Saturday, January 26, 2008

Batman - Stacked Cards

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover by and inside art by Neal Adams, featuring one of the best Batman covers ever, in or out of the comics. The final panel features Batman wondering aloud if "society" should give the Joker a forced lobotomy. And this was a kid's record?

Other than Spider-Man: Mark of the Man-Wolf, I'd say this is the most famous of the Power Records, the one most people seem to be familiar with and you see the most on eBay.


My copy of this set features a phone number written on the back--314-794-2526. I wonder whose number that was?



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was wondering when you'd get to this...

Man, Batman is wooden. And Robin stumbles over his lines proposing the Joker's lobotomy. Speaking of lobotomies, 1) Batman sound's like he's had one, and 2) weren't they last encountered in popular culture in 1982, as a punchline for some Bloom County gal upon meeting Steve Dallas?

Great art, awful audio. AWFUL.

The Joker's good. My little boy gladly sits through eight minutes of tedium to hear the Joker's minimal contribution to this story. "Captain of the swim team at Arkham;" that's actually pretty clever, unlike the rest of the production.

Lame sound effects -- did they foley a cap gun? And that Batman/Joker exchange during the fight -- that's awful! "Many happy returns, Joker!" and the sound of a bean bag being slapped.

Anonymous said...

I never had the book to this one, but I either had the single, or a friend did. I remember thinking how horrible Batman sounded compared to the great album I had that had "Robin Meets Man-Bat", "Mystery of the Scarecrow Corpse" etc.

The art is Neal Adams. Nuff said. Its Batman at his zenith artistically.

The cover pose of Batman and Robin is of course similar to the classic image used over and over again in the 40s, but it's also quite similar to Adams cover to the "Batman's Strangest Cases" treasury.

Chris

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

A very nice book, which I own. I like the art and I managed to buy a copy on eBay where the record is still new.

Luis said...

Boy, did this bring back memories! Yes, I owned this one as well as "Robin Meets Man-Bat" which I think was a more interesting story.
The other comments state that Batman's voice was not credible and I have to agree, it was just too happy sounding and out of character. Robin on the other hand was spot on.
The best part of course was the fantastic Neal Adams art, he drew the definitive Batman in my opinion.
To the blogger: Thank you for uploading these audio tracks! I never knew there were so many book and record sets (I mean... there was a Conan one?? Who knew.)

Unknown said...

I still have this from when I was a little kid. I enjoyed every aspect of this from the art to the audio recording. To me, the "see, hear, and read" style was amazing. I think the voice actors were fantastic and I still can hear the quotes from this in my head!

FilmFather said...

Wow, does this take me back. In fact, this whole BLOG takes me back. This Batman book and record is probably the first time I learned that someone could be dead with their eyes open. And who knew I was learning such big words as "insidious" and "paranoiac." For some reason, I would've sworn that Adam West did the voice of Batman for this one. Guess I confused it with the animated series where he did voice Batman (circa '77 on CBS, I think).

Rob, thanxamillion for putting this blog together. I've got about a dozen other posts of yours bookmarked, which I plan to enjoy very soon. I also plan to tell all the "'70s kids" I know about your blog.

Matt said...

You are totally my hero for putting this blog together. I have a recording on reel-to-reel of me reciting this story (with music, sound effects etc.) when I was... five? "Help me, Batman.. I'm thtuck in the mud down here!" Straight awesome. Totally awful acting in this, but brilliant memories! Thanks again!

Rich Harvey said...

Fantastic Neal Adams artwork. Too bad they didn't chose something more atmospheric like "Scarecrow's Mirage", or adapt "Challenge of the Catwoman" so Adams could draw the sexy femme fatale. "If Music Be the Food of Death" was probably the best of the four stories on the LP. It's sad that they chose to illustrate this one ...

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