MARSHALL ROGERS' BATMAN COMIC STRIP
Welcome to a fan
presentation of Marshall Rogers' Batman comic strip. This is solely intended
for fans invited to the page. It is not registered on any search engine, is
not linked anywhere on MetropolisPlus.com, and
is not intended for consumption by the general public. There are no ads associated with
this presentation, no profit generated from the storage of my personal scans
here and the intent is a personal place to read this short run of strips.
Further, it is a place to share the work with friends and acquaintances who
have not had the opportunity to read this wonderful comic strip.
A
LITTLE HISTORY:
In 1989, Warner Bros. had released the Batman film
starring Michael Keaton
and Bat-Mania had reared its head much in the way that it had during the
1960s (due to the advent of a camp television show of the Caped Crusader).
After the TV show, true comics fans had yearned for a darker, truer version - one that
would reflect the original vision of the character - for over two decades.
The movie - in addition to the then-recent "The Dark Knight Returns" by
Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley and two decades of comics scribes
and artists like Neal Adams, Irv Novick, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Marshall Rogers and
Don Newton representing The Batman in a manner more resembling his
Gothic/Noir roots -
helped to usher in a greater understanding of the character and eventually
replaced the sillier aspects of the television show within the mindset of the
general public.
To compliment the media fervor, Warner Bros. began a campaign to capitalize
on the character's renewed popularity. One aspect of that effort resulted in
the WB (Warner Bros.) Network releasing an animated series a few years
later.
A more immediate notion was to use popular comic book artists on the
Batman comic strip. DC engaged comics favorite Marshall Rogers
to render a story in the resurrected syndicated comic strip for newspapers
throughout the US.
Infrequently cited as one of Rogers' works,
this was the second stint for Rogers on the
character. His initial work with scribe Steve Englehart and embellisher Terry Austin
remains one of the best loved comic book runs on the character even 40-plus years afterward.
Rogers' rendering of the Dark Detective's physique (more of a gymnast than
an overmuscled bodybuilder) and stunt/fight choreography were considered the
best that comics had offered up to that time.
This strip, however, remains one of the more obscure aspects of his Batman
work. Initially penciled and inked by Rogers on his own, he eventually
included John Nyberg on the project as inker. While Marshall Rogers has the
sole by-line on the strip, it is also known that Max Allan Collins wrote
dialogue and likely plotted a portion of the strip, although it was
Rogers' assignment and was likely guided by his vision, overall.
This is a
tribute to a great artist, taken from us far too soon at the young age of 57
in 2007. We miss him and his signature, adventurous style and dedication to
the comics medium.
WILL IT EVER BE REPRINTED?
It is my sincere hope that
more fans of Rogers will encourage DC Comics to reprint this short but fun
run on the strip within a tome that includes *all* of Marshall Rogers' Batman
work. This would include all of his art from Detective Comics, as was done
with "Shadow of the Batman" (including The Calculator backup featuring the
JLA), DC Special Series #15, Batman Family (including his work on Man-Bat),
DC's Secret Origins #6 (featuring the Golden Age Batman), this comic strip,
complete with colored Sundays, his work on "Batman: Legends of the Dark
Knight" with Archie Goodwin also - hopefully - his all-too brief work
on Nightwing and Flamebird in Superman Family and the very last segment of his work with Steve
Englehart and Terry Austin "Batman: Dark Detective". That is the sum total
of his published work on Batman's sphere (and the heroes that were inspired
by Batman in Kandor).
One can only hope that
high-resolution scans of his
never-finished last work
on the character - or even, dare we hope, inked posthumously by Terry
Austin - of the planned trilogy might
also be included in such a tome.
If DC ever reprints this series, I will
not only encourage
its purchase by other known fans of his (as well as purchasing it, myself),
I will then remove this solely black & white version from the internet and
point to where fans can obtain it elsewhere.
This is reproduced from multiple sources, but presented in paged format, much in the same way
reprint magazines of the time (such as Comics Revue #41-43) did. Intended to retain the
strip format, but placed in a paged format similar to a comic book for the
purposes of this site.
Here, in the only format I know of available online, is The Batman in comic strip
form as presented by Marshall Rogers:
At any rate, I do hope that you enjoyed this trip through the past. I sure did!
Pax, harmonia,
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Text content is Copyright (October) 2016 Brian G. Philbin