Knight Watchman: The Golden Age (The Big Bang Comics Collection)

These excellent stories represent an alternative universe of sorts, where "Tom King" created a superhero who became a media legend... yes, sort of like the character Batman did in our own world. Of course, in our world "Bob Kane" took all the credit for Batman from his collaborators, particularly Jerry Robinson. In fact, most of the comic characters published by DC and Marvel present histories of abuse, betrayal, and theft. I have come to prefer the Big Bang heroes, who offer a creative history that's ethically and morally acceptable. Oh, and I should add that the stories and art are SO FUN, so entertaining, so well-crafted. If you love comics, you'll love the Knight Watchman.

Knight Watchman is my favourite character in the Big Bang Universe, and if you're unfamiliar with Big Bang Comics, Pulp 2.0 can remedy that.A loving and well-executed homage to the DC and Marvel Comics I grew up reading, Gary Carlson & Chris Ecker (and many other great creators) crafted characters that paid tribute to and emulated the best of the Golden Age era, most notably Batman (Knight Watchman) and Superman (Ultiman), as well as many others, all lovingly presented in prose and art styles appropriate to the eras.This collection of Knight Watchman stories is as wonderful to read now as it was almost 20 years ago, and Pulp 2.0 has done a wonderful job or presenting these tributes to classic Batman stories ranging from the late '30s to the '90s, with artistic tributes to everyone from Bob Kane and Bill Finger to Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams to William Eisner to Frank Miller and Klaus Janson.A doubly wonderful trip down Memory Lane. I can't wait for Pulp 2.0 to release the entirety of the Big Bang Universe.

This collections of stories is described by the authors not so much as an homage to the golden age and silver age of comics, but as a graphic novel from a parallel earth. I quite agree. Good fun, created with an obvious love of the golden age of comics in general. the art and character development befit the era being lovingly homaged. Great stuff.

Amazing!!! I was very happy to add this to my collection. I have always been a fan of the Big Bang characters, and I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with this collection of al:l of the assorted Knight Watchman stories, as well as all of the faux behind the scenes materials.

A much needed reprinting of a brilliantly done homage to the GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS.Anyone who loves good, old-fashion super heroics by guys in costumes that have no powers, will love this book! BUY IT NOW!

Who's Batman? Big Bang Comics makes fun comics TODAY. This is the good stuff kids should be reading. And it has art by Tom King! Buy extra copies and give them to random people.

An amazing collection of classic Knight Watchman comics! I had the chance to meet Chris Ecker last year at a convention, purchased a copy and got to pick his brain about Big Bang Comics and the good work they did back in the 90's. He was so touched by my enthusiasm and fan-boyishness that he inscribed the book for me and drew a Knight Watchman headshot on the inside cover. A must buy for any and all fans of comics and the Golden Age!

Love this book! I'm a huge fan of Big Bang Comics, so I was happy to get this collection of stories! If you're a fan of golden-age and silver-age comics, you will get lots of enjoyment out this book! Excellent reading, and appropriate for all ages! Excellent work!

I am almost ashamed to say that I missed the whole “Big Bang” comic’s universe in the 1990’s.My excuse is that I had enough trouble navigating and avoiding all the terrible comics, multiple first issues and variant covers with “gimmicks” that it passed me by.Thanks to Bill Cunningham and Pulp 2.0. Press I am catching up – and what a ride it is.“Knight Watchman” – The Golden age might at first glance appear to be a copy, a pastiche, a parody perhaps?None of the above, this is a superb homage, a love letter, a paen to the work of some of Comics’ greatest auteurs – guys such as Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, Dick Sprang, Will Eisner , Shelly Moldoff, Jack Burnley et al.Such is the exuberance of the work presented here by (mainly) Chris Ecker and Gary Carlson that the Knight Watchman stories can be enjoyed in themselves but Chris and Gary never forget to leave the reader unappreciative of the works of some of Comics’ founding fathers and the work that came before.A real pleasure.Of course this is a Pulp 2.0 Book so the fun doesn’t stop at the stories there are some superb articles by the creators and a delightful “faux” comics history section that would be worth the price of admission alone complete with photos and Knight Watchman “covers” down the years.Fantastic.Finally a word about Pulp 2.0 Press: Their books are beautifully designed and produced – this one has a superb textured cover for example – they always have extra content over and above the stories and are set at a price where the big publishers should be ashamed of themselves frankly.Head honcho Bill Cunningham is so spot on with his choices of under-appreciated material to re-present (they are WAY more than reprints) that I can almost order them sight unseen and I would recommend any of their titles.Just keep going Bill.And thanks Chris and Gary for such great work. I may be 20 years late in catching on but as they say;“Class is permanent”.

Although I would strongly recommend against ordering this direct from Amazon due to the large 'INSPECTED and Repackaged' sticker placed upon the cover and which damaged the book when I removed it - the book itself is a nice collection of Knight Watchman tales taken from the pages of Big Bang Comics.Contents:"The Pink Feather Mystery" - a seemless recreation of a Bat-Man tale circa 1939. Originally published in Big Bang 29."Crime From the Skies" - Channels Batman circa 1946 in a nice little tale which directs a few playful nods towards the source of their inspiration. Originally published in Big Bang 22."The Camera of Doom" - Knight Watchman by way of Will Eisner. Once again, an homage done so well that you'd be forgiven for forgetting that this tale wasn't written and drawn in the 1940s. Originally published in Big Bang Presents 1."The Pink Flamingo's Kid Sidekick" - Though the artwork is more Chester Gould than anything you'd have found in comics of the 1950's, this one's a nice reminder that Big Bang could imitate comics of the past while injecting their own originality into the proceedings."The Time Crimes of Grandfather Clock" - Expanding upon The Watchman's Rogue Gallery, we're introduced to Grandfather Clock in this quick six page story. Originally presented in Big Bang Comics #0 (Volume One)."The Man Called Mr. Mask" - A story of revenge gone wrong with an interesting villain to boot. Originally published in Big Bang 1 (Volume One)"Sinister Quiz Master" - The Riddler inspired Quiz Master makes his debut in a story strong enough to have made the grade during the Jack Schiff era of Batman. Originally presented in Big Bang 1 (Volume 2)"Doom in Dimension x" - 'Robin Dies at Dawn' had it included Bat-Mite (or The Knight-Sprite as he's cleverly called here). Originally published in Big Bang 31."Origin!" - More detail in this telling of The Watchman's beginning than you'd find in other origin stories from the era. An impressive feat in that what is only a 13 page story, feels like a full issue. Originally presented in Big Bang 5."The Ghost Robbers of the Wax Museum" - A quick story featuring Mr Mask loose in a wax museum. Originally presented in Big Bang 7."Father Flamingo and the Boys of Bad Town" - Inspired by an obscure Batman story from Batman 162, an amnesia stricken Kid Galahad joins The Pink Flamingo's gang and faces off against his mentor.This collection also collects the Jim Steranko inspired and infused text piece from The Big Bang History of Comics Volume One and original drawings and details from The Knight Watchman's mostly fictitious past.Although the Batman influence is obvious in the character and his tales, it would do Big Bang a tremendous disservice to not acknowledge the originality and talent on display here. These are not stories which rip off previously existing tales, but the stories DC should have told and would have told had they thought of them themselves. For that reason, they feel like the Gold/Silver comics of a slightly askew parallel universe where sometimes details are identical to what we're familar with, while at others, they're neither better nor worse than though those classic comics, just... somehow different.