#Lew Schwartz

[cantsayidont]

October-November 1950. Loath as I am to admit it, I'm with the Joker here — a march in 1950 was pretty corny, although in compensation, this story from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #48 has an imaginative plot (with some of Bill Finger's most over-the-top narration) and an ingenious death trap involving a gigantic carillon:

The use of the musical notes and sound effects is clever, and makes this story feel all the more like something from the 1966 BATMAN TV show (it's easy to imagine William Dozier reading the narration), but Lew Sayre Schwartz, ghosting for Bob Kane during this period, doesn't have Dick Sprang's flair for giant props or elaborate scenery; the photo references are distractingly obvious and don't fit stylistically with the figure work. It seems like the artist also struggled a little with the script's unusual storytelling demands, especially in panels 3 and 4, where what Batman is doing with the board and the window is none too clear.

If Sprang had penciled this story, it might have been a classic, but alas, comics writers and artists of this period didn't have much say over who drew which script, and direct dialogue between writer and artist was generally rare at National-DC well into the 1970s.

[edward-nb]

Red Hood Comparisons

The original 1951 version by Lew Sayre Schwartz and George Roussos:

"Nyah-hah-hah! Gaze upon me in FEAR, World's Greatest DEFECTIVE and Boy BLUNDER! You can search for a thousand years and NEVER find my true identity!!!"

The remake by Mike Mignola:

"Bro I am literally just hanging out"

[okkultmotionpictures]

Excerpts: BEECH-NUT LIFESAVERS Commercial by Fred Mogubgub (1966)

'Beech-nut LIfesavers' is a commecial created by Fred Mogubgub (1928–1989), an influential figure in the world of animation and painting, particularly known for his contributions to the pop art movement during the 1960s in New York City. His career gained significant momentum when he co-founded Ferro, Mogubgub and Schwartz in 1961 alongside designer Pablo Ferro and Lew Schwartz. However, Mogubgub's creative ambitions led him to leave the company in 1964 to establish his own firm, Mogubgub, Ltd.

Mogubgub's artistic style is characterized by its rapid, staccato jump-cuts—an innovative blend of cartoons and photographs that flash across the screen, creating an effect that could be likened to subliminal advertising. His work, which often featured iconic American objects, was celebrated for its ability to capture the essence of American pop culture in a unique and engaging way. Among his notable commercial clients were Ford, Coca-Cola, and Life Savers, with his creations leaving a lasting impression on audiences due to their memorable and distinctive style.

His commercial work was groundbreaking, and several of Mogubgub's films have been recognized by the Museum of Modern Art for their innovative approach to animation and advertising. One of his most famous pop artworks was a large-scale sign erected in Manhattan in 1965, provocatively asking, "Why Doesn't Someone Give Mogubgub Ltd. Two Million Dollars to Make a Movie?" This piece reflected Mogubgub's bold and creative spirit, showcasing his ability to blend art with advertising in unprecedented ways.

Mogubgub's work extended beyond commercial advertisements to include underground short films that merged animation, illustration, and live action. One of his notable films, "The Pop Show" (1966), featured Gloria Steinem and demonstrated Mogubgub's adeptness at navigating the avant-garde film scene. Despite his significant contributions, Mogubgub's name is often omitted from discussions on avant-garde and experimental film from the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, his films were included in underground screenings, such as the 1970 New York Underground Film Festival, highlighting his role in the experimental film movement.

Fred Mogubgub passed away in 1989 at the age of 61 from bone cancer. Despite his death, his creative legacy continues to inspire animators and filmmakers, illustrating the enduring impact of his work on both the commercial and artistic realms of animation and pop art​.

| Hosted at: Internet Archive | Full Video Download: MPEG4

‘The EXCERPTS series by OKKULT Motion Pictures transforms images from open source films of important historical and artistic merit into the internet drug we’ve come to love: GIFs!’ (Vice)

(Thanks to archive.org)

[kstarlitchaotics]

According to the 1976 DC Super Calendar, July 11th marks the day the classic transformation of the Joker occurred, first appearing in Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz, and Win Mortimer’s “The Man Behind the Red Hood!”, published in 1951’s Detective Comics #168.

