Batman in the Silver Age (and other comic-book characters)

BATMAN: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 by multiple different creators shows that much as I like 1950s Batman, by the time this volume starts in 1956 (skipping a couple of years since the last Golden Age volume — fortunately the gap will be plugged later this year) the decline that would lead to New Look Batman had begun. True, we get the original Batwoman and I’m fond of her, but we get more and more trips to uninteresting alien worlds, more and more aliens showing up in Gotham City — and editor Jack Schiff wasn’t a good SF editor. There are still some excellent stories, such as “Prisoners in the Batcave” (the Dynamic Duo are trapped in their lair with no way to get evidence to Commissioner Gordon in time to stop an innocent man’s execution) but the ratio of good to bad is getting steadily out of whack. Though i bought this and I’m sure I’ll buy the next one.

Maria Llovet’s PORCELAIN boasts some great art but a story that doesn’t make enough sense to work. A teenager finds herself trapped inside a mysterious house where the sinister Dollmaker eventually turns all her guests into dolls — can our protagonist make it out in time? It says a lot about what dissatisfies me that while there’s a big emphasis on whether to use the Thanatos Door or the Eros Door to attempt an escape, it doesn’t seem to add up to anything.

I’m not sure STARGIRL: The Lost Children by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck is out in TPB yet but it’s only a matter of time, so … this has Stargirl and Red Arrow (Oliver Queen’s half-sister Emiko) traveling to a lost island where the sinister Childminder has plucked countless kid sidekicks out of time, some familiar (Dyna-Mite, Wing, the Newsboy Legion) and some new (Cherry Bomb for the Human Bomb, Molly Pitcher with Miss America). Can Stargirl get them back home? Given the sad fates that await some of them, should she? There are things I like about this such as the opening, where Dyna-Mite explains sidekicks weren’t abused or exploited, they were neglected orphan kids with nothing to live for; the heroes gave them a purpose.

The downside? Invoking lots of DC history loses its punch when history’s been so shredded: Wing was an adult, Dyna-Mite wasn’t an orphan, for instance. The ending is way too rushed to work especially as it’s going to have repercussions in the regular DC universe, and some of the sidekicks don’t work (Cherry Bomb and Dr. Fate’s sidekick Salem the Witchgirl).

THE SHADOW/GREEN HORNET: Dark Nights by Michael Uslan and Keith Burns has the two 1930s crimefighters join forces when the Shadow’s old foe Shiwan Khan, having launched WW II just as he brought about the First World War, targets America with a scheme to disable its industries and to obtain the Shadow’s fire opal ring for its secret mystical power. He knows he’ll have to deal with the Shadow but assumes the Green Hornet — who poses as an underworld figure eliminating his rivals — will be a convenient ally.

This is fun and Uslan does a great job capturing both heroes’ personality. However I could have done without Shiwan Khan as the villain. Not only is he a straight-up Yellow Peril type (a descendant of Genghis Khan, he will conquer the world like his ancestor! Genghis Khan descendants in fiction always want to conquer the world) but he’s way overused. Yes, he’s the Shadow’s archnemesis but as I’ve mentioned before, he still only appeared in four Golden Age stories. Having him show up in every comic book run from Archie Comics —— to both DC’s series —— is a bit much.

#SFWApro. Covers top to bottom by Sheldon Moldoff, Hauck, Paul Reinman and Michael Kaluta, all rights remain with current holders.