Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Team-up Week! Tuesday Team-ups: "The Night of the Shadow!" by O'Neil, Novick, and Giordano

Team-up Week continues! Here ya go, Groove-ophiles! Way back in January (you can read it here) we rapped about the very first team-up between The Batman and his inspiration, The Shadow! Well, the foremost creatures of the night got it all together again in Batman #259 (August 1974), once more courtesy Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick, and Dick Giordano. Not only do we get a cracking good mystery, but we even get the dirt on how The Shadow deeply influenced a young Bruce Wayne! Interested? Then here ya go, baby!
Cover art by Nick Cardy





















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6 comments:

  1. Rip JaggerSeptember 15, 2015 at 2:53 AM

    Beautiful! Irv Novick gets little credit relatively speaking, but his Batman was a favorite, a lithe and lean rendition which packed the drama of the Adams update with the sure-footed storytelling chops of the Infantino revitalization. His Shadow, if anything, is even better though I notice he drew him fewer times in this story than I remember.

    Rip Off

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  2. BobSeptember 15, 2015 at 8:40 AM

    You have NO IDEA how you've made my day. DC shots at the Shadow during the 70s (along with old time radio reruns popular then) sparked a love for the Shadow that has never faded. Many thanks -- and, though I know this will be heresy here -- I've always thought the Shadow more interesting, more believable than the Batman.

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    1. keythd23September 15, 2015 at 6:44 PM

      Blasphemer, lol

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    2. keythd23September 15, 2015 at 6:56 PM

      I never felt that Irv Novick was a good fit for the Batman; particularly as he was being reestablished in his creature of the night persona around this time. This was especially made obvious whenever Neal Adams would display his mastery of the caped crusader in the stories he did that bracketed Mr. Novick's. Irv put in many years of solid storytelling for DC, but was unable to capture the moodiness the Batman required (although Dick Giordano's inks helped considerably).

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  3. evenspotspeaksSeptember 15, 2015 at 5:07 PM

    Where's the other 80 pages? Hah! just kidding. Love the 100 Page comics. I have about 2 or 3 The Shadow DC comics from I believe '73. Kaluta did the art but forget if it was just the covers or the inside. Great team-up.

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  4. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2015 at 9:44 PM

    Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Great followup to the first meeting between the Shadow and the Batman. In some ways, the Shadow was the precursor to the Batman, so this teamup makes sense. Would love to see another tale with these two Avengers of the Night!

    - Mike from Trinidad & Tobago.

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