Remember Whens-Day: Batman by David Lloyd

Batman by David Lloyd. Wow.

I only wish David Lloyd had actually done a Batman story. Specifically, as much as I love Klaus Janson's work, I really wish that David Lloyd had illustrated Grant Morrison's "Gothic" storyline in Legends of the Dark Knight. Not only was that one of the few points in time when it would have been likely for Lloyd to do a Batman story (before he moved on to his own personal projects), but I feel Lloyd's style would have been more suitably "Gothic" than Janson's. (Again, no disrespect to Janson.)

Remember Whens-Day: Batman by J. David Spurlock

J. David Spurlock provides this illustration of Batman. I guess that technically, the oval on the chest symbol takes this out of the Golden Age, but I'm not going to quibble...

Musical Monday: Bonus Medley

A little bonus offering: When I got Andy Price to do his Darkstar sketch, he threw these in as an unexpected extra. You see, some of the ink from Georges Jeanty's Outlaw sketch had run through onto the next page of the sketchbook (you can see the spots scattered throughout this page, most prominently above She-Hulk). Rather than let that page go to waste, Price came up with a few musical mini-sketches of his own: Batman to the tune of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence," She-Hulk to the tune of The Commodore's "Brick House," and The Phantom Stranger to the tune of Billy Joel's "The Stranger." Thanks, Andy!

Quick Thought: Batman's Bright Segment

I picked up the past couple of weeks' worth of books this weekend, and something occurred to me while reading the Batman 80-Page Giant, specifically the Two-Face/Humpty Dumpty story.

I would not be at all surprised if either Dan Slott (who introduced Humpty in the Arkham Asylum: Living Hell mini-series) or Brad Desnoyer (writer of this tale) were a big fan of Theodore Sturgeon. Why? Because reading this story, I was suddenly struck by the similarity of Humpty to the protagonist of Sturgeon's short story "Bright Segment."

If you haven't read Sturgeon's story (which you should), it concerns a mentally-challenged handyman who finds a badly injured woman in the street. Trying to help, he carries her into his apartment. Although he immediately realizes he should have taken her to a hospital, he's afraid that he'll get in trouble because he didn't think of that first. So he decides that the only thing left to do is to "fix" her himself, using his own skills and whatever information he can glean from the first-aid and medical books he finds. (I won't spoil the story by saying anything more.)

While the similarity is striking, it could be just a coincidence. Still, I'll take any excuse to recommend Theodore Sturgeon to anybody.

What I Sang 8/05

Last night's offerings:

"Somebody to Love" by Queen (in honor of Sims' brilliant post).
"The Metro" by Berlin.
"Add It Up" by Violent Femmes.

Quick Question

I didn't read the book out of indifference (I've never really gotten into The Authority that much, and WildC.A.T.S. not at all), but with all that's been written about Chuck Dixon recently, I just want to ask...what exactly was so bad about Grifter and Midnighter?

The Stuff of Dreams

Just a quick little list: Artists Whom I'd Love to See on a Batman Story. (Some of them may very well have drawn Batman, though I can't recall seeing it.)

David Lloyd (a single panel in Wasteland is not enough).
Richard Sala.
Mike Ploog.
Charles Burns.
Scott McCloud (in a Silver Age, Dick Sprangish sort of way).
Jim Baikie.
John Severin.
William Messner-Loebs (I'd love to see an Eisnerish Batman story from him...of course, I'd love to see him getting more work, period).

Plus, some artists who are no longer with us, but who SHOULD have drawn Batman at some point (if they didn't do so already):

Will Eisner (obviously).
Jack Kirby (perhaps even more obviously).
Graham Ingels (I can understand why he put comics behind him completely, but wouldn't this have been amazing?)
Johnny Craig.
Pat Boyette.
Stan Drake.
Bruno Premiani.
Joe Maneely.
Bill Everett.
Basil Wolverton.

In fact, I'll end the list there, because nothing can top the mind-blowing concept of a Basil Wolverton Batman story.

A Very Quick Post

Best line of the week:

"Okay, long version. Seriously." -- Blue Beetle #14

Also, just wanted to share this SAT-style analogy that came up during last night's "Thesis to Pieces" at Dad's Garage:

"Roses are to bricks as anvils are to Batman."

Discuss.

A Post for One Person

If Johnny is reading this blog, here's an image for you (for potential use as an icon...):