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Post by zaku on May 4, 2023 11:00:56 GMT -5
Uh? Written like this it almost seems that the representation of "Sex And Gore" was simply an artistic choice, but in 1989 wasn't the Comics Code still valid? I doubt they could have shown, like, the Joker shoot a porn snuff in all the graphic detail. At best it would be something related to Prestige and Graphic Novels books, not the regular titles. |
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Post by lordyam on Sept 25, 2023 10:58:23 GMT -5
My thought of Batman is that he's special ops; Gotham is so riddled with corruption and graft that honest officials who want to make a difference aren't able to do so. Batman makes it easier for them to operate (either by protecting them from harm or helping them get info to nail particularly nasty sources of rot, which cleans things up a little bit.) Being a boogeyman might also dissuade some criminals from going out at night, which in turn takes the load off.
In addition, he tries to use his wealth for constructive purposes (creating jobs, funding campaigns of honest politicians so that they'll replace the dirty ones).
The Batman Movie from last year might have been overly long but it DID address some of the complaints people had with Batman.
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 18, 2023 13:41:16 GMT -5
Batman 317 The long awaited return of the Riddler, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. His Riddles were terrible and often non-sensical, he used a lot more slang than I would have expected from an intellectual powerhouse, he was suspiciously buff in that leotard costume, and I still can't decide whether it was exceptionally original or a cheap cop-out that Batman and Robin didn't use the Riddler's clues at all to uncover his scheme (which, in itself, was rather disappointing and left many open ends. What was up with the chicken heist?). Not a great issue, overall, and Irv Novick's Bruce and Dick faces were creepy to look at. I'm still watching Wein's treatment of Dick with tremendous interest, though. He's continued the trend of humanizing Batman and making him more fallible, and that treatment is now carrying over to Robin, who is often impulsive, foolish, and hot tempered. It bugged me in this issue a lot more than it did in the last one, but Wein will hopefully find the balance soon or, more likely, just stop using the character. C- I think you’re being kind of hard on this story. Oh, sure, it’s not nearly as good as the Riddler stories in #263 and #279. And you’re right, the Riddler’s crimes make even less sense than usual. Well, OK, maybe you’re not being harsh. Maybe I just like the Riddler and Bronze Age Batman comics so much that this story exists beyond criticism for me. (It happens to me a lot on this thread. I read your reviews a few days after I read the comics and some of your low grades are a bafflement to me. It’s almost like you didn’t read 1970s Batman comics when they came out and don’t have the same nostalgic attachment to the era.) |
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Post by discovietnam on Nov 24, 2023 1:05:03 GMT -5
Some thoughts on Batman Annual 10 and Batman 400:
I recently read through the 1980s Moench run, in tandem with these great reviews. It (the comic) was thrilling and frustrating in turn, but one thing is for sure; no other Batman run—of any decade—has occupied my thoughts more than this one.
Anyway, as I came to DM’s final issues I noticed something strange. Shaxper’s reviews have drawn attention to the possibility that the last ten months of Moench’s run existed in the shadow of the impending Crisis reboot, and that this may have played a role in the content and flow of stories. While I don’t completely agree, there was something going on.
One story that Shaxper didn’t review was ‘Down to the Bone’, featuring the return of Hugo Strange, published in Batman Annual 10 (August 1986), a couple of months before Batman 400. I was struck that the stories in both comics are, in terms of theme, closely related.
How so? If we strip away the pyrotechnics, both involve the kidnap or separation of Batman from something or someone he needs. In BA10, it is the material wealth he had acquired, which is useful (although, as Bats learns, not essential) to fighting crime. In B400, it is from valued collaborators and loved ones. Both stories resolve with the exact same realisation – it is the people that are important. But where in BA10 Batman acknowledges the preciousness of Jason and Alfred, in B400, he storms off into the darkness, seemingly resolving to work alone. BA10 concludes with Bruce announcing “everything precious has been regained”; B400 ends with BATMAN vowing that villains should be “beware ... forever.”
To me, B400 seems out of place in the run. It does not engage with its main themes. There are no references to ongoing continuity. Indeed, it contradicts this continuity; where in B399 Catwoman has departed, seemingly calling an end to their “strange love” for good, suddenly in B400 she is back, with some reference to “our temporary split.” Given that so much of Moench’s run revolved around love, its meaning, and its cost, this is very summary indeed.
