A BIRTHDAY SALUTE: A short-lived — but memorable — pairing of artist and character…
—
UPDATED 10/1/24: Michael Golden was born 69 years ago! Perfect time to reprint this piece from 2019. Not just that, Back Issue #116 is still available through TwoMorrows. Dig it! — Dan
—
Remember when Man-Bat was a private eye? I do. And I loved it.
Today, most readers think of Kirk Langstrom’s alter ego pretty much as he was originally developed by Neal Adams and Frank Robbins in 1970 — as an out-of-control monster who bedevils Batman.
But there was this short, entertaining period in the late ’70s — in the waning issues of the always awesome Batman Family — where, thanks to writer Bob Rozakis, Man-Bat was recast as a financially struggling crimefighter/private detective whose best buddy was Jason Bard and who, along with his wife Francine, was adjusting to life as a new parent.
It looked great too. Check out a few of the artists who worked on the feature: Marshall Rogers, Don Newton and Michael Golden.
Not that you need proof, but dig this spread by Golden, inked by Josef Rubinstein, from Batman Family #20:
As it turns out, Michael Eury, the editor of Back Issue magazine, is a huge fan of Golden’s Man-Bat and he has a fun story to tell in the upcoming Issue #116 — the “Superheroes vs. Monsters” edition. (Halloween’s next month, yo.):
Now, we routinely run EXCLUSIVE EXCERPTS from Back Issue, and this one had lots of material to choose from.
Take a peek at the table of contents:
But as I scanned through the issue, I kept coming back to Eury’s opening column, which featured this fantastic image of Man-Bat by Golden, originally published in one of the later versions of Who’s Who:
It brought back such good memories of those Batman Family days, that I decided to present to you Eury’s piece as this issue’s 13th Dimension excerpt.
So check it out — and make sure you check out the full issue when it’s released Sept. 25. (You can get it at your local comics shop or directly through TwoMorrows. Click here.)
—
MORE
— NEAL ADAMS Discusses the Creation of MAN-BAT. Click here.
— BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Director Kevin Altieri Talks ON LEATHER WINGS. Click here.
September 21, 2019
Man-Bat is a pretty interesting character in the DC Universe.
September 21, 2019
Wow! Thanks for sharing this! I just ordered a physical copy of this issue. I didn’t know that they still published interesting comic magazines.
I love finding old Man-Bat comics. I read DC Comics Presents #35 last night, actually. I guess I was in a Man-Bat mood!
September 21, 2019
Back Issue is the best around! But also try TwoMorrows’ Alter Ego and RetroFan! Plus, the Jack Kirby Collector!
October 1, 2021
Pretty much, anything Twomorrows publishes is gold!
October 2, 2019
Those Man-Bat stories from BATMAN FAMILY were recently reprinted in
“Legends of the Dark Knight: Michael Golden”.
A slim volume but well worth reading.
October 1, 2021
I love the BatFam era Man-Bat, my favorite iteration of the character. i was so disappointed when they made him Batman’s adversary again. I want the two issues of his solo comic and the BatFam/’Tec run collected.
October 2, 2021
One of my favourite stories from my childhood. So great to see it again. And that image of Batman! Amazing!
October 1, 2024
Happy birthday, Michael. Always, always loved seeing your work in an issue of anything off the spinner rack. Your BATMAN stuff was always “golden”.
October 4, 2024
In addition, the Mike Golden illustrated Man-Bat / Demon story from Batman Family #17 made Kirby’s Etrigan the Demon character cool again for a whole new generation of fans.