Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Batman #201

Batman #201 (On Sale: March 5, 1968) features Irv Novick's first full Batman cover.

"Batman's Gangland Guardians" is by Gardner Fox, Chic Stone and Joe Giella. When a west coast crime syndicate moves to Gotham City they plan a series of death traps to eliminate Batman. Worried that they will become the syndicate's next targets when Batman is dead, seven of Gotham's top villains team up to protect Batman from the death traps.

The Penguin supplies the details to Catwoman, the Joker, Cluemaster, Johnny Witts, the Getaway Genius, and the Mad Hatter which allow them to foil the traps. Another Gotham crook, Mr. Esper is also working to help Batman by secretly passing the information to the Penguin.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

5 comments:

Dave said...

Great cover -- and great coloring! Look at that sky in the background!

-Keller said...

Yeah, between Novick and Adams, the covers on the Batman books started to really rock about this time. Gone are most of the goofiness that had plagued them for years and in its place was a grittiness that we hadn't seen with the character before.

Dave said...

And in a few months, you start getting grittier, more down-to-earth stories written by Frank Robbins.

-Keller said...

Actually the great Frank Robbins begins his DC career later this month writing Lois Lane. What a great year at DC this was!

Unknown said...

Just read it.
Great story by Fox, and it was a treat to see Batman's foes in their Silver Age garb--especially Catwoman.

Why aren't these stories being reprinted as a monthly comic for a mass market?