#bob haney

[cantsayidont]

There are some things in DC's voluminous back catalog that they ought to properly reprint because they're good — gems of past eras. However, there are also some things they ought to properly reprint because they're delightfully stupid, like the Superman/Batman team-ups from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS. DC has actually reprinted all the stories from the '50s, through about 1961, but a lot of the '60s material has only been reprinted in the B&W SHOWCASE PRESENTS books, which is a shame.

The WORLD'S FINEST team-ups went through several distinct phases. Superman, Batman, and Robin had shared the covers of WORLD'S FINEST COMICS since 1941, but it wasn't until 1954 that shrinking page counts obliged them to actually share the lead feature. The '50s stories are pretty good of their time, with some lovely Dick Sprang art, and the presence of Superman meant the drift into science fiction was less jarring than in the contemporary Batman books. In 1964, editorial control of WORLD'S FINEST passed to Mort Weisinger and it became a Weisinger-era Superman book that happened to have Batman and Robin in it. Starting in 1967, though, things started to get stranger and stranger as Weisinger's stable of sci-fi veterans like Edmond Hamilton and Otto Binder gave way to Bob Kanigher, Cary Bates, and Bob Haney, who turned out some exceedingly weird material. Stories like the two-parter about Superman having died and willed his super-organs to various people (#189–190) aren't quite as ghoulish as the covers suggest, but their inexplicable weirdness is emblematic of the period.

For a little while in the early '70s, DC evicted Batman from the series, making WORLD'S FINEST a general-issue Superman team-up book. (DC reprinted those issues in trade paperback in 2020.) This apparently wasn't a big commercial success, but rather than immediately returning to the expected Superman/Batman format, WORLD'S FINEST began to feature the Super-Sons, the teenage sons of Superman and Batman in a hazily defined parallel reality — written by Bob Haney, whose stories consistently evoke the sensation of mild concussion. The "real" Superman and Batman also returned, although they had to alternate with their hypothetical future sons, appearing roughly every other issue through 1976. From 1976 to 1982, WORLD'S FINEST once again became an oversize anthology book, with a Superman/Batman main feature backed by a variety of other characters like Green Arrow and Hawkman. The stories in that period are not quite as ludicrous as the late '60s (although if you see Bob Haney's name in the credits, you know you're in for a wild ride), but even the soberer installments are consistently very silly, full of nonsense like Kryptonian lycanthropy and the return of some especially ridiculous older villains like the Gorilla Boss of Gotham City and Doctor Double-X.

It wasn't until issue #285 that Superman and Batman again had the book all to themselves. The late period dials back the zaniness and has mostly uninspired plots, but writers Doug Moench and David Anthony Kraft compensate with some eyebrow-raising and apparently deliberate "Superbat" ship-bait; my personal favorite is Kraft's "No Rest for Heroes!" (a short story in the back of WORLD'S FINEST #302), where Superman and Batman go to a dive bar in the middle of nowhere to talk about their relationship and Batman ends up throwing a knife at someone.

Very little of this stuff is actually good by any normal standard — although the 1964–1967 period is no more or less weird than any other Weisinger Silver Age Superman stories — and the artwork is only occasionally better than passable. However, it's so stupid and so ridiculous that it's consistently fun, in a way DC doesn't really do anymore, at least not on purpose. Assembling all the Superman/Batman stories (leaving the Super-Sons to their own TPB), omitting the various backup strips, and giving it decent color reproduction would make for a nice package, and the presence of Superman and Batman would make it more commercially viable than some of DC's more artistically worthy back catalog material. Low-hanging fruit, if you ask me.

#comics #world's finest comics #curt swan #neal adams #murphy anderson #superman #batman #robin #jimmy olsen #mort weisinger #cary bates #robert kanigher #bob haney #david anthony kraft #doug moench #superbat

[batmanonthecover]

Brave & The Bold #80 - October 1968 (DC Comics - USA)

Cover Art: Neal Adams

AND HELLGRAMMITE IS HIS NAME

Script: Bob Haney

Art: Neal Adams  (Pencils), Dick Giordano (Inks), Ray Holloway (Letters)

Characters: Batman; Creeper; Hellgrammite; James Gordon; Bronk Boyle; Turk Trask; Al Dalko; Ace Branigan

Synopsis: Batman and Creeper team up to stop Hellgrammite from turning three mob bosses into super-insects like himself.

Batman story #1,250

#comics #dc comics #brave and the bold #batman #creeper #neal adams #bob haney #dick giordano #ray halloway #1968

[evilhorse]

The merely marvelous element man will return again…if you want me to!

