MORRISON MONDAYS | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Jul27

FACE IT, BATMAN — You Just Hit the Jackpot!

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jul 27, 2026

FACE IT, BATMAN — You Just Hit the Jackpot!

MORRISON MONDAYS Meets THE MANY LOVES OF PETER PARKER… sort of! Welcome to SPIDER-MAN WEEK: THE MANY LOVES OF PETER PARKER, our second-ever theme week that’s solely driven by our artist pals: Kerry Callen, Des Taylor, Walt Grogan (who did that fab banner), Chris Franklin, Dakota Alexander, Franco, Bill Morrison, and special guest Mark Chiarello. For more on this groovy feature, click here. Now, Bill is on a brief hiatus, so for his entry, we’re reprinting this fab piece he did for Julie Newmar’s birthday in August 2024. Fitting, no? But don’t fret — Bill will be back next Monday, with a special, new MANY OF LOVES OF PETER PARKER epilogue. In the meantime, Mark Chiarello is pinch-hitting for Bill this week. Right on! — Dan By BILL MORRISON I’ve been seeing John Romita Sr.’s “FACE IT TIGER” panel from The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (Nov. 1966) popping up a lot lately on social media platforms. It’s one of the most iconic single panels from a comic book, and among the most quintessential introductions of a major character, so I can easily see why people love to share it. (I know MJ was actually introduced in ASM #25, but we didn’t get to actually SEE her until Issue #42.) I’ve also seen several homages to the panel from other artists, so I decided that in honor of Julie Newmar’s birthday this week — she was born Aug. 16, 1933 — I would offer up my version: Putting Adam West’s Batman in the place of Peter Parker, I imagined that he would have been equally as gobsmacked upon seeing Julie Newmar’s Catwoman as Peter was when he met MJ for the first time. Like many boys my age (and probably several girls) I experienced my first major crush in 1966 when I saw Ms. Newmar in her skintight Catwoman costume in the 19th and 20th episodes of the Batman TV show. I looked forward to every subsequent Catwoman episode, and when Julie appeared as April Conquest in a 1967 episode of my second favorite TV series, The Monkees, my little head nearly exploded. In the early 1980s, I appeared as the Al Capp character Available Jones in a community theater production of Li’l Abner, and because I always research my roles extensively I discovered that Julie Newmar played Available’s cousin, Stupefyin’ Jones...

Jul20

WHAT IF the 1949 BATMAN and ROBIN SERIAL Posters Were Drawn by DICK SPRANG?

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jul 20, 2026

WHAT IF the 1949 BATMAN and ROBIN SERIAL Posters Were Drawn by DICK SPRANG?

MORRISON MONDAYS! — UPDATED 7/20/26: It’s THE BEST OF MORRISON MONDAYS! Bill is on a brief respite (he’ll be back in early August), so we’re reprinting this fave from May 26, 2025. Dig it! — Dan — By BILL MORRISON May 26 marks the 76th anniversary of the release of Batman and Robin, the 1949 Columbia Pictures movie serial starring Robert Lowery as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and Johnny Duncan as Dick Grayson/Robin! And in honor of this classic in the genre of stingy budget chapter plays, I’m paying homage to the movie poster for this early screen adventure of the Dynamic Duo! In a previous life, before The Simpsons came along and changed the course of my career, I was a movie poster artist, and I have always been obsessed and fascinated by film advertising. I have a closet full of cardboard tubes stuffed with movie posters, but a particular one in my collection that’s framed and hanging in my studio is an original one-sheet from the Batman and Robin serial. And as much as I love it, the artwork by illustrator and comic strip artist Glenn Cravath looks rushed. But don’t get me wrong, I think the hurried nature of the art is a big part of its kitschy charm. Many film posters produced back in the mid-20th century were painted in hours instead of days, and with very little reference material, by in-house studio artists. But if you look at the posters that Columbia produced for the Atom Man vs. Superman serial just a year later, you’ll see that the quality of the art is much better than the Batman and Robin poster. The depiction of Superman has an appealing hybrid illustration/comic book style, and it’s apparent that the artist was not as rushed and was using comic book imagery as reference, even down to the Wayne Boring-style head and bunched up trunks. There’s also an earlier tie-in poster for 1948’s Superman movie serial starring Kirk Alyn that features just an out-and-out comic book drawing of the Man of Steel. That got me thinking, and I decided for my tribute to the 1949 Batman and Robin serial, I would create an alternate poster with a “What if?” element. What if, instead of tasking one of Columbia’s regular artists with creating the poster, they instead hired one of the then-current...

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