BA10, by contrast, is very much a part of Moench’s ongoing story. It builds organically on the continuity and themes established in earlier issues (not least the re-tread of Conway’s major villains). Julia and Vicki are working at the Gotham Picture News. Amanda Groscz returns to take custody of Jason when Bruce is bankrupt. And of course, Lucius Fox is knee deep in his mayoral candidacy, first announced in B397 (Jul86). In fact, the strenuous effects of his candidacy is directly related to Hugo Strange’s attempts to ruin Bruce Wayne’s finances in this issue.
So BA10 is tied closely to the main title’s continuity. But it was released out of order. BA10 appeared in August 1986, a couple of weeks after B398. In terms of continuity, the events it describes do not occur until after B399. In B399, Catwoman and Batman call it quits. BA10 appropriately begins with an image of a dead cat, and the opening scene picks up the cues of “haunting” on which B399 finished. Further, BA10 ends with Wayne Manor in ruins, destroyed in the battle against Hugo Strange’s mandroids. This does not fit at all in the main continuity, because Wayne Manor is unaffected in TEC566, B399, B400, etc. And yet BA10 was clearly part of regular continuity.
So what’s the deal?
I suspect “Down to the Bone” was originally written by Moench to feature in Batman 400. But when it became clear that Denny O’Neil would take over the Bat-editorship, plans pivoted to do a very different B400, one that would set the darker tone of the post-Frank-Miller Bat universe, and abruptly farewell Moench and his story.
Need more evidence? Sure.
Quite apart from the fact that all of the continuity in the story follows B399, there are clues in the editorial letter columns. For example, in Batman 390 (Dec ‘85), Bob Greenberger wrote:
But in the very next month (Batman 391), Greenberger wrote:
So what happened? Was “Down to the Bone” was bumped to the unplanned annual, when it became clear what was going to be happening in the main Bat books? Maybe.
Anyway, it is very much worth a read.
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 26, 2023 18:45:10 GMT -5
Some thoughts on Batman Annual 10 and Batman 400: I recently read through the 1980s Moench run, in tandem with these great reviews. It (the comic) was thrilling and frustrating in turn, but one thing is for sure; no other Batman run—of any decade—has occupied my thoughts more than this one. Anyway, as I came to DM’s final issues I noticed something strange. Shaxper’s reviews have drawn attention to the possibility that the last ten months of Moench’s run existed in the shadow of the impending Crisis reboot, and that this may have played a role in the content and flow of stories. While I don’t completely agree, there was something going on. One story that Shaxper didn’t review was ‘Down to the Bone’, featuring the return of Hugo Strange, published in Batman Annual 10 (August 1986), a couple of months before Batman 400. I was struck that the stories in both comics are, in terms of theme, closely related. How so? If we strip away the pyrotechnics, both involve the kidnap or separation of Batman from something or someone he needs. In BA10, it is the material wealth he had acquired, which is useful (although, as Bats learns, not essential) to fighting crime. In B400, it is from valued collaborators and loved ones. Both stories resolve with the exact same realisation – it is the people that are important. But where in BA10 Batman acknowledges the preciousness of Jason and Alfred, in B400, he storms off into the darkness, seemingly resolving to work alone. BA10 concludes with Bruce announcing “everything precious has been regained”; B400 ends with BATMAN vowing that villains should be “beware ... forever.” To me, B400 seems out of place in the run. It does not engage with its main themes. There are no references to ongoing continuity. Indeed, it contradicts this continuity; where in B399 Catwoman has departed, seemingly calling an end to their “strange love” for good, suddenly in B400 she is back, with some reference to “our temporary split.” Given that so much of Moench’s run revolved around love, its meaning, and its cost, this is very summary indeed. BA10, by contrast, is very much a part of Moench’s ongoing story. It builds organically on the continuity and themes established in earlier issues (not least the re-tread of Conway’s major villains). Julia and Vicki are working at the Gotham Picture News. Amanda Groscz returns to take custody of Jason when Bruce is bankrupt. And of course, Lucius Fox is knee deep in his mayoral candidacy, first announced in B397 (Jul86). In fact, the strenuous effects of his candidacy is directly related to Hugo Strange’s attempts to ruin Bruce Wayne’s finances in this issue. So BA10 is tied closely to the main title’s continuity. But it was released out of order. BA10 appeared in August 1986, a couple of weeks after B398. In terms of continuity, the events it describes do not occur until after B399. In B399, Catwoman and Batman call it quits. BA10 appropriately begins with an image of a dead cat, and the opening scene picks up the cues of “haunting” on which B399 finished. Further, BA10 ends with Wayne Manor in ruins, destroyed in