Three Fifties Batman News Items

In the past I've developed a habit of posting for awhile and then disappearing for months at a time. This time I plan on posting until I've run out of fifties Batman stories to post about. But before I begin posting about those stories, there's a couple of news items to go over.

First up is a solicitation from the latest edition of the Previews catalog. Ever since Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne (Bruce Wayne's son) became the new Batman and Robin, I hoped that DC would collect the imaginary "Second Batman and Robin Team" stories that the current Duo are the spiritual successor of. That collection is indeed set to be released, complete with a Brian Bolland cover:

DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories Vol. 2: Batman and Robin

Written by Bill Finger and Others

Art by Sheldon Moldoff and Others

Cover by Brian Bolland

Don't miss this new set of '60s and '70s "imaginary" tales starring Dick Grayson as the new Batman with Bruce Wayne Jr. as the new Robin! Collects stories from Batman #122, 131, 135, 145, 154, 159, 163, and 300, Lois Lane #89, and World's Finest #153.

144 pgs, Softcover, $19.99, On Sale May 26, 2010

As you might expect, there will be a month dedicated to the "Second Batman and Robin Team" stories in the near future.

There's another collection of fifties Batman stories on the horizon, although it has not been solicited yet. One noticeable aspect of last year's DC Comics Classics Library: Batman - The Annuals HC was that it had a "1" on the spine. Speculation buzzed that this meant more volumes would be coming in the future. Well, we didn't need to wait long to find out because an entry for the second volume has shown up on Amazon:

Some of the greatest Batman stories from the 1940s and '50s are collected in this amazing new hardcover!

At the start of the 1960s, DC Comics began compiling some of the best Batman stories in giant, 80-page annuals. This new hardcover collects four Batman Annuals, with stories including "The Secret Marriage of Batman and Batwoman," "The Phantom of The Batcave," "The First Batman," plus appearances by Giant Batman, Rip Van Batman, Zebra Batman, Mermaid Batman, and much more.

The entry says that it will be 336 pages and be on sale August 10, 2010.

The last news item is the one I am most excited about. As I've said before on the blog, "Batman: The Brave and The Bold" is a great cartoon that perfectly captures the Silver Age of comics. It also brings to animation characters you would never expect to see. I mean, on last week's episode Doctor Double X was the main villain. This week's episode may be my all time favorite because it brings to the small screen one of my all time favorite fifties Batman stories: "Batman - The Superman of Planet X!" From World's Finest Online:

Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 7:30 P.M. (ET) - "The Super-Batman of Planet X!"

Batman lands on the distant planet Zur En Arrh and finds a doppelganger Batman, but more surprisingly, on this planet the Caped Crusader has super powers! Together they battle the mad genius Rhotul, who soon learns Batman's super weakness.

Seriously...

...how awesome is that?

Batman: The Black Casebook TPB Confirmed

Back in October, I blogged about a rumor that DC would be releasing a trade paperback collecting the fifties stories that inspired Grant Morrison's current run on Batman. DC Comics recently unveiled their list of collected editions coming out in May and June of 2009 and underneath June was this solicitation:

Batman: The Black Casebook TP

Writers: France Herron, Edmond Hamilton, Bill Finger

Artists: Dick Sprang, Charles Paris, Sheldon Moldoff, Stan Kaye

Collects: Stories from Batman #113, 134, 156, and 162, Detective Comics #215, 235, and 267, and World's Finest Comics #89.

$17.99 US 144 pages

That's right, more fifties reprints are on the way! As the stories tie-in to Morrison's run, here are my guesses on which stories will be collected:

Batman #113: "Batman -- The Superman of Planet X!"

Batman #134: "Batman's Secret Enemy"

Batman #156: "Robin Dies At Dawn!"

Batman #162: "The Batman Creature!"

Detective Comics #215: "The Batmen of All Nations"

Detective Comics #235: "The First Batman"

Detective Comics #267: "Batman Meets Bat-Mite"

World's Finest Comics #89: "The Club of Heroes!"

DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY: BATMAN - THE ANNUALS HC SOLICITED

DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY: BATMAN — THE ANNUALS HC
Written by Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton and others
Art by Lew Sayre Schwartz, Dick Sprang and others
Composite cover by Curt Swan and others
Some of the greatest Batman tales ever are collected in this new hardcover! Reprinting the classic BATMAN ANNUALs #1-3 from 1961 and 1962, this can’t-miss collection reveals the secrets of the Batcave, the Bat-Signal and more!
Advance-solicited; on sale April 22 • 256 pg, FC, $39.99 US

Nuff. Said.

Batman: The Black Casebook TPB Coming Soon?

The Collected Editions blog is reporting that fall 2009 will see the release of a trade paperback entitled Batman: The Black Casebook. As this will be coming out after the Batman: R.I.P. HC, it's likely that this will be a collection of the Golden Age and Silver Age stories that were brought back into continuity during Grant Morrison's initial Batman run. It'll be nice to have all those stories in one volume and new collections of fifties stories are always a good thing. The only downside of this news is that it'll probably be a year until the trade ships, which is curious because one would think that DC would release it around the same time as the "R.I.P." collection. Once I get the last part of "R.I.P." I plan on doing a review of Morrison's first run on Batman, noting the fifties stories that Morrison referenced throughout.