Will the real Jason Bard stand up?

And……..WE’RE BACK!!

Apologies for the delay between blogs but sometimes life and other pursuits get in the way.  And sometimes it’s just writer’s block.

©DC. The evolution of Jason Bard from establishment square to hip cool dude

I’ve had an interest in private detective literature for many years, and have often wondered why comics do not seem to have created a lasting Private Eye protagonist. Reading Raymond Chandler’s famous lines defining the Private Eye, it is hard to see how the classical definition could translate effectively to the comics page, perhaps because the main characteristics of the protagonists are to be beaten up and lead an interior life. 

“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.

“He will take no man’s money dishonestly and no man’s insolence without a due and dispassionate revenge. He is a lonely man and his pride is that you will treat him as a proud man or be very sorry you ever saw him.

“The story is this man’s adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a man fit for adventure. If there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in.”

There have been many attempts over the years - from Slam Bradley in the Golden Age, through Steranko’s Chandler to Nathaniel Dusk more recently. In the early 70s DC brought us Jason Bard, one of two unique creations from Frank Robbins for DC (the other creation being Man-Bat, developed in collaboration with Neal Adams).

 The first Jason Bard story was published at a time when Batman fans were catching the scent that something “big” was going to happen, which in a few months time was to be revealed as Dick Grayson heading to college and Bruce Wayne moving to an apartment in Gotham.  Robbins had been writing stories over on the Batman title for a year, and the lead Batman story in Detective for a similar period. 

As far as the fans were concerned, most had no clue that the Frank Robbins who was writing Batman and Detective was the same artist and creator of a famous newspaper strip. Jason Bard bears very little resemblance to Robbins’ signature hero Johnny Hazard.

The choice of the name Bard (i.e. The Bard) is presumably a play on the name of other famous Private Eyes (Marlowe, Spenser) whose surnames held literary allusions.  Robbins was a great film buff, with 600 to 700 movies on tape (according to his widow Fran Rowe Robbins in an interview in Comic Book Creator #1). Film Noir was one of his favourite genres and so it is no surprise that he chose a private detective as his first creation at DC comics, debuting in the Batgirl backup story Detective Comics #392 (Oct 1969).

© DC. Cover of 'Tec #392 with no promotion of Batgirl/Jason Bard

The lead-in to Detective #392 (Oct 1969) was a gangland based Batman story, which set the tone for the unheralded introduction of Jason Bard in “A Clue…..Seven Feet Tall”, in part one of an 8-page Batgirl back-up a story written by Robbins, drawn by Gil Kane and inked by Murphy Anderson - quite a power team for an unheralded intro.

Kane’s artwork is top-notch, with Barbara Gordon looking a lot like Mary Jane from Kane’s Spider-Man days.

Bard is introduced as a disabled ex Vietnam vet with a knee injury (he needs a cane to get around), ex Marine Recruiter, now studying criminology . Babs observes that fictional disabled investigators can be very successful - "Max Carrados , Nero Wolfe, Ironside…"  

©DC. Establishment Square JB tries a hip line on our Babs Gordon

Later in the story Batgirl saves Jason’s hide because his trick knee gives way. Only 8 pages and ends on a sort-of cliffhanger.   The second part of the story (Detective 393) was again 8 pages. Jason Bard goofs again - his trick knee again causes him to fall, and Batgirl again saves the day.

So Bard is introduced as a non-threatening foil for Batgirl. A bit of a square who affects of hip lingo, taken to wearing formal brown or green suits, with potential for an Ellery-Queen like “Did you spot the clue?” breaking of the fourth wall.

Reader response to Bard’s debut in the lettercol of Detective #396 was muted. Gary Skinner of Columbus, Ohio liked Batgirl being a secondary character and applauded Robbins’ writing. Bernard Williams gave a vote of confidence for Jason Bard returning, but all in all, Bard’s debut was not a big splash.

The next Batgirl back-up in the same issue (Detective #396) was again graced by great artwork from Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson.  This time Jason asks Barbara Gordon out on a date, but this time Babs gives Jason the brush-off. Perhaps she doesn’t like his brown suit. She’s focused on the trail of the Orchid Killer in a 9-page part-one. 

In issue #397 Bard intervenes again to save Batgirl, only to mess things up when his trick-knee fails. Bard later confesses he followed Barbara out of jealousy that she might be seeing someone else. Already the trick-knee gimmick has outworn it’s welcome, and it is clear that the character of Bard needs major retooling. 

The lettercol in Detective #401 virtually ignored the Batgirl/Bard story from four months earlier.  All focus was on the teaming of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams on the Batman lead story in #397. Steve Beery of Alma, Michigan noted that Bard always appears as a bumbler.

