Friday, September 4, 2015

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Marshall Rogers' Batman

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! One of the highlights of the Groovy Age, naturally, was Marshall Rogers' turn as penciler on Batman in Detective Comics (along with his work on the 1978 Batman Summer Spectacular). Along with writers Steve Englehart, Len Wein, and Denny O'Neil and inkers Terry Austin and Dick Giordano, Marshall's version of The Batman stands head and shoulders with the other two "definitive" Groovy Age Batman artists, Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. If you have any doubts, the following covers should quickly banish them to the depths of darkest Apokolips! Ready? Then away we go!










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20 comments:

  1. Edo BosnarSeptember 4, 2015 at 3:09 AM

    Outstanding covers for one of the most outstanding Batman runs...

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  2. UnknownSeptember 4, 2015 at 6:20 AM

    One look at the cover of Detective # 471 and I was immediately won over by the Rogers/Austin art team (the interiors were great too). Detectives # 471 - 476 remain one of the finest runs in the history of comics. The Englehart/Rogers/Austin/Swartz combination was sheer perfection. Almost 40 years later and everything still holds up. Some great characters were introduced: Silver St. Clair, Rupert Thorne. While Steve Englehart was winding down his bronze age comics career, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin were going on to well-deserved super-stardom.

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    1. UnknownSeptember 4, 2015 at 8:30 AM

      I mispelled Julius Schwartz's last name. Am I ever embarrassed.

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    2. UnknownSeptember 4, 2015 at 8:32 AM

      Also letterer Ben Oda deserves credit for his part in Detectives 471 - 476.

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    3. The Groovy AgentSeptember 4, 2015 at 10:10 AM

      Very true, the lettering in this run of 'Tec was a HUGE part of the overall feel and vibe. I need to do a post about that! And Donnt wirre abot msspellling stuf, t happins sumtims... ;D

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  3. Scott D. ParkerSeptember 4, 2015 at 7:06 AM

    As a kid, Aparo was my favorite artist so I didn't appreciate Rogers at the time. ("Hey! Where's Aparo?") Now, as an adult, I really love Rogers style and visual storytelling.

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  4. Jeff ClemSeptember 4, 2015 at 11:52 AM

    John Workman's lettering in #s 471 and 472 was very nice, too. Workman is also a very good artist.

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  5. Simon B September 4, 2015 at 3:28 PM

    Some classic covers there, Groove! My fave is probably the "Laughing Fish" cover - it really captures the insanity of the Joker and tantalises the reader with the outlandish visual. And I think we're all agreed that the Batman Spectacular is one of THE greatest comics of the Groovy Age!

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  6. R. LloydSeptember 4, 2015 at 9:07 PM

    Great Marshall Rodgers and Terry Austin art. I wish Marshall was still around to see Heath Ledger as the Joker. He would have made a great rendering of Ledger's incarnation of the Joker. With my birthday on the horizon I might get a hardcover collection of these stories if they are available on Amazon.

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  7. johnlindwallSeptember 5, 2015 at 5:06 AM

    I adored Roger's run on Detective back in the day! I still cannot believe that he is gone - what a talent. And I cannot omit the contribution of Terry Austin, inker extraordinary. FAN TAS TIC!

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  8. Rip JaggerSeptember 5, 2015 at 7:13 AM

    Just stumbled across my trade collection of this stuff. I was thinking of fitting it in, now more than ever. A special run indeed.

    Rip Off

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  9. BuddySeptember 7, 2015 at 3:16 AM

    Love this art, but my personal favourite stuff by Rogers/Austin was their Dr Strange run.Would love to see that collected, 4 colour newsprint doesn't do the psychedelic realms they conjured up justice. Maybe the forthcoming film will create enough interest in all things Strange!

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    1. keythd23September 7, 2015 at 10:30 AM

      I agree with you. The Dr. Strange run by Rogers/Austin took everything good they had done in Detective 471 - 476 and improved upon it.

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  10. NobileSeptember 7, 2015 at 4:17 AM

    I love Rogers'art, especially in this run (who doesn't?) but the fact is I am probably ranking Austin the best inker ever. If I think back to my all-time favourite DC and Marvel stories for art, Austin was involved 98% of cases, sometimes uncredited (Superman 301, for instance).

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    1. keythd23September 7, 2015 at 10:34 AM

      Terry Austin at his peak was one of the greatest inkers of all time. But best inker of all I would have to give a slight edge to Tom Palmer (with Joe Rubinstein coming ever so slightly behind Terry).

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    2. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2015 at 5:26 PM

      Hello, Any chance you could recommend a www site, book, etc. that would teach an avid comic reader, like I once was, the impact an inker has on the final art? There's frequent discussion here about the quality of inkers (how some were great, and others the opposite) and I am really curious to see the impact. Thanks!

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    3. keythd23September 8, 2015 at 1:19 AM

      Check out Amazon for "The Art of Comic Book Inking" by Gary Martin. There are 2 editions. That would be a good place to start.

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  11. Gary WareSeptember 17, 2015 at 8:11 AM

    Thanks for posting the cover of #477. That and the internal pages of non-reprint material never get reprinted anywhere. Which is a shame both because - hey, Roger's art - but also because they have a reasonably significant plot resolution/development.
    Maybe you'd care to share it here one day.

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  12. I.M FletcherJune 13, 2018 at 4:12 AM

    Can anyone tell me why Rogers' art style changed (at least it seems that way to me) so drastically between the 70s (Dectective Comics #475 'Laughing Fish' etc) and his later work on 'Dark Detective' in 2006? It almost looks like a completely different artist, yet it's the same team (Rogers, Austin, Englehart). Was Austin embellishing more than inking on those original Detective Comics issues? I can't get over how different Rogers' work looks from the two periods.

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