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Post by swansong on Jul 5, 2024 4:33:35 GMT -5
People may get out their pitchforks, but overall, pre-Crisis Batman is not my favorite. I think the hard-edgedness that Miller introduced (okay, he wasn't the first) worked quite well for the character. Of course, by the late 90s, it had become too extreme. Interestingly, I did not like the obsession with his dead parents that writers gave him. What I liked about Bronze Age Batman is that he hardly brooded, but sadly, he seemed so incompetent at times. Welcome to CCF! Thanks! And thanks for not getting out them pitchforks! Now don't get me wrong, I like Pre-Crisis Batman  I think Doug Moench's pre-crisis run with Nocturna and all that is certainly not the best written run, but it is certainly one of the most interesting, as it is just so weird and nothing like what was before or after. I am just contrasting this to Superman - here I vastly prefer the pre-crisis take on his personality and world. With Batman, not so much. Wonder Woman I dont know, I dont care enough and all about her is a mess anyway. |
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Post by nairb73 on Jul 5, 2024 18:28:10 GMT -5
Thanks! And thanks for not getting out them pitchforks! Now don't get me wrong, I like Pre-Crisis Batman I think Doug Moench's pre-crisis run with Nocturna and all that is certainly not the best written run, but it is certainly one of the most interesting, as it is just so weird and nothing like what was before or after. I am just contrasting this to Superman - here I vastly prefer the pre-crisis take on his personality and world. With Batman, not so much. Wonder Woman I dont know, I dont care enough and all about her is a mess anyway. My 'Pre-Crisis Batman' is 'Len Wein Batman',starting with BATMAN 307 in 1978, which was mostly adhered to by Wolfman and Conway, up until 1983. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 21, 2024 20:01:06 GMT -5
I’m up to #453 in project to read all my issues of Detective Comics from #244 to the present.
I had been reading one issue per day, usually right before I went to bed, but I’ve slowed down a little bit. Reading hundreds of consecutive issues of the same comic book will do that to you. But I think I’ll get back to reading one a day pretty soon.
I am in the mid-70s now. I like this run, but there’s a certain sameness to it. A little goes a long way sometimes. I’m almost up to that four-part storyline with Captain Stingaree, and I love that one.
I noticed that this issue was written by David V. Reed, and I think he must’ve started in the last two or three issues and I just hadn’t noticed until now. I like David V. Reed. Some of his stories are awfully silly, but they’re silly in a Golden Age way. Yet they’re drawn by 1970s artists. I like the contrast. And he wrote an awful lot of good stories. There’s all sorts of loony comic-book stuff going on a lot of the time.
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Post by swansong on Jul 22, 2024 3:20:16 GMT -5
I am in the mid-70s now. I like this run, but there’s a certain sameness to it. A little goes a long way sometimes. I’m almost up to that four-part storyline with Captain Stingaree, and I love that one. One of my "earliest Batman memories" (the 1989 movie, Adam West, BTAS, BTAS comics I think I also knew before) of regular Batman comics titles! I was born in 1987 and yet this one issue I found in the basement of a friend when we were playing, somewhere around 1993-94! Another one, which I remember having (not reading) in pre school days was the Jim Starlin storyline about the woman-hating serial killers! I kid you not, someone bought this comic back in the day and gave it to me. I did not remember anything about the story, just some of the Jim Aparo images (Batman on the phone, ...) stuck in my mind. I did not fully read and re-discover this story until a few years later. (Another story from those days i always remembered is post crisis Superman fighting Mongul in the arena) I dont know who bought these comics, or perhaps it was for my older brother! But its in my mind! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 22, 2024 21:19:21 GMT -5
Whenever I buy another old issue of Detective Comics, I usually post it here. But it looks like I posted it in the “What old comics have you purchased lately” thread by mistake.
Anyway, here’s the post …
It was just a few days ago. I was looking for it because I wanted to post an update. I got a message from the dealer and he’s on vacation, so he won’t be getting it into the mail until the end of the week.
I guess I’ll just have to live with that. I’ll try to hold on, but so many empty days and nights until then.
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 10, 2024 23:01:18 GMT -5
I am up to Detective Comics #462 in my project to read Detective Comics from #244 to the present.
#462 is the concluding chapter in a three-part story from #460 to #462. It’s about a villain named Captain Stingaree. He is convinced that Batman is actually three different guys with slightly different abilities, and he goes about capturing each one of them.
