Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 20, 2025 | 1 comment

EXCLUSIVE: One of comics’ most iconic covers…

DC in June will release the Batman #9 Facsimile Edition, featuring one of comics’ all-time, best-known covers.

It’s one of seven FEs coming from the publisher that month, including Krypto’s first appearance in 1955’s Adventure Comics #210. (You can read about that ish here and the other five here.)

Dig the solicitation for the reprint of the 1941 classic. It’ll be released officially Friday:

BATMAN #9 FACSIMILE EDITION

Written by BILL FINGER
Art by BOB KANE and JERRY ROBINSON
Cover by FRED RAY

Foil variant cover by FRED RAY ($9.99 US)
Blank sketch cover ($7.99 US)

A crew of hardened criminals must face the horrific consequences of their theft of a prized ruby as Batman and Robin investigate the killing curse of the Four Fates! Then it’s all aboard for a whale of a tale as the Dynamic Duo find themselves battling a crooked captain on the high seas! All this, plus the riotous return of the Joker, and Batman and Robin fight to get a young boy all he wants for Christmas—his father’s freedom!

$6.99 US | 64 pages
ON SALE 6/11/25

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A few thoughts:

— Fred Ray and Jerry Robinson’s cover is one of the most recognizable ever and it’s been homaged 1,000,006 times. Clearly, that’s the selling point. But an intriguing pattern looks like it’s emerged. Typically, DC’s Facsimiles have been about famous firsts, landmark events, and whatnot. But this is the third that appears to trade mostly on the cover. This month’s Detective Comics #31 and April’s Superman #233 are the others. Hopefully, this means we can get something like Batman #11, which while not exactly a milestone issue, boasts my favorite Golden Age cover of them all. (It also happens to be the Joker’s first cover appearance, so there is that too.)

— I love DC’s commitment to the Golden Age Facsimile Editions. This is the only way the vast majority of us will ever see what these issues look like inside.

— Obligatory Price Comparison: It’s not common to come across an unslabbed copy but a beat-up original Batman #9 recently sold on eBay for $850. A slabbed, 7.0-graded version sold in January through Heritage Auctions for $16,800, including buyer’s premium.

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MORE

— EXCLUSIVE: DC COMICS to Publish SEVEN Facsimile Editions in June. Click here.

— EXCLUSIVE: ADVENTURE COMICS #210: KRYPTO’s Debut to Get Facsimile Edition. Click here.