A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE: Thanks to 1966 Batmania!
Golden Age artist Wayne Boring — born June 5, 1905 — is so identified with Superman that every birthday salute we’ve ever done has featured the Man of Steel.
But he also made a notable, if obscure, mark on the Caped Crusader at the height of 1966’s Batmania: He pencilled two of the six minicomics that were Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts premiums:
The comics, which came folded in boxes of the sweet treats, are favorites among collectors, and Boring’s two included The Mad Hatter’s Hat Crimes and The Case of Batman II. The latter is definitely an adaptation of a regular comic-book story and the former may be, as well.
I could only find one complete Boring story online, and that was on Steven Thompson’s blog, Booksteve’s Library.
Dig this:
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MORE
— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite WAYNE BORING SUPERMAN Splash Pages. Click here.
— 13 COVERS: A WAYNE BORING Birthday Celebration (2023). Click here.
June 5, 2026
I never understood the Pop-Tart without frosting. These (comics) remind me some of the comics packaged with Post cereals in the late ’70s (maybe early ’80s?).
June 5, 2026
Unfrosted came first back, when not everything came spackled with an inch of sugar.
June 5, 2026
Interesante hallazgo
June 5, 2026
I think he did a great job- his style is reminiscent of those great Bob Powell/Norm Saunders TOPPS ™ Batman painted trading cards. I would have liked to have seen him take on more.
Nice Find!
June 5, 2026
Wow. Thank you for sharing. I really enjoy when you feature rare stuff like the pop tarts comics. I have never seen this one. I’ve only seen the ones with Catwoman and Joker. Please feature more when you can.
June 5, 2026
I love comics in this format. Mainly, probably, because the Captain Action comic that came with him. I also remember Quisp and Quake ones that came with their cereal. I didn’t know about these Batman ones!
June 5, 2026
It would likely be prohibitively expensive for DC to reprint the comics in this format, nestled inside a sleeve shaped like a vintage Pop-Tarts box. But, man, I’d buy it!
June 5, 2026
I think they could do the pages three up and that would be close to to the size of a regular comic page.
June 5, 2026
DC did reprint “The Mad Hatter’s Hat Crimes!” as a back-up in Silver Age 80 Page Giant one-shot in 2000. It also includes an unpublished Pete Costanza-drawn Jimmy Olsen story from 1970.
The one-shot was part of the “Silver Age” miniseries spearheaded by Mark Waid — similar to the World’s Finest ongoing Waid is writing today.
– DB
June 6, 2026
Good work but it would’ve been better had Stan Kaye inked it, keeping Batman on model.
June 6, 2026
It’s the off-model part that makes it charming, I think.
June 6, 2026
I could not agree more, the off-model part is the big win here, in an era where Batman had a strict style guide Boring’s take was familiar and yet different in its own way.
June 6, 2026
Dan. I really like this Boring Batman. The “running in air” poses work really well with Batman being attached to the Bat Rope. Plus Batman seems to be a little more lithe and athletic in appearance. With some improvements to the Bat Symbol, I could have easily enjoyed this “new”Silver age Boring Batman