Category: Detective Comics
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Once again, if Bruce, Dick and Alfred weren’t stupid enough to leave the door unlocked with Vicki Vale, Jim Gordon and a bunch of strangers in Wayne Manor, they wouldn’t have to kill Jason Todd’s mom for finding out Bruce is Batman…. Oh, wait, some of that statement is incorrect. I guess they don’t decide…
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Batman kills Solomon Grundy at the end of this story. I wonder if it was easier for writers to do Grundy stories because he’s not human or alive so they could kill him off every time. There’s not even a real explanation of how he comes to Gotham. The issue’s okay. DeZuniga’s inks aren’t the…
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Starting the issue, I kept thinking Conway had already done a Batman versus the abominable snowman issue. Then I slowly came to realize it was a sequel to that issue I had already read. Maybe the Irv Novick art threw me off. Even with Marcos inking him, the art is painfully mediocre. The story’s kind…
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Good to know editorial disconnect isn’t something recent. Conway apparently hadn’t been reading the excellent Catwoman backups running in his issues of Batman and Detective because here he’s got her guest-starring and menacing Vicki Vale and acting… well, cat-shit crazy. Sadly, the issue features some of the best Vicki Vale writing Conway has done since…
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You know what… I’m not sure I’ve seen a better inker on Newton than Alfredo Alcala. The art this issue is exceptional. It’s so wonderful, it makes up for Conway’s leap off the judgement bridge. The story itself isn’t bad. Batman is putting together all the clues about Rupert Thorne, as Thorne hires Dr. Thirteen…
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Kupperberg writes Batman and Robin like something out of the TV show. They’re celebrities, they go on very public adventures, Robin loiters awkwardly around the Batcave in his tights. The approach is just awkward–it’s like a fifties story stretched over a whole issue so there’s no way it isn’t going to overstay its welcome. In…
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It’s decent, underwhelming issue. In the feature, Batman recovers from his vampire attack–and it’s apparently forgotten Dick was a vampire for a while (he’s fully recovered here, with the explanation being he was hypnotized not converted)–and then gets into a big fight with Deadshot, teaming up with the Human Target posing as Bruce Wayne. The…
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They’re really dragging out the Batman turns into a vampire thing. I think this issue is the fourth or fifth of the story. I guess it’s fine, since it’s Colan and DeZuniga again and I am curious how everything is going to tie together. Conway and Levitz are finally bringing Vicki Vale into Batman’s story,…
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The Batman feature is problematic to say the least. Batman infiltrates a school for criminals as “Matches” Malone (gag) and is quickly found out. He then has to dispatch of the criminals as Batman. Conway and Kupperberg–not sure why Conway needed an assist here, there’s no heavy lifting in this issue–never explain how the criminals…
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Ugh. “Matches” Malone is so goofy. Why hasn’t anyone modernized him…. Otherwise, it’s a decent issue. The Chiaramonte inks are the best so far. It’s not the best Newton, but it’s good. Conway gets a lot of story going–Bruce is in LA investigating a school for criminals, Dick is stalking his ex-girlfriend (who seems to…
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What a weak issue. I mean… it’s really weak. It’s competent in a way someone spending sixty cents might not complain, but it’s not good at all. The feature is a Maxie Zeus story. Batman’s hunting him through a snow storm. There’s a scene where Dick and Alfred talk about worrying about him. It’s like…
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How did DC let this one get to the printers? Chiaramonte’s inks are a complete disaster. Maybe Newton was in a rush and Chiaramonte had to cover a lot but… it doesn’t even look like Newton here. The story’s got some interesting parts, not the “Batman is missing” parts (Two-Face has kidnapped him and is…
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Colan and Janson are back in sync, which is good because Conway’s overwriting the dialogue again. It’s like he can’t decide if Batman is supposed to think or talk his plans for athletic feats. This time I was actually wondering if Batman was talking to the villain, since his expository dialogue to himself comes in…
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Conway finds the right mix of Batman and Bruce Wayne antics for this issue. Robin’s in it too, which means there’s even less page time for Batman–Conway gives Dick his own subplots to deal with. It’s too soon to tell how they’ll tie into Bruce’s subplots, which here are concern for Jim Gordon’s career, the…
