Batman (comic strip)

The Batman comic strip began on October 25, 1943, a few years after the creation of the comic book Batman.[1] At first titled Batman and Robin, and briefly lengthened to Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder as a tie-in with the 1966 Batman television series, a later incarnation was ultimately shortened to Batman. The comic strip had three major and two minor runs in American newspapers.

The first series was written by Bob Kane and others. It was published as both a daily strip and a Sunday strip. This series has been reprinted by DC Comics and Kitchen Sink Press in one paperback volume of Sunday strips and three paperback volumes of daily strips. It was distributed by the McClure Syndicate. The strip ended on November 2, 1946.[1]

From Joe Desris's introduction to the first book of daily reprints: "...this newspaper strip, Batman and Robin,...has important historical significance: It is the last large body of work that Batman creator Bob Kane penciled completely solo...and it contains stories by all of the significant writers from the first five, formative years of the feature’s history: Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Jack Schiff and Alvin Schwartz.”[2]

The second series was written by Walter B. Gibson and was published on Sunday only, in September 1953.[1] This short-lived attempt to revive the Batman comic strip ran only in Arrow, the Family Comic Weekly, which was edited by Gibson. A few of these very rare strips are reprinted in the book Batman: The Sunday Classics 1943–46.

Although it was credited to "Bob Kane", this series was actually ghostwritten, as noted below. The strip ran on Sunday from May 29, 1966, to July 13, 1969, and daily from May 30, 1966, to 1973.[1] At first, this series was a campy revival drawing on the popularity of the Batman TV show, as exemplified by the guest appearance of celebrities like Jack Benny and public figures like Conrad Hilton. Later, it told more serious Batman stories and featured guest appearances by Batgirl, Superman and Aquaman. A 1970 sequence featuring the Green Arrow and the Man-Bat was reprinted in Amazing World of DC Comics #4-5 (1975). It was syndicated by the Ledger Syndicate.

The Sunday strips ended July 13, 1969. The daily strips continued and were drawn by Plastino through Jan. 1, 1972, with Nick Cardy assisting on the art toward the end. They were written by Ellsworth until July 1970 and then by E. Nelson Bridwell. E. M. Stout took over the strip on January 3, 1972.[1] Batman and Robin failed to appear regularly in the strip, supposedly teamed up with a new hero called Galexo, who eventually took over until it ended in 1973.[3]

This series was reprinted by The Library of American Comics in a three-volume collection which began in 2014 and was titled Batman - Silver Age Newspaper Comics.[4]

From April 3, 1978, to February 10, 1985, Batman appeared in a strip variously titled The World's Greatest Superheroes, The World's Greatest Superheroes Present Superman, and The Superman Sunday Special.[5] It was syndicated by the Chicago Tribune/New York News Syndicate. For information on writers and artists, see Batman: the Sunday Classics 1943–46.

The most recent revival of the strip, titled simply Batman, ran Sunday and daily from November 6, 1989, to August 3, 1991. The first story was written by Max Allan Collins and drawn by Marshall Rogers. All of the other stories were written by William Messner-Loebs and drawn by Carmine Infantino and John Nyberg.[6] It was syndicated by Creators Syndicate. All of these strips were reprinted in Comics Revue.

• "Catwoman"
• "The Penguin"
• "The Joker"
• "Two-Face"
• "Robin"
• "The Riddler"
• "The Mad Hatter"

• A Change of Costume (2/11/46 - 3/23/46) part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6 part 7
• part 8 part 9 part 10 part 11 part 12 part 13
• part 14 part 15 part 16 part 17 part 18
• 1966 Batman and Robin Comic Strips based on the television show Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine (Penguin storyline from 1966 Sunday strip debut)
• January 7, 1967, strip with Conrad Hilton
• Jack Benny Meets Batman
• Spotlight: Batman Comic Strip (1970 sequence reprinted in Amazing World of DC Comics #4)
• Galexo Found!
• Obscurity of the Day: Batman (samples of the 1989-1991 strip)