Detective Comics (1937) #524

Dc524

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 to kill her, just Dick is going to talk her into keeping it a secret. Thank goodness she’s going to get killed in an issue or two anyway.

The story is otherwise indistinct. Killer Croc shoots the Squid, which is a sad sendoff for Conway’s Eisner homage, though it’s not like the character worked in a serious setting.

Beautiful art from Newton and Giordano makes it a fine issue… though the ending leaves something to be desired.

The Novick art is better than usual on the Green Arrow backup, which is too silly for words.

Detective Comics 524 (March 1983)

The story is otherwise indistinct. Killer Croc shoots the Squid, which is a sad sendoff for Conway’s Eisner homage, though it’s not like the character worked in a serious setting.

Beautiful art from Newton and Giordano makes it a fine issue… though the ending leaves something to be desired.

The Novick art is better than usual on the Green Arrow backup, which is too silly for words.

CREDITS

Deathgrip; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Don Newton; inker, Dick Giordano; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Todd Klein. Mob Rule!, Part Two: Heat of the Moment!; writer, Joey Cavalieri; penciller, Irv Novick; inker, Ron Randall; colorist, Tom Ziuko; letterer, Phil Felix. Editors, Nicola Cuti and Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Detective Comics (1937) #523

Dc523

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 best for Colan. There are a lot of great faces and expressions, but the figures are too static. It’s like DeZuniga solidifies too much of Colan’s pencils. The figures jump out of the panels.

Conway’s spinning his wheels for a story–Alfred has a page of thought balloons about how Batman is basically just making himself miserable when he ought to be relieved following all the recent events. There’s even a couple wasted pages on Dick, just for filler.

Speaking of filler, Green Arrow fights some goofy villains in his backup. It makes little impression.

Detective Comics 523 (February 1983)

Speaking of filler, Green Arrow fights some goofy villains in his backup. It makes little impression.

CREDITS

Inferno; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Gene Colan; inker, Tony DeZuniga; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Ben Oda. Mob Rule!, Part One; writer, Joey Cavalieri; penciller, Irv Novick; artist, Ron Randall; colorist, Tom Ziuko; letterer, Phil Felix. Editors, Nicola Cuti and Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Detective Comics (1937) #521

Dc521

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 she showed up. Instead of just going after Bruce to reveal he’s Batman, Conway’s giving her some layers here. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to give the issue credit for that development–to be fair, he does write one decent Catwoman scene, before she goes nuts–the Irv Novick superhero artwork is atrocious. Characters not in costume, fine. In costume… awful.

The Green Arrow backup is a silly early eighties computer story. I think Ollie gives away his secret identity at least twice. Von Eeden’s art is fine, but disappointingly unambitious. Page filler.

Detective Comics 521 (December 1982)

The Green Arrow backup is a silly early eighties computer story. I think Ollie gives away his secret identity at least twice. Von Eeden’s art is fine, but disappointingly unambitious. Page filler.

CREDITS

Cat Tale; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Irv Novick; inker, Sal Trapani; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Ben Oda. The High Tech Highwayman!; writer, Joey Cavalieri; artist, Trevor von Eeden; colorist, Tom Ziuko; letterer, Phil Felix. Editors, Carl Gafford and Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.