Batman #255 (Mar.-Apr., 1974)
As of December, 1973, it had been seventeen months since my younger self had bought an issue of Batman. For the record, that issue had been #245, in which the lead story (as well as the cover) had been drawn by Neal Adams. The last issue I’d bought before that had been #244, which had also had a lead story illustrated by Adams; the last one before that had been #243, which was drawn by (you guessed it) Neal Adams; and before that came #242, which didn’t feature the art of Neal Adams, but did continue the Ra’s al Ghul saga begun in issue #232 by writer Denny O’Neil and artist… Neal Adams. You see the pattern, right? Adams’ art wasn’t the only factor that came into play when I stood at the spinner rack and pondered over whether to buy the latest issue of the Masked Manhunter’s title — but it was definitely the largest factor, and the presence of the artist’s work made it pretty much a no-brainer that I would buy that particular comic book. Read More