I was a regular reader of BATMAN FAMILY, despite not being a huge Batman fan and having a limited budget to buy new comics. What the book really had going for it was that it was oversized–that big format was always a draw for young me. And I often enjoyed the reprints as much or more than the lead feature. This particular issue of BATMAN FAMILY doesn’t hold much in the way of memories for me. I can say that I got it at the 7-11.
The new story at the beginning of the issue was illustrated by a young Jose Garcia-Lopez, who would go on to become one of the finest artists to be associated with the DC line of characters. Unfortunately, here he’s inked by then-DC art director Vince Colletta, whose work I never liked the look of. In particular, Vince had a habit of changing the faces of any artist he worked over into his own style, which would become disconcerting.
It’s also a story in which Batgirl and Robin battle full-grown dinosaurs, as well as the Spanish Inquisition (who enter on cue with the proper Monty Python rejoinder on their lips) and a bevy of other weird antagonists. It’s all a part of Major Montana’s gift to the world. He’s essentially Walt Disney, and now that he’s older, he’s created a spectacular island attraction that he’s giving to the public, where they can experience all that the Dynamite Duo did..
A more crucial moment in terms of continuity transpires when Robin and Batgirl reveal that they’ve worked out each others’ true identities. This was all part of a strategy to move the two heroes more towards being a couple, which never quite worked out 100%, but which wold be referenced a lot later on, after Barbara had become Oracle and Dick Nightwing.
Then began the reprints! In the first, Batwoman mistakenly believes an amnesiac criminal is secretly Batman, and takes it upon herself to restore the Caped Crusader to fighting trim by tutoring him. For complicated secret identity reasons, Robin has to play along, and hilarity ensues. And by the end, due to her blunder, Batman convinces Batwoman to go back into retirement–because women aren’t good for anything important, right?
How do you follow up a classic like that? Really, only one villain can do the job: the Kite-Man! As his name suggests, he uses colorful specialized kites in committing his assorted crimes–but he’s at least got the great Dick Sprang illustrating his story, so it all looks good and moves dramatically. But he’s a bit of a stretch no matter how you look at it.
Another Dick Sprang classic closes out the issue, this one not featuring Batman at all, but his descendant Brane, who becomes the outer space Saturnian-fighting freedom-loving Batman of the year 3000. In that era, the world is one big concentration camp, humanity enslaved by the forces of Fura of Saturn. Inspired by old microfilms about the Revolutionary War and the exploits of Batman, Brane and his young pal Ricky adopt the guises of those long-ago crime-fighters in rallying the people to free both Earth and Saturn. It’s a very strange story to find in an issue of BATMAN, but it all kind of works.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 