BATMAN WEEK: The high-end hardcover DC: Batman is valuable for collectors, despite its flaws…
—
Welcome to BATMAN WEEK 2024 — celebrating the 85th anniversary of the release of Detective Comics #27, on March 30, 1939. Over seven days, you can look forward to 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
—
The big publication celebrating Batman’s 85th anniversary this year is British publisher The Folio Society’s DC: Batman — a high-end, slipcased volume showcasing some of the greatest stories starring the Caped Crusader since the Golden Age.
The 11 stories in the 10″ x 7″ hardcover were selected by former DC President and Publisher Jenette Kahn, who also wrote the introduction to the volume. The set also includes the best Facsimile Edition of 1940’s Batman #1 you will ever find. (Click here for more on that.)
Here’s the table of contents:
It’s a solid list, to be sure, though it is fair to say that important aspects of Batman’s history have been left out: There’s nothing from the 1950s and the “New Look” 1960s are similarly ignored. There’s also nothing from the last 30 years.
In her introduction, Kahn explains why she chose these stories — as well as why others that missed the cut. (Click here to read what she wrote.)
But to me, the package’s selling point isn’t actually the story selection — it’s the production values. Like 2023’s massive DC Comics: The Golden Age — the book’s pages are scanned from the DC Comics archives, giving you a virtual trip through the publisher’s library.
Just check some of them out:
Detective Comics #27
Detective Comics #38
Detective Comics #66
Batman #232
I love the look of these pages, yellowed and all. And knowing the scans came from DC’s library just adds to the experience.
That said, seeing these pages is partly why I would have referenced, but not reprinted, the constantly available, glossy The Dark Knight Returns #1 and The Killing Joke. I would rather have seen more archival material.
Nevertheless, it’s a terrific package to page through — and the Batman #1 Facsimile Edition, also scanned from the vaults, is a huge bonus. (Click here for more on that.)
—
DC: Batman runs $100 and is available only through the Folio Society. Click here to order.
—
MORE
— The BATMAN WEEK 2024 INDEX! Click here.
— BATMAN’s 85-Year Journey Into the Heart of Darkness, by JENETTE KAHN. Click here.
March 27, 2024
I will agree, the production on the book IS beautiful and the Batman #1 Facsimile is the best reprint of said issue for reproduction accuracy.
However…like you said the 50’s are completely skipped over and so is the new look era of the 60’s. Also, this collection stops in early 1993.
I thought Kahn’s choice of Golden Age stories for the prior DC Folio collection was not ideal but her selection of stories for this new Batman volume is even more uneven and a disservice to fans, whether they be newer, casual readers or die hard fans of this character.
The Batman Folio book is 320 pages but one of the Marvel Folio editions have gone up to 368! That is 48 pages they could have used to include a story from the 50’s (A Dick Sprang World’s Finest Superman team up perhaps?), new look 60’s era (Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl debut perhaps?). Kahn has left a gaping hole in this retrospective anthology.
The 1988 Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told and Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told volumes also have a better balance of stories and time periods. You can find them in good condition for a good price on eBay. The Joker volume is especially well curated!
March 27, 2024
Completely agree, on the flaws of this volume, and the merits of the ‘Greatest’ collections. In fact, the Batman Greatest could have been reproduced here, along with maybe the first Year One issue, a story from the 90s and a short Black and White tale, and it would have been a lock for me.
March 27, 2024
It is possibly not a coincidence that 2/3 of this book’s contents (page-wise) represent the period during which Jenette Kahn was DC’s publisher. Just human nature.
March 27, 2024
True, but she has plenty of experience with putting together anthologies before. To skip over the 50’s and 99.9% of Batman’s Silver Age New Look Era (almost 3 decades!) is a glaring hole–even more so than the collection stopping in 1993!
March 27, 2024
There’s no way any publisher is going to be able to make every fan 100% happy with a book like this. For myself, not having the ’50s and ‘60s included but including The Killing Joke puts me in the “meh” category.
Maybe what they could have done is include some cover galleries and/or essays on the various periods not covered. I know reading the ‘30s to ‘70s classic, the cover galleries were a major part of my enjoyment of that particular volume.
I am also curious why there was no dust jacket but I guess the hard outer box sleeve serves that part. The cover just looks so plain to me.
Also, much is being made of the scans from the DC archives and what it lends. So, how were facsimile editions like the Treasury of the ‘70s done? Understanding this part of the process might entice me more to pick up a copy.
March 27, 2024
The lack of content from the 50s and 60s also highlights that DC’s “Batman Golden Age Archives” ends with Volume 6 which doesn’t even get us past World War II. By comparison, Mighty Marvel Masterworks series have passed Volume 20 for some series and cover well over 20 years of stories. It’s a travesty that DC cares so little about its history.
March 28, 2024
Well I have volumes 7 and 8 of the Batman Archives in my shelf so they certainly didn’t end with #6.
In addition the Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus collections are up to volume 10 and 1956 in terms of reprinting the Batman stories from his own series and Detective Comics so there’s a lot of the 50s stuff available.
In terms of this Folio edition then as others have noted the facsimile edition is top notch and, as always with Folio, the production values on the book itself is really high quality.