One of the things that makes Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, and Bob Kane’s Joker character so chaotic is the mystery behind him, not knowing for certain much of his background. Although modern DC comic books showcase his most accepted origin story in Alan Moore's 1988 one shot “Batman: The Killing Joke”, as Joker says in the graphic novel, "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!". In 1976, however, DC released a super calendar filled with birthdays and important events for most if not all of the DC Multiverse, including facts about the Clown Prince of Crime. One being that on this day in 1951, dressed as the Red Hood, he escapes the Batman by diving into a chemical waste vat, emerging with white skin and green hair, forever transformed into The Joker. Although this calendar is in Pre-Crisis (on Infinite Earths) era, with the character's background barely known or confirmed, these are one of the few aspects DC has set in stone in its long history. 🃏📚

Where it all began 🦇

[scotianostra]

29th August 1999 saw the death of Lew Schwarz, the Scottish TV scriptwriter.

Lew was born in Glasgow on April 16th, 1926, the son of an optician, and educated at the St Aloysius Jesuit College, graduating to the Holyrood Secondary Modern School.

On leaving school he took a job at the Clyde shipyards as a riveter. In 1944 he joined the RAF as a flight engineer and flew Lancaster bombers over Germany. After the war he returned to Scotland, furthering his education at Glasgow University before moving to London in the 1950s. There he took on a job as a taxi driver, married Margaret Glen of Airdrie, and in due time fathered three sons and two daughters.

It was while driving his taxi that Schwarz sold his first few comedy gags. Always a fan of radio-show comedy, he sent his samples to Richard Murdoch, then starring with Kenneth Horne in Much Binding In The Marsh, The Forces Show, and other prominent BBC series. Murdoch bought them, thus starting Schwarz on a career which would soon spread from spare time to full time.

It was through his taxi-driving that Schwarz encountered Spike Milligan, writer and star of The Goon Show. They got to chatting about comedy and Milligan invited Schwarz to come up to the office he and some writer friends used as a base. This was situated over a greengrocer's shop in Shepherd's Bush, not far from the BBC Television studios. Schwarz was delighted to meet Milligan's partners in laughter: Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, Ray Galton, and Alan Simpson, all great names in comedy creation

Joining the group as a gag writer, Schwarz was taken on as a partner by another big name in comedy, Eric Merriman. Together they wrote their first TV series, Great Scott - It's Maynard! This starred two popular stand-up comedians, Terry Scott, who frequently played an overgrown schoolboy, and Bill Maynard, not yet the chunky character he would become. The show mixed short sketches with situation comedy, aThe Charlie Drake Shownd was a great success. In the 50′s he also wrote episodes of

Lew went on to write a host of other shows, The Army Game, Mess Mates and The Dick Emery Show in the 60′s as well as scripting 3 episodes of The Andy Stewart Show.

In the 70′s he wrote scripts for Harry Secombe, Dave Allen and Norman Wisdom, as well as writing for Carry on Laughing and the popular sitcom The Liver Birds, which Schwarz originated with Carla Lane. Schwartz also penned some mainstream drama like Crown Court, Crossroads and an episode of Space;1999.

Closing his comedy career teaching creative writing at an adult educational college, Schwarz wrote a book, The Craft of Writing TV comedy. He summed up his career thus: ''Writing comedy for television is a very serious business.''

[batmannotes]

Key Batman Comic Up for Auction at Hake’s

If you’re looking for a next-level collectible, you aren’t gonna find it at Walmart, or on eBay, or even at most conventions. You’re gonna have to go the auction house route. Fortunately, in this new era of global fandom, the breadth of items coming up to auction on a daily basis is incredible. The new Hake’s auction, ending July 27-28, has a wide variety of graded comics and original art up for bidding, at a range of starting prices. Here is one of the expected top earners.

