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Post by chadwilliam on Aug 14, 2017 23:23:03 GMT -5
 Batman #400 was one of the most unexpected and dazzling Batman stories of that era, laying down a lot of what would later be recycled for the Knightfall storyline a hundred issues later. I reviewed the issue a long, long time ago. "The odd thing about that was, years later, now we're doing the 'Knightfall' storyline which leads into Batman 500 and at one of these Bat-meets, someone has the bright idea for all the villains to break out of Arkham Asylum at the same time, and I said, 'I already did that! I did that in 400!' and their attitude was, 'Eh, so what? We'll just do it again.' And I said, 'Yeah, but I'm the writer again. The same guy is going to do it again? C'mon!' And I couldn't talk them out of it. So we did it again." Doug Moench. Interviewed for Back Issue Magazine #69 (November, 2012).
It's strange how Batman 400 and 500 could serve as bookends to one another. Obviously, this issue is pre-Crisis, but it isn't topical enough that any continuity changes (ie. a reference to Killer Croc killing Jason Todd's parents, Catwoman's involvement) would be that jarring to a reader starting with issue 401 (which is Post-Crisis). You could read from 400 to 500 and get the sense you're reading up to something - Year One/new Jason Todd/death of Jason Todd/new Robin/Batman begins to breakdown mentally/Knightfall. Even if such an assessment doesn't properly stand up to scrutiny, it's easy to see how 400 would make the perfect jumping on point for new readers and 500 the perfect jumping off point. Of course, that could be due to how much of a let down 500 was to me - the last Jim Aparo issue and Batman appears for about a page as a paralyzed Bruce Wayne who fails to prevent a kidnapping. But wow, 400 had everything - all of his enemies going on a personal vendetta against Batman's loved ones while Ra's al Ghul waits for Brian Bolland to arrive. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,874
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Post by shaxper on Aug 15, 2017 4:53:21 GMT -5
Batman #400 was one of the most unexpected and dazzling Batman stories of that era, laying down a lot of what would later be recycled for the Knightfall storyline a hundred issues later. I reviewed the issue a long, long time ago. "The odd thing about that was, years later, now we're doing the 'Knightfall' storyline which leads into Batman 500 and at one of these Bat-meets, someone has the bright idea for all the villains to break out of Arkham Asylum at the same time, and I said, 'I already did that! I did that in 400!' and their attitude was, 'Eh, so what? We'll just do it again.' And I said, 'Yeah, but I'm the writer again. The same guy is going to do it again? C'mon!' And I couldn't talk them out of it. So we did it again." Doug Moench. Interviewed for Back Issue Magazine #69 (November, 2012).
Yup. They also reused the idea of a villain mastermind trying to psychologically break Batman from a distance that Moench previously employed in his Prey storyline. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jan 29, 2018 22:50:34 GMT -5
Jimmy Olsen #70 is interesting as an anniversary issue which wasn't really under any obligation to be an anniversary issue.  Jimmy's inquiries into the possible existence of a variety of kryptonite colored Silver has made him confident that no such version of kryptonite is known to humanity. As a result, he feels comfortable proceeding with 'Operation: Silver Kryptonite'. Said scheme involves borrowing silver samples from Superman's closest associates who all seem eager to offer their assistance to Jimmy and Professor Potter in this matter. In spite of Superman catching wind of Jimmy's single minded pursuit of achieving his objective, Superman doesn't have a clue what this objective is. That it involves a new type of kryptonite has understandably made him nervous (qualms which would have been assuaged had he bothered to pay attention to Olsen when the junior reporter approached him in his Clark Kent identity to ask for a moment of his time). Eventually, Superman confronts Olsen and the Professor and is exposed to the Silver Kryptonite in the manner depicted on this issue's cover. The big surprise? There is no such thing as silver kryptonite. Instead, the silver that Jimmy's collected has been used to create statues capturing the perfect likenesses of all of the Action Ace's friends. "Gosh! I certainly appreciate these thoughtful gifts, but what's the occasion? Why is every gift in Silver?" "It's the 25th anniversary of the day you adopted Metropolis as your official home, Superman!" "Happy Silver anniversary, Superman!" "Yes, it's just 25 years ago that you came to Metropolis from Smallville and pledged to protect it and the world with your mighty powers! And to honor this silver anniversary of yours, we all contributed gifts of silver!" Incidentally, the calendar Jimmy has marked off for this red letter day is dated June 13, 1963, meaning that June 13, 1938 was the day Superman arrived in Metropolis. Not sure where the 13th came from, but Action Comics 1 was dated June 1938 (meaning it would have come out in, I don't know, April of that year?) You know, the more and more I think about it, the more I believe that for anniversary issues such as these, sliding timelines, parallel Earths, retcons, and other such explanations for how such and such a character could have debuted decades ago and still remain young should be chucked out the window. For something like Superman's 100th anniversary for example, just accept that the guy debuted in 1938 and don't shy away from it for that issue. Just embrace it. How do you explain it to the readers? Well, that's Superman's secret... |
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Post by comicsandwho on Jan 30, 2018 4:37:44 GMT -5
I loved that so many of the anniversary issues already mentioned came out during my childhood 'prime comics years' of the very late '70s-early '80s. One issue nobody's mentioned yet was the 100th issue finale of MARVEL TWO IN ONE, a sequel to # 50's 'Modern Thing vs. Early Thing' battle royal. (I missed both of those issues originally).
Here, after Reed shows Ben proof that Ben was actually visiting an alternate reality rather than simply time-travelling, Ben decides to visit that reality's present...and gets the shock of his life...maybe both of them...
John Byrne sent an often-uneven series out on a high note, taking a premise that would have made a serviceable WHAT IF story and infusing it with so much more depth. An excellent 'companion piece' to the following month's THING # 1.
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Post by james on Jan 30, 2018 9:53:57 GMT -5
 My favorite anniversary issue. Great story great art. and I think this is what the next FF movie should be based on. |
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