the battle against Hugo Strange’s mandroids. This does not fit at all in the main continuity, because Wayne Manor is unaffected in TEC566, B399, B400, etc. And yet BA10 was clearly part of regular continuity. So what’s the deal? I suspect “Down to the Bone” was originally written by Moench to feature in Batman 400. But when it became clear that Denny O’Neil would take over the Bat-editorship, plans pivoted to do a very different B400, one that would set the darker tone of the post-Frank-Miller Bat universe, and abruptly farewell Moench and his story. Need more evidence? Sure. Quite apart from the fact that all of the continuity in the story follows B399, there are clues in the editorial letter columns. For example, in Batman 390 (Dec ‘85), Bob Greenberger wrote: But in the very next month (Batman 391), Greenberger wrote: So what happened? Was “Down to the Bone” was bumped to the unplanned annual, when it became clear what was going to be happening in the main Bat books? Maybe. Anyway, it is very much worth a read. Even though I was buying Batman in the 1980s (most of the issues from #345 to #410), I seem to have somehow missed Batman Annual #10. I find your comments intriguing. I found a copy for $4 online and I decided to grab it! I’ll probably have some comments about it in a week or so. |
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Post by shaxper on Dec 3, 2023 3:28:56 GMT -5
Some thoughts on Batman Annual 10 and Batman 400: I recently read through the 1980s Moench run, in tandem with these great reviews. It (the comic) was thrilling and frustrating in turn, but one thing is for sure; no other Batman run—of any decade—has occupied my thoughts more than this one. Anyway, as I came to DM’s final issues I noticed something strange. Shaxper’s reviews have drawn attention to the possibility that the last ten months of Moench’s run existed in the shadow of the impending Crisis reboot, and that this may have played a role in the content and flow of stories. While I don’t completely agree, there was something going on. One story that Shaxper didn’t review was ‘Down to the Bone’, featuring the return of Hugo Strange, published in Batman Annual 10 (August 1986), a couple of months before Batman 400. I was struck that the stories in both comics are, in terms of theme, closely related. How so? If we strip away the pyrotechnics, both involve the kidnap or separation of Batman from something or someone he needs. In BA10, it is the material wealth he had acquired, which is useful (although, as Bats learns, not essential) to fighting crime. In B400, it is from valued collaborators and loved ones. Both stories resolve with the exact same realisation – it is the people that are important. But where in BA10 Batman acknowledges the preciousness of Jason and Alfred, in B400, he storms off into the darkness, seemingly resolving to work alone. BA10 concludes with Bruce announcing “everything precious has been regained”; B400 ends with BATMAN vowing that villains should be “beware ... forever.” To me, B400 seems out of place in the run. It does not engage with its main themes. There are no references to ongoing continuity. Indeed, it contradicts this continuity; where in B399 Catwoman has departed, seemingly calling an end to their “strange love” for good, suddenly in B400 she is back, with some reference to “our temporary split.” Given that so much of Moench’s run revolved around love, its meaning, and its cost, this is very summary indeed. BA10, by contrast, is very much a part of Moench’s ongoing story. It builds organically on the continuity and themes established in earlier issues (not least the re-tread of Conway’s major villains). Julia and Vicki are working at the Gotham Picture News. Amanda Groscz returns to take custody of Jason when Bruce is bankrupt. And of course, Lucius Fox is knee deep in his mayoral candidacy, first announced in B397 (Jul86). In fact, the strenuous effects of his candidacy is directly related to Hugo Strange’s attempts to ruin Bruce Wayne’s finances in this issue. So BA10 is tied closely to the main title’s continuity. But it was released out of order. BA10 appeared in August 1986, a couple of weeks after B398. In terms of continuity, the events it describes do not occur until after B399. In B399, Catwoman and Batman call it quits. BA10 appropriately begins with an image of a dead cat, and the opening scene picks up the cues of “haunting” on which B399 finished. Further, BA10 ends with Wayne Manor in ruins, destroyed in the battle against Hugo Strange’s mandroids. This does not fit at all in the main continuity, because Wayne Manor is unaffected in TEC566, B399, B400, etc. And yet BA10 was clearly part of regular continuity. So what’s the deal? I suspect “Down to the Bone” was originally written by Moench to feature in Batman 400. But when it became clear that Denny O’Neil would take over the Bat-editorship, plans pivoted to do a very different B400, one that would set the darker tone of the post-Frank-Miller Bat universe, and abruptly farewell Moench and his story. Need more evidence? Sure. Quite apart from the fact that all of the continuity in the story follows B399, there are clues in the editorial letter columns. For example, in Batman 390 (Dec ‘85), Bob Greenberger wrote: But in the very next month (Batman 391), Greenberger wrote: So what happened? Was “Down to the Bone” was bumped to the unplanned annual, when it became clear what was going to be happening in the main Bat books? Maybe. Anyway, it is very much worth a read. Fantastic detective work, Sir. I sincerely regret having missed out on this annual now and will have to read it immediately. Thanks so much for this extremely keen insight! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 4, 2023 0:16:46 GMT -5