Detective Comics #168 (1st Red Hood Appearance)

Item Description

DC. First appearance of the Red Hood identity. Origin of The Joker ("The Man Behind The Red Hood"). Bill Finger story. Lew Sayre Schwartz cover and art w/additional art by Dan Barry and Bruno Premiani. Off-white to white pages. Key Golden Age Batman comic.

Bid at Hake’s website here.

[sharlmbracta]

Kanye West - Selah (Mario animation)

- Original from Choreography by Talia Favia ft Kaycee Rice

2nd animation that I've fully created from start to finish!

(youtube link for high quality video)

I wanted to challenge myself by attempting to animate a complex dance choreography with his peculiar body proportions, and I really learned a lot about movement and especially about weight shifting while doing so!

Him performing this choreography can be interpreted to about his fight with/for the powers that were given to him, the previous powers of his own, and his power of will. Perhaps it would make him release, with the conflict between his self as a person, and his self as an icon, representative, machine. The end can be interpreted as having a strong grip on himself again, reclaiming himself... but whatever.

Hopefully he can deliver some sort of sentimental impact to some extent despite the peculiarity of the content itself 🤣✨️

============================

Progress and sources below the cut

Progress:

23.02.19. ~ 23.02.21. - fixed downloaded mesh errors, body rigging done. 23.02.21. ~ 23.03.03. - all dance movements (rigid, superficial, no depth) done. high resolution test render 1. (back to college starting from 23.03.02. less time spent on animation.) 23.03.03. ~ 23.03.13. - stylizing and smoothing animation 80% done. face rigging done. facial animation done. 23.03.19. ~ 23.03.22. - created and adjusted stage and stage lighting. 23.03.26. - added squash and stretch. low resolution test render 2. separated view layers and data passes for compositing. 23.03.27. ~ 23.03.29. - compositing done. low resolution test render 3 for checking post-production lighting issues. 23.03.31. - adjusted shaders and post-production lighting. 23.04.01. - full resolution final render start. 23.04.10. ~ 23.04.11. - render finished (3926 frames). final color adjustments to outputted video. added intro description and watermark. uploaded video.

==============================

Music used: Kanye West - Selah

Original choreography video: Kanye West - Selah - Choreography by Talia Favia ft Sean Lew, Kaycee Rice, Courtney Schwartz filmed by Tim Milgram

Model used (no rig, only the mesh and materials): "Mario from Super Mario Odyssey" uploaded by Elite 3D

Texture used: Wooden floor texture

Everything else is created by myself, with blender.

The eyelashes and the top hair sprout is made by me, as they weren't in the model.

Rigging and animating done with blender 2.81

Shading, compositing, post-processing and rendering done with blender 3.41

he is so cute

[jedivoodoochile]

Happy birthday to actress Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962), Bill Finger and Bob Kane’s visual inspiration for the Batman character Vicki Vale. Debuting in Finger, Kane, and Lew Sayre Schwartz’ “The Scoop of the Century!” (1948’s Batman #49), Vale is a brilliant reporter for the Gotham Gazette with her sights on Gotham City's Batman, all the while running into Bruce Wayne and becoming quite smitten. A common theme seen within the Caped Crusader’s eight decade filled love life, however, is the woman attracted to Bruce are more captivated by the Dark Knight.

[loopyarts]

Yes yes thousands times yes you get it and I wholeheartedly agree with you. 👏👏👏

Here mate let me give you a few more examples of them seeing each other as father and son. It honestly baffles me how people think this is somehow a modern concept to their relationship. That some folks even imply that DC in the modern day is making them this way because of heteronormative means and American nuclear family values. Or in an attempt to erase a deep male friendship or the original intention of them being brothers and that they were never supposed to be read as father and son which is simply isn’t true.

Seriously shot me, like I went out of my way to fact check just to make sure that I wasn’t second guessing myself. Like here is the truth about them they were always all three dammit bestie/brothers/father/son this is how they always were. 👏👏👏

The Trial of Bruce Wayne.”Batman #57 By Bill Finger, art Dick Sprang and Charles Paris released in 1950 Golden Age. Here’s an example of an outsider saying that Bruce loves that kid like he was his own son and an example of Dick saying you’re like a father to me to Bruce.

