Welcome back bat-believers to “Creator Spotlight”. Zach here again, and this time I will be tackling a further look into the career of a true architect of comics, the unforgettable artist, Jim Aparo.
Jim Aparo is one of those artists that will never be forgotten. He was truly a master at his craft. There is no debate over the man’s talent, but his influence on the character of Batman is absolutely astounding.
Jim Aparo began his career around 1966 at Charlton Comics. While at Charlton Comics, Aparo was distinctly remembered for being extremely versatile and working in many different genres. Aparo was also recognized to be one of the few artists who would pencil, ink, and letter all of his own work. After several years at Charlton, former editor of Charlton Comics, Dick Giordano offered Aparo a job and DC Comics. Aparo’s early DC work included such titles as Aquaman and Phantom Stranger. A few years later, Aparo was handed the gig to do the artwork on The Brave and the Bold, in which he began at issue one-hundred. Aparo worked consistently on the title until issue two-hundred, which was the final issue of the series due to cancellation. While working on The Brave and the Bold, Aparo also worked on several other DC titles including a brief time on Detective Comics. However, Aparo’s unforgettable Batman work was yet to come.
Following the cancellation of The Brave and the Bold series in 1983, Aparo and writer Mike W. Barr (future creator spotlight) co-creator what would be called the series, Batman and the Outsiders. Many of the Outsiders that we see in today’s comics, originated from this series. The series initially ran 47 issues from 1983 to 1987. However, Batman left the title after issue 32 and the name was changed to Adventures of the Outsiders. Of course, the Outsiders would later return to comics and receive their own title. During Aparo’s run on the book, Batman played a significant role. Batman even revealed his true identity to the Outsiders during the Aparo run. The stories often revolved themselves around Batman and the team globe-trotting around the world on rescue missions. While the stories were often quite quirky, these remain extremely enjoyable and presented the reader with Batman stories that were quite different from the others at the time. It is also important to note that Aparo worked on the title consistently up until issue 21, with brief absences.
With Outsiders wrapping up, Aparo return to the bat-verse and began working on the titles Batman and Detective Comics once again. By this point in Aparo’s career, he had stopped inking all of his penciled work and, most of Aparo’s work was inked by Mike DeCarlo from this point forward. Aparo worked on Detective Comics consistently from issue 518 to issue 522. However, Aparo would return and work on issue 627 of Detective Comics, which marked the 600th appearance of Batman in the title. He would also work on his final issues of Detective Comics, which would be issues 641 and 716.
During his entire career, Aparo ended up working on a total of 35 issues of Detective Comics from 1972 to 1997.
As I mentioned earlier, and as you all know, Aparo worked on the Batman main series often from 1977 to 1998. Aparo made some major contributions to some major storylines including; The Knightfall Saga, A Lonely Place of Dying, and A Death in the Family.
Many consider A Death in the Family to be Aparo’s most recognized work. The storyline appeared in the issues of Batman from 426 to 429. The story was written by Jim Starlin and revolves around Batman and Robin, then Jason Todd, finding out who Jason’s mother is, and hunting down the Joker in the Middle East. This is also the story in which the Joker beats Jason to death with a crowbar. This storyline would change Batman comics forever. Aparo stands out in this storyline because his pencils appear to be absolutely matchless.
The thing that I will always remember about Jim Aparo was the raw energy that he brought to his pages that so many other artists were and are unable to do. During A Death in the Family, he is able to take one of the most gruesome moments in comics and transform it into a beautifully rendered page. His characters seemed alive and in constant motion. His pages were also perfectly detailed; the backgrounds were never left untouched. He was a master of creating depth within a panel.
Unfortunately, Mr. Aparo passed away in July of 2005. While he has gone, his impact on the comics industry has and never will leave. He will be truly missed.
And that concludes our second installment of Creator Spotlight, which was on the truly unbelievable Jim Aparo. He was truly a master of the craft. Check out the blog for the next Creator Spotlight which will be on Alan Grant. Tune in next time, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Blog.
Posted by Zach
Synopsis: Aquaman takes the family, Mera and Jr. for a road trip vacation but not without a little side action hero’s style along the way.
The teasers reveals Batman pairing up with the World War I fighter pilot “Enemy Ace” to take on an alien monster who’s helping the enemy with the aid of a laser type cannon.