Batman #320 Denny O'Neil guest writes this issue and manages to evade Levitz's total control over the story, giving us a change of pace as Bruce attempts to solve two bizarre murders of priests in Spain. Though the bad guy wears a robe and calls himself "The Inquisitor," he's not particularly colorful or outlandish. All in all, this seems to match the tone of the pre-Levitz stories. I wonder if this was a leftover filler issue from O'Neil's tenure on the title, if Levitz let him do what he wanted because it was Denny Frickin O'Neil, or (and this is what I prefer to imagine) Levitz carefully explained his vision for the title to O'Neil, but Denny just plain ignored him because he's Denny Frickin' O'Neil, and no one tells him how to write Batman. Unfortunately,someone probably should have. This was actually a pretty bad issue. O'Neil works entirely too hard to make us think we know who the Inquisitor is, which can only mean it isn't him. The plot that unfolds ends up being pretty ridiculous, especially the hurried ending that attempts to tie together lose ends that refuse to meet. It was nice to read a legitimate Bronze Age Batman story again, but I would have preferred a good one. C- I got this in the mail yesterday and read it just now. It’s not good, is it? |
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Post by Dr Johnny Fever on Dec 5, 2023 12:20:44 GMT -5
I just finished my "pre-Crisis" 80's Batman re-read, and I'd like to thank Shaxper for providing an excellent read along companion with this thread  I'd also like to say a LOT of my memories of that era seem to be the Don Newton artwork. I thought my desire to return to the era was Doug Moench's writing pulling me back, but I found that the issues I enjoyed most were the ones with Newton doing the pencils. What an amazing talent he was, with a career cut short too soon  |
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 5, 2023 13:28:38 GMT -5
Batman 326: "This Way Lies Madness" Writer: Len Wein Art: Irv Novick and Steve Mitchell Grade: D+ I really felt Wein had been on a roll with his last four issues, but this one just drops off the cliff entirely. It begins with an out of the blue and overly melodramatic ending to the Bruce/Selina relationship, provides some decent Bat brooding in the aftermath ("Then DAMN the Batman, Alfred...and damn the world that NEEDS him!"), abruptly shifts to a fight with a really lousy costumed motorcyclist whose name ends up being "Mad Dog" Markham (from ARKHAM asylum), shifts to a dialogue between Batman and Gordon where Batman keeps addressing Gordon as "sir" in direct contrast to the close bond they'd been developing over the last two years (and most prominently in Wein's own run), and then ends with Batman disguised as a thug and getting himself committed to Arkham in order to find out how two inmates appear to be back in the outside world, committing crimes. There are so many logic flaws with that final plan of action: 1. The only evidence they have that these two inmates are out is one's particular M.O. was used in several crimes, and Batman thought he glimpsed the other's face while wrestling a helmet off of him. Are you really going to leave the rest of the city undefended and put yourself at great personal risk on a wild hunch like that? 2. Why would Batman assume that getting committed to Arkham would give him any clues as to what happened? Only two inmates appear to have escaped. There are tons of other prisoners who were presumably unaffected by whatever scheme Batman is pursuing. 3. How is Wein's de-powered Batman planning to do anything at all when they have him in a straightjacket, locked up, and drugged up as well? In fact, what are the chances that they won't eventually discover his face is a mask while wrestling him to the ground or even bathing/changing him? All in all, this was a big disappointment of an issue. I hope Wein can go out with a bang next issue because I believe it's his last one before Wolfman takes over. My inclination is to defend Batman #326 and #327, but I think I’m gonna need my A-game for that. It might take a few days. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 12, 2023 16:49:55 GMT -5
Will you be doing a separate review for the new alternate take on Batman #428  ? As expected it was only a few panels different, I think it would have been more interesting to do an alternate #429, I know Aparo has passed so we obviously couldn't get the original team back again but I think another artist from the period could have worked. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Dec 12, 2023 19:07:34 GMT -5
