I came across this ersatz tale in a bin of retro comics a few weeks ago. The connection was instant - as soon as I saw that spectacular Neal Adams cover, with those Batman Revenge Squad costumes, I was sold. Seriously, why hasn't anyone (Grant Morrison) brought these guys back? Am I the only one who thinks those costumes are beyond fuggin' amazing?!Seriously, take a good look at those supervillainous duds. Not only are they incredibly pleasing on an aesthetic level, they are also brilliant inversions of the Batsuit, by far the most intimate, recognizable and, indeed, essential extension of Batman's crime-fighting brand. The shadowy grays and blacks Batman wears to conceal his identity as a privileged billionaire are changed to a brazen, decidedly aristocratic purple, the color of royalty. The Bat-symbol, the semiotic distillation of Batman's essence, the iconic image on which his entire brand is based (itself the stylized outline of a bat, the appropriation of a frightening harbinger into a heroic beacon) is transformed into a winged skull, a gliding personification of death. His gloves, full of diverse hidden gadgets like Bat-tasers and launching fin blades, become purely physical gauntlets - the reduction of Batman's comprehensive mastery-of-all-trades into one savage, brute fist (one reason why Bane remains such a compelling Batman foe).
The individuals behind the suits are certainly an interesting bunch, ones that you immediately want to see in action as soon as they're introduced. I'm still floored by the fact that, in this Nostalgic Age of Comics, no one has dug this Batman Revenge Squad concept back up. The closest thing I can think of are Morrison's Three Ghosts of Batman.
These anti-Batmen are absolutely rife with storytelling potential. Imagine if they were recast as Batman-wannabees, resentful of the Dark Knight's paragon status. Why should this one man be the sole exemplar of peak human perfection, the sole realization of human potential? What about the rest of us? So, after years of training - perhaps during the period of illogical comic book time where Batman raises a shit-ton of Robins and Batgirls - these men train and train and train. They become just as skilled, just as determined, just as knowledgeable, just as obsessed, just as wealthy (maybe? While his fortune affords him the bat-gadgets and brand iconography, we all know even without it Bruce Wayne would have become Batman) as our hero. But while the underlying motivation of "Batman" is undeniably positive, that of the Revenge Squad is narcissistic, self-consciously neurotic and destructive, so although they may give the Caped Crusader quite a run for his money, they will inevitably fail. I think that's a story worth being told...BUT ENOUGH FANWANKERY.
The story, scripted by Leo Dorfman, is pretty forgettable...which is probably why it was forgotten. '68 was a weird period in the development of superhero comics; the industry was starting to eschew the zany, campy, waaay out-there sci-fi trappings that defined the Silver Age, but had not yet reached the more "grounded maturity" of the Bronze Age.
World's Finest #175 occurs during a friendly annual competition between Superman and Batman. The Superman Revenge Squad - a group of minor recurring Superman foes during the Silver Age - teams up with the newly-formed Batman Revenge Squad to sabotage the games and defeat their enemies. Robin and Jimmy Olsen catch on to the Squads' behind-the-scenes meddling and tip off the heroes, who break into the villains' lair and apprehend them with little fuss. Not exactly Melville. Not even on par with other comics of the time - Lee and Kirby had given Captain America his solo series just one month earlier, for instance.
And yet - damn those costumes! - I simply can't condemn ol' 175 to the trash heap. LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE NEAL ADAMS!!!!!!!
What's the story behind ol' baldy on the left? Is it, that just like his much maligned archnemesis Lex Luthor, that the hair really does make the man?
ReplyDeleteThey're all part of the Superman Revenge Squad, a group of aliens who banded together to, well, get revenge on Superman. They wear Superman costumes with Kryptonite-lined S-symbols and they shaved their heads in honor of Lex Luthor, whom they worship. It's an interesting development in the man vs. god dynamic that permeates Superman stories; the megalomaniac Luthor's desire to become a God realized, his apostles hell-bent on destroying the greatest blasphemy against his Gospel - a God wanting to become a man.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest things about both squads is that while their modus operandi is basically to defeat the Big S and the Bat, they still model their outfits after their oppressors.
ReplyDeleteThat's like if the Rebels decided to wear Vader cosplay.