Considering the cover to Batman and Robin #1

KG Murray's Batman and Robin #1 was published in September 1976:

The cover image by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson did not originally appear on a DC Comics cover. It was a centrefold pinup in Batman #181:

This image is one of the most iconic images of Batman and Robin from the 1960's, and has been used and adapted in a variety of forms, for example, on posters, postcards and games and other related promotional items.

It was adapted as a painting, credited to Wallace Fax, on the cover of Limited Collectors' Edition #C-44:

Note the difference in the cape between the pinup and the painted version. This version of the image also appeared in a black and white pencil and ink rendition the inside cover:

Batman and Robin #1 was on the stands within six months of Limited Collectors' Edition #C-44, and there is another connection between the two issues -they both include the story Paint a Picture of Peril! However, there are some differences between the two printings of the story which leads me to think the connection between the two issues is likely coincidental rather than direct.

Consider also this inhouse Murray advertisement:

This image is from Blazing Tales of the Old West from September 1981, a year or so after the Batman and Robin series ceased publication. However it does provide evidence that Murray had access to original image, complete with the Batman shadow in the background.

A curious thing about this image is that many of its adaptations opt to use the Batman figure but omit the Robin figure. Apart from the Limited Collectors' Edition #C-44 above, consider the following examples:

Batman merchandise infringement warning in Toys and Novelties, 15 April 1976 

Batman robot packaging, Japan 

Corgi Batmobile underside

In this context, it is rather ironic that whilst Robin appears on the cover of the first issue of Murray's new Batman and Robin series, Robin does not appear in the issue - indeed, he does not appear on another cover of this series until #16, a few issues before the end of the series - and the title on the spine of Batman and Robin #1 is "Batman No. 1".

I am unaware of any other comic book apart from Murray's Batman and Robin #1 to use the pinup image as a cover feature, apart from a run of issues of DC Comics' Detective Comics beginning in 1968 which used the two figures either side of the logo:

I expect to find the pinup image was used on the cover of an international edition somewhere at some point. TBA.