For the first time, after 80 dark yet wonderful years, Batman: The War Years 1939-1945 tells all of The Dark Knight's compelling stories about Robin and his involvement in World War II. Batman's villains have always been sinister, and these are his origins in fighting villains real and fiction.
Through countless comic book issues, television series, and award winning movies, Batman has been a symbol of strength and perseverance. He was created in 1939, on the brink of World War II, at a volatile time when the world needed a hero most. Who better to come to the rescue than the Caped Crusader? The poor, little, rich boy. orphaned in a late-night robbery grew up to be one of the greatest super-heroes in the DC Universe. From that inspirational moment when a bat flies through the window and inspired an adult Bruce Wayne with a name and a motif, the world changed for the better. All of these are wonderful elements in a timeless tale. By early 1940, both Batman and Robin were up and running in no less than two hit comic books. Bob Kane hired a teenager that he happened to meet--Jerry Robinson--to help him churn out what looked like a nice long run of Batman stories. A run that has continued, uninterrupted, to today.
As the Second World War loomed ever larger on the horizon, Batman was about to become big business, comic-book style. These original stories show Batman and Robin in all of their original glory and allow the reader to relive the Golden Age of Comics. Follow their pilot plots such as the following:
- The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master
- The Strange Case of Professor Radium
- The Case of the Laughing Death
- Harlequin Hoax
- Scarecrow Returns
- The Man with the Camera Eyes
- Crime Clinic
- Batman Bond Advertisements
- Atlantis Goes to War
- Blitzkrieg Bandits
- and more!
Roy Thomas has been a comics writer since 1965, mostly for Marvel or DC. Among the thousands of comic books he has written are Conan the Barbarian, The Avengers, The X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Squadron, Sub-Mariner, The Invaders, Dr. Strange, Red Sonja, Wonder Woman, and The Savage Sword of Conan.
Brush up on the history of the world's favorite billionaire vigilante, Batman, with Batman the War Years. Part of The DC Comics War Years trilogy that celebrates the Golden Age of heroes.
About the Author: Having co-founded the super-hero comics fanzine Alter Ego in 1961, Roy Thomas (b. 1940) became writer/assistant editor for Stan Lee at Marvel Comics in 1965 after a very brief stint as assistant editor of DC's Superman titles. From 1965-1980 and/or during the 1990s he wrote for Marvel The Avengers, The X-Men, Fantastic Four, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Avengers West Coast, The Amazing Spider-Man, et al.--including The Invaders, a comic which spun near WWII-period adventures of Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner. In the '70s he was the first writer and editor of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian, The Savage Sword of Conan, and Red Sonja, whom he again authored in the 1990s. At DC Comics in the 1980s he wrote All-Star Squadron (a super-hero comic set in 1941-42), Shazam!, Secret Origins (retelling WWII-era origins of DC's heroes), Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and other top series. He served as a Marvel editor from 1965-80, as Marvel's editor-in-chief from 1972-74, and as a DC editor from 1980-86.
At Marvel he co-created Ultron and the Vision (both of whom will be prominently featured in the 2015 film The Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Iron Fist, the kung-fu super-hero who will be featured later this year by Netflix in both his own series and in The Defenders. He has written a number of graphic novels starring Conan, Spider-Man, Dracula, et al.
Also in the '80s, he co-scripted the films Fire and Ice (for director Ralph Bakshi and 20th Century Fox) and Conan the Destroyer (for Universal), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also provided scripts for the 1980s TV science-fiction series Super Force, for the 1990s TV series Xena - Warrior Princess, and for a bit of TV animation.
Since 1999 he has edited a professional Alter Ego magazine (130 issues so far and counting) and has worked with Stan Lee on the scripting of the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip. He currently also writes online strips of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars for Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.. For the German publisher Taschen he has written the humongous book 75 Years of Marvel: From Golden Age to Silver Screen, (released in late 2014) and is also writing an equally huge book about Marvel's Stan Lee. Besides winning numerous other fan and pro awards in the comics field over the years, he was elected to comics' Eisner Hall of Fame at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con.
