Batman 400 (October 1986)

830781 I hate this comic. I hate how DC used it, I hate how Moench writes it, even if it was an editorial decision.

There are nods to Moench’s run, but only so far as he gets to give each of his characters a page to sort of say goodbye. There’s no closure on any of the story lines, not a single one.

There’s also a lot of crappy art. It’s an anniversary issue with a lot of big names drawing either poorly or against their style. Rick Leonardi and Arthur Adams are some of the worst offenders, but not even Brian Bolland does particularly well. Ken Steacy is the only decent one.

Moench’s writing for a different audience than usual, the casual Batman reader, not the regular. Apparently he thinks the casual readers like endless exposition and incredible stupidity. It’s a distressing, long read; a terrible capstone to Moench’s run.

D-

CREDITS

Resurrection Night!; writer, Doug Moench; pencillers, John Byrne, Steve Lightle, George Perez, Paris Cullins, Bill Sienkiewicz, Art Adams, Tom Sutton, Steve Leialoha, Joe Kubert, Ken Steacy, Rick Leonardi and Brian Bolland; inkers, Byrne, Bruce Patterson, Perez, Larry Mahlstedt, Sienkiewicz, Terry Austin, Ricardo Villagran, Leialoha, Kubert, Steacy, Karl Kesel and Bolland; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterers, John Costanza and Andy Kubert; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Batman (1940) #349

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It’s Robin versus his vampire girlfriend while Alfred hires the Human Target to trick Vicki Vale and Jim Gordon decides to stop being a mope.

Batman barely makes an appearance–he shows up at the beginning to remind the reader he or she needs to pick up the month’s Detective Comics. It’s a weird few pages, because the art on Batman (just on him) is bad. And it’s Gene Colan and Alfredo Alcala so the weak art is a big surprise.

The art’s excellent on the rest of the issue. It’s an all action issue, except the Alfred and Gordon scenes. Conway and Colan doing seventies Marvel-type vampires, only at DC. It’s strange to see.

The Catwoman backup is unimpressively okay. Jones does these stories in two parts; he really needs three. He has to resolve the previous story’s cliffhanger, move things along and finish. There’s not enough time.

Batman 349 (July 1982)

It’s Robin versus his vampire girlfriend while Alfred hires the Human Target to trick Vicki Vale and Jim Gordon decides to stop being a mope.

CREDITS

Blood Sport; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Gene Colan; inker, Alfredo Alcala; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Ben Oda. The Man, the Bullet, the Cat, Part Two; writer, Bruce Jones; penciller, Trevor von Eeden; inker, Larry Mahlstedt; colorist, Tom Ziuko; letterer, A. Kubert. Editor, Dick Giordano; publisher, DC Comics.

Batman (1940) #347

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I love this issue. It’s heavy-handed to some degree–it’s two would be criminals trying to decide if they want to commit a crime in Gotham City and talking about Batman–and Slifer’s attempts at showing the socioeconomic toils on a population are… pedestrian, but it’s a great Batman story.

There are two stories the guys tell about Batman. One is just an effectively spooky one with him capturing some escaped convicts, emphasizing Batman from the criminals’–the hunted’s–perspective.

But the second one is about a group of militant arsonists (who are careful to only burn abandoned buildings) trying to get attention to their situation. Again, Slifer’s sociological attempts are a little trite, but the Batman stuff is fantastic.

The von Eeden and Marcos art is good–less ambitious than I hoped after the Catwoman backups they did together.

The other backups–quick mysteries–are inoffensive page filler.

Batman 347 (May 1982)

The von Eeden and Marcos art is good–less ambitious than I hoped after the Catwoman backups they did together.

The other backups–quick mysteries–are inoffensive page filler.

CREDITS

The Shadow of the Batman; writer, Roger Slifer; inker, Pablo Marcos. The Impossible Murder!; writer, Robin Snyder; inker, Larry Mahlstedt. Artifact; writer, Snyder; inker, Mahlstedt. The Nervous Nephew; writer, Snyder; inker, Mahlstedt. Penciller, Trevor von Eeden; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, John Costanza; editors, Dave Manak and Dick Giordano; publisher, DC Comics.

Batman (1940) #338

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It’s sort of hard to believe Conway wrote both the terrible lead story and the mildly charming Robin backup. I mean, the Robin story–Dick solving a mystery at the circus–has it’s problems, like Conway keeping crucial information until the last scene so as to explain all the problems away… but at least he’s trying.

The Batman lead story is another thing entirely. Not only is there an idiotic reference to fingerprints being found on wet grass, but there’s also a bunch of malarky about the Americanism of sporting events. Alfred, the Brit, says it’s un-American to dislike sports.

The story’s villain is the world’s best (chemically engineered) athlete who decides to kill all of Gotham’s famous sports figures. Batman finds him through fumbling and stops him from killing a bunch of people in a mall.

I don’t know if Conway was just dozing off through scripting or what; terrible story.

Batman 338 (August 1981)

I don’t know if Conway was just dozing off through scripting or what; terrible story.

CREDITS

This Sporting Death!; writers, Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway; penciller, Irv Novick; inker, Frank McLaughlin; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, John Costanza. Killer Under the Big Top!; writer, Conway; penciller, Don Newton; inker, Larry Mahlstedt. Editors, Cary Burkett and Dick Giordano; publisher, DC Comics.

Batman (1940) #337

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Okay, so the Batman story is about Batman fighting the bastard, half-human offspring of a yeti and the Robin backup is about Robin trying to clear his friend of murder. The Batman story is probably better, but maybe not. I mean, it’s kind of dumber–Gerry Conway overwrites the narration and the dialogue is all exposition (no worries about “jumping on” here–Conway makes sure the whole thing plays to the layperson)–but it does have the Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez art, which is fantastic.

Still, the backup has Don Newton and he’s got a nice way of making Robin look not too old. Except the Robin story’s even more idiotic. Dick Grayson goes to a circus in the middle of nowhere to be an aerialist; there’s a murder and he tries to solve it as Robin. No one’s going to put two and two together?

It’s a fast read, very comfortable.