By 1974 I was well and truly a Neal Adams zombie, just seeing his name in print on any comic at this time just thrilled me. So when I came across the 100 page Batman issue 255 with that small, but perfectly composed and illustrated Neal Adams (and Nick Cardy) cover illustration I just had to have it. I mean Adam’s , Batman and a werewolf what more could any 14 year old boy want…….ok perhaps having Madeline Smith on the cover might just have made it a tiny bit better.
I had to add this amazing cover recreation (send to me by Baggsey) showing the Adams / Cardy cover by catspawdynamics as a full sized cover version.
The lead story “Moon Of The Wolf” by Len Wein and Neal Adams is a classic Batman tale featuring a mad doctor (Professor Milo) who treats Anthony Lupus (the name alone being a clue to his secret) a former professional athlete who suffers from severe headaches. Milo gives Lupus a serum to help stop his constant headaches, but instead, it causes him to turn into a werewolf during full moon nights. As it turned out this was to be Neal Adams' last work on the Batman comic for some time but it is one of his very best and I can still recall my excitement at seeing Adams rendition of the transformation of Anthony Lupus into a werewolf and his attack on Batman as he was chained up in a shipyard by Professor Milo. I lost my original copy of Batman 255 after a family house move around 1978 and it wasn’t until around 1987 when I saw another copy. On seeing the cover my mind went back to the first time I saw the three page fight scene below which I recalled almost perfectly some 12 years after first reading the comic.
This Batman100 page issue also had several reprints from earlier decades in the characters history including art by Jim Mooney, Carmine Infantino, Sid Greene and Jerry Robinson. However, the lead story is by far the best tale in this comic, so much so that the “Moon Of The Wolf “ story was later made into an episode of the excellent Batman animated series.
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
I'm confused, McS. You say that when you got your replacement, your mind didn't jump back to 1974/'75 when you got your original copy, but to when you first saw the three page fight scene. Er, wouldn't that have been 1974/'75 when you first bought it?
ReplyDeleteHi good point Kid, I meant I wasn't transported back to the day I picked the comic up in the newsagents back in 1974/5 like I normally do. Instead all I remembered were those 3 pages ( I had the book for a few years after 74/5) but your right poorly written by myself. I will edit it later to be clearer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting McScotty. I was pondering doing something on Batman 255 over on the SuperStuff blog, but you beat me to the punch.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very overlooked story, as most people seem to focus on the last Adams/O'Neil collaboration Batman #251 ("The Joker's Five-Way Revenge"), and neglect this story published a few months later which has perfectly rendered artwork, and IMHO is the apex of Adams' work on Batman. I remember then being so disappointed as each successive month went by and there were no more Adams Batman’s to be published. My enthusiasm for comics started to wane at that point, and although Marshall Rogers and others raised my spirits in the 80’s with new interpretations, there was nothing to beat Adams at that time on Batman.
My only quibble with Batman #255 is that the story was published in a 100-page Super-Spectacular, and the power of the cover was diluted by including cameo images of the reprints also included in the issue. If "Moon of the Wolf" has been published as a stand-alone 20 cent comic with a full rendition of the cover, it would have received greater recognition.
Back in 2009 I met Neal Adams at the New York Comic Con and spent 30 mins chatting at his table uninterrupted. There was no-one else around (other than my two sons aged 17 and 15 at the time). it was about 10am on a Saturday morning and crowds were gathering around Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees fame elsewhere in the building. I told Mr Adams what an impact the splash page of Batman #234 had on me (the first page of "Half an Evil”) at age 12. Adams invited me to sit with him behind the table and he brought out his portfolio of partially inked pencils for Batman Odyssey #1 and gave me the go ahead to read them as his next Batman story in progress after Moon of the Wolf. It is a memory I treasure.
Excellent reply and a great story Ian. You should blog about that on your site, at present my blogs are mostly just to jog my memory of great times from the past that I had with comic books I I don't have great experience like you. I think I would have been tongue tied if I had met Neal Adams as like Bowie, I was such a fan of these guys. Totally agree that this would have been an amazing stand alone comic, the additional reprints were ok but they certainly did not enhance the book. I really like Adams Odysey art but the story was, to me at least all over the place.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Odyssey story was all over the place, McScotty. When I was talking with Mr Adams he was telling me his idea to have Deadman take over the Joker's body and be in the Batcave in a future issue, which sounded totally awesome to me. As we discussed in the past, what was missing from Odyssey was a strong guiding editorial hand. I seem to remember that originally Neal Adams was to collaborate with Frank Miller writing, but that fell by the wayside. No idea why.
DeleteRe Bowie - have you read the book "1971 - The Year That Rock Exploded" by David Hepworth? A great book with a fair amount on Bowie's transformation that year. The TV documentary adaptation of the book streaming on Apple+ isn't a patch on the humour of David Hepworth's writing, though.
I do think that my comics-buying in the early seventies was paralleled by a growing awareness of some great rock records at the same time.
Keep up posting your favorite comics!
Just a follow-up to our exchange about how the cover of Batman 255 would have been better as a full image.....I just came across a great re-creation of the comic cover as a full cover over at https://www.catspawdynamics.com/batman-no-255-cover-by-neal-adams/ .
DeleteThanks for that B. What a great full sized cover that would have made. I have added this to the thread it's so good.
DeleteOh you definitely have to blog about your meeting with Neal Adams now -that’s a great story baggsey. I would certainly have liked to have seen Adams work with Frank Miller.
ReplyDelete“1971 Never a dull moment etc etc ..” is probably my favourite music book of all time it’s just a brilliant acerbic, fun and informative read. I have 2 copies one for my bookshelf the other, a very tattered copy is always at hand as I like to delve into it from time to time. When I first read it I thought that Hepworth’s views were a tad blinkered, after all he was 21 when he wrote this an adult and I was a bit miffed that he pretty much dismissed a lot of really good pop music of the time 9and I still think that) but you can’t really argue, 1971 was simply an amazing year for rock the talent that came to the fore that was simply amazing. His book “Uncommon People is another good read if you haven’t picked that up.
I would have to say that my comic and music tastes/purchases pretty much went hand in hand in the early 70’s as well. Have you read the “Bowie -Stardust” book by Michael Allred etc- I was bought it as a present and scanned it but haven’t really read it yet
Thanks for the encouragement, McScotty. (And apologies for the delay in responding - I did not get notification of your reply). I'll pull together a blog on the time I met Neal Adams and add it to the ideas list. I'll also do one on when I got to chat with Denny O'Neil over a glass of wine back in 2016.
DeleteGlad you like the Hepworth book. I've been working through the list of albums in the appendix and buying the CDs. There is also a good Spotify list out there based on his book which is great background music. I'm currently waiting for the paperback release of "Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There: How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America" which is coming out in December.
Have you watched the documentary "All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records", which is a fascinating insight into the transformation of the retail record business in the 1970s.
I'll add Uncommon People to my Amazon wish list. Thanks also for the tip on the "Bowie-Stardust" book by Michael Allred...I'll look out for it. I like Allred's quirky cartoony style. I first noticed it on his "Batman '66" pastiche in the DC Solo comic, and subsequently picked up some of his iZombie work.
My turn to apologise B, I don't seem to be getting g notification a now when folk rep!y to posts. You met Denny as well that must have been a blast, wonderful stuff. I will look out for your Adams post. I 've not heard of the "Overpaid, Oversexed and Over here" book so will check that out, thanks. All things must pass was brilliant. Alleged book is nice in places but I would have preferred a more realistic art style.
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