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There are two Mad Hatters? I’m now incredibly confused. According to this issue, there was an original Mad Hatter and then a replacement and then the original came back. At least in the eighties. The Mad Hatter story–which gets the cover–is sort of a fake A plot, since the issue mostly concentrates on the Gotham…
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Conway really lays on the melodrama for his resolution to Bruce and Selina’s romance–Catwoman’s still too much in the picture for her to be able to stick it out–but it still works somehow. The major part of the story is Catman coming back for revenge on Batman and Catwoman. This issue might be the first…
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I’ve been trudging through Conway’s Batman comics the last few days–maybe the Irv Novick art on Batman is getting me down–so it’s nice this issue of Detective Comics is fantastic. It’s a completely absurd story about one of Bruce Wayne’s egyptologist friends going nuts and kidnapping Selina Kyle because he thinks they’re reincarnated Ancient Egyptians…
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Conway doesn’t do much with Gotham City this issue, instead it’s just Batman in pursuit of the villainous Manikin. Except, of course, it’s not clear how villainous the reader is supposed to find her. She’s a tragic villain–Conway doesn’t give her any resolution past surviving, but I suppose there might be an insanity defense in…
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I know kids actually read comic books back in the eighties so Conway had to keep them in mind, but he’s got a story about a golden mannequin lady killing people… he didn’t need to open with a really obvious prologue setting up the character. He could have just revealed it all when he will…
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Dan Adkins’s inks are a mess here. Because of them, there’s barely one good panel of Don Newton drawing Batman versus a werewolf. The story’s something of a surprise–with Conway concentrating solely on Batman; I assumed the issue, since Conway did Werewolf by Night, would be Batman meets Jack Russell, but it’s anything but. Since…
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So the Joker breaks out of Arkham for no reason other than to create an elaborate room of deadly toys to kill Batman. It’s definitely insane, but also completely idiotic. This issue makes me wonder if there were (and are) editorial mandates for how often a villain has to appear. Maybe it had been a…
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Now there’s a done-in-one. Wow. Conway fits a ton into the issue, which boils down to another poisoned Batman goes after the Scarecrow story, but with all sorts of decoration. It opens with Batman–Bruce mooning over Selina no less–going about his routine. He gets a mysterious dart shot at him and strange things start happening.…
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So… Alfred’s somebody’s baby daddy. That little detail is sort of overlooked in this issue. Not only is he a baby daddy, he’s an emotionally disconnected one (he financially supports her, but won’t tell her his identity–I think they almost used a similar thing in Batman and Robin to explain Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl’s history). It’s…
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I love the scene with the Paris police giving Batman the okay because of his “unofficial” Interpol status. I wonder if Conway realized how silly the scene reads, given he’s sitting there in the office in his costume. Maybe Batman needs a different costume for such official meetings. Otherwise, the issue’s decent. Bruce heads to…
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For issue 500, DC went with something rather celebratory for Detective Comics–it’s very oversized (84 pages) and has many Detective Comics regulars–back to Slam Bradley–making appearances. The opening Batman story, from Alan Brennert and Dick Giordano, is fantastic one about Batman going Earth-3 to save his parents. It’s a great, touching story. I love it.…
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Well, Batman fights the crooked miners union again this issue… but this time… he wins! Actually, it’s a really nice story about Batman and Blockbuster saving a bunch of miners in a collapsed shaft. Conway takes his time, reintroducing everything from last issue (I love the recaps comics used to integrate into the stories), then…
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It’s Batman versus the crooked coal miners and guess who wins? Not Batman. Okay, maybe I’m abridging a little, but not by much. Conway makes Batman a little too human here, way too fallible (he gets hit in the head with a shovel–isn’t he supposed to know when people are sneaking up on him?). It’s…
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The main story is dedicated to Will Eisner, but besides some rather obvious Spirit references, I don’t get it. I mean, it’s not like Batman spends the issue getting beat up. That one thing aside–it’s not even a problem, it’s just a strange dedication–the issue’s pretty good. It’s Batman the adventurer, with some nice moments…
The Stop Button 