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Showcase Presents Batman Volume 2
01/10/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Titan Books/DC Comics. 510 page illustrated softcover. Price: £10.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84576-661-0. Buy Showcase Presents Batman Volume 2 in the USA - or Buy Showcase Presents Batman Volume 2 in the UK  check out website: www.titanbooks.com and www.dccomics.com
My first reaction when receiving this book from Titan was to ask their esteemed publicist what happened to Volume 1? Nope. They haven't done it yet so you might have to order that on from source if you want to see Batman stories from 1964-65 in his own title and Detective Comics. This volume covers the stories from Sepember 1965 to December 1966 with a cursory warning on the back cover that the Greenway TV production of 'Batman' was just getting into the swing of things. This produces its own complications since Alfred the butler is already dead here and Aunt Harriet is years younger than her TV incarnation. Its also over half-way through the book before Robin is heard to mutter Holy anything and even later before everything they use gets a Bat pre-fix.
Although not printed here in colour, this is a large slice of Batman history covering 36 tales introducing Poison Ivy and Blockbuster and oddly, only one story apiece of the Riddler and Joker. Much of the time, Batman and Robin are after one-off gangsters who occasionally have odd gimmicks to help in their crimes. He even has a run in with the Weather Master, a Flash villain taking a break from Central City. From that time period, the only issue I remember owning was Detective # 347, picked up largely cos it had a tearful Robin on the cover cos Batman had been killed. I think I was a little disappointed at the time that it was only a What If tale. Historically, this is probably the first What If for either of the Big Two companies at the time. I'm still not exactly happy with writer Gardner Fox's solution at the time or now come to that but he probably didn't like leaving loose endings.
Writing duties were spread between Gardner Fox, John Broome and a couple by Robert Kanigher. Much of the time there was little in the way of continuity to worry about and if there was reference to an earlier adventure, there was a full re-cap. Much of the interior artwork was drawn by Sheldon Moldoff and inked by Joe Giella. It's rather interesting to see how many of the covers and pin-ups were by Carmine Infantino and inked by Murphy Anderson. DC were notorious for not identifying who did what at the time. The occasional differing in art styles varies and it's a shame that rather than spin back to the beginning of the book to see who did what, a simple line under the artwork couldn't have been included as well.
In many ways, the Batman of this time period was an accepted fact of life. He and the Boy Wonder would patrol Gotham City at night apprehending criminals going about their business. In the last tale, a villain called Spellbinder tells one of his gang that the only reason they shouldn't be seen to kill Batman is because they don't want a murder charge on their charge sheet. This probably explains why so few went into battle with guns blazing and why Batman's right hook was so effective. It's not difficult to see why he made such an easy transition to TV life or why scriptwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr camped him up somewhat.
If anything, many of the adventures turned on Batman having to think through the problem he was given before sorting out the villains which was rather atypical of Gardner Fox's way of writing the Detective stories. Without the colour, the pictures are rather more stark and lack the mood or night settings you would have seen otherwise. Then again, this many stories in a colour book would probably cost you a lot more. If you're into the early history of Batman and just want to read the stories then this is a good way to get them cheaply.
GF Willmetts
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