TFMSR 032: My WonderCon 2023 Panel Video …

Happy October—SWEATERWEATHER!—to you all! This week I’m happy to present the world premiere of the re-creation of my WonderCon 2023 panel presentation—the first-ever “Tales From My Spinner Rack LIVE!” show—on YouTube.

As I mentioned, this is a re-creation, not an actual recording of the WonderCon panel, because I, in my infinite wisdom, forgot to hit the record button on my iPhone. Chalk it up to opening night jitters, I guess. Besides it was fun to do this over and punch it up a bit, including adding some new graphics.

Pssst … the actual video is below! Keep reading and pass it on!

Yes, it’s Episode 02 of my YouTube Channel, featuring the absolute nadir of Batman comics in the 1960s: The May 1962 issue of Batman #147 and the classic tale—billed as “THE STORY OF THE YEAR!” on the front cover—“Batman Becomes Bat-Baby!” I wrote about this gem way back in TFMSR #09, on March 1 and picked it as the very first Tales From My Spinner Rack LIVE! presentation, because it’s just too good to be true.

Learn about the sad state of Batman comics in the early 1960s, including a cast of, well … according to Bob Kane, ONE, but we all know better, don’t we? This was the tail end of the Kane era for Batman in both Batman and Detective Comics, in which his signature still appeared on each and every story’s splash-page, but they were written and drawn by other artists, mainly writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff. The books were edited by Jack Schiff, and were filled with aliens, Bat-Family members, an imp from another dimension, and even Ace, the Bat-Hound. Batman became a being from another planet or was somehow bizarrely transformed in just about every issue, and in one of them—the above mentioned issue #147—he actually became a toddler, at least for one dark night. It’s a classic, but for all the wrong reasons, even if it does have its own charm.

Here’s the whole sordid story, captured on video.

If you follow me on YouTube, you’ll get to see the videos I post a day or so in advance of my official announcement here on the blog … so go ahead and click that video above and travel over to YouTube-land and follow and like me there. Leave a comment, too … but be nice! And as an update … we now have SEVEN (!) subscribers and almost 40 views of my two videos .(well, combined). It’s a start!

Next time: It’s a re-creation of my Comic-Con 2023 panel presentation, featuring two of DC Comics’ wonkiest and wildest series of the 1950s and 1960s, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen and Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, titled “Jimmy and Lois: Still Crazy After All These Years!” Jeepers, Mr. Kent, it’s a doozy!