| The Batman Family | |
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Cover of The Batman Family #1 (Sept./Oct. 1975) Art by Mike Grell. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Schedule | Bi-monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Publication date | Sept./Oct. 1975 - Oct./Nov. 1978 |
| Number of issues | 20, then 15 more as part of Detective Comics |
| Main character(s) | Batgirl Robin |
| Creative team | |
| Penciller(s) | Mike Grell, José Luis García-López, Jim Aparo, Michael Golden, Irv Novick, Marshall Rogers, Don Newton, Joe Staton |
| Inker(s) | Vince Colletta, Bob Wiacek, Joe Giella, Bob Layton |
The Batman Family was a DC Comics comic book series which ran from 1975 to 1978, primarily featuring stories starring supporting characters in the Batman comics. The term is often used to refer to the extended cast of characters of comics books associated with Batman.
The Batman Family featured solo and team-up stories starring Batgirl and Robin in addition to reprints of Golden Age stories. Many issues of Batman Family featured Batman supporting characters such as Alfred, Vicki Vale, the Elongated Man, Man-Bat, The Huntress, and Ace the Bat-Hound.
DC published several other ... Family titles concurrent with Batman Family. These included Superman Family (1974-82), Super-Team Family (1975-1978) and Tarzan Family (1975-76). As a rule, DC's ... Family titles contained mostly reprints, and featured a higher page count (and higher price) than DC's normal books. Its final issue, #20, ran with no advertisements.
Contents |
The Batman Family title proper ran twenty issues from 1975–1978.
In 1978, after the DC Implosion, it was decided that DC Comics' long-running flagship title Detective Comics was to be terminated with #480. However, the decision was overturned following strenuous arguments on behalf of saving the title within the DC office. Despite being the better selling title, Batman Family was instead merged with Detective, converting that book into a $1 68-page giant as of Detective #481 (Dec. 1978/Jan. 1979). This arrangement lasted 15 issues. With issue #496 (November 1980) Detective reverted to its traditional size and price — thus effectively canceling Batman Family for good. Detective Comics would continue to be published until the fall of 2011 at which point DC technically cancelled the title as part of The New 52 reboot scheme and launched a new Detective Comics series in its place.
In 2002 DC published an eight-issue miniseries, Batman: Family, written by John Francis Moore. The first six issues were illustrated by Stefano Gaudiano and Rick Hoberg. Steve Lieber replaced Hoeberg on issues seven and eight.