BOB HANEY DIES

[MattBrady]

It has been learned that comics legend Bob Haney died on Thanksgiving Day, November 25th. He was 78 years old.

Haney died at a nursing/hospice facility in El Cajon, CA where he was hospitalized following a stroke that had robbed him of his ability to speak or recognize people. Complications from the stroke were the cause of his death.

Haney was one of the great Silver Age comics writers, landing at DC in the mid-50s, where he soon came to write virtually every comic DC published at one time or another. Haney was the co-creator of the original Teen Titans, Metamorpho, Eclipso, Doom Patrol, and an array of other characters, including Sgt. Rock. Together with other writers of the era, Haney tried unsuccessfully to unionize talent at DC in the late '60s.

Haney worked at DC through the mid-80s, and in animation as well, eventually retiring to San Felipe in Baja, Mexico. Most recently, Haney wrote Teen Titans Swingin' Elseworlds, which was illustrated by Jay Stephens, and inked and colored by Mike and Laura Allred. The book was canceled by DC in August of 2003, and has not yet seen print from, or been rescheduled by DC Comics.

Mark Evanier has written an obituray for Haney, which can be found here.

[Kermie]

Originally posted by MattBrady
following a stroke that had robbed him of his ability to speak or recognize people.

That is such a scary thought, I can't even imagine how that must have been for him and his family. Best wishes to the family.

[bubba]

Damn, this sucks. Even though I never got the the chance to read the original titans, I am sad to see one of its creaters die like that (not being able to speak or recognize people).

[Fazhoul]

Some of my favorite stories as a kid were Bob Haney stories. I always loved his work on the Brave and the Bold most of all. Now maybe DC will get off it's ass and print the Teen Titans Swingin' Elseworlds special.

[Matt Hawes]

The earliest Batman stories I recall reading were by Mr. Haney.

As I mentioned over in the "Talk" area, I sent off a Christmas card to him, that I am afraid arrived too late. It is my hope that somehow the greeting, along with those from other fans, will somehow serve to console his family during this sad period.

[SpyGuy]

As a long-time TEEN TITANS fan, I am very saddened to hear about Bob Haney's passing. His offbeat stories and characters were the stuff of legend and my sincere condolences go out to his family.

On a semi-related note, I think fast-tracking a SILVER AGE TEEN TITANS ARCHIVES VOL. 2 collection would be a great way to pay tribute to Haney's work.

[Tupy]

Originally posted by Kermie
That is such a scary thought, I can't even imagine how that must have been for him and his family. Best wishes to the family.

I guess someone lives by their accomplishments. This guy created Teen Titans, so only for that kudos for him
And May GOD take care of his soul












Sad notice, but life is just like that......

[skeletorjr]

Bob Haney was one of the writers who made Batman my favorite character back in the 70s, thanks to Brave and The Bold. I like to think he is in a much better place now, hopefully chatting it up with Bill Finger and Jack Kirby

[alschroeder]

Bob Haney's work with Neal Adams helped return the "creature of the night" Batman, especially starting with Batman's team-up with Deadman, when we were reminded---like Deadman---Batman was created in tragedy, and he had started off searching for a killer too.
If you enjoy Batman, you owe a huge debt to Haney.---Al Schroeder III

[JimShelley]

His work on Brave and the Bold with Jim Aparo was awesome! When I was a kid, I remember reading the stories and being absorbed in their worldly sense of politics and global concerns. There was one particular Sgt. Rock and Batman story in which Haney actually wrote himself into the script. Very cool and interesting story. Great stuff.

[ClayinCA]

Hopefully, DC will see fit to finally publish the TEEN TITANS Elseworlds special Mr. Haney wrote a few years ago. Apparently, the entire book is finished--it just needs taking off the shelf and publishing. Perhaps it could include the "Super-Sons" story from the pulped Elseworlds special from a few years back.

[markpf5]

I picked up Bob Haney's career at what you might call the end of his most creative period, the 1960s. After this time, he became the mainstay of Brave & Bold, following a run of stories drawn by Neal Adams with a very long run illustrated by Jim Aparo. Not a shabby way to spend the seventies. Brave & Bold, though a popular comic throughout Haney's run, was kind of a backwater, not participating in shaping the Batman mythos in any significant way. This gave its writer a lot of latitude to tell any kind of story that he wanted, and frequent guest stars like The Atom, Green Arrow, even Sgt. Rock guaranteed a fun genre mixture not encouraged in the main Batman books of the time.

What's really interesting is that if you read Haney's Batman stories today, for all their formulaic trappings and simple characterizations, is that every aspect from story construction to dialogue to plotting was rock solid in terms of craft.

For really creative Haney stuff, you'd have to go back to mid-sixties Metamorpho, his collaboration with artist Ramona Fradon. This is probably Haney's best writing, not exactly a humor comic but shot through with a wry knowingness of the silliness and fun of comics and superhero.

And of course Teen Titans. Well, you had to be there.

Haney provided many of us greybeards a lot of solid, unpretentious entertainment.

Rest in peace and God bless.

[skeletorjr]

Originally posted by CapVsBats
His work on Brave and the Bold with Jim Aparo was awesome! When I was a kid, I remember reading the stories and being absorbed in their worldly sense of politics and global concerns. There was one particular Sgt. Rock and Batman story in which Haney actually wrote himself into the script. Very cool and interesting story. Great stuff.

I have that issue, what a trip. I love that Haney and Aparo are in hiding so they can finish the story in time to write themselves, Batman and Sgt. Rock out of danger, and I always thought it was great that the writers and artists didn't really seem that surprised that their story was coming to life. Fun stuff.

