American Update: A Bulging Box of Batmania 1971-1987
*DC: Our Batmania event continues with another double dose this week! DC’s most famous and most popular hero (sorry, Supes), the Gotham Guardian always sells briskly, and we are pleased, after significant recent sales, to add in the region of 75 issues of Batman to our listings, commencing with #230 from 1971 and wrapping up with Annual #11 in 1987! Along the way, we have 100-Pagers galore, two team-ups with the Shadow, a parade of classic dastardly villains – Catwoman, Riddler, Scarecrow, Ra’s Al Ghul, Two-Face, Penguin, the Joker, and, ahem, Kite-Man, plus some new faces that didn’t prove … quite so classic – anyone remember the Silver Sari? Skull Dugger? The Sheikh? The Spook? No? There is a plethora of talent on show in this run, but creative highlights must include #255, a Neal Adams-drawn supernatural shocker; 300, “The Last Batman Story” (until the next one) illustrated by Walt Simonson; 366, the first Jason Todd in a Robin costume, but actually noteworthy for a stunning Eisneresque Joker cover by Don Newton and the aforementioned Annual #11, with an often-overlooked villain spotlight by multiple award-winning author Alan Moore.