Not having father/son relationship coding in the comics they say, they're only brothers they say, they’re only partners/good friends they say. Like come on people can you not read subtext it’s right bloody there. One of the most on the nose example was from Batman #66 written by Bill finger art Bob Kane, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Charles Paris released in August-September 1951 Golden Age.

Also worth noting Bruce being an overbearing and controlling father figure at times with Dick is nothing new as well. Dick’s perfectionism and wanting to please his father figure who he idolises is something that goes way back even to his Golden Age and Silver Age version of the character.

Panels from Detective Comics #228, Written by Jack Schiff Henry Boltinoff Jack Miller art by Win Mortimer, Bob Kane, Ruben Moreira, Henry Boltinoff, Joe Certa, Ira Schnapp, editor Whitney Ellsworth released in December 20, 1955-February 1956 Golden Age.

Here’s another example of Dick acknowledging that he see Bruce like a father. Also I added the panel of Dick punching Bruce because one I thought it was funny and two he totally deserves a good socking every once in a while.

Robin’s new boss Batman #137 written by Bill Finger, art by Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris released in February, 1961 Silver Age. Bruce again saying he’s like a father to Dick.

Another example from the Silver age era is World’s Finest #195 by written by Jack Miller, Bob Haney, art by Curt Swan, Ross Andru, Howard Sherman, editors Mort Weisinger, E. Nelson Bridwell released in August 1970. Like damn even in the bloody Silver Age where they were written to be seen as brothers mostly the father/son thing still pops up.

Batman #339 by Written by Gerry Conway, Pencilers Irv Novick, Inkers Steve Mitchell, Colorists Adrienne Roy, Letterers Ben Oda, Editors Dick Giordano, Dave Manak released in September, 1981 Bronze Age. Man this comic page is so beautiful to me. Also an example of Dick seeing his mother and father within Bruce and how he sees him like a second father.

Batman #438 by Written by Marv Wolfman, Penciler Pat Broderick, Inker John Beatty, Colorist Adrienne Roy, Letterer John Costanza released in September 1989 Modern Age.

An example of Dick saying he was like a father to me and how he loves his second father despite well Bruce being mostly an ass in the Modern Age era of comics.

Batman #439 written by Marv Wolfman, art Pat Broderick and Michael Bair released in September 1989 Modern Age.

The main conflict of the adoption drama was honestly more recent than one would think. Marv Wolfman was the one who started this whole Dick not wanting Bruce as a father and that he already has a father John Grayson making it be an actually issue; when it really wasn’t beforehand. Like as I have shown in the Golden Age and Silver Age even the Bronze Age examples Dick wasn’t necessarily that shy about letting it slip every once in a while that he viewed Bruce as like a second father.

But then again Dick was a freshly traumatised young lad, when this court of custody was happening within this comic universe. But even so this blend of Bronze and Modern Age Dick still viewed Bruce as a father figure despite being so bitter and hurt by how he was treated by him in this era. A mediocre to rubbish dad is still well a dad.

But overall the father/son thing was pretty consistent in all of the eras of comics with them. Which makes sense to me after all one of Batman main cores of his character is being father/parental figure and without Robin/Dick Grayson that would have never happened.

Batman #340 by Written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas, Penciler Gene Colan, Inker Adrian Gonzales, Colorist Adrienne Roy, Letterer Ben Oda released in July 9, 1981 Bronze Age.

Slightly off topic but thank you Bronze Age Bruce. So at least in this comic it nice to know they were using an older version of the Law of Wardship. Here’s a link to a paper that dives into USA Wardship/Guardianship in the 1900s it’s a very interesting read. :3c

https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=law_faculty

Now about the brothers thing I think what has happened is that people have taken Bill finger interview from 1972 recently rediscovered in 2011 to heart. Here’s a quote from that interview ‘I thought of it in terms of … Frank Merriwell and Dick Merriwell, his half-brother, who was the kid he was taking care of. …’.