It was seven months later when Bard returned in the Batgirl backup in Dec #404 (Oct 1970) “Midnight Doom-Boy”.  This time art is by Gill Kane and Frank Giocoia.   Giacoia does nothing for Gil Kane’s artwork - Kane would have hated it. In the later lettercol Steve Beery wrote “Frank Giacoia’s inks seem to reduce Gil Kane’s active, fluid pencils to choppy rubble.” 

In this story, Batgirl is now breaking the forth wall as well, talking to the audience. This would become a recurring motif in the Bard stories. Babs inexplicably now seems to have taken a shine to Jason Bard, as she finds Bard is framed for Murder. Jason Bard’s makeover has him now as a cool dude working undercover (presumably as a gay male hustler), wearing a cowboy jacket like Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy. I don't recall Philip Marlowe resorting to this. We find Babs in tears half the time, worrying about our now-cool undercover P.I.

©DC. What's with "A Strangely Changed Jason..."?

The next second part of the tale appears in issue #405, “The Living Statue”. Needless to say, Batgirl saves the day and secures the proof to get Bard sprung from jail in the final two panels, which seem to bear little resemblance to Gil Kane's usual artwork, as though they were hurriedly redrawn to close out the case.  

It is over a year until Bard appears again in the pages of Detective, taking us to July 1972, having skipped completely over the "25 cent/48 page" DC era.

©DC.  Jason Bard gets his own series in Detective #425

In Detective #425, Bard gets his own backup series "The Master Crime-File of Jason Bard.", with Batgirl relegated to being a supporting character.   This is the first of six cases which redefine the character -  the “Open and Shut Case’

©DC. Detective 425. Our Jason has been hitting the gym

In this first story our Jason has obviously been working out as he jumps out of the sofabed in his P.I. office. He now dons a trendy shirt, but still matched with a tie, and pipe. But now sporting a longer 70s haircut replete with long sideburns. "Fan favourite" (ahem) Don Heck is on the art chores.

Bard gets involved in a case of a woman asking Bard to deal with her brother who has gone mad. In time-honoured fashion, we find that a femme fatale was the true villain, and the story ends with a “did you spot the clue” moment for the audience.

Case-file #2 in Detective #427 was titled “I Wake Up Dying”.  It starts in medias res with Bard fighting his way from drowning in the back of a sealed truck as the vehicle sinks into the water, and recalling how he got there. The story moves at a cracking pace towards its resolution. Don Heck gives the artwork his best shot. Again there is a clue for the readership to spot, and (spoiler) the wife was the murderer.

The Detective #429 letter col had praise from Mike W Barr opining that "The Open and Shut Case" was the best short detective story since Elongated Man. All writers asked for Heck to be teamed with a good inker.  This issue had “Case of the Loaded Case’ (#3) . Joe Giella was teamed on inks, which was an improvement on Heck’s scratchy style.  Again there was a clue for the reader to find

©DC. Detective #433. Would you know Murphy Anderson inked this?

Detective #431 featured the story "Crime on My Hands" , this time teaming Don Heck and Murphy Anderson. The same team worked on "Case of the Forged Face" in Detective #433.  Even Anderson’s famous style was no match for Heck's scratchy pencils and awkward poses.

©DC . Frank Robbins story plus art. Great Stuff. Detective #435

And so finally we come to Detective #435 “Case of the Dead-On Target”, written AND drawn by Frank Robbins himself. We now see what Robbins was hoping to achieve all along. Bard is finally a cool dude - wearing a light blazer.  Great artwork from Robbins - for the first time a really FUN Jason Bard story, not a little inspired by Johnny Hazard. 

Only seven pages long, it concerns the murder of a skydiver witnessed by Bard. Without being too obvious, the murderer aheres to Private Detective literary conventions.

©DC Love the black humour and innovative angles on this page

But it was to be the last story with with Bard headlining his own strip, and the penultimate with Robbins’ involvement.  

Archie Goodwin took over Detective with #437, with the comic dropping to bi-monthly ; the lettercol was devoted to Goodwin talking about plans and the need to revamp the comic’s direction, and carried no comments on Robbins' superlative Jason Bard story.  With issue #438, the comic went to 100-pages and again the lettercol was devoted to discussing why.  So #439 was the first issue to discuss previous Detective stories in the lettercol, which focused on #437, the first in the new look. 

Robbins did bring Bard back one more time as a supporting character in Batman #252 in October, and that was that.  Soon Robbins was to move over to Marvel, leaving his Jason Bard creation (along with his Neal Adams co-creation Man-Bat) behind in the hands of lesser talents.

After Robbins’ departure, DC never really knew what to do with Jason Bard, other than using him as a supporting character in various Batman stories by other writers, with the last appearance being in Batman and The Outsiders #16 in 1984, thirty-nine years ago.

Re-reading Detective #435, I would have loved to have seen more Jason Bard stories written & drawn by the great Frank Robbins. DC missed a trick.

© Ian Baker