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.

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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.

Detective Comics (1937) #529

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I try to be open-minded about Cavalieri and Cullins’s Green Arrow back-ups, but this one peeved me. Moench doesn’t get enough time with his Batman story–which is his fault for not pacing it out right–but come on. Who carries about Green Arrow’s lame villain? Though inker Frank Giacoia does ruin Cullins’s pencils in sometimes amusing ways.

Moench and Colan (joined by Dick Giordano on inks), on the other hand, do a fabulous Batman story about Bruce losing. He loses in a fight (the bad guy has better costume material), he loses Vicki Vale and he’s about to lose Jason Todd. His life, as much as a billionaire’s life can, is falling apart.

And Moench and Colan nail it. There’s a slick noir tone–Colan excels–with Moench expounding on the idea of nighttime habits as they relates to Batman.

It’s great. Shame it runs too short.

Detective Comics 529 (August 1983)

And Moench and Colan nail it. There’s a slick noir tone–Colan excels–with Moench expounding on the idea of nighttime habits as they relates to Batman.

It’s great. Shame it runs too short.

Detective Comics (1937) #527

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Doug Moench sure does like exposition this issue. Batman can’t stop thinking about all the problems in his life (though he manages not to detect Gordon’s heart problem). But there’s also the regular narrative exposition, which Moench overwrites. It makes me wonder if he’s gearing Detective towards a younger audience. He’s not particularly confident; he keeps explaining himself.

The Dan Day artwork is okay without being good. Day, inked by Pablo Marcos, is competent but childish. His figures don’t show any maturity.

Towards the end of the issue, Moench juxtaposes Bruce and Jason getting ready to go to the movies (presumably not Zorro) and the problem becomes clear. Moench knows he’s writing about a difficult “real” issue, adoption, but he doesn’t know how to write it. It’s too bad

The Green Arrow backup from Joey Cavalieri and Paris Cullins has nice enough art from Cullins. Sadly, the story’s exceptionally silly.