It is absolutely nuts. It’s easy to create a story that’s absolutely nuts, but it’s genius to conclude it and bring it all together in a way that even halfway makes sense. And this story succeeds and it’s own nutty manner.
BRONZE AGE BONKERS!!
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 10, 2024 23:09:23 GMT -5
I mentioned that I was expecting Detective Comics #229 in the mail. Well, it arrived and it was very solid for a mid- to low-grade 1950s comic. I’m very happy with it.
And I also ordered a low-grade issue of Detective Comics #210 because the price was right. It was much nicer than I would expect for a 1954 comic book that I spent less than $100 on. Which doesn’t mean that it’s not kind of beat up.
The Batman stories in both issues are lovingly decorated with beautiful Dick Sprang art. It’s hard to choose really, but it’s moments like this that I think that that Sprang is my favorite Batman artist.
#229 is also the fifth appearance of the Martian Manhunter. And thrown in for good measure is another loony Roy Raymond story.
#210 is old enough that there are three back-up stories aside from the Batman story. Roy Raymond, Captain Compass, and Mysto the Magician Detective.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 3, 2024 16:23:45 GMT -5
I'm still working on my project to read every issue of Detective Comics from #244 in 1957 to the present day. I took a little break when I hit #470. The classic run by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin starts with #471 and I decided to give myself a little breather. I've been thinking about this run for months. I'm reading the stories from the early 1970s, from the 100-Page Super-Spectacular issues through the 450s and the 460s, and I keep thinking, "Soon I'll get to the good stuff." But that's not fair. Because a lot of what I've been reading is good stuff. From the Captain Stingaree arc I love so much to the Black Spider issues to the weird Calculator back-ups to the return of Signal-Man to "Batman, Murderer!' to the great art by Aparo, Giordano, Chan, Garcia-Lopez and so many others, it's a pretty solid run for Batman. I enjoy a lot of it! But then comes Englehart and Rogers! Englehart started writing the Batman stories in Detective two issues earlier but the artist was Walt Simonson. And Rogers had drawn a few back-ups in the recent issues. But #471 was the first issue where they worked together on the lead Batman strip. With Terry Austin inking. It's so good! One of my candidates for best Batman run! Right up there with Detective #250 to #326 and that period in the early 1980s where continuity glided between Batman and Detective Comics on a bi-weekly basis by Len Wein and Doug Moench and a succession of great artists! I can hardly wait to read the rest of the Englehart run again! It's a bit nostalgic for me. The first issue of Detective Comics that I purchased brand new off a spinner rack was #473! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 6, 2024 1:31:29 GMT -5
It was 108° today. And it’s not going down below 90 overnight. So I’m having trouble sleeping.
I decided to read a couple of my favorite comic book stories and hopefully I’ll be ready to doze off when done.
Batman in the Fifties is right here. So I decided to read “The Secret Life of the Catwoman!” from 1950.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 8, 2024 10:56:39 GMT -5
I am up to Detective Comics #473. It’s a Penguin story titled “The Malay Penguin.” Great art. And a really good Penguin story.
But this issue has a deeper meaning for me because it’s the first issue of Detective Comics that I bought brand new.
I was mostly a Marvel fan but I occasionally bought DC comics if something caught my eye. I really liked a lot of the DC villains. So I had a few issues of The Joker comic book and I bought the Secret Society of Super-Villains regularly from #2 to the end.
I had bought a few issues of Batman, like #279 with the Riddler and the two-parter in #287 and #288 with the Penguin, which was less than a year before Detective #473. And I had a few of the 100-Page Super-Spectacular issues of Detective that I had bought at a used-book store.
But #473 was the first issue of Detective that I bought new. And then I bought the infamous two-part “Laughing Fish” story in #475 and #476. (Still my favorite Joker story!) And after that, the next issue of Detective I bought was #512.
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Post by rich on Sept 8, 2024 16:28:52 GMT -5
For one of my favourite characters I've really not read that much from his monthly books. As a kid Knightsfall was great fun. As a teenager I enjoyed Cataclysm and the start of No Man's Land... but that descended into such utter crap that I was completely burnt on Bat books, and also on anything by Rucka. No Man's Land has to go down as perhaps the biggest waste of money and biggest disappointment in my monthly comics buying years.
Original colours version of Neal Adams work I loved, and some Marshall Rogers, but nothing has come close to matching Dark Knight Returns and Year One. My all time favourites.
The most recent Batman comics I actually bought at release were Neil Gaiman's two issues with Kubert, which left me cold, and Detective 1000... which I still haven't read!
