2. Batman/Slam Bradley/Elongated Man/Sherlock Holmes, "The Doomsday Book", Detective Comics #572 (DC, 1987)



This book appeared on the 'Favourite Adaptations' list last year so, with your kind indulgence, I will largely repeat what I said then, with a little bit of tweaking, because my reasons for loving this book haven't changed.

1987 marked the 50th anniversary of Detective Comics. Current Detective Comics scribe Mike W. Barr was tasked with writing an anniversary issue. Now, obviously the story would star Batman, but this was the 50th anniversary of Detective Comics, not Batman, so, as a link to the first issue, the story co-starred Slam Bradley, who had debuted in #1. And Barr also included Elongated Man, as a tribute to the various back-up features that appeared over the years.

However, in a stunning piece of synchronicity, 1987 also marked the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes. Barr is a mystery novelist as well as a comics writer and this was too good an opportunity for him to pass up, and a chance to truly celebrate the ‘Detective’ in Detective Comics.

In “The Doomsday Book”, a descendant of Moriarty plans to implement one of his ancestor’s failed schemes. Batman, Slam and Ralph are chasing down separate threads when their paths converge in London. Ralph locates a lost manuscript of Watson’s that details the original Moriarty’s scheme (and using one of the titles Watson mentioned but never wrote down; “The Adventure of Red Leech”).

Barr wrote a very good Holmes pastiche (and I’ve read enough bad ones to know a good one when I see it), which was illustrated by E.R. Cruz, who had been the artist on the one-shot Sherlock Holmes book DC released in the 70s.

Our heroes use the information in the manuscript to foil Moriarty’s scheme, aided at the last minute by (SPOILER for a 30 year old book) the extremely elderly Holmes himself.

Barr is one of the few comics writers who truly understands how to tell a detective story in comics format. Batman, Slam, Ralph and Holmes are all detectives, but they have very different styles of sleuthing, and Barr conveys that excellently. (Slam pulls a brilliant trick involving a phone booth that just wouldn't today because of the ubiquity of cell phones.) The art is also excellent, but extremely varied in style. Barr's partner Alan Davis does the art chores on the Batman and the combined (and I'll say again that Davis' Batman is criminally underappreciated), Dick Giordano draws the Slam Bradly (only Jim Aparo could have done it better), Carmine Infantino (who else?) does the EM chapter, and, as already mentioned, Cruz illustrates Holmes. And Cruz's art on this chapter is enough to make me wish DC's Sherlock Holmes title had lasted more than a single issue. Oh, and Mike Kaluta draws the cover.



So I have a comic from my personal golden age, featuring two of my favourite fictional characters in a romp that celebrates everything that is great about comics, combined with an excellent stand-alone Holmes tale. How can I not love this?

And apparently his home didn't even have a basement!

2. Spider-Man and Dr. Strange - Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (Marvel, 1965)




Hard to know what else to add after Cei-U!'s excellent write up about this annual earlier in this year's Classic Comics Christmas. But suffice it to say that I love Spider-Man, I love Dr. Strange, and I love Steve Ditko