Here’s a link to the interview if care to read it for yourself. I cry because the ghost of that book author still haunts Bruce and Dick to this very day.

https://www.noblemania.com/2012/02/batman-and-robin-gay-bill-finger-said.html

But what I have noticed is that people seemed to have missed something about what he was saying. Frank Merriwell was taking care of his little half brother Dick Merriwell perhaps as a parental figure to him. I have no idea because I haven’t read the books, so I am not completely too sure myself on that front. But it would seem to me that maybe Bill was interested in the parental angle of their relationship. 🤔

Also, I do wish to say that I don’t think Bill was not completely sure on how to describe Bruce and Dick relationship. However, that doesn’t change the fact that in the comics he did write them as father/son as well.

I feel maybe when he was first starting out writing them as characters. He thought of them as Hero/sidekick, mentor/mentee, friends or just brothers but overtime he started to see them as father and son too and begin to write them as such. It is normal for a creative idea or concept of characters to change and evolve overtime as they come to understand said characters. Another thing I should say is this is just Bill perspective on things and his words are not the be all end all but that’s just me.

I also think it’s good to keep in mind that adoption for a single men was next to impossible back then and only couples and potentially single women could have adopted but that in itself was rare as well. I’m too lazy to want to go over these two adoption history so here some links to some posts about it.

I do wonder if the cause of this misinformation about them in the comics being just only good friends was caused by folks who only knew Batman and Robin from the 60s to 80s the show and cartoons where Dick in the Batman 1966 show was fifteen year old teenager rather then an 8-10 year old child and was also played an adult actor Burt ward and well of course no one was going to buy that this adult man was a teenage ward. 

In the cartoon The Adventures Of Batman at least Dick looked somewhat like a teenager but again. He was only referred to as Bruce’s ward, partner or his friend. Their relationship was the dynamic duo. Super Friends as well referred to their relationship as the dynamic duo or friends or again Bruce’s ward. 

By the 90s we finally got Dick as a child in Robin Reckoning in Batman The Animated Series which meant the father and son vibes were on full display. But still he’s just Bruce’s ward and friend but there are tie in comics which do give some content in terms of baby Robin Dick Grayson and Bruce being a father figure to him. 

And so on so on. Only the movies Batman Forever and Batman and Robin made Dick an older teen play again by an adult actor so them being just friends would be suitable. Then again cough those films are full of gay subtext and well I am not surprised by that given that the director was a gay man. But again this is an adaptation which has nothing to do with the comics and honestly is very different overall from said comics.

More modern cartoons like Teen Titans, The Batman 2004 and Young Justice. All have father and son subtext to them. Which makes sense they were more closer to the spirit of the comics overall. Teen Titans Dick Grayson even though we don’t see Batman in the show the episode called the apprentice heavily implies when he said I already have a father to be Batman given the bat imagery after it was said. 

Okay enough of the very brief history lesson on the show and cartoons of Batman. But again these are at the end of day adaptations which nothing to do with the comic canon and are in their own separate continuity from the comics. However I can see why it was easy at least back in early days to make that mistake and to think of them being father/son was somehow a new thing if they hadn’t never pick up a comic book or even read up on the golden and silver age comics overall. 

Oh another thing worth mentioning is the fact comics the Golden, Silver and Bronze Age were not fully preserved most of them were thrown away because they weren’t seen as important literature at the time and thanks to the infamous book if you know you know. Well it caused a lot of parents to throw out or burns most of their kids comic book collections which is why so many older comics of today are so rare. So with that in mind it could be that back then without a way to fact check comics through an archive or the internet, I could see how this misinformation could have been spread.

It an absolute miracle that almost all of the Golden and Silver Batman and Robin comics were preserved. Although, sadly the Bronze Age of Batman comics is still sadly missing some issues to this day.

