This original, one-of-a-kind color guide is from the classic 1974 Batman story "The Night of the Shadow!" Appearing as the lead feature in the 100-page giant Batman #259, the tale revealed a hitherto unknown aspect to Batman's origin, with the Shadow inspiring a young Bruce Wayne (and further reinforced the reasons behind the Dark Knight's refusal to use guns). The character of the Shadow was, in fact, a heavy influence on Bill Finger and Bob Kane in the creation of the Dark Knight Detective. Indeed, the Batman story in Detective Comics #27 - Batman's first appearance - was, in Finger's own words, "a take-off on a Shadow story." Batman #259 pays homage to that history and is written by Denny O'Neil with pencils by Irv Novick and inks by Dick Giordano. This particular page, #4 from the story, features a key scene from the tale, with the Shadow, guns a-blazing, foiling a robbery as a very young Bruce Wayne crouches in terror at the mayhem surrounding him. The story appeared approximately half-way through Denny O'Neil's run on DC own Shadow series and is one of only two appearances the Shadow made outside his own 12-issue series (the other occurred in Batman #253). This color guide, a black and white copy of the original art as originally drawn by Novick and inked by Giordano, is colored by hand by Tatjana Wood. It is the final version used by the printer to produce the comic. The color is, therefore, original and done by hand by Wood. Color guides are no longer used by the comics industry (computers replaced their function years ago) and so this is a piece of a bygone era of comics history. Please note - the cover to the issue this color guide appeared in is shown for reference but it is not included in the listing. The listing is for the hand-colored guide only. Again, the comic is not included. The listing is for the color guide only.
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J. Brian O’Bryant
VaultCollectibles
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