Friday, October 17, 2008

Batman #207

Batman #207 (On Sale: October 17, 1968) has an interesting Irv Novick cover displaying a decidedly rugged musculature. forget the fact that the "camera" would be underwater to take this picture and yet the top of the water is parallel to the frame of the cover.

"The Doomsday Ball" is by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick and Joe Giella. A small nuclear device has been stolen and is being used to blackmail Gotham City. Batman enlists the aid of gangster Big Brill to identify the blackmailer, but first he must survive several death traps set up by Brill and his men. Working against the blackmailer's deadline, Batman follows clues until he finds the bomb inside the trunk of a parked car. However, a remote triggering device could still activate the bomb.

Gotham officials agree to pay the blackmail demands. Batman follows the money to the blackmailer, Bertram Smith. The man is killed at the airport, but not before he reveals that the remote trigger is hidden inside a young boy's ball. Batman finds the boy and the ball in time to deactivate the trigger and save Gotham.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

With the hands poking through the ceiling, I'm betting Carmine Infantino did the layouts, which might explain the more chunky anatomy on Batman.

-Keller said...

Oh, I'm sure it's an Infantino layout. The guns in the ceiling are very reminiscent of the House that Joker Built cover Infantino did in 67.

vinnie said...

This cover is bears a notorious resemblance to Batman #166 from four years prior. I always wondered if it was coincidence, intended as sort of a "homage," or if the writers/artists were just hitting a creative roadblock and drawing on past ideas.


I agree the art is a little funky--Robin's size implies an unrealistic perspective. That said, I always thought this was a pretty dynamic cover.