Batmen of All Nations / Batman Incorporated Appreciation

[MajorHoy]

I'm wonderimg why they never included this guy.

Maybe Morrison never read those Star-Spangled Comics Robin solo-stories when he was younger (they may not have gotten those stories over in the U.K.). Plus since he was on the " Batmen of All Nations " (and related), maybe he didn't want to expand into the solo-Robins without their own Batman. (In those three "Black Glove" issues, the grown ups sometimes seemed dismissive of their junior counterparts.)
But honestly . . . you'd probably have to ask Grant Morrison.

[Güicho]

Love all the scans MajorHoy, you sure you're not infringing on DCs copyrights with so much great content?!
LOL kidding keep them coming.
I also tracked down most of these to get the gist of Inc.'s Batman of All Nations firsts appearances, as they were my favorite aspect of the Inc. story line.
And lost some interest as the story refocused back more to the Batman family staples: Nightwing, the new Robins etc...
DC's own history of these obscure characters, who would come together as a team in Detective #215 and and World's Finest #89, and then re-imagined by Morrison is fascinating.

Cut to a few years later in Detective #215...

A similar idea is expanded on, across the globe several individuals now inspired by Batman have taken it upon themselves to become the Batmen of their Nations: Night & Squire of England (who had previously debuted), Musketeer of France, Legionary of Italy, the Ranger of Australia, and the Gaucho from nondescript Latin America nation. (Although again we can safely assume Argentina), no name or much backstory is really given.

Morrison later as well as adding a few new characters, and in reinventing a few of them for what would become Batman Inc. ....
All great fun.

Honestly wish these back-issues you highlight would have been collected together by DC themselves, as a historic primer and prologue to Morrisons Club of Heroes chapter, and eventually Inc.



I do love that Morrison didn't shy away from delving into this at the time somewhat obscure and charming (although potentially simplistic and insensitive in todays PC times) , world inspiring aspect of Batmen mythos.
He did a great job bringing them back out of obscurity, with some modern reinvention, and spin, although his take a bit grim at times, still celebrating the ideas, and always adding to it was terrific!

Surprised they missed the terrific Rajin Robin, great find. He would have been a great addition.

Really do wish someone at DC had the vision to give them an ongoing as an International team.
Keep the scans and notes coming!

[MajorHoy]

. . . Honestly wish these back-issues you highlight would have been collected together by DC themselves, as a historic primer and prologue to Morrisons Club of Heroes chapter, and eventually Inc.

As mentioned in a different thread,

If you're going to try the Morrison stuff, it might be advisable to first check out:

BATMAN: THE BLACK CASEBOOK
https://www.dccomics.com/graphic-nov...black-casebook

which collects many of the older stories that influenced Morrison and are in some ways reimagined in Morrison's stories.

Though unfortunately I think that missed a few, like "Ride, Bat-Hombre, Ride!" and "The Batman of England".
(Why those weren't included, I have no idea.)

[Restingvoice]

No, he is from a Robin Solo Story.

Yeah, maybe that's why since all members are a version of Batman.

[Güicho]

Yeah, maybe that's why since all members are a version of Batman.

Actually Wingman, began as more a Robin analog, was also retconed into being in the Batmen of All Nations / Club of Heroes. And later evolved into becoming more of a Batman analog.

Could be the Robin specific kept him out, yet I'm inclined to believe the Rajan Robin (actually "Rajah Rahbin" in story) was just so obscure even Morrison either missed or intentionally chose to skip him, because how obscure he was.
(How he got on MajorHoys radar? That is some deep diving into vintage lore)
Yet he really seems like just the type of character Morrison would have embraced into the Batmen of All Nations / Club of Heroes concept.

Maybe if a new creative team relaunches the Batmen of all Nations concept, they can re-work him in, and yeah, I think starting as a young Robin inspired analog, who as adult aspires to be a Batman analog, works fine. I would love the addition.

[MajorHoy]

. . . Could be the Robin specific kept him out, yet I'm inclined to believe the Rajan Robin (actually "Rajah Rahbin" in story) was just so obscure even Morrison either missed or intentionally chose to skip him, because how obscure he was.
(How he got on MajorHoys radar? That is some deep diving into vintage lore)
Yet he really seems like just the type of character Morrison would have embraced into the Batmen of All Nations / Club of Heroes concept.