Ooh, Loeb and Sale did some amazing work too!
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 23, 2024 21:21:02 GMT -5
I’m up to Detective Comics #488 in my quest to read all the consecutive issues from #244 to the present. It’s taken me a year and a half to get this far. I’m wondering how far along Detective Comics will be when I get to the finish. It’s around #1090 now. I think it will go a bit faster when I get into the early 1980s and get past these giant-size Dollar Comics of Detective. But then I remember there’s a five- or six-year period where the continuity goes biweekly from Detective to Batman. And I always read those issues of Batman because it’s the Doug Moench run, and they are so great! It’s an extra 50 or 60 issues.
I think it’s gonna be another two or three years. So I’m guessing Detective Comics will be up to #1140 or so before I get caught up.
Anyway, the Dollar Comics era lasted from #481 to #495. I didn’t read any of these when I was a kid. I am not sure I would’ve liked them back then, but I sure do get a kick out of them now. I was a big Marvel fan and I just couldn’t see paying a dollar for any DC comic. (Although I did buy a Flash special that had Jay Garrick, Grodd and Johnny Quick. That was pretty cool, and it was the only Dollar Comic that I bought new.)
So these last eight issues (#481 to #488) have all been giant-size, and there’s five or six features in every issue, from Batman to Robin to Batgirl to Man-Bat to Steve Ditko tackling the Demon to the Odd Man (also Ditko) to an Alfred solo adventure … and more!
Batwoman was killed by the League of Assassins. BECAUSE REASONS! Barbara Gordon’s brother Tony shows up in China. Batman fights a giant white gorilla … and it’s not the Ultra-Humanite! The Spook makes an appearance. The first Maxie Zeus! One Roy Raymond story!
So much great stuff … in the context of late 1980s DC super-hero “great.”
Writing by Dennis O’Neil, Len Wein and others.
Art by Ditko, Jim Starlin, Dick Giordano, Don Newton, Dan Adkins, Don Heck, Kurt Schaffenberger, Michael Golden, Johnny Craig, Jose Delbo … and more.
So much fun!
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Post by Calidore on Sept 24, 2024 9:59:01 GMT -5
Anyway, the Dollar Comics era lasted from #481 to #495. I didn’t read any of these when I was a kid. I am not sure I would’ve liked them back then, but I sure do get a kick out of them now. It's funny, I'm exactly the opposite. As a kid, the variety in art and characters of the reprint stories in the big books was fascinating and fun, but now they don't interest me at all.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 24, 2024 12:41:31 GMT -5
Anyway, the Dollar Comics era lasted from #481 to #495. I didn’t read any of these when I was a kid. I am not sure I would’ve liked them back then, but I sure do get a kick out of them now. It's funny, I'm exactly the opposite. As a kid, the variety in art and characters of the reprint stories in the big books was fascinating and fun, but now they don't interest me at all.
This is not about the reprint books of the mid-70s. Those were the 100–Page Super-Spectaculars. 100 pages for 50 cents! (Later 60 cents.) Detective Comics #438 to #445. I love those! I had quite a few of them when I was a kid. I got them at used-book stores for half-price. The Dollar Comics were giant-size, but not 100 pages. Detective Comics #481 to #495. No reprints. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 24, 2024 13:46:24 GMT -5
I’m up to #453 in project to read all my issues of Detective Comics from #244 to the present. I had been reading one issue per day, usually right before I went to bed, but I’ve slowed down a little bit. Reading hundreds of consecutive issues of the same comic book will do that to you. But I think I’ll get back to reading one a day pretty soon. I am in the mid-70s now. I like this run, but there’s a certain sameness to it. A little goes a long way sometimes. I’m almost up to that four-part storyline with Captain Stingaree, and I love that one. I noticed that this issue was written by David V. Reed, and I think he must’ve started in the last two or three issues and I just hadn’t noticed until now. I like David V. Reed. Some of his stories are awfully silly, but they’re silly in a Golden Age way. Yet they’re drawn by 1970s artists. I like the contrast. And he wrote an awful lot of good stories. There’s all sorts of loony comic-book stuff going on a lot of the time. I believe David V. Reed wrote many comics for DC back in the 1950's, of course uncredited at that time. He left the industry and returned for a year or so in the 1970s. At least, that's what I recall reading somewhere |
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I think Doug Moench's pre-crisis run with Nocturna and all that is certainly not the best written run, but it is certainly one of the most interesting, as it is just so weird and nothing like what was before or after. 