Seriously, people have no idea how much damage that book caused and the comic code in general. It shattered the comic book industry and made most of the genres that were not superhero comics die out and even then comics were still treated like junk literature despite the code being in place which kept most comics from being seen as nothing more but a children medium for a very long time and having little to no value outside of that. Comic books fans need to thank the people from the Bronze Age era and the underground Comix movement for pushing against the code and being finally able to tell deeper and more complex stories with comics and do different types of comic book genres again overall in America again. Without that push I would say comics wouldn’t be where they’re today. 

So I will forgive all the older folks who did not know this was a thing given that most comics were throw away after said child was done reading it back then. However what I will not forgive is the ones who know this was a thing and lie about it. What so you have to gain about lying about comic book lore and history behind the characters of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.

Anyway, that was my kind of essay and my overall thoughts and opinions on the matter. 😅

"Bruce and Dick weren't always like father and son in the comics." "The idea of Bruce and Dick being like father and son came much later." "They were supposed to be like brothers, originally."

An issue from the 40's:

Batman #20, published by DC Comics in December 1943 and January 1944.

Narrator: [...] Since that day, the mutual affection between this man and the boy has been as strong as that between father and son! [...]

I'm not saying their relationship was like father and son from the very beginning since they met. They would've needed time to develop that kind of bond in-universe. And I'm not denying their relationship being similar to that of brothers as well, since they've been described like that, too. From Dick's perspective, specially, I can see why some might think calling them brothers would be more fitting.

That said, it's still incorrect to claim the writers didn't intend them to be like father and son in the first years since their first comic appearance together. It's very clear they wanted to portray that kind of relationship with them. Although, it might be more explicit from Bruce's POV, since it appears that to Dick Bruce was more of a close friend, and it took longer for him to see Bruce as a father.

Anyway, I respect any opinions on the matter. I just made this post to keep in mind what's canon in the comics.

[the-dark-au]

Hatter: Lew Sayre Schwartz

Isley: Gaiman

Riddler: Dick Sprang

Joker: Jerry Robinson, Finger

Harley: Bruce Tim, Paul Dini

Mr. Freeze: Dave Wood

————

Penguin: to be determined

Catwoman: to be determined

Two-face: To be determined

Clay face: To be determined

Scarecrow: to be determined

[littleharpethcrossfit]

Sunday, 28 January, 2024.

A raw day. The 0730 class saw 37 degrees, spitting rain, and a breeze that was not pleasant. The 1 PM class saw weather that was virtually the same. Dreary. If I didn't live here, I woulda stayed home.

Warmup

Alternating Dumb Bell Curls

Your Choice Weight

10 / 10 X 5 Sets

Not our usual warmup, but I thought that 100 DB Curls would warm up your whole body. They did.

Strength

Deadlifts: 3 Reps EMOM X 10 Minutes.

Start Light.........End At 80 To 90%.

Bernie/Nathan=335 Herb/Dyer/Dana=245 Tom=235 Lew=200 Kayla=185 Sue=155 Tripp/Elisa/Cheri/Sandy=145 Polk=125 Shannon=95 Faith & Gabby (The Kids)=28 Coach/Linda/Tim/Alicia/Angel/Zach/WG/and others=did not post

WOD

Aerobics & Sit-Ups

Equipment:

ERGs..........Try To Use 3 Different Ones

Dumb Bells..........A Pair (50 / 35 / 20)

Calories ERG.............................50/40/30/20/10

DB Mixed Grip Carry Yards...........50/50/50/50/50

Ab-Mat Sit-Ups...........................25/20/15/10/5

DB Mixed Grip Carry Yards...........50/50/50/50/50

Bernie=21:35 Faith & Gabby(The Kids)/Tripp=22:33 Elisa=24:05 Nathan=24:17 Tim=25:00 Cheri=25:09 Sue=25:10 Dana=25:51 Herb=25:55 Lew=26:20 Dyer=26:27 Kayla=26:30 Shannon=26:45 Polk=28:03 Tom=30:10 Sandy=31:22 Coach=34:45 Linda/Alicia/Angel/Zach/WG and others=no posting

