Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 30, 2024 | 11 comments

BATMAN WEEK FINALE! Closing out the celebration — on the 85th anniversary of Detective Comics #27…

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Welcome to BATMAN WEEK 2024 — celebrating the release of Detective Comics #27, on March 30, 1939 — 85 years ago today! Over seven days, we’ve published all sorts of groovy and offbeat columns, features and cartoons that pay tribute to the greatest comics character in the history of mankind. Click here for the rest of the BATMAN WEEK features. You’ll be glad you did! — Dan

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If we’re gonna wrap up BATMAN WEEK — it’s the Caped Crusader’s actual 85th anniversary — we’re gonna do it in style, with a spectacular illustration by comics great Jerry Ordway.

The black-and-white piece was a commission Ordway did years back, and as soon as I saw it on the web, I knew what needed to be done next. Our pal and resident colorist Walt Grogan — who created that beauteous banner above that you’ve seen all week — will tell you the rest of the story below.

For his part, Jerry explained that the piece was designed to emulate a two-page Dick Sprang spread from 1987’s Detective Comics #572, which celebrated the title’s 50th anniversary.

Original, uncolored art, from Heritage Auctions

So keep reading if you want to see Jerry’s magnificent illustration — before and after Walt put his colossal coloring skills to use.

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By WALT GROGAN

When I saw the Batphone blinking, I knew that Commissioner Greenfield was on the other end!

Dan asked me if I was interested in coloring up a phenomenal Batman piece by everybody’s pal and legendary writer/artist, Jerry Ordway. The piece depicts the secret origin of the Golden Age Batman, so, of course, I wasn’t going to say no, Dan just didn’t know why!

Unbeknownst to 13th Dimension’s Head Honcho, I had already starting working on it. So, I took a quick screen shot, sent it to him, and he “Lol’d” me back!

I told him that there was a bit too much shadow on the image to do a great job, but I was plugging away but I wan’t sure if I was going to be happy with it.

Dan, ever the helpful sort, said, “Let me contact Jerry to see if I can get a higher-res image!” And with nothing more than that, a message popped up that told me to reach out to Da Ordster — who obliged me with a stunning high-res image.

Generally when I’m coloring a piece found on the internet, I boost it up a bit but in this case, there was no need to do so. It was simply gorgeous in its black-and-white slendor!

It’s a sight to behold, as you can see Jerry is fantastic at montage scenes like this. Partly because he is a comics historian with a great reverence for what’s come before but also because he can do layouts like nobody’s business.

Since it was clear that Jerry had referenced a several Batman stories and a cover when creating the piece, I felt that I had to hew to the original colors as much as possible.

Starting in the upper left-hand corner, Jerry did his take on the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents from Batman’s origin in Detective Comics #33 (1939). Naturally, this story has been reprinted quite a bit and as such, the coloring has changed over the years. I was able to get a shot of the Wayne murder panel, from fiche, and, while a bit blurry, those are the colors I emulated.

From that same story, Bruce Wayne gets his crime-fighter omen when a bat crashes through his drawing-room window. Here again, the coloring has changed over the years, but I dig his original green smoking jacket. I decided to leave his pocket square green as it was seen in the previous panel.

The Joker made his debut in Batman #1 but the only reference I had that was close, I hope, to the original was his splash page appearance.

Not be be outdone, the Catwoman had to make an appearance with a scene taken from the cover of Detective Comics #203 (1954). The only real change I made here was to color the tiger a bit more realistically (well, comic book realistically).

Normally, when I’m coloring Batman in his 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s Batduds, I like to give his tights that kind of purplish hue that was common, but in this case I went with the more modern gray to make the swinging Dynamic Duo pop!

And for the Batcave, I went with my light green floor but also with the orange cave walls that were typical of the period.

So, here’s my vintage coloring of this piece — as if it existed in a Batman 80-Page Giant!

What I generally don’t show is what my coloring pieces look like before I add the vintage effects. So, here is what it looks like all bright and shiny!

Wanna see the drawing all big-like? In your desktop browser, simply right-click the image and choose “Open image in new tab” from the pop-up menu. Select that new tab! Now it might still look small, but if you click it, it will expand in size! And, of course, you could always save it and open it up in your favorite image software too!

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MORE

— The BATMAN WEEK 2024 INDEX! Click here.

— BATMAN: OLD AND NEW — Dig RON FRENZ’s Fab Artwork Celebrating the Caped Crusader’s History. Click here.

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A 10-year-old Walt Grogan fell in love with the Big Red Cheese thanks to essays written by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson in the paperback edition of All in Color for a Dime, released in 1970 and bought for him by his father off a paperback spinner rack in a liquor store on the South Side of Chicago. Walt runs The Marvel Family Web Facebook page devoted to all incarnations of the Fawcett/DC Captain Marvel and blogs about Captain Marvel at shazamshistorama.com.