Welcome to Cover Story-Part 3.  Cover Story is an ongoing series of blogs where we focus on great, weird, and strange comic cover art.  Without a doubt, one of the reasons I enjoy comics is the cover art.  For fun, we are looking at Top 10 Weird Batman Covers.  So far we've covered #5-10.  Here's the rest!  #1-4 weirdest Batman covers of all time.  Starting with #4.  

#4: No pot of gold here--the Rainbow Creature  (Batman #134)

Beware the green aura!

Batman and Robin visit a South American republic to help take on a dictator.  We know it is in South America because everyone wears sombreros there, as the cover clearly shows (?!?!).  Shockingly, along the way, they encounter a Rainbow Creature that easily defeats them.  The cover shows the creature using its green aura to turn them into two-dimensional people.  (Because when you think of green auras, you think of the danger becoming two dimensional, of course).

Batman and Robin are pictured on the cover paper-thin blowing in the wind.

A lot like this story plot and cover.

A recent sale of an 8.0 went for $250 with a +17% trend.  So, no pot of gold shining here on value.

#3: Top secret...not so much!  (Batman #48)

Nothing is as important as keeping the secret of their identities, but Batman and Robin have one other ultimate secret--the location of the Batcave.  Find the Batcave, you uncover the Wayne Mansion and all the Bat-secrets begin to unravel.

This 1948 cover depicts the Dynamic Duo doing their thing for community service--making a presentation for a group of children.  It doesn't get more civic-minded than that.  Batman, just to be as clear as possible, even has a pointer to use in his presentation.

"This visual is like a blueprint or a map.  Boys and girls, here's the old disguised barn.  Over here, the spiral staircase, the trophy room, the garage where the Bat-plane is, and just to give you a point of reference here's...Wayne Mansion!  Any questions?"

Yes.  But I can't ask them because I'm too busy shaking my head over this spill-the-beans cover concept.

This is the earliest issue on this Top 10 list, so it's no surprise that a 6.0 has an FMV of $750 with an upward trend of 23%.

#2: Vicious Joker??? (Detective #149)

Over the years, the Joker has proved to be extremely ruthless, cruel, and homicidal.   The list of his crimes is lengthy and brutal.  For example, in the last three Batman movies which featured the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Jared Leto, the Joker was responsible for almost 3000 cases of first-degree murder. The Joker is a maniac and truly dangerous.

But on the cover of Detective #149, the Joker goes to a whole new level of badness.  He...plays the bagpipes.  Yessir, the Joker is breaking glass, ringing a bell, and playing (obviously very badly) a bagpipe.   This is the stuff of nightmares!  All Batman and Robin can do is helplessly put their hands over their ears.

What's next, Joker?  A kazoo?

An early Joker cover is valuable, even with a bagpipe.  This issue in a 5.5 graded copy comes in at $900 with a surprising -11% trend.  Better grab one quick!!

#1: Batman's new Zebra look (Detective #275)

From 1960, we have the gift of my #1 weirdest Batman cover.  And what a gift it is!

So, Batman has been turned into a...Zebra fashionista.  Both Batman and his uniform make a definite fashion statement.

"So, you like animal prints?  I got your animal print happening, right here!"  Unfortunately, Batman's utility belt didn't get the memo and remained yellow--unlike his cape, the rest of his costume, and Batman himself.  Hey, Batman, you are clashing there--a yellow utility belt and your orange aura that repels matter don't go together at all.

Luckily, Robin is sounding the alarm and warning everyone he can of the fashion danger.  The other danger is how Zebra print Batman now repels all matter.  Notice how the man's hat is barely off his head and that automobile is way up in the air.  Hmmm...it seems hats are not as affected as two-ton vehicles by Zebra Batman's aura.  That may give us a clue to solving Batman's fashion crisis.

An 8.5 sold in February, 2021 for $720 and a 6.5 sold in April for $395.

Well, there you have it.  My take on the Top 10 weirdest Batman covers.  What's one you would add to the mix?  Which other cover should be in the Top 10?  Let us know in the comments.

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