Batman silver/bronze age comics suck?!

[Kermit]

It's been some years since the value of the comics nº230 and up haven't change...do you think this is a reflection of the bad movies campaign featuring Batie?! Too long lesser good stories?! Fans leaning towards Marvel??!!!

 

Does this new run (Lee/Loeb and soon Azzarello) might increase their value soon?!

 

If we compare Batie and Spider from the same years (silver/bronze) doesn't Spide eats Batie big time?!

I compare these 2 because they are the big characters from their respective publishers...

 

Regards, Pedro.

[Rip]

You might want to check and see what Adams Batmans are going for.

[delekkerste]

It's been some years since the value of the comics nº230 and up haven't change...do you think this is a reflection of the bad movies campaign featuring Batie?! Too long lesser good stories?! Fans leaning towards Marvel??!!!

 

I don't know, but I've been reading the "Knightfall Part 3" TPB today which collects the post-Bane breaking Bats' back storyline from the 1990s. This is truly repugnant, horrid stuff...I'm not surprised nobody wants these books.

 

Gene

[Rip]

I've read worse. Ever read Spidey through most of the 90's.

Clone saga anyone......one of the worse moves in the history of marvel

[Zonker]

Batman stuff really runs hot & cold. Here's my own personal view:

 

The golden age stuff is in a class by itself: If you have a taste for Golden Age at all, the Batman stories from 1939-1945 were as good as anything on the stands, and hold up well today if reading from a Golden Age perspective. However, they are plentiful compared to other G.A. books (just look at the Metropolis web site).

 

From 1946-1963 there was a long slide downhill quality-wise. There are a few hard-to-find issues: for instance I've been looking for Detective 187 (a Two-Face appearance never reprinted) for years now. But by & large the books got steadily worse as time went by, becoming more gimmicky and science-fictiony with each year. Only completists or people with a nostalgic affinity for these years really chase this period, IMHO.

 

In 1964 Julie Schwartz became editor. In the early issues of Detective, every other issue (#327, #329, #331, etc.) featured Infantino art and were generally quite good in a DC Silver Age kind of way. Alternate issues of Detective and each issue of Batman were ghosted by Sheldon Moldoff (under Bob Kane's signature). This period was gradually devoured by the camp craze-- perhaps the worst example being Detective #365 "The House the Joker Built" a classic Infantino cover, but really dreadful storytelling inside. Books from this period had HUGE print runs (approaching 1 Million copies) thanks to the TV show. Some books in this period got a bump from the first Batman movie, but I'd not bank on them as long-term collectibles.

 

In 1970 Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams combined for the so-called New-Old Look, a return to Batman's Golden Age roots. The Neal Adams books are in high demand-- heck I've recently noted even Murph0 and Andrew Knight (avowed Marvel collectors both) own high-grade Batman books with Adams art. We've been speculating that with the rise of CGC, the Adams covers-only might become highly valued. For years the books with Adams interiors have been hoarded, but the issues having only covers by Adams less so. You mentioned specifically Batman 230-up, and that is right in this period. This period continued up through the 100 page super-spectacular format on both Batman & Detective. For some reason, the 100-pagers are seen quite often on eBay, with the 52-pagers (Batman #241 in particular) less so. In my opinion, the classic Adams Batman covers have the best chance to appreciate in value of the entire early Bronze Age period . (See for example Batman 221, 227, 230, 241 and Detective 399, 405, 411, 414, 418, 421) These books are currently at $30-$40 NM

 

There have been a few high points since then, the Marshall Rogers and Mike Golden issues in the 1978-79 period in particular. I also liked 1982 when Giordano was the Batman editor and Don Newton & Gene Colan were splitting up the artwork. But once Jason Todd was introduced and then killed in the wake of the post-Frank Miller Dark Knight Grim & Gritty era, things have been pretty dreadful. Someone mentioned the never-ending crossovers: Knightfall/Quest/End-Contagion-Legacy-NoMan's Land-Fugitive, etc. etc. etc. Yuck.

 

I have mixed feelings about Hush. Glad the book is bringing in the readers-- hopefully many of them will stay for the Az & Risso run to follow: this might be the best Batman coming up we've seen for 25 years!

 

Cheers,

Z.

[murph0]

At the risk of losing my Marvel zombie title, I actually have to admit to sharing a Batman collection with my uncle. We have 160-194, and that's about as many as we'll have (unless he buys more). I am however buying Adams Batman covers as I think most of them are very very nice.

 

Brian

[seank]

I'll ditto everything Zonker said.

 

Early sixties Batman comics are hard to find in better condition and quite horrid. The book was on the verge of cancellation before Julie Schwartz took over.

 

Late seventies Batman books are actually quite good. Not Frank Miller Daredevil good but the stories and art are worthwhile. In the eighties, Doug Moench wrote the book and every month I read with dread to see if the latest issue was worse than the last.

 

Right now, story-wise, go for the Batman Adventures books. Any of them. You can find many in bargain bins and they'll never be worth any big bux. (No Hulk 181s here!) But they're great reads. I always enjoy them.