Holiday rooooooooooad. It’s Aquaman meets the Griswold’s as the family of 3 hits the road RV style for some long overdue R & R. This episode follows the family across land as they try some time away from the crime fighting life but not if Aquaman can help it. Each stop his itching for getting some bad guys grows more and more. Along the trip he encounters and aids the likes of Green Arrow, Blue Beetle, and of course the Caped Crusader all while trying to keep it hush hush with his wife Mera. In the end the king of the ocean must take on the (so to speak) flightless bird the Penguin (his first appearance in BTBTB) in the risk of his family, Batman, and his own demise! Over all a very fun episode, I would have liked to see Flash, or even Superman thrown in. They did show Smallville on the map as they were trotting around the country, so maybe the Man of Steel is in things to come? A couple observations; Aquaman in BTBTB reminds of me of Kelsey Grammar as “Frasier”, anyone see the resemblance? And I did notice one throwback to the 1983 cult classic National Lampoons Vacation “Windows up!” All in all a great episode and great quality of a story!!
BTBTB: Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure:
Reviewed by rhine1784
From all of us at The Batman Universe, we wish you a Merry Christmas! We hope that you spend time with loved ones and receive the gifts you really wanted. As you head to family and friends houses today to celebrate the holidays, please stay safe.
Batman sings?
Posted by Dustin
Who would have ever thought that super heroes helped Santa deliver gifts? Actually in the DCU it makes sense that they do with all of the problems in the world. From DC Comics Holiday Special 2008
Posted by Dustin
What is Kevin Smith doing? That was exactly what I was thinking as I read Batman: The Widening Gyre number three. Just like The Unseen miniseries, the Widening Gyre is unable to keep the momentum from issue two into issue three. And, Walter Flanagan isn’t getting any better.
While Kevin Smith seems to be writing an original piece of storytelling, I find myself wondering where it is all going. Smith seems to have a much different agenda with this book then he had when he recreated such characters as Daredevil or Green Arrow. It seems with Batman, Smith likes to tell little clever stories that can be considered humorous. The Widening Gyre seems to be one of those stories, a book with little consequences. Issue three still does not give us a clear definition of where this story is going. We find Batman’s life in the hands of Cornelius Stirk, when Robin shows up and takes care of the situation. We then cut to a dull written conversation between Batman and Robin; this is where Smith should make up for the “cloudy” plot. Instead, the book’s dialogue is rather boring. The story also continues the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Silver St. Cloud. I am still not quite sure what her purpose is yet, but I’m sure this will be explained before this arc is over. We also learn the name of the other caped crusader, Baphomet. We learn that this caped goat is someone who worships Batman and only wishes to help out. Again, I don’t see what role his character is really playing in this story. He appears when Batman needs assistance dealing with a B-level villain apparently. Aquaman also appears in the issue as Bruce’s “Justice League Crony”, who is shocked to find that Bruce has found a companion who is getting close. This story arc in general just isn’t doing anything for me. I feel that Smith’s best days are clearly behind him. However, I am still curious to see where all of this is going.
The mediocre story is one thing; the artwork is something of its own. Walter Flanagan continues his struggles to draw the bat-family. His art is also becoming much more distracting, inconsistencies are noticeable on every panel in the issue. He has no understanding of the character’s body proportions. Batman is drawn as a big brute in one panel, and drawn as a little midget in another. This book severely suffers because of Flanagan’s artwork.
I find it interesting that the bat-books that do contain Bruce Wayne in them, are far less interesting then the books with Dick Grayson as Batman. This is a miniseries that I just do not see serving a real purpose. If you are a Kevin Smith fan, I would suggest that you read this book. This issue, like most of Smith’s work, hinged on the dialogue, and it wasn’t up to snuff. I thought the story was written very flat and we all know that Walter Flanagan isn’t going surprise anyone. I think that this book just has a poor creative team behind it, and I do not know that things are going to change.
Batman: The Widening Gyre #3:
Reviewed by Zfactor
Closing out the day with news is a post from Philip Tan. It comes from his Twitter page:
..so how about some Outsiders teaser?! 
someone's back, and this time, he's not one of the good guys!!! O__o
Could it be Aquaman who will find himself in the Outsider's series?
Posted by Dustin
So another Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode has aired. Wait. Did it? No, you are not looking at your screen and thinking you missed it. Actually, if you live in the UK, a frequent internet user, or went to San Diego Comic Con, you probably have already saw the episode. But nonetheless, the episode officially airs tonight at 7:30 PM EST. Warner Bros. sent us over a clean version of the episode to review ahead of time so that we could get you hyped about it. We mentioned during the podcast after SDCC that the episode was way better than expected. So let’s hear from Tiggebrown and Josh and see what they thought of the episode. First up is Tiggerbrown’s review:
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Mayhem of the Music Meister
Holy Pirouettes Bat-fans; Batman is starring in a musical! When BTBTB first started, there was a lot of trepidation that a return to the campy, psychedelic tone of the 60’s would undo the respect the character has attained since BTAS. However, after the first several episodes, even the darkest of fans found moments they enjoyed. True, the show doesn’t take itself too seriously, but there is no doubt that the integrity of the character is upheld and most importantly respected. While at first we hardcore fans thought the creators of the series were thumbing their noses at us, we realized that the keepers of the cowl just wanted us to lighten up a little, laugh at ourselves, and maybe have some fun.