Will you be doing a separate review for the new alternate take on Batman #428 ? As expected it was only a few panels different, I think it would have been more interesting to do an alternate #429, I know Aparo has passed so we obviously couldn't get the original team back again but I think another artist from the period could have worked. I'm hoping the answer is 'yes'. As for an alternate #429, I'm not so sure that that issue would have changed much either. I seem to recall that when Batman confronts The Joker he says something like, "Up until now, I wasn't sure that you were responsible for what happened to Jason" - coy wording which wouldn't have to have been altered should Jason have survived. I'm sure that the issue does mention Jason being killed, but I suspect that instead of Batman avenging Jason's death in a alternate Batman #429, all we'd be getting is him avenging Jason's "near murder" - I mean, he still would have been on the brink of death and in a coma after all. I noticed that the issues following A Death in the Family didn't reference Jason much if at all. Batman #430 is about a sniper whose bad day reminds Batman of an incident with his father. Jason gets a mention when Gordon asks if Robin is with him that evening, but again, Batman's response is a straight forward 'No. "Is something wrong, Batman?" "...No". Nothing which would have required any reworking had Jason lived. I think Batman #431 ends with the reader finding out that Batman carries a picture of Jason around with him, but it's nothing which has anything to do with the story. And the three-part "Many Deaths of the Batman" which follows that doesn't even acknowledge Robin at all one way or the other. I think it's only when Year Three kicks in with Batman #436 that the stories catch up with "Death in the Family" (and well after that for Detective Comics which adopted a 'Don't Ask, don't tell' policy on the boy wonder up until 1989's "The Mud Pack". |
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Post by shaxper on Dec 12, 2023 19:42:43 GMT -5
Will you be doing a separate review for the new alternate take on Batman #428 ? As expected it was only a few panels different, I think it would have been more interesting to do an alternate #429, I know Aparo has passed so we obviously couldn't get the original team back again but I think another artist from the period could have worked. We covered what existed of the alternate ending pretty heavily at the time. Anything in the alternate take now that wasn't there in 1988 will be interesting to see, but doesn't really count as far as I'm concerned. DC retcons everything, and I'm well past the days of caring. That being said, I absolutely pre-ordered all three versions 😂 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 13, 2023 16:19:07 GMT -5
Will you be doing a separate review for the new alternate take on Batman #428 ? As expected it was only a few panels different, I think it would have been more interesting to do an alternate #429, I know Aparo has passed so we obviously couldn't get the original team back again but I think another artist from the period could have worked. We covered what existed of the alternate ending pretty heavily at the time. Anything in the alternate take now that wasn't there in 1988 will be interesting to see, but doesn't really count as far as I'm concerned. DC retcons everything, and I'm well past the days of caring. That being said, I absolutely pre-ordered all three versions 😂 As I said it was pretty slim, I think only four panels were changed and in two of them it was just a change in dialogue. It was neat to see the ads though as I've only read it in trade previously. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 13, 2023 16:22:40 GMT -5
Will you be doing a separate review for the new alternate take on Batman #428 ? As expected it was only a few panels different, I think it would have been more interesting to do an alternate #429, I know Aparo has passed so we obviously couldn't get the original team back again but I think another artist from the period could have worked. I'm hoping the answer is 'yes'. As for an alternate #429, I'm not so sure that that issue would have changed much either. I seem to recall that when Batman confronts The Joker he says something like, "Up until now, I wasn't sure that you were responsible for what happened to Jason" - coy wording which wouldn't have to have been altered should Jason have survived. I'm sure that the issue does mention Jason being killed, but I suspect that instead of Batman avenging Jason's death in a alternate Batman #429, all we'd be getting is him avenging Jason's "near murder" - I mean, he still would have been on the brink of death and in a coma after all. I noticed that the issues following A Death in the Family didn't reference Jason much if at all. Batman #430 is about a sniper whose bad day reminds Batman of an incident with his father. Jason gets a mention when Gordon asks if Robin is with him that evening, but again, Batman's response is a straight forward 'No. "Is something wrong, Batman?" "...No". Nothing which would have required any reworking had Jason lived. I think Batman #431 ends with the reader finding out that Batman carries a picture of Jason around with him, but it's nothing which has anything