Notes:

Since the total number of ERGs is 13 and we had 20 people here for the 1 PM session, the WOD became a competitive scramble for ERGs, especially the 5 Bikes. Several of you resorted to RUNNING with interesting substitutes involving mathematical equivalents for the Bike/Rower/Ski-Ergs that were beyond my 40 years remote remembrance of Algebra-Trig and Calculus. Recall that the Calories declined 50/40/30/20/10 and athletes with anoxic acidotic brains were calculating the equivalent RUNS on the fly. Afterwards, they wanted me to certify their claims to RX or ELITE.

Nobody wanted to sit around and have a beer in the cold. In fact, a few left early because they didn't want to miss the 2 pm kick-off for the NFL playoff game, and Bernie had to catch a flight to St. Louis. The Goodrich's car had a serious flat-tire, so they weren't going anywhere fast. Tripp/Faith & Gabby (The Kids) abandoned them immediately and ran home. I stayed long enough to provide extension cords for their toy compressor, but I was enjoying a Saxum and the football game before they were able to leave. I felt guilty.

The Schwartz's Bourbon Tasting and Mexican food fest was last evening. It was very popularly attended and for good reason. The Schwartz clan knows how to throw a party and you should be sorry if you missed it. HAPPENSTANCE was an unfamiliar Bourbon, but it wound up getting the top scores. The Buck's stayed to the end of the tasting contest but left before anyone was so inebriated that they were more entertaining than they normally are.

Tuesday at 4 PM.

[cantsayidont]

August-September 1951. Commissioner Gordon is stalked by Sheik Hanson, a man he'd captured as a rookie policeman (Gordon describes him as "an American, who fancied himself a desert cutthroat," hence the turban and scimitar) who has recently escaped from prison. Writer David Vern uses this as an opportunity to reveal some background about the commissioner, including the biographical details shown in the splash page montage. (Although signed by Bob Kane, the art is by Dick Sprang and Charles Paris.)

The Hanson situation also leads Batman to impersonate Gordon (with Gordon's permission), and thus to meet Gordon's family:

The Gordons are a good deal more affluent than they're depicted in modern stories — note that his wife is wearing a fur wrap! Since roughly the late '70s, Jim Gordon has been depicted as more and more lower middle class, presumably in an effort to make him more relatable. (Although his wife isn't named here, her name was later said to be Thelma, not Barbara.)

This story shows the Gordons with only one child: a son, Tony Gordon. Tony's age is a little unclear: He lives with his parents and Sprang draws him to look like he's about Robin's age, but the story says he was a baby when his father arrested Sheik Hanson, which based on the splash page's chronology would probably have been in the late 1920s, making Tony somewhere between 21 and 25. There's no mention of a daughter; Barbara Gordon didn't appear until 1967. However, Tony Gordon did pop up again after Babs was introduced, described as her older brother. He died in 1979, in a story in the Batgirl strip in DETECTIVE COMICS.

[holyrgbatman]

Sheldon Moldoff

When you think of uncredited Batman artist, one of the first would be Bill Finger. But many of the issues accredited, aka "bought from", to Bob Kane was revealed to actually have been done by artist and writer Sheldon Moldoff.

His early career was mostly drawing cover art for many of the most well-known hero's such as Green Lantern, Hawkman, and of course Batman---starting at #30. According to Mark Evanier, Moldoff even suggested to William Gaines the idea of a horror comic. Gaines later came out with the first horror comic Tales From the Crypt.

Sheldon Moldoff was a self-taught artist selling filler issues at 17 to DC editor Vincent Sullivan, the first possibly having been put in Action Comics #1, and hired right out of highschool to work as a ghost writer for Kane. He is now mostly known for his run on Batman 1953 to 1967, which had a prominent goofy tone to them. Within he would feature new characters such as Batwoman, Batgirl, Black Pirate, Ace the Bat-Hound, Poison Ivy, and Bat-Mite.

