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Hard to believe that these issues are now more than 30 years old, bought while living in another house in what seems another life away. I've always liked PAUL GULACY's art, and his style suits The BATMAN to a 't'. Written by DOUG MOENCH, whose Batman tales are extremely engaging, these two comics are just how the Dark Knight should be done. I've re-read quite a number of Mr. Moench's Bat-tales recently, and they really are top-notch entertainment. Well-worth seeking out on eBay, or buying a collected edition. Well - what are you waiting for?
When I used to read comics on a regular basis, I would sometimes wonder how some of my favorite creators at Marvel would handle my favorites at DC and vice versa. Fortunately, I was able to see some of them "cross over" in the early 80's before I stopped, including Moench's handling of Batman and George Perez's work with JLA and the New Teen Titans. I always wondered about two artists taking on the Batman......one was Gene Day, who passed away before really getting a chance to do much, and the other was Paul Gulacy, who I missed completely, but I managed to catch these two much later on. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt was Moench's Batman who got me back into American comics when I picked up a copy of BATMAN #386 in RS McColl one day - they hadn't stocked them for years, so I was intrigued. I got the origin of Black Mask, and Batman only showed up for a cliffhanger on the final page. I was hooked. Benchmark Bat-tales, imo. I remember the Dark Rider well. I don't think the story holds up as well as I remember it, but that art is just to die for.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, G, didn't Gene Day also draw Master of Kung Fu (in a style similar to Gulacy's) or am I mixing him up with someone else? I'll have to check.
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Just re-read the Black Mask issues a week or two back, OD, and really enjoyed them. Yeah, Gulacy's art is superb.
Gulacy did some great work on Johan Hex and Catwoman as well for DC. I picked This entire Batman run up in the 50p boxes at City Centre Comics in Glasgow about 10 years ago as you say entertaining stuff.
ReplyDeleteI hear he and Moench did a Conan graphic novel (The Skull of Set) as well, PM. I'll have to track that one down.
ReplyDeleteI think it's natural to wonder how certain writers and artists at Marvel would handle certain characters at DC, and vice versa. In the Bronze Age, with talent going back and forth between the companies like a game of musical chairs, we sometimes got to see it in practice. Arnold (Doom Patrol) Drake on X-Men, Gene (Daredevil) Colan and, later, Doug (Moon Knight) Moench on Batman.
ReplyDeleteGene Day did pencils on Master of Kung Fu #102-120 (1981-83). Before that, he did inks over Mike Zeck's pencils, starting with MoKF #76 in 1979.
Gulacy also did covers for independent publishers in the 1980's, including Capital's Nexus and AC's Black Diamond and Femforce. IIRC, Moench and Gulacy also did a James Bond mini-series for Dark Horse.
Sometimes, articles in the mainstream (that is, non-comics) press make it sound as if the Batman comics were still imitating the campy TV show until Frank Miller's Dark Knight series or Alan Moore's Killing Joke graphic novel revived the grimdark style. Of course, Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams had already restored the Dark Knight image ca. 1970, and that trend continued under Englehart & Rogers and Moench & Gulacy.
I loved seeing John Buscema's take on Superman in the 2nd Supes/Spidey team-up, TC. I think I'd have preferred to see it inked by Murphy Anderson 'though.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right about people's perception of the Batman. When the 1989 movie first came out, I heard people in the audience saying (after it had finished and they were making their way out) that they thought it was going to be like the TV show. (It had been enjoying a brief revival on breakfast TV at the time.) They were actually disappointed that it wasn't, not being aware that Bats hadn't been like that in the comics since 1969/'70.
I'm sorry, Kid. Been away from the computer for most of the day. As TC said above, Gene Day did over the latter part of MoKF and did some really good work, IMO, until his untimely death. It reminded me a lot of Gulacy's work.
ReplyDeleteMoench and Gulacy did join up for that Conan graphic novel. It was quite different from the usual Marvel Conan fare, but it was very enjoyable. Gulacy's take was interesting and quite different from the usual Marvel Conan.
I did get to see Buscema's version of Superman in the second team-up. I always wanted to see the Buscema brothers tackle the DC line-up back in the day. Anderson's inks would have made a good read a great one.
Wouldn't it have been something if there had been an inker called Dan Knight? Then we would've had comics pencilled and inked by Day and Knight. (Gosh, I'm so clever.)
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