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Batman Comics
About Vintage Batman Comic Books
The origins of Batman really go back to the origins of Superman, who debuted in the June 1938 issue of National’s “Action Comics”—the cover depicted the man from Krypton lifting a car over his head. Demand for Superman was so great that the call went out to National’s artists and writers to come up with more superheroes. From this crucible of commerce, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman.
The first appearance of The Bat-man, as he was known, appeared in issue 27 of “Detective Comics” in May of 1939. In that story, readers met Bat-Man and Commissioner Gordon, and learned of the Dark Knight’s secret identity as millionaire Bruce Wayne. Naturally issue 27 of “Detective Comics” is incredibly collectible, but so is issue 29, in which readers met Batman’s first named villain, Dr. Death, and issue 31, in which gadgets such as the Batarang and Batgyro first appeared...
Less collectible than issue 27, but probably more collectible than issues 29 and 31, are issues 33 and 38. In the former, the origins of Batman are told (when the youth witnessed the murder of his parents, he vowed to avenge their death by fighting criminals). In the latter, readers met Batman’s young sidekick, Robin, who lived by day with Bruce Wayne in the Caped Crusader’s mansion. Also prized by collectors is issue 40, which featured the first Joker cover.
By the time the Joker appeared, National had become DC and Batman had his own comic—issue one of “Batman” was published as a quarterly in spring of 1940. The Joker, Penguin, and Catwoman littered the next dozen issues of “Batman,” and Bruce Wayne’s portly butler, Alfred, lost weight and got his own cover in issue 21.
Not the most collectible, but perhaps the most fun, is the so-called infinity cover of issue eight, which depicts Batman and Robin reading a copy of issue eight of “Batman.”
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Upcoming Events
- Batman: Yesterday and Tomorrow
Feb 26–Jun 6. San Francisco, CA. - The People of the [Comic] Book: A Discussion of Jews and Comics
Apr 1. San Francisco, CA. - Cartoon Art Museum and The Hero Initiative Present A Benefit for Ed Hannigan: WonderCon Weekend Party
Apr 2. san Francisco, CA.
Interviews & Articles
An Interview with Golden Age Comics Collector and Historian Greg Theakston
My older brother started bringing comics home in 1957 when I was around five years old. The whole form just fascina… [more]
An Interview With Vintage Comic Book Collector Jamie Coville
I’ve been interested in comic books since I was very young. My two older brothers had Spider-Man and Fantastic Four… [more]
An Interview With Comic Character Advertising Pinback Collector Mark Lansdown
I started off collecting comics, and still do, but I’d been given a few early Disney pinbacks as a child and always… [more]
Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)
Cover Browser
Philipp Lenssen's incredible archive of over 94,000 comic book covers - Wow! Wham! Yikes! Browse by title from the … [read review or visit site]
Comic Character Pinbacks
Mark Lansdown's excellent collection of over 800 pinbacks representing 200+ comic characters from 100+ strips. Beau… [read review or visit site]
Doug Gilford’s Mad Cover Site
Doug Gilford's great Mad Magazine reference site features cover scans and reference information on every issue of t… [read review or visit site]
Golden Age Comic Cover Gallery
Ben Samuels' site includes high resolution scans of about 250 classic comic book covers from the 1940s and 50s. Div… [read review or visit site]
TheComicBooks.com
Jamie Coville's in-progress ode to the history of 20th century comic books. Start with his Newsstand Period Part 1 … [read review or visit site]
The Incredible Hulk Library
Bursting at the seams with content... Julio Molina-Muscara has created a great reference guide to comic books featu… [read review or visit site]
Popeye's Thimble Theatre
Bruce Shults takes us on a comprehensive Popeye fan tour, from the early comic strips to cartoons and collectible m… [read review or visit site]
Barnacle Press
This collection of obscure newspaper comic strips provides scans browsable by title, year and date. Showcases comic… [read review or visit site]
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