The BATMAN As He SHOULD Be - A DETECTIVE...

Copyright DC COMICS

Look at that great Bernie Wrightson cover above, which I saw on Baggsey's Super Stuff in the Bronze Age blog last week.  It reminded me that I bought this comic back in the day so I simply had to own it again.  Straight onto eBay for me and before you could say how handsome I am, I'd bought myself a replacement copy to add to my collection.  It arrived yesterday and I promptly read the two self-contained tales within.  What a joy not to have to acquire the next issue to see how the stories concluded, but to have them all done and dusted in one comic.

I reckon comics should return to the format of self-contained stories, with only the occasional two-or-three-part tale every few months.  And I also think that The Batman should be restored to being a crime-fighting detective instead of a barely-repressed psycho who might go off the deep end at any moment.  Comics were fun back then, an element which is all too sadly missing from the medium nowadays.  What say ye all, Crivvies - are you with me?  Let your thoughts be known to your fellows in our captivating comments section.  (Any time you're ready, chaps.) 

MARVEL TALES STARRING SPIDER-MAN '80s COVER GALLERY OMNIBUS...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Back in the '80s Marvel Tales was a great wee mag.  The reason being it started reprinting the Lee/Ditko Spider-Man strips in sequence from the very beginning - along with covers - which made it a very nice catch indeed.  Sure, some covers were slightly amended (even flipped) to accommodate the barcode box, but that would've gone largely unnoticed unless one owned the original '60s mags to compare them against.  A mere 41 issues later the saga was complete - or around three-and-a-half years, time-wise - with the series then continuing with the Lee/Romita strips (covers not shown here) without missing a beat.

The title was first published in 1964 and came to an end in 1994 after 30 years - not a bad run for a reprint mag, and one that many a failed new series would've envied.  Anyway, I've shown all these covers in several blog posts some years ago, but now it's time for the 'omnibus edition' so that you can see them all together in one place.  All you have to do is look and enjoy - though a comment would be appreciated should you feel so compelled.  Did you buy this comic back in the day?  Do you still have them?  Or were you injudicious enough not to have bothered buying them when you could?  (There you go - that's given you plenty to work with - get typing!)

And remember - click on images to enlarge, the click again for optimum size.

******

(Update 2025: It's now been 31 years since Marvel Tales came to an end, meaning that the comic has been gone a year longer than it was here.  Amazing.)