I wasn't aware of him until Aahz' post about that story.

As for Morrison including Wingman, well that was a Batman story.
Also, don't know how much Roy Thomas may have influenced that one, too.

[Restingvoice]

Actually Wingman, began as more a Robin analog, was also retconed into being in the Batmen of All Nations / Club of Heroes. And later evolved into becoming more of a Batman analog.

Could be the Robin specific kept him out, yet I'm inclined to believe the Rajan Robin (actually "Rajah Rahbin" in story) was just so obscure even Morrison either missed or intentionally chose to skip him, because how obscure he was.
(How he got on MajorHoys radar? That is some deep diving into vintage lore)
Yet he really seems like just the type of character Morrison would have embraced into the Batmen of All Nations / Club of Heroes concept.

Maybe if a new creative team relaunches the Batmen of all Nations concept, they can re-work him in, and yeah, I think starting as a young Robin inspired analog, who as adult aspires to be a Batman analog, works fine. I would love the addition.

Yeah but Wingman's also turned out to be a former Robin. Heeey, is that Morrisson being clever? ^^

I agree it might be too obscure too. I didn't know that Robin had a solo. Nobody I know ever talked about Star Spangled Comics.

[MajorHoy]

. . . I agree it might be too obscure too. I didn't know that Robin had a solo. Nobody I know ever talked about Star Spangled Comics.

By the way, back in the day Star-Spangled Comics wasn't just a solo Robin book. It was, like many other comic books of the day (such as Action Comics and Detective Comics), an anthology title with several different features per an issue.
When the title was first published (back in 1941), the Star-Spangled Kid & Stripesy were the cover feature. Later, The Newsboy Legion (with The Guardian) eventually took over the cover spotlight, and with issue #65 (cover-dated February 1947) Robin's solo feature started.



He also shared the book with features like The Newsboy Legion, Liberty Belle, Robotman, the Star-Spangled Kid & Stripesy, some humor strips and others.
A few issues after Robin's feature began, the character Tomahawk also appeared in Star-Spangled Comics, and it looks like Tomahawk then took over the cover as the main feature starting with issue #96 (September 1949).
Issue #130 (July 1952) was the last issue of that title; after that, the book was retitled Star-Spangled War Stories with issue #131, but then after issue #133 there was a renumbering that started again with issue #3.
(NOTE: above information from using the comics.org site.)

[MajorHoy]

Getting back to the Club of Heroes in World's Finest Comics #89 (July-August 1957), . . .

. . . Clark getting dizzy?!? What could this mean?!?

(to be continued . . . )

A new superhero in town?
A potential new member for the Club of Heroes?

We'll wrap things up in a future post!

[MajorHoy]

Wrapping up the Club of Heroes story in World's Finest Comics #89 (July-August 1957), . . .

[MajorHoy]

As far as I'm aware, that World's Finest Comics story was the last time the various Batmen of All Nations were used in new stories for a while (though they did show up in reprints every now and then).

It looks like Roy Thomas was the next to make use of those characters in an issue of Infinity Inc. (#34, cover dated January 1987).

In this issue, the group was only talked about from a historical perspective, and since in the post-CoIE universe there was no Golden Age version of Batman, now the heroes' inspiration was the JSA, not Batman.




NOTE: Images from the Spot's World blog site.

And this isn't the only time Roy used the idea of these heroes back in the 1940s.
(More on that later.)

[MajorHoy]

. . . And this isn't the only time Roy used the idea of these heroes back in the 1940s.
(More on that later.)

They were shown as part of an entry for The Dome in Who's Who Update '87 Vol. 2 (September 1987):



And Musketeer, Legionary, and Wingman were included in a panel from Secret Origins #27 (June 1988):


By the way, the Dr. Mist Roy used in connection with The Dome and the Global Guardians actually first appeared way back in 1978 in . . .The Super Friends!


He first showed up in the last panel of issue #12, but his story was told in issue#13.