THE BETTY/BETTE KANE TOUR

I started my comic reading and collecting hobby back in 1971 when I was just seven years old. It was a fantastic time for it because reprints were everywhere, either in their own titles or stuffed into those big giant-size issues. I loved it. It was the perfect way to catch up on all the history I’d missed.

Within my first year of reading, I already knew about Batwoman (Kathy Kane), the Silver Age Bat-family member who used to team up with Batman. But it wasn’t until my parents gave me the book Batman: From the 30s to the 70s for Christmas a few years later that I discovered there had also been a Bat-Girl! Not Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl... this was a totally different character, a spunky young girl who was basically the Robin to Batwoman’s Batman. I was instantly hooked and started digging around for every scrap of info I could find on her.

This tour is all about the original Bat-Girl, Betty Kane, a character who’s been reinvented several times over her 60+ years of publication history.

THE JOKER'S DAUGHTER TOUR

In 1976, Robin encountered a bizarre and enigmatic young woman who introduced herself as The Joker's Daughter.  She's decked in a costume that resembles the one that Joker typically appears in, and taunts Robin relentlessly.  Though she's presented as a villain, she seems more intent on simply providing mischief for our hero and declaring that she's going to figure out his secret identity!  

To find out more about this bizarre character (who is still appearing in DC stories to this day), drop your fare in the meter, grab a seat, buckle up, and enjoy the trip!

THE ORIGINAL TEEN TITANS MEMBERSHIP TOUR

When I began my comic book journey at the ripe age of 9 (in 1973), I gravitated much more to group-themed titles.  The Legion of Super-Heroes was my first exposure to the medium, and from there, I quickly branched out to the Justice League of America, the Fantastic Four, and one of my all-time favorite groups... the Teen Titans.

When this group's adventures first started being chronicled, the characters were very early teens.  But by the time I was first exposed to the Teen Titans, they were hip and community-minded older teens, some in college, teaming to battle social injustice in addition to villainy.  Their group had several members who had no actual superpowers, and their ranks also included the first African-American character I saw represented in comic books.  As a child growing up in a very non-diverse small community in Maine, I found them all thrilling. I wanted to be one of them when I grew up!

Over the decades, there have been numerous iterations of the Teen Titans or simply the Titans.  This tour will only be limited to the members and history of the original volume of the Teen Titans, published by DC Comics from 1964 through 1978.