Batman by Neal Adams Book One

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Although they made all sorts of additions and clarifications to the Batman mythos that have grounded decades of stories, perhaps the greatest single thing that O’Neil and Adams brought to their Batman tales was a rich and heavy atmosphere. Bruce is “just a man”, but Ra’s is a man who has transcended mortality – much like Batman does as a symbol. Adam’s was able to capture everything from the exotic James Bond-style locations of the Ras Al Gaul stories to the gloomy, grim atmosphere of “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge.

The desert is the shaper of my destiny,” he assures Batman after a fateful scorpion sting, “and it has decreed me victor! Comics historians also credit Adams with ghosting two weeks of dailies for Stan Drake's The Heart of Juliet Jones, but are uncertain on dates; some sources give 1966, another 1968, and Adams himself 1963. Whatever expectations you may have about a 13-issue Batman story written and illustrated by Neal-Adams-The-Great-Batman artist, this isn't it!

In May 2012, Marvel announced that Adams would work on the X-Men again with The First X-Men, a five-issue miniseries drawn and plotted by him and written by Christos Gage. I was really excited to meet Neal Adams at the 2016 Montreal Comiccon, and to have him sign my copy of this omnibus. Even overlooking that, a lot of recent Batman mythology focuses on the idea that Thomas might have fathered other children – that some part of Bruce’s father might exist elsewhere.

Along the way, Adams also illustrates many other DC heroes, including Superman, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow and The Teen Titans, as well as his signature character, Deadman. Their Brave and the Bold fill-in issue not only features a crossover with the supernatural series “House of Mystery”, but also features Jim Gordon giving Batman a ticket to a cruise. Then a pair of giant wolves answers the whistled summons their eyes gleaming with kill-lust in the moonlight…” My favorite kind of lust in the moonlight!

The truth is, after the 60’s show, there was a group of talent responsible for bringing Batman to his pulp past. You could also argue, since Bruce knows of the Lazarus Pits, his attempts to kill Ra’s are equivalent to throwing the Joker in Arkham.

In 1985, DC Comics named Adams as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great. One of Adams' earliest DC Comics covers, and his first for his signature character Deadman, already shows a mature style and a design innovation for the time. As well, both were hugely influential on how a new generation of artists thought about what comics should look like, though Adams was arguably more influential; his approach was more visceral and, more importantly, he ran a studio in Manhattan [ Continuity Associates] where many young artists started their professional careers.Gordon offers at one point, “I’ll drive you…” An earlier version would have accepted the invitation so they might talk, or used it as an opportunity to show off some fancy Bat-gadget. Neil Adams art is beautiful (especially in odyssey) he changed what Batman should look like visually in the 70’s. The most influential and popular may be Neal Adams, who in the late 1960s put the Dark Knight back in the shadows and updated his image for a new generation of fans.

Although he was scarred once again – in a convenient explosion, like in a certain other Two-Face story – in his last prior appearance, over a decade-and-a-half before this story.The early 70's work, with stories by Denny O'Neil and Adams at the height of his powers (which few comic artists have approached) are the highlight of the book and worthy of five stars. And of course, Ra’s al Ghul’s ghastly, ghostly image presides over it all, the very picture of evil and cruelty. Despite the scale of the danger Ra’s represents, it’s immediately more personal whenever he is involved. The last complete story that Adams drew at DC before opening his own company, Continuity Associates, was the oversize Superman vs. These stories which introduced the villain are classics bringing in elements such as the League of Assassins and the Lazarus Pit.