Dec 18th 2020 Advent Calendar

A ghostly apparition-- the ominous visage of the Dark Knight looking down, not this time on the crime-riddled streets of Gotham, but a distinctly Gothic scene--

A beautiful woman dressed more appropriately for a high society ball, flees in terror across a shadowy, chain-linked bridge--

Behind the distressed damsel-- a sinister vampiric pursuer who is clearly on the verge of setting loose his pair of savage, lupine hounds--

In 1970 Neal Adams produced this creepy Gothic Horror cover image for the December issue of BATMAN. Titled 'The DEMON of Gothos Mansion' it immediately conjures up expectations of a Horror story with its mist-wreathed haunted house and the giant ghostly spectre of Batman looming large over the action. I recently looked at several comic covers using the artistic theme of a giant figure like this, which you can find here--

The action itself -the young woman in a ballgown fleeing in terror- along with the backdrop of the ghastly mansion, seems to have been something of a recurring nightmare for the artist involved. Around the same time, DC's Horror anthology title HOUSE OF SECRETS featured the following covers, both drawn by Adams and both featuring a long-robed woman running in terror from a dark, spooky house--

And between these issues came this cover, courtesy of Gray Morrow, again using the same idea, itself a direct parody of the Gothic Romance novels which appear to be what Adams is also referencing with each of his covers. For more on this and indeed a look at BATMAN #227 in its entirety, I recommend you visit Allan Stewart's marvellous blog here--

But the other source of inspiration for Adams is of course the cover of DETECTIVE COMICS #31, published over thirty years earlier. Stylistically of course the images are pretty different, but structurally Adams' image is a clear homage to the Bob Kane original. The clear difference is that in the original picture the villainous Monk is carrying the unconscious body of Bruce Wayne's fiancee, Julie Madison, while Adams adds the villain's baying hounds and a wooden bridge which the frightened woman is fleeing across.

The image has been re-tooled by Kane several times with changes made to the positions of the moon and the bats as well as the monk himself who isn't even always present--

And unsurprisingly it has inspired not only Adams, but other artists working on Batman titles to produce their own homages. Here's Brian Stelfreeze's version from the cover of SHADOW OF THE BAT #45--

Klaus Janson's cover for LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #8 is a fairly loose version, but the skeletal form suggests a nod to the fleeing woman on Adams' later homage.

And here Matt Wagner borrows Neal Admas' wolf-like hounds, giving stewardship of them now to the Monk in his re-telling of the original story in BATMAN AND THE MAD MONK #1--

For the cover of BATMAN AND ROBIN #2 Frank Quitely transports Kane's looming Batman to the gambling halls of this modern city-scape--

Williams/Major switch from Batman to his sidekick for the looming figure on the cover of ROBIN #176, knowing that the position of the moon, the smoke from the chimneys and the spectral giant figure itself were sufficient visual motifs to resonate with knowledgeable fans--

Meanwhile Alex Ross has shown his admiration for the iconic image by producing this meticulously crafted variant of the original cover--

The cover has also been parodied several times, such as this cover for DROOPY #1--

But some artists have chosen to base their variants specifically on Neal Adams' 1970 version itself-- an homage to an homage if you like. This tribute from GRUMPY CAT #1 features the main two elements Adams introduced in his own cover back in 1970-- the chase and the bridge--

These same details were also present in the cover for DARKWING DUCK #8, as is the fleeing heroine's pink dress as well as the greyscale colouring of the spectral figure looming over the house to match the appearance of Adams' Batman--

And Neal Adams got the opportunity to parody his own work for this re-staged variant cover of DETECTIVE COMICS #49, this time placing Batman in the role of hunter while overlooked by the crazed spectre of the Joker--

For Day 17 of this Advent Calendar, click here--

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