Other ghost artist of Kane included Jim Mooney, Dick Sprang, Winslow Mortimer, ect. This came from a deal Kane had with DC and according to Mr. Evanier "Kane could hire someone else to do the work, pay them low-end going rates for the industry, and live very well off what was left over." An artist named Lew Sayre Schwartz apparently did nearly all the work before Mr. Moldoff was brought in due to Mr. Schwartz moving on to other things.

Unfortunately when DC decided to rehaul the Batman titles to create them more realistically, Mr. Moldoff's style just wasn't cutting it and inkers Joe Giella and Sid Greene had to put in a lot of effort to make it work. This would push Sheldon Moldoff out of the job, doing a few things here and there, but his style was just deemed too "old-fashioned".

Fortunately it wouldn't be all sad as during the 80s as a cabbie and comic fan Dave Siegel arranged with Sheldon Moldoff to go to the Comic-Con International in San Diego. "Shelly was swamped with admirers who wanted to meet him. Many wanted to purchase re-creations he did of his classic covers. I asked him once which one was most requested and he thought for a moment then said, "Lately, anything with Bat-Mite on it." He designed that and many other well-known characters."

He would pass away in 2012 at age 91 due to kidney failure.

[p-c-ba-dcforever]

Happy 70th to Deadshot, the best example of successfully revamping d-list villains!

[bicokun]

She said “check out my fursona.”

She left this drawing of herself.

—Batman #47 (1948) words by Bill Finger, art by Bob Kane, Lew Schwartz & Charles Paris

[scotianostra]

29th August 1999 saw the death of Lew Schwarz, the Scottish TV scriptwriter.

Lew was born in Glasgow on April 16th, 1926, the son of an optician, and educated at the St Aloysius Jesuit College, graduating to the Holyrood Secondary Modern School.

On leaving school he took a job at the Clyde shipyards as a riveter. In 1944 he joined the RAF as a flight engineer and flew Lancaster bombers over Germany. After the war he returned to Scotland, furthering his education at Glasgow University before moving to London in the 1950s. There he took on a job as a taxi driver, married Margaret Glen of Airdrie, and in due time fathered three sons and two daughters.

It was while driving his taxi that Schwarz sold his first few comedy gags. Always a fan of radio-show comedy, he sent his samples to Richard Murdoch, then starring with Kenneth Horne in Much Binding In The Marsh, The Forces Show, and other prominent BBC series. Murdoch bought them, thus starting Schwarz on a career which would soon spread from spare time to full time.

It was through his taxi-driving that Schwarz encountered Spike Milligan, writer and star of The Goon Show. They got to chatting about comedy and Milligan invited Schwarz to come up to the office he and some writer friends used as a base. This was situated over a greengrocer's shop in Shepherd's Bush, not far from the BBC Television studios. Schwarz was delighted to meet Milligan's partners in laughter: Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, Ray Galton, and Alan Simpson, all great names in comedy creation

Joining the group as a gag writer, Schwarz was taken on as a partner by another big name in comedy, Eric Merriman. Together they wrote their first TV series, Great Scott - It's Maynard! This starred two popular stand-up comedians, Terry Scott, who frequently played an overgrown schoolboy, and Bill Maynard, not yet the chunky character he would become. The show mixed short sketches with situation comedy, aThe Charlie Drake Shownd was a great success. In the 50′s he also wrote episodes of

Lew went on to write a host of other shows, The Army Game, Mess Mates and The Dick Emery Show in the 60′s as well as scripting 3 episodes of The Andy Stewart Show.

In the 70′s he wrote scripts for Harry Secombe, Dave Allen and Norman Wisdom, as well as writing for Carry on Laughing and the popular sitcom The Liver Birds, which Schwarz originated with Carla Lane. Schwartz also penned some mainstream drama like Crown Court, Crossroads and an episode of Space;1999.

Closing his comedy career teaching creative writing at an adult educational college, Schwarz wrote a book, The Craft of Writing TV comedy. He summed up his career thus: ''Writing comedy for television is a very serious business.''