(1st Issue Special #3)

#1st issue special #metamorpho #rex mason #breaking the fourth wall #bob haney #ramona fradon #dc comics #comics #70s comics #bronze age comics

[splooosh]

“Naturally“

Jim Aparo

#Demon #Etrigan #Jason Blood #Glenda Mark #Jim Aparo #Bob Haney

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

BHOC: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #147

I had a weird love/hate relationship with BRAVE AND THE BOLD throughout almost teh entirety of its existence. I bought the book more often than not, the matching up of the Caped Crusader with other stalwarts from across the DC Universe proving too enticing too often. Plus, there was the superlative artwork of B&B artistic regular Jim Aparo, which was always appealing. But more often than not, I…

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#Batman #Bob Haney #Brave and the Bold #Cary Burkett #Daily Planet #DC #Fred Hembeck #Jim Aparo #Paul Levitz #Supergirl

[intrapanelreturns]

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 100 PAGE SPECIAL 1974, DC Comics Bob Haney writer, Jim Aparo art

#the brave and the bold #comics #dc #1974 #bob haney #jim aparo #batman #the metal men

[ufonaut]

What do you expect of these people -- "thanks"? "Thanks" for conquering them, Marcus?

Our Army at War (1952) #241

(Bob Haney, Alex Toth)

#our army at war #our army at war 1952 #bob haney #alex toth #dc #dc comics #dcedit #comicedit #comicsedit #u can reblog #CRAZYYYYYYY WORK FROM ALEX TOTH COMPLETELY UTTERLY CRAZY #ARCHIE GOODWIN WAS SO SO SO RIGHT TO CALL THIS A MASTERPIECE

[misterdtour]

Ramona Fradon 1926-2024

One of the most famous women to ever work as a comic-book artist, Ramona Fradon, died today at age ninety-seven. Continue reading Ramona Fradon 1926-2024

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#1960s #1970s #Aquaman #bob haney #bronze age #comics #DC Comics #freedom fighters #Metamorpho #plastic man #ramona fradon #silver age #super friends

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

#Teen Titans #Donna Troy #Flash (Wally West) #Nightwing #Roy Harper #Bob Haney #Nick Cardy #covers

[sandyjarrell]

My Jim Aparo Spectre page, from The Brave and the Bold 116, 1974. Before and after I removed the unnecessary stats.

#Jim Aparo #the spectre #the brave and the bold #rubber cement #bob haney #dc comics

[nickmarino]

#plastic man #batman #gotham #brave and the bold #bob haney #mike sekowsky #dc #comics

[cantsayidont]

January 1976. Even for Batman, this is a pretty nervy reaction to someone pointing a gun at you. (MAGNUM FORCE was the second Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movie, released about two years before this story from THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #124 was written.)

#comics #the brave and the bold #brave and the bold #bob haney #jim aparo #clint eastwood #dirty harry #batman #bruce wayne #magnum force #something people miss in trying to make batman v grim #is that batman with a sense of humor is terrifying

[batmanonthecover]

Brave & The Bold #81 - December 1968 (DC Comics - USA)

Cover Art: Neal Adams

BUT BORK CAN HURT YOU

Script: Bob Haney

Art: Neal Adams  (Pencils), Dick Giordano (Inks),

Characters: Batman; Flash [Barry Allen]; Bork; James Gordon; Milo Manning

Batman story #1,257

#comics #dc comics #brave and the bold #batman #the flash #neal adams #bob haney #dick giordano #1968

[evilhorse]

What happened?

#adventure comics #the enchantress #june moone #alan dale #sea monster #whoa #freaky #reprint #bob haney #jay scott pike #dc comics #comics #70s comics #bronze age comics

[comicarthistory]

Page from The Brave and the Bold #129. 1978. Art by Jim Aparo.

#dc comics #dc universe #brave and the bold #batman #green arrow #two face #the joker #jim aparo #bob haney

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

BHOC: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #146

Every so often, BRAVE AND THE BOLD would pair the Caped Crusader up with one of DC’s war comics heroes such as Sgt. Rock. In some instances, the stories would be set in contemporary times, with the guest star seemingly well-preserved despite the passage of years. In other instances, Batman would be alive and active during wartime with no attempt made to explain it–not that this story took place…

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#Batman #Bob Haney #Brave and the Bold #Daily Planet #DC #Fred Hembeck #Paul Levitz #Romeo Tanghal #Unknown Soldier