Mood, storytelling, characterization, lighting, dynamism, I can't come up with an element of comic art at which Aparo did not excel. He married the thought processes and approach of newspaper strips with the dynamics of the full comics page, more successfully than many of those who actually worked in the strips.

His Batman was sleek, athletic, graceful, and mysterious while never losing his humanity in the midst of the effect he generated. While some artists can only draw the "Bat" (harsh, jagged shadows, and capes out to there) elements of the character, and others can only do the "Man," (usually as a clunky thug with clenched teeth in a wrinkly suit or unweildy armor) Aparo's Batman, along with Adams', remains definitive because both the Bat and the Man are present and drawn with uncommon artistry.

Recognition of Aparo's work is long overdue in the comic shops.

Jim Aparo tends to get lost with younger fans for some reason. I was talking to some 20 somethings that read Batman and they wanted to talk about Miller and Adams, of course, but then they started talking about Finch and some of the more recent artists as "the Best Batman Artists Ever". I threw in Aparo and Breyfogle and they just looked at me. Jim Aparo just had a Batman that I would see in a comic and say THAT'S Batman.

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"My" Batman is Dick Sprang's, of course, as I have mentioned many times. But my admiration for Aparo knows no bounds. In fact, his work on the "Bat-Murderer" storyline, back in the 70s, so thoroughly demoralized me that for a while I thought about seeking honest work! Damn, that was good stuff!!

This is a bit of a tangent, but over the weekend, I compiled my backissue wishlist of all the things I want to get for my collection.  I was looking at Neal Adams, Dennis O'Neill and JB Batman & Batman-related issues (LotDK among them) and was immediately struck by the comparatively low number of issues put out by those creators.

I went into it expecting Claremont Uncanny numbers of issues.  What a testament to those creators that they left such a mark on the work compared to the 5 year+ disposable runs we see today. 

AKA: the argument against decompression.