the comics of my youth

I'm starting a new series of blog posts which highlight my favorite comics growing up. This should be pretty fun, especially when we get to the Image Comics years. Looking back at these comics from the late-'80s thru the '90s can be difficult when you consider how bad some of them were (again some Image Comics come to mind). All I can say is ignorance is bliss. One other thing, I don't know if showing some pages from these old comics is copyright infringement or whatever. I like to think of it as free advertising for the comic companies. Buy DC comics! Buy Marvel Comics! Just buy comics new and old! There hopefully that makes it better...

One comic I own that I'm not ashamed of is Detective Comics #612 (March 1990). This comic was one of my earliest Batman comics that I recall buying. I remember picking it off the rack at the good ol' ShopRite grocery store. I must have read/flipped through it about ten times that day.

First off, here is the summary of the issue:
Batman is out preventing an old lady from getting mugged when he discovers that there is a tiger loose! The runaway tiger is a Siberian Tiger that belongs to Thomas Blake (aka Catman). Upon finding the empty cage, Catman begins his search for his pet. The tiger somehow manages to get to the top of a huge skyscraper(don't ask me how), where an unlucky would-be thief becomes cat food. Batman and Catman both here the thief's scream and head for the building. Catman somehow gets the upper hand on Batman, and sits back to watch Batman try to tame the tiger without his utility belt!! No chance of using that handy tiger repellent! Catwoman shows up out of the blue and tosses Catman off the roof. She then sits back to watch Batman vs. the tiger, mesmerized by both the cat and the Bat. Batman eventually is able to knock the tiger unconscious. Catwoman takes off, the cops apprehend the tiger, end of story. Short and sweet.


I had some exposure to Batman comics earlier than this, but this one grabbed me for a couple reasons. First and foremost was the art. I loved Norm Breyfogle's Batman. Looking back, it isn't the most amazing art ever, but it is interesting and dynamic to me. Breyfogle was good at showing Batman's athleticism and drew some great fight scenes.

Another thing that I liked about this issue was Catman. This was the first I had heard of Catman. While they don't explain much about him in this one-issue story, it doesn't really matter when you are 11 years old. He looked cool, I liked his costume colors. That was enough for me.

The story by Alan Grant was simple, which might have been another reason I was so fond of it. Reading it again today, it has the feel of an episode of Batman: The Animated Series.



Estimated Original Rating: 9 out of 10

New Rating: 9 out of 10. This comic just holds a lot of sentimental value for me. I still love it just as much today.

Original Cover Price: $1
Current Value on ComicsPriceGuide.com: $3 NM condition