All content is ©2008 Karl Heitmueller Jr. / TOUGH GUY Goods and Services. No ownership is implied of copyrighted material. ORIGINALLY POSTED May, 2005
		THE BATMAN CHRONICLES VOLUME 1 and THE PIN-UP ART OF DAN DeCARLO Two new comic related books found their way to my stack recently and they both fill this aging, jaded fanboy with glee in very different ways... A few years back, I rambled on about the lamentable state of DC Comics’ collected reprint editions, particularly the operpriced, overblown and overproduced Archives Series. While there’s still a flood of those books coming, it does appear as if DC is starting to rethink how it’s handling its vast library. The Batman Chronicles Volume One represents a big step in the right direction. This 192 page paperback begins the mammoth undertaking of chronologically reprinting every Batman tale from every comic in which he starred, beginning with “the Case of the Chemical Syndicate” from Detective Comics #27 (dated May, 1939). The Good: The paper is cheap (a traditionalist, I prefer my comics on matte paper and with gutters!), the price is low ($14.99) and the quality is good. The design of the book is nice and the reproduction is pretty crisp. The Bad: The physical size of the book is (like the Archives) disproportionate to the original comics, leaving huge margins at the top and bottom of the page while forcing the art too close to the spine. The art is still being recolored and worst of all, there’s a distinct absence of historical perspective; The Batman Chronicles lacks even a cursory introduction. The book opens with a table of contents (that thankfully gives writer and artist credits), and does reprint the covers along with the stories, but some more context would be appreciated. No doubt, DC is trying to squeeze as many stories as possible into each volume to make the books economically feasible to the fanboys (especially the obsessive ones who already own the Archives... yes, there are some who will buy both). But I’d still love some additional material such as editorial comment on the tales, reprints of advertising (and the “full page autographed picture, suitable for framing” from the back cover of Batman #1) and biographies of the creators (which DC almost always includes in its collections). It would seem that if a little more effort were put into discussing WHY these stories are so important in the history of comics, what their contemporaries and competition were, what the country was going through at the time, the books might appeal to a wider audience than the already oversaturated fan market. After all, this was the darkest Batman of all (at least before Frank Miller got his hands on him)... he used a gun, he killed his enemies, he was wanted by the police, he was a loner.... until the introduction of Robin, the Boy Wonder in the twelfth story herein. The tone lightened a bit, but the Joker was still terrifying instead of funny and the stories retained a noir feel that would alter dramatically as the forties rolled on. Still, despite my nerdy nitpicking (I wish they’d have used an earlier Batman logo for the back cover), I’ll keep buying this series at least for a while. And if DC decides to adapt this format to other characters, namely a certain last son of Krypton, well, my comic shelves may be expanding instead of diminishing for the first time in years.... MEANWHILE..... Fantagraphics has just released The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo, an absolutely gorgeous collection of work from 1956 through 1963, when the cartoonist was at the peak of his powers. For those who came late, Dan DeCarlo got his cartooning start working at Timely (later Marvel) Comics drawing such fare as Millie the Model and Sherry the Showgirl for Stan Lee. From the late 50s into the 90’s, DeCarlo was the quintessential Archie artist, best known for his work on the daily Archie comic strip and his definitive depictions of the yin and yang of Riverdale sexuality, Betty and Veronica. Millions of adolescent boys (myself included) felt peculiar stirrings while reading about the exploits of the wealthy brunette and the wholesome blonde (particularly while engaging in their titular Summer Fun... no pun intended). The discovery years later that DeCarlo was moonlighting as a girlie cartoonist for the Humorama line of men’s magazines was, for some fanboys, the sociological equivalent of the discovery of the early nude photos of Madonna or Vanessa Williams. As sexy as Betty and Veronica were, they were chaste (to Archie’s eternal frustration). The women DeCarlo drew for Zip, Joker and Laugh Riot were not innocent. And they were often naked. While DeCarlo’s drawings of men came in all shapes and sizes, critics charge that all of his women looked exactly alike, with the same rounded face, turned-up nose and hourglass figure; That the only differing feature was the hairstyle. It’s a valid point, but in the end it doesn’t matter. It’s like criticizing the Ramones for recording the same song over and over. Yeah, they did. And better than anyone else. DeCarlo’s art was pure cartooning, clean and distinctive, with a masterful line and a sense of design that rivalled anyone’s. He drew clothes better than almost any cartoonist this side of Hank Ketcham (not that there’s a lot of sartorial evidence in this book) and his comedic timing was exemplary. The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo (compiled by Alex Chun and Jacob Lovey) is beautifully printed in a black and orange two toned scheme, mostly full page cartoons with some devoted to detail from the art. There are a few problems. An out of place pin-up drawn by DeCarlo in 2000 awkwardly stretches across two pages near the end of the book, none of the cartoons are dated or annotated and the text for the gags has been redone, but those are minor complaints (the absolutely hideous sliced lettering used for the title of the book is unforgiveable, however). This book is indispensible for anyone who loves pin-up art, beautiful cartooning.... or ever wanted to see Betty and Veronica naked. Not that I ever thought about that.