to do with the story. And the three-part "Many Deaths of the Batman" which follows that doesn't even acknowledge Robin at all one way or the other. I think it's only when Year Three kicks in with Batman #436 that the stories catch up with "Death in the Family" (and well after that for Detective Comics which adopted a 'Don't Ask, don't tell' policy on the boy wonder up until 1989's "The Mud Pack". It definitely wasn't the original intention, but if they were going to really lean heavily into the alternate reality angle of Jason living they could have done a book where Jason shows up and takes out the Joker in front of the UN assembly with Batman and Superman then chasing him down and instead of Joker ambiguously vanishing in the river it's Jason who ends up in a "is he or isn't he dead?" situation only to come back as the Red Hood later on. |
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Post by shaxper on Dec 16, 2023 13:43:29 GMT -5
(sigh) you win, thwhtguardian... Batman #428: Robin Lives! (February 2024)  "A Death in the Family, Chapter 5" writer: Jim Starlin pencils: Jim Aparo inks: Mike DeCarlo letters: John Costanza colors: Adrienne Roy asst. editor: Dan Raspler editor: Denny O'Neil Grade: n/a (you can find my write-up on the issue as originally published here) I must say I'm truly surprised by how not surprised I am by this release. I've spent enough time looking into the behind-the-scenes story on Death in The Family that I'd come to trust and believe sources that attested there was more unpublished art for the alternate vesion than had been leaked. Turns out, they were wrong. Absolutely everything a die-hard fan like me had already seen ends up in this copy, though I'll admit it's nice to not have to zoom, straighten, and enhance images in order to read the whole thing anymore! Essentially, Aparo drew ten alternate panels to be inserted into the book should the voters choose to save Jason. Some of this was already seen way back in Batman Annual #25 (2006), which printed the first panel of this new page:  Far more significant to me (and never before officially released/published) is the second of the two (mostly) new pages:  It's relatively common knowledge that Starlin wanted to kill the idea of a kid sidekick for Batman, and I've argued repeatedly in this thread that he did his best to stack the deck against Jason Todd during his writing tenure, distorting aspects of the Max Collins run to make Jason more unlikable and unmanageable than he actually was so that the fans would demand his removal and DC execs would be forced to agree (more on that here). What's fascinating here is how much further Starlin is stacking the deck against Jason. Even if he lives, he might never wake up. And even if he wakes up, Batman wants to handle things by himself from now on. No more partners. Jason Todd might live, but Robin was dead either way. Beyond these moments, the book goes almost exactly the same, far more concerned with the building Joker subplot than anything else. Minor changes are made to narration in some places to reflect a single victim/body as opposed to two:  (I honestly don't know if these minor changes came from alternate pages sitting in a cabinet somewhere or if DC made the revisions specifically for this release) and then there is this final minor difference between the two versions:  Fascinating how Aparo must have done this. Look carefully: Sheila's coffin and the minister's feet are not the same in the two panels, but everything above them is. The top of that tree partially eclipsing the white sheet on the ground in the right panel is also inked differently. The cut and paste must have looked something like this:  Of course, the digital recoloring done on both versions of this panel is identical. Maybe the alternate panel was not done by Aparo, and someone just modified it in photoshop? I thought I'd seen alternate Aparo art for this panel, but I don't have a copy of it saved on my computer like I do for the other nine panels, so perhaps I imagined it? Anyway, it truly never occurred to me how cleverly the issue was written so that more alternate panels would not be necessary. I really thought we were either going to see some more alternate Aparo art or that someone was going to have to draw a few new pages. Minor Details:1. Who colored the ten new panels? Sure, Aparo drew it all back in 1988, but it was uncolored then.  And Adrienne Roy died in 2010. 2. How in the world did DC secure the rights to reprint all of these original advertisements? Getting permission from mega-giants Hasbro, Nintendo, and General Mills might seem like nothing compared to figuring out who even controls the rights to defunct companies like FCI, American Medalion Corporation, Tengen, Westwind Distributors, Metodos Brown, Pantek, Dave's Comics, E. Phelps Company, American School, Rostic Enterprises, Centor Comics, Passaic Book CTR, Perk Tech Inc, G/A Comics, Comic Collector, Sgt. D. Tags, Heroes of the Future World Sales Team, Golden State Comics, Howard D. Rogofsky, Mako Mania, Charles Atlas, and several persons/companies who don't even give their names.  Heck, the March of Dimes had an ad in this issue. |
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