SNEAK PEEK: It’s like 1977 all over again!
It’s only May, but before you know it, you’re going to be shopping for a new calendar. Think about it — we’re almost halfway through the year, if you can believe it.
Anyway, I know which one is at the top of my list — the 2022 DC Comics Batman Wall Calendar, which appears to be a love letter to retro Batman, especially the Bronze Age version.
Check out this cover:
Let’s see: You’ve got the Detective Comics #27-style striping, a red skyline a la Batman #1, the early ’70s Batman logo that was repurposed for Detective in the ’80s, and sharp Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez stock images of the Dynamic Duo.
And that’s just the cover. Dig these sample pages:
January also borrows from the Batman #1 sensibility and the Darknight Detective’s cape echoes his look from Detective #27. I wish I had the credits, but that’s definitely a Garcia-Lopez Penguin and probably a JLGL Robin. Batman? Not sure, but it reminds me of Dario Brizuela.
February, though, really knocks me out. I think that’s Dick Giordano across the board up top. Batman and Robin certainly appear to be Giordano’s handiwork and I just know I’ve seen that Penguin before. The Riddler in the lower right is JLGL, however.
(If you have any clarity on the credits, please say so in the comments.)
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A few thoughts:
— UPDATED 5/11/21: Click here if you want to see thumbnails of the rest of the months. (And you do!)
— I like the Golden Agey “Mo. 1” and “Mo. 2” notations in the upper left of both months. Very clever.
— The back cover notes that this is “concept only,” so there could be changes before publication.
— The calendar, by Trends International, is due June 21 and lists for a very groovy $14.99. It’s already available for pre-order. Click here.
— Oh, and in case you’re wondering, 1977 and 2022 have the same calendar. Neat.
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MORE
— CHRISTMAS IN GOTHAM: BATMAN Advent Calendar Coming This Holiday Season. Click here.
— Dig These 13 Groovy Offbeat BATMAN Collectibles. Click here.
May 7, 2021
If this is concept only, then I vote they still print this in addition to whatever they may decide upon. It would look most handsome adorning the wall of my Batcave!
May 7, 2021
The Batman in January is Jerry Ordway’s, I believe. He did quite a bit of style guide work a decade or so ago to supplement the classic JLGL (PBHN) art. Nice to mix in some straight Giordano in on February as well.
An interesting mix, and I’m glad to see DC recently allowing licensors to dip back into some earlier promotional art by folks like Giordano.
Chris
May 7, 2021
I agree with Chris Franklin regarding the Batman image in January. That sure looks like Jerry Ordway’s licensing work. And I was about to say so when I saw Chris’s comment.
May 7, 2021
I am yet again reminded of Dan Didio’s exasperation at the mystery of why DC’s back catalog sells better than the modern stuff. The answer to the mystery eluded people at DC, but they CONTINUALLY use the 80’s licensing art to sell products to kids and adults, alike. Even through the New52 fiasco, all the marketing was JLGarcia Lopez art from 3 decades earlier.
May 7, 2021
It’s really odd how the licensing works. The New 52 art is STILL being used on some products, like the Mego figures, even though the figures inside are almost always the classic versions. I got the new Mego Flash, which is based on the Wally West Justice League Unlimited design, with the white eyes and “v”-shaped belt. But the art on the back is the New 52 Barry design with all the lightning lines all over the suit. My understanding is WB licensing is REALLY strict on what they can and can’t use…even though they put out purely classic stuff like this. It’s kind of a mess.
May 8, 2021
The conundrum was and is that the DC characters couldn’t be turned into Marvel-like characters as a rule because they had too much bullshit, great ripping yards, as it were, with two dimensional characters. When the former was essentially dropped for trying to make the characters three dimensional, a lot of the attraction was lost. And once you go into continuity, throwing it out once or twice a decade doesn’t help.
This is a generalization, of course. Hal Jordan, for the first few years, was like a contemporary Marvel character. And later Marvel characters actually kind of prove my point.
May 8, 2021
Should have added that what you can call DiDio’s one limitations, as it were, also contributed to the problem with sales.
May 7, 2021
I definitely approve of this upcoming retro-calendar. 🙂
May 7, 2021
Welp. Design-wise, this leaves a lot to be desired. It bums me out that Asgard Press lost the license to do DC Calendars.
May 7, 2021
Dittoes with Jerry Ordway…I have a bolt of cloth with that image of Batman and on the cloth it’s clearly Ordway’s work. The art for the calendar looks a little bit cleaned up…almost like someone else inked it but the posing is very much Ordway.
May 8, 2021
So this is not an Asgard calendar?
May 7, 2022
You know I bought this calendar in a hurry. I didn’t like all the prominent images of the villains being successful. Then in May, there is a giant image of The Joker. So I made my own calendar, and tossed it out. I am sorry. I am not part of the post-modern pro-villain era. I don’t need to see that every day on my wall.