Bat-Villains MIA 1969-1973 0

[Zonker]

I haven't been around much lately, all is well, just life keeping me busy.  Occasionally though a comics thought occurs to me that would make for a good old school CGC Forum discussion, and not too long ago, I came across this Denny O'Neil quote looking back on the introduction of Ras al Ghul :

Quote

I made a mistake writing a bunch of stories without a colorful villain. That’s part of the genre. That was a craft slipup on my part. So Julie had a name. Ra’s al Ghul! It means, “head of the demon” (in Arabic). And I went home with the notion that we were going to try to do a major villain.

At the time, I thought that was somewhat interesting, maybe all those Batman murder mysteries and gothic tales I remember fondly from the early 1970s were written just because O'Neil didn't know any better?  But that cannot be right, there was a large period of time from mid-1969 to the 1973 re-introduction of the Joker in Batman #251, when the Batman costumed villains just didn't appear at all, no matter who was scripting. Within the next dozen issues of #251, Catwoman, Scarecrow, the Penguin and the Riddler all would return, but prior to that point, we hadn't seen Catwoman since Batman #210, the Joker since Detective #389 and Scarecrow since Detective #390, all in the first half of 1969.

The primary new adversaries introduced, memorably so, during the 1969-1973 period were Ras al Ghul and Man-Bat.  And a couple of old-time villains (Two-Face in Batman #234 and Dr. Tzin-Tzin in Detective #408) made return appearances in this time.  But while each of these antagonists had an exotic visual appearance, none of them really presented as a traditional costumed super-villain.  And it wasn't just an O'Neil thing, the trend started 6 months before he arrived in Detective Comics #395, and was consistent between his stories and those written during the same period by Frank Robbins and others.  It even extended beyond the Julie Schwartz editorial office, as I don't think there were any traditional costumed Batman villains in Brave & Bold or World's Finest during this period either.  

Certainly DC was trying to distance itself from the Batman TV show during that time, but the comics stories had already started to get more serious (less "camp")  by 1968, prior to the villains being banished. So..

• Was there something more to the disappearance of the costumed villains during mid 1969- mid 1973?
• Have  I overlooked any classic Bat-villain appearances during this period?
• Any favorites among the non-costumed villains? (not expecting to find any closet fans of the Ten-Eyed Man, but I always thought Colonel Sulphur had potential!)

[PeterPark]

I can't help but think of Wonder Woman during this same era. She didn't even get her own costume for a while.

[comicginger1789]

I am not an expert but here is a theory.

Batman was selling lower than one may want their franchise (or one of) hero to perform. Horror related comic sales were doing well. This was around the time many came about (Phantom Stranger, House of Mystery, Ghosts, Unexpected, etc.). As you mentioned, they wanted to distance themselves from the TV camp. So they focused on a darker Batman, oddball villains and one off stories. So many covers were dark and mysterious...216, 217, 220, 221, 224-227, 230, 236, 237 from Batman and many others from Detective (403, 405, 408, 409, 413-416 are some). The mood had to change and they established this before bringing back the classic villains. This works creatively because people had seen a shift in Batman's overall tone of his stories and now, could apply that thinking to his villains without viewing them comically like they were portrayed in the show. 

[Zonker]

On 9/23/2019 at 10:53 PM, comicginger1789 said:

I am not an expert but here is a theory.

Batman was selling lower than one may want their franchise (or one of) hero to perform. Horror related comic sales were doing well. This was around the time many came about (Phantom Stranger, House of Mystery, Ghosts, Unexpected, etc.). As you mentioned, they wanted to distance themselves from the TV camp. So they focused on a darker Batman, oddball villains and one off stories. So many covers were dark and mysterious...216, 217, 220, 221, 224-227, 230, 236, 237 from Batman and many others from Detective (403, 405, 408, 409, 413-416 are some). The mood had to change and they established this before bringing back the classic villains. This works creatively because people had seen a shift in Batman's overall tone of his stories and now, could apply that thinking to his villains without viewing them comically like they were portrayed in the show. 

That's likely it, a case of throwing out the baby (the costumed villains) with the bathwater (the puns, the Batmobile, Wayne Manor, the Bat-Cave, etc.).  Until they figured out how to do the Joker again as a homicidal maniac (or they figured out how to get it past the Comics Code), it would have been hard to get past the memory of the Cesar Romero version of the character.  Still, I have to think an O'Neil/Adams interpretation of the Catwoman as Batman's femme fatale was a missed opportunity.  Oddly enough, Denny O'Neil did use the Catwoman during this period, but it was instead in a Black Canary short story drawn by Alex Toth in Adventure Comics, and again in Wonder Woman #201 (1972).  Go figure.

Edited January 4, 2020 by Zonker
Added pictures

[bpc3qh]

Detective Comics 373 reintroduced Mr. Freeze (and the backup story featured the Riddler), but it was March 1968, so this may be just outside the timeframe you're thinking of.

[rjpb]

I always thought it was interesting that except for the Joker, the standby Batman villains (Two-face, Penguin and Cat-woman) all disappeared for a while from the mid 50s to the early 60s or later. Two-face I get, as he may have been considered too "scary" looking, but why the Penguin and Catwoman? Even the Joker takes a back seat in the mid 1950s, after appearing three or four times a year up through 1954, he has only 3 appearances in all of 1955 through 1958, and no cover appearances in between March 1953 and Dec 1960. Lame.