13 Freaky Facts You May Not Know About Comics And Their Creators

5. DC Planned To Cancel Batman And Detective Comics

In 1964 the Silver Age was in full swing, superheroes were back with a vengeance. DC had successfully rebooted its Golden-Age heroes and featured each of them in their own comic. But in the midst of this nearly universal comeback of superheroes, one costumed crimefighter appeared to be kaput. The sales of Batman and Detective Comics were so poor the books were barely breaking even. It looked like the time had come for one of DC's three greatest superheroes to hang up his cape! Batman's plummeting popularity was attributed to editor Jack Schiff's mishandling of the character. Schiff oversaw all the comics featuring Batman, and it was clear that both the editor and the character had lost their way. Schiff started handling Batman as a sci-fi comic, introducing monsters and aliens, as well as ridiculous plots involving robots and time travel. The once popular dark detective was now nothing more than a humorous caricature. DC's publisher, Harry Donenfeld, decided the character either needed overhauling or cancelling. So he called editor Julius Schwartz and artist Carmine Infantino into his office and gave them a clear mandate: either fix Batman and get him back at the top ... or else! Oh yeah, and he gave them only 6 months to accomplish this feat. Donenfeld's dreaded "else" meant that he'd cancel the long-running character. But Schwartz and Infantino couldn't help but feel that "else" implied consequences of an occupational nature. Schwartz had overseen the reboots of the Flash and DC's other Golden-Age heroes, but these were essentially science fiction characters - which is what Schwartz was most comfortable with. He nervously assigned John Broome to write a new story that eschewed all sci-fi trappings, and then he gave Infantino carte blanche concerning the art. Infantino, who had redesigned the Flash and refined space-hero Adam Strange's uniform, dropped the cartoonish style developed over the years by the numerous ghost artists employed by Batman's creator, Bob Kane, and instead depicted Batman in the same modern, realistic style as DC's other superheroes. Infantino also updated the Batmobile and started penciling evocative covers for all the books featuring the caped crusader - one of which won an Alley Award for Best Cover (Detective Comics #329). The "New Look" Batman debuted in Detective Comics #327 - and it worked, as fans loved the fresh art and new direction.