Bat-ten Down the Hatches

 

Captain Strong was a Popeye pastiche who was a recurring character in the Superman titles in the Bronze Age of comics, but I think he only had a total of four appearances.

While I was drawing this, I couldn’t help but think of his visual similarity to Bibbo Bibbowski, who became a much-loved supporting character during the Triangle Years of Superman. Was Bibbo inspired by Captain Strong?

The Dynamic Do-over

 

Out with the old, in with the… old? Powerman and Owlman, as far as I know, made one appearance each. Well, Powerman made two if you count the time his story was reprinted in the Bronze Age. Powerman was a robot built by Superman to fool Batman and Robin into not helping him out on a case because he thought it was too dangerous for them. Owlman, on the other hand, was Robin who was artificially accelerated into adulthood by fumes from a box that Superman found in outer space. So, yeah, it’s your typical Silver Age shenanigans from the World’s Finest team.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

 

What is it with Batman and his attraction to women with criminal backgrounds? Catwoman, Talia, Nocturna… were there any more? It’s a wonder he didn’t fall for Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn, but maybe he draws the line at women who’ve been admitted to Arkham Asylum.

BatmAnnual

I miss the days when the comic book annual were treated as specials. Often, the stories in the annuals were, dare I say it, better than those in the monthlies. Sometimes they even had painted covers, a rarity during the 1980s. 

The Bat and the Botanist

I don't recall Batman as having been attracted to Poison Ivy, unlike his other female adversaries like Catwoman or Talia Al'Ghul. Which is kind of strange, since out of the three, Ivy is the one who is more often depicted as a temptress and seductress.

Batman and Deathstroke: Stand-Off!

Deathstroke was introduced as Deathstroke, the Terminator in the first page of New Teen Titans no. 2, but after that he was always just referred to as the Terminator. I wonder why, later on, DC decided to refer to him as Deathstroke once again? Was it to avoid confusion with the Terminator movie series?

World's Finest: The First Generation

Another one that originally ran in The Lost 100 Pagers, conceptualized by Jim Shelley. I thought it was a very neat idea, and a Dominator as the puppet master of these events is very apt. Don't bother deciphering the Interlac glyphs on the arena wall, though. They're just a bunch of random letters I threw together as a design element.