavilla Batman 1972 series, it would instantly catapult to the top of my list of favorite Batman creators....
-M
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Post by thwhtguardian on Nov 24, 2014 23:02:59 GMT -5
Also, if DC ever greenlit a Francavilla Batman 1972 series, it would instantly catapult to the top of my list of favorite Batman creators.... -M I would also pay money for that! |
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Nov 25, 2014 1:14:25 GMT -5
In my own true heart - I'm a Carmine Infantino fan.  And, you can't dispute his artwork and I say his stuff is defined, crisp, and it's just defined Batman as the Caped Crusader. He's a legend of his own time and I truly honestly admire his work. Man, that is a good, clean, technically sound figure drawing. He's not showing off but he's not holding back. As much as I love O'Neil/Adams, Haney/Aparo and Englehart/Rogers (I like Miller and Mazzucchelli, but I'm going with quantity.) I second and third Batman: The Animated Series -- particularly the Dini/Timm episodes. BTAS is Batman distilled to perfection as far as I'm concerned; Batman isn't overly goofy like the Silver Age, sporadically inept as he could be in the 70's or overly grim or humorless like he started to get in the late 80's and 90's. I'd also like to give a nod to those early Pre-Robin Finger/Kane issues. I like Batman in the 40's in general when it was Dick Tracy flavored villains and gangsters as it should be. The thing I've noticed about TAS is that it's really the definitive Batman. More than any other character people rush to say "There is no ONE Batman," but I think TAS makes a great case to the contrary for one reason: You could tell almost any Batman story with that version of the character in that world. They could do giant Sprange-esque props, O'Neil-era mystery stories and true Miller darkness without it feeling out of place. They took 50 years of Batman material and condensed it into one world where it all works. As much as I know we're not primarily Golden Age readers here, I'm REALLY surprised to see no one going for the original creative team. It seems I hear so much from folks about Batman's roots, as well as writers claiming to take Batman back to those idealized roots, yet no one here seems to prefer those roots. I sure used the word "roots" a lot, there. The early Batman stories had a great moodiness to them and a lot of really cool ideas but the stories themselves aren't particularly great and the returns to those roots, with decades of cumulative development in the art form, usually make better use of those elements. Interestingly, the scenario is reversed with Superman: The original stories hold up surprisingly well yet very few (really, only Grant Morrison) seem interested in actually returning those roots. |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Nov 25, 2014 3:14:55 GMT -5
I think the masterstroke with BTAS, in terms of design, is the quasi-40's look of the series. Batman has always looked best in that type of setting to me. Of course, since it wasn't intended to literally represent 1940's America, they weren't tied to it as a period piece; they could add modern flourishes to service individual stories. I wish modern comics were like this.
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Post by fanboystranger on Nov 25, 2014 3:25:40 GMT -5
A few more observations about the results thus far: I expected Englehart and Rogers to do this well. I did not expect O'Neil and Adams to do this poorly. I think there's a lot of overlap between fans of both runs. I voted Englehart/Rogers mostly because Marshall Rogers' Batman is my immediate mental image of Batman, but it could have easily been Adams, too. To be quite frank, I actually like Archie Goodwin's '70s Bat-stories more than Denny's, but the art isn't quite as consistant and it's obviously overshadowed by the Manhunter backups.
It's one of those "you can't be wrong choices", but someone has to lose.
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Post by fanboystranger on Nov 25, 2014 3:28:05 GMT -5
Also, if DC ever greenlit a Francavilla Batman 1972 series, it would instantly catapult to the top of my list of favorite Batman creators.... -M Count me in for this, too. (With Matt Wagner writing as Francavilla made his name illustrating Matt's Zorro.)
After Steranko's Batman '68, though.
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Nov 25, 2014 3:36:53 GMT -5
I think the masterstroke with BTAS, in terms of design, is the quasi-40's look of the series. Batman has always looked best in that type of setting to me. Of course, since it wasn't intended to literally represent 1940's America, they weren't tied to it as a period piece; they could add modern flourishes to service individual stories. I wish modern comics were like this. Yeah that was brilliant. When Nolan made his Batman movies he explicitly set them in the real world which meant every character had to be filtered through that veil of reality (and many character just couldn't get through. Once of the grossest things I've read is someone suggesting that for Batman 3 they should use Mr Freeze but instead of freezing people he just turns the AC on when he kills someone). Batman had to be reimagined to fit that world, which is why no matter how many times someone says it's the definitive Batman I will tell them they are full of ****. TAS had a world that revolved around Batman. They took who Batman was and from that created an environment where he could not only exist but thrive. The result was a very noir and slightly surreal Art Deco city but one with modern computers and other technology. That subtly yet firmly planted it as a fantasy world, something that wasn't just a period piece but was truly a different world that allowed for giant jack-in-the-boxes, rocket Christmas trees, men in tights and Captain Clown. |
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