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Title: BATMAN Nos. 127, 128, 129, 130, 131 * Lot of 5 Comics
Publisher:DC [Indicia: National Comics Publications, Inc.]
Date Published: 1959-1960
Description: #127: G/VG (3.0). Spine stress, ½" tear, creases, staple rust, dampsoiling to back cover. Cream to off-white pages. Overstreet: "Batman vs Thor the Thunder God cover/story; Joker story; Superman cameo."
#128: Good+ (2.5). Spine stress, touch of staple rust, spine roll, staples a bit pulled, a few rubs, corner crease, dampsoiling to corners and edges of covers, small grease-pencilled distributor's mark. Tan pages. Overstreet: "Batwoman cameo."
#129: Good- (1.8). Spine stress, cover detached at bottom staple, top staple pulled, creasing, rubs, a few short tears and shallow chips, 1½" jagged spine split, ink scribbles and filled-in coupon to back cover. Light tan pages. Overstreet: "Origin Robin retold; bondage cover; Batwoman cover/story."
#130: Good- (1.8). Spine stress, small chips to spine ends, staples pulled, 2 large chips to bottom corner of front cover, creases, rubberstamped distributor's mark. Cream to light tan pages.
#131: Fair/Good (1.5). Heavy spine stress, 1½" spine split, transverse spine tears, creasing, rubs, soiling, staples pulled. Light tan pages. Overstreet: "Intro 2nd Batman and Robin series."
 
Cover pencils and inks: Curt Swan, Stan Kaye, and Sheldon Moldoff. Stories and art: Jerry Coleman, Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff, Stan Kaye, Dick Sprang, and Charles Paris.Grasping at Straws: Batman #130's cover, depicting a giant hand grasping for a a confounded Caped Crusader, may be a swipe of Russ Heath's similar "giant hand from the sky" cover to Atlas's Marvel Tales #130 (January 1955). Editor Jack Schiff, desperate to boost Batman's soggy sales, was willing to try almost anything in a bid to attract eyeballs at crowded newsstands. As cover artist Shelly Moldoff said years later, "It was important to make each cover look completely different.... One of those things must have worked, so they kept trying." But grafting a sci-fi / fantasy approach to Batman's adventures not only didn't help sales, but it threatened to ruin the very things that made Batman successful in the first place.
 
"A gee-whiz futurist take on storytelling suited Superman perfectly; he was made to whomp giant robots and ride the stylized tail fins of rocket ships.... But it quickly became clear that the only way to fit Batman into the world of aliens and rocket ships was to take his status as a non-powered human being — the very thing setting him apart — and set it aside. One reason it was so easy to iterate Batman into Bat-Monster and Bat-Baby and all his other cape-and-cowl-wearing mutations was that the character had become a cipher, recognizable only by his design. The cowl and cape were all that defined him; he'd become, in a very real sense, an empty suit." — Glen Weldon, The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. Simon & Schuster: 2016, p. 62.
 
Note: At the buyer's discretion, this lot of raw comics can be submitted by PBA to CGC for grading and encapsulation with a "DC Universe Collection" provenance designation on the labels. To request this service, contact PBA's comic book department for terms and conditions.The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION comprises over 40,000 comic books, including a copy of every single DC comic published for retail sale from 1934 to 2014. The collection was amassed by British music producer Ian Levine over the course of several decades, and it's been hailed as the single greatest collecting accomplishment in comic book history. This collection served as the basis for former DC Comics president Paul Levitz's monumental book 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, published by Taschen in 2017. PBA is proud to present this epic collection in a series of themed sales over the next two years. To join the DC Universe Collection notifications list, contact pba@pbagalleries.com.
Enjoying PBA's Batman sale? A very small number of softcover and limited edition hardcover auction catalogues are available for purchase. The catalogues are fully illustrated, thoroughly researched, and make excellent reference works for Batman fans. To order a copy, or to inquire about consignment opportunities, contact Ivan Briggs, PBA's Director of Comics: ivan@pbagalleries.com.