So with show having achieved a level of acceptance among the Batman fan-base, we are asked to take this acceptance to a new level: Batman the musical. The idea of a dramatic show attempting a musical episode may seem outrageous, but it’s been attempted before; Buffy the Vampire Slayer being the most notable to genre fans. But how could Batman, the darkest of superheroes possibly translate to a Broadway style interpretation? Well you know what; it works.
The premise of the episode is that a villain called the Music Meister can use his singing voice to control the minds of anyone who is in ear shot. He of course wants to take over the world, and of course is stopped by the Dark Knight. Nothing extraordinary to be sure, but what makes this episode special is the phenomenal production value and the formatting of the episode as a three act musical play. Each act has one or two featured songs and production numbers that drive the narrative. There is even a curtain that opens and closes at the beginning and end of each act.
The first act has Gorilla Grodd, Black Manta, and Clock King about to be stopped from sabotaging a satellite by Aquaman, Green Arrow and Black Canary. Music Meister takes control of all of them, and forces them to battle Batman. The “West Side Story” fight choreography was hilarious. The main song, sung by actor Neil Patrick Harris as the Music Meister is classic Broadway, and although I’ve never been a fan of the genre, I found myself humming the tune long after the show was over. The choice of Harris as the Meister is inspired casting, especially for genre fans who watched the former Doogie Howser in Dr. Horrible.
My favorite song of the episode is from Act 2, “Drives us Bats”. Music Meister vents amongst all the villains of Arkham how Batman always thwarts their evil plans. “No super powers, just a flying rat. Good thing there’s Arkham, he drives us bats.” Michael Jelenic, who along with producer James Tucker wrote the lyrics and Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter, and Michael McCuistion composed the music, give us a quality that is first rate. Honest, if this was a traditional animated musical you might be looking at a music Emmy here.
The story is simple as I mentioned before, but the sub-plot love triangle between Music Meister, Black Canary and Batman added some intensity to the drama. Black Canary’s love song to Batman and her darker toned “Death Trap” while captured in act 3 are very well performed. Voice actress Grey Delisle has an incredible voice. And not to spoil the ending, but although the love struck Canary is spurned by the Caped Crusader, she does find romance with a certain green masked archer.
So the question I know you are asking yourself is, does Batman sing and dance? Very appropriately he is played very straight amongst the frolicking. Only to save the situation at the end of the final act does he briefly use his vocal chords, enhanced with a “Bat auto tuning amplifier”. He goats a hypnotized Black Canary to use her Canary cry to ruin the Meister’s nefarious plan. And for trivia sake it isn’t Deidrich Bader singing in that scene; it is actor Jeff Bennett (Creeper in BTAS, and Ragdoll in The Batman).
I admit I am one of those fans who prefer Batman dark. But I watched this with an open mind and really enjoyed it. The effort put into this episode was extraordinary and I respect the desire of the creators to try something new. Now I definitely think once was enough, but I am surprisingly giving Mayhem of the Music Meister………
Moving on to Josh’s review:
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Mayhem of the Music Meister
Every now and then, there is an episode of a television series that will inevitably come up whenever the show is discussed at length. “Mayhem of the Music Meister” will become that episode for “Batman: The Brave and the Bold”. The show pulled all the stops here and the ending result was a masterpiece worthy exceeding everyone’s skeptical expectations.
The premise is simple and fun. Neil Patrick Harris, who shines in every role he plays, voices the Music Meister who controls the free will of others by singing. His origin is simple and explained in a verse of his opening song “I’m the Music Meister”, which will be in your head for the rest of the week. It’s up to Batman, along with Green Arrow, Aquaman, and Black Canary, to stop him.
Highlights include the “Death Trap” musical sequence which has callbacks to the 1960’s “Batman” series. Fans of that series will also notice a reference to “shark repellent spray”. We get some Broadway musical cliché’s, such as the Black Canary love ballad “If Only”, which turns out really good despite the danger of being cheesy. There is nothing more visually amusing than a superheroine in fishnets singing a love ballad while knocking villains off a rooftop.
Batman fans young and old will enjoy this. As an experiment I decided to watch this with two children and gage their reaction. They were singing the songs for the rest of the night and reenacting the scenes. Batman and musicals don’t sound like something that would go together, but this episode should win over the non-believers. Overall, I give it….
So overall, they both agree and I have to say that I agree along with them. This show has been a pleasant surprise from the very beginning. Even though when the musical episode was first announce, I cringed, this was very enjoyable. I think that this will in fact be the series that my children will watch when I am introducing them to Batman.
Posted by Dustin