Batman: Gotham Knights
Encyclopedia
Batman: Gotham Knights was a monthly, fictional comic book
series published by DC Comics
. The original intent of this book was to feature the exploits of Batman
and his extended family - Alfred Pennyworth
, Batgirl
, Nightwing
, Robin, Oracle
, Catwoman
, etc. The latter section of the run, however, came to focus much more upon the villains of the Batman.
The series also featured the popular "Batman: Black and White" back-up strip, which allowed various artists with widely varying styles to do their take on the Dark Knight in a black and white format. These back-up strips are also collected in trade paperback form. Contributors to this section include Jim Lee
, John Byrne, John Buscema
, Eduardo Risso
, Jordi Bernet
, José Luis García-López
, Kyle Baker
, Dave Gibbons
, Gene Ha
, Gene Colan
, Enrique Breccia
, Claudio Castellini
, Dick Giordano
, Christian Alamy, Jason Pearson, Mike Wieringo
, Alan Davis
, Chris Bachalo
, Denys Cowan
, John Watkiss
, Mike Kaluta, and Whilce Portacio
.
and ran for a total of 74 issues. The last issue was published in April 2006
. This title was among several which were cancelled at the conclusion of the Infinite Crisis
storyline, as part of the "One Year Later
" event. The final story arc was left unresolved but was closed with Paul Dini's Detective Comics arc Heart of Hush.
:
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. The original intent of this book was to feature the exploits of Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
and his extended family - Alfred Pennyworth
Alfred Pennyworth
Alfred Pennyworth is a fictional character that appears throughout the DC Comics franchise. The character first appears in Batman #16 , and was created by writer Bob Kane and artist Jerry Robinson. Alfred serves as Batman’s tireless butler, assistant, confidant, and surrogate father figure...
, Batgirl
Cassandra Cain
Cassandra Cain is a fictional character in the , one of several who has served as Batgirl, an important character in the Batman comic book franchise. Cassandra's backstory presents her as the daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva, she was deprived of speech and human contact during her...
, Nightwing
Dick Grayson
Dick Grayson is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and illustrator Jerry Robinson, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940....
, Robin, Oracle
Barbara Gordon
Barbara Gordon is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and in related media, created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino...
, Catwoman
Catwoman
Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. Historically a supervillain, the character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's cousin, Ruth Steel...
, etc. The latter section of the run, however, came to focus much more upon the villains of the Batman.
The series also featured the popular "Batman: Black and White" back-up strip, which allowed various artists with widely varying styles to do their take on the Dark Knight in a black and white format. These back-up strips are also collected in trade paperback form. Contributors to this section include Jim Lee
Jim Lee
Jim Lee is a Korean-American comic book artist, writer, editor and publisher. He first broke into the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal, before gaining a great deal of popularity on The Uncanny X-Men...
, John Byrne, John Buscema
John Buscema
John Buscema, born Giovanni Natale Buscema , was an American comic-book artist and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics during its 1960s and 1970s ascendancy into an industry leader and its subsequent expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate...
, Eduardo Risso
Eduardo Risso
Eduardo Risso is an Argentine comic book artist. In the United States he is probably best known for his work with writer Brian Azzarello on the Vertigo title 100 Bullets, while in Argentina and Europe he is noted for his collaborations with Ricardo Barreiro and Carlos Trillo...
, Jordi Bernet
Jordi Bernet
Jordi Bernet Cussó is a Spanish comics artist, best known for the gangster comics series Torpedo and Jonah Hex.-Career:He was born in Barcelona, the son of a Spanish comic book artist, Miguel Bernet....
, José Luis García-López
José Luis García-López
José Luis García-López is a Spanish comic book artist who works in the United States of America, mostly for DC Comics. He has most recently penciled an arc in Batman Confidential, the Metal Men storyline in the 2009 Wednesday Comics weekly anthology, and, in 2011, one of the stories in The Spirit...
, Kyle Baker
Kyle Baker
Kyle John Baker is an American cartoonist, comic book writer-artist, and animator known for his graphic novels and for a 2000s revival of the series Plastic Man....
, Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
, Gene Ha
Gene Ha
Gene Ha is an American comics artist and writer best known for his work on books such as Top 10 and Top 10: The Forty-Niners, with Alan Moore and Zander Cannon, for America's Best Comics, the Batman graphic novel Fortunate Son, with Gerard Jones, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, among...
, Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
, Enrique Breccia
Enrique Breccia
Enrique Breccia is an Argentine comic book artist.-Biography:Enrique Breccia, the son of one of the greatest Latino-American artists of all time, Alberto Breccia, drew his first work in 1968, when together with his father he illustrated La Vida del Che, a biography of the famous revolutionary Che...
, Claudio Castellini
Claudio Castellini
Claudio Castellini is an Italian comic book artist. According to his website, Castellini has a "love for technical details, influenced by artists like Neal Adams and John Buscema".-Biography:...
, Dick Giordano
Dick Giordano
Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano was an American comic book artist and editor best known for introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes, and serving as executive editor of then–industry leader DC Comics...
, Christian Alamy, Jason Pearson, Mike Wieringo
Mike Wieringo
Michael Lance "Mike" Wieringo , who sometimes signed his work under the name Ringo, was an American comic book artist best known for his work on DC Comics' The Flash and Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four....
, Alan Davis
Alan Davis
Alan Davis is an English writer and artist of comic books, known for his work on titles such as Captain Britain, The Uncanny X-Men, ClanDestine, Excalibur, JLA: The Nail and JLA: Another Nail.-UK work:...
, Chris Bachalo
Chris Bachalo
Chris Bachalo is an American comic book illustrator known for his quirky, cartoon-like style. He became well known for stints on DC Comics’ Shade, the Changing Man and Neil Gaiman's two Death series...
, Denys Cowan
Denys Cowan
Denys B. Cowan is an American comic book artist and television producer. He gained prominence as the primary artist on The Question, an acclaimed comic book series published by DC Comics for 36 issues from 1987 on, written by Dennis O'Neil.-Career:Denys Cowan is a 1979 graduate of the High School...
, John Watkiss
John Watkiss
John Watkiss is an artist who has worked in both comics and film. Born in England in 1961.After growing up in the Midlands in England, John Watkiss graduated from The Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Brighton University with a bachelor of Fine Arts degree...
, Mike Kaluta, and Whilce Portacio
Whilce Portacio
William "Whilce" Portacio is a Filipino-American comic book writer and artist. Noted for his work on such titles as The Punisher, X-Factor, and the Uncanny X-Men. Portacio was also one of the seven co-founders of Image Comics, though he did not become a partner in the company.-Early life:Portacio...
.
Publication history
Batman: Gotham Knights began in March 20002000 in comics
-February:*Strange Adventures vol. 2, #4, final issue cover-dated February - January :* January 5: Goseki Kojima, co-creator of Lone Wolf and Cub, dies at age 71.* January 6: Mad magazine fixture Don Martin dies at age 68....
and ran for a total of 74 issues. The last issue was published in April 2006
2006 in comics
-January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...
. This title was among several which were cancelled at the conclusion of the Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...
storyline, as part of the "One Year Later
One Year Later
"One Year Later" was a 2006 storyline event running through the DC Universe. As the title suggests, it involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Comics Universe following the events of the Infinite Crisis event, to explore major changes within the continuities of the many...
" event. The final story arc was left unresolved but was closed with Paul Dini's Detective Comics arc Heart of Hush.
Collected editions
Various stories have been collected into individual volumesTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
:
- Batman Black and White:
- Volume 2 was initially published in September, 2002 as a hardcoverHardcoverA hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
book (ISBN 6194123175). It collected black and white Batman backup stories from the first sixteen issues of Batman: Gotham Knights, as well as five never-before-published tales. The five new stories were subsequently included in later issues of Batman: Gotham Knights. Volume 2 was released as an oversized softcover in October, 2003 (ISBN 1-56389-917-5). - Volume 3 was published as a comics-sized hardcover in May, 2007 (ISBN 1-4012-1531-9). It collected the black and white Batman backup stories from Batman: Gotham Knights #17-49. A softcover edition was released in 2008 (ISBN ISBN 9781401213541).
- Volume 2 was initially published in September, 2002 as a hardcover
- Hush Returns (collects Batman: Gotham Knights #50-55, 66, 2006, Titan BooksTitan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
, ISBN 1845762584, DC Comics, ISBN 1-4012-0900-9)
External links
- Gotham Knights at the DCU Guide