[silogramsam]

Haney was certainly responsible for the second part of the Silver Age getting up and running, with the characters he helped create and the stories (Titans, Metamorpho, etc.) and the Brave and the Bold stories (although he did get some of the personalities wrong there and was somewhat responsible for continuity goofs (like team ups between Batman and Wildcat and Batman and Spectre, for instance) but there are very few stories that he wrote that weren't enjoyable at some level. And together with Nick Cardy, the Teen Titans were always a fun read (even with some of the "hip" dialogue).

Its a shame that he has died, and in the fashion that he has. It seems that the powers of the Silver Age and the Golden Age are disappearing more rapidly of late. This is a shame, truly.

[skeletorjr]

Originally posted by silogramsam
Haney was certainly responsible for the second part of the Silver Age getting up and running, with the characters he helped create and the stories (Titans, Metamorpho, etc.) and the Brave and the Bold stories (although he did get some of the personalities wrong there and was somewhat responsible for continuity goofs (like team ups between Batman and Wildcat and Batman and Spectre, for instance) but there are very few stories that he wrote that weren't enjoyable at some level. And together with Nick Cardy, the Teen Titans were always a fun read (even with some of the "hip" dialogue).

Its a shame that he has died, and in the fashion that he has. It seems that the powers of the Silver Age and the Golden Age are disappearing more rapidly of late. This is a shame, truly.

How were the Wildcat and Spectre team-ups Continuity goofs? Do you mean Earth 1/Earth 2 type goofs? Just curious. I have B & B's with both the Spectre and Wildcat, and it never really occurred to me as a kid. I guess I just assumed that Wildcat had an Earth-1 counterpart, or that the Spectre could go where he darn well pleased. Funny, I never thought about it. He told some great stories though, that's the most important part. He will be missed.

[Spider-Bob]

Back Issue #7 which I picked up at my local shop this week has a great series of articles about Haney and his B&B stories.

[Bakema NL]

I have probably read more stories by his hand than I'm aware of. Early Dutch comics rarely had credits in them. It's always sad someone dies, but it's a fate we all will meet. 78 is a respectable age, I hope he rests in peace. And his stories will be remembered.

[jedifish]

Originally posted by Spider-Bob
Back Issue #7 which I picked up at my local shop this week has a great series of articles about Haney and his B&B stories.

I was just going to post that since I finished the article over the weekend. It also delves into his Teen Titans stories, which I haven't gotten into yet and has a good interview with Jim Aparo and talks with various creators about the Fantastic Four.

My sympathies go out to his family.

[TVerBeek]

Originally posted by Kermie
That is such a scary thought, I can't even imagine how that must have been for him and his family.

It can be pretty distressing. My boyfriend Andy suffered from expressive aphasia (not being able to speak) for a few weeks after his stroke. Fortunately he was able to recognise people pretty quickly (at least as far as we could tell). With more severe strokes, that can be permanent, which is not a good way (for patient or family) to live.

[Mike Cruz]

Man, Bob Haney was a great talent. His adventurous stories are really beyond comparion. I hope DC reconsiders its decision to release that latest Haney work.

Rest in peace Mr. Haney; my condolences to his family.

[silogramsam]

in later years, it was retconned that the Spectre may have traveled back and forth between Earths but Wildcat was never considered as having been on E1 as a solo appearance; even in later pre-crisis years, this was never explained; those stories actually could make more sense now, in the post-crisis world, then they did when they appeared. I think Haney was just looking to write good stories, regardless of continuity (which frankly wasn't an important notion in any DC book back in the 60s or 70s). Not unlike today in some ways, except the fans are more adamant about continuity than they were back then.

The more important point here is that another writer that wrote the comics that I started on and grew up with, has passed on.

[AlexLothos]

That's all bad. Good luck to his family through this time.

[bcondray]

His ideas and words gave me much reading pleasure.

Good-bye, sir.

[Brad Tree]

Originally posted by silogramsam
I think Haney was just looking to write good stories, regardless of continuity (which frankly wasn't an important notion in any DC book back in the 60s or 70s). Not unlike today in some ways, except the fans are more adamant about continuity than they were back then.

For a while, the stories from those B&B were thought to happen on Earth-B, for Bob Haney. Continuity was fast and loose, and Batman could do no wrong, whether solving a mystery or fighting aliens. He teamed up with a young Sgt. Rock in one story, and then an old Sgt. Rock in another story.

He had one story where Green Arrow was still a Millionaire, yet we knew from a JLA in the same month that GA was broke.

The overall theme was that the story came first, and he did not sweat the details. They were fun stories to read.

I second the idea of a collection with the Unpublished Titans story. I would love a collection of all of the Super-Sons stories as well.

His was a unique voice in the comics world. Condolences to the family, friends, and fans.

Later,
Brad.

[markpf5]

The Spectre was let into Earth 1 via the 1973-74 Michael Fleischer/Jim Aparo series. I wouldn't be surprised if Aparo prevailed upon Haney to do some Spectre stories for him to draw. As for Wildcat, I remember that the stories made no particular hay over whether it was a Earth 1 or Earth 2 version of the character.

I wouldn't ding Haney too hard on making continuity errors. In fact, I'd say he was only interested in doing something interesting with the power of the guest star, not further their history in any way. Brave & Bold wouldn't have worked at all if we didn't allow some suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy some of the odder pairings to occur. Also, no one expected these stories to be canonical. They were just enjoyable mix-and-matches without an ounce of pretense.

After all, Robin was never the hepcat he was in Batman that he was in Haney's Teen Titans.