#Charles Paris

[chernobog13]

Cover artists: Jack Burnley - #20, 23 & 27 (both with Charles Paris); Win Mortimer - #54.

I love these early World's Finest Comics covers with Superman and Robin messing with each other (sometimes with an assist from Batman).

This was the period before Superman and Batman and Robin actually teamed-up inside the book, which was an anthology title, but they shared every single cover. The covers usually showed the three pals having fun playing baseball, or basketball, skiing, going to the swimming hole, or other activities boys liked to do.

Inside Superman and Batman (with Robin) had solo stories, along with whatever other characters were featured.

It wasn't until Superman (vol. 1 ) #76 (May, 1952) that Superman and Batman actually met in a comic book story, and accidentally learned each other's secret identity at the same time.

And they wouldn't begin teaming-up in World's Finest Comics for another two years, in #71 (July-August, 1954). As a cost saving measure, the book's page count was cut, along with the anthology format. The editors decided to put their most popular characters together in the one story there was room for, and a tradition was born. The Superman-Batman team-ups would, except for a short period around issue #200, be the format of the book until it was cancelled in 1986 with issue #323.

[splooosh]

“The Claws of the Catwoman”

Bob Kane - Charles Paris

[mudwerks]

(via House of Mystery #1 - 1st issue - Pencil Ink)

Cover by Win Mortimer and Charles Paris.

[cantsayidont]

September 1954. DETECTIVE COMICS #211 was Catwoman's last appearance until 1966, which she celebrated by throwing Batman over a waterfall (though not without secretly leaving him the means to free himself). She got away at the end, too.

[frankensteinical]

Frankenstein Friday: It doesn't get much better than this. In the May, 1948 issue of Detective Comics, in a story called "The True Story of Frankenstein," by Bob Kane and Charles Paris, Frankenstein meets Batman and Robin. It's a time-travel plot-device story, and really all very amiable and silly, but still: Batman and Robin and the Frankenstein Monster in the same panel! What 11-year-old boy in 1948 didn't want to see that?

[tomoleary]

Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris - Batman #157 (1963)

[frenchcurious]

World's Finest Comics #30 (DC, 1947) Jack Burnley and Charles Paris cover. - source Heritage Auctions

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Ngl, it is pretty funny that lately my mystery listens are Paul Temple and Charles Paris, because it's like this:

Paul Temple: writes mystery novels. Has a good sleeping and a good writing schedule. Doesn't experience writer's block. He's married to another writer and they are a very loving, mutually supportive, drama free couple. Sometimes they get to investigate murders together. This is a drama series.

Charles Paris: alcoholic actor. Every time he gets a job, someone dies. Estranged from his wife for years because of his alcohol and cheating problem. Tries several times to quit being a stupid cheater, with different degrees of success. He gets injured often. His daughter Juliet is a mess in a complete different way and a headache inducing worry for both him and his wife. This is a comedy series.

[browsethestacks]

Brave And The Bold: Metal Men (1964/1966)

Art by Ramon Fradon / Ramona Fradon And Charles Paris

[eliah]

[comicbookbrain]

Worlds Finest #20, Winter 1945

Art by Jack Burnley, inks by Charles Paris

[nerds-yearbook]

In 1990, DC Comics released an experimental graphic novel in that it used 3-D technology. Batman 3-D (it has been listed as both 3D and 3-D, cover date December, 1990) featured a new story by John Byrne, a rare 3-D tale (from Batman 3-D 1#, 1953) and a pin-up gallery. ("Ego Trip", "The Robot Robbers!", Batman 3-D, Comic, Event)

[splooosh]

“World’s Finest”

[magnetoisnotahappybunny]

I don't think Erik was hiding the ring in his other hand, I think the chess piece was the ring.

[cantsayidont]

February 1955. My personal favorite of the various minor recurring characters of the Batman stories of the 1950s is Brane Taylor, the blonde Batman of the 31st Century, who appeared twice: first in a story in BATMAN #67 in 1951, and again in DETECTIVE COMICS #216 in early 1955.

As explained in the above page from the latter story, Brane first traveled back to Batman and Robin's era to enlist Dick Grayson's help after his own Robin (Brane's unnamed redheaded nephew) was injured fighting a space pirate called Yerxa. Robin's recollection above makes it sound a bit more glamorous than that earlier adventure actually ended up being for him — you see, Brane got both of them sent to space-prison!

If that last panel looks familiar, that's because it's a pretty direct swipe from a scene in the film DESTINATION MOON, which came out in 1950, not long before Bill Finger wrote this story. (That image appeared in promotional stills and posters, which I assume penciller Dick Sprang referenced.) In any event, Brane and Robin had to endure a lot of very miserable manual labor "in the mine pits of Vulcan" before they figured out how Yerxa was stealing the Vulcanite (a "new element" that when combined with glass "concentrates the sun's heat to an unbelievable degree!"). Afterward, Dick used Brane's time machine to bring Bruce Wayne to the 31st Century to help thwart Yerxa's attempt to reveal that Brane Taylor was Batman.

Oh, "scientific massage-treatment," huh? Is that what they're calling it now? The "one difference" between them, by the way, is that Brane is slightly taller than Bruce Wayne, something that will indeed become relevant later.

Brane's earlier appearance had implied that he was a bit more of a fop than Bruce Wayne, and during his time in the 20th Century, he keeps flirting with Vicki Vale, something that immediately makes her suspicious:

Brane also comes across as a bit of a doofus, although part of his problem is that he's largely unfamiliar with the 20th Century (which is ancient history for him), and Robin keeps nagging him not to use his various futuristic gadgets, especially around Vicki:

Sometimes, of course, he has no alternative:

By this time, Brane's "scientific massage" has worked wonders, and Bruce Wayne is back in action. However, Vicki is not satisfied:

Honestly, he's lucky Vicki didn't break out the phrenology calipers.

There's a common misconception that the monsters, weird aliens, and strange transformations that began to dominate the Batman strip around 1957 were a huge departure from what had come before, but the truth is that Batman stories had incorporated a fair number of fantastical elements since the very beginning. What changed in the late 1950s and early 1960s was that those elements became too frequent and too rote to really be fun anymore. Earlier stories like the Brane Taylor adventures are also pretty out there, but there's an imagination and energy that editor Jack Schiff (though reportedly much better to work for than tyrannical Superman group editor Mort Weisinger) didn't know how to sustain when this kind of material became the rule rather than the exception for Batman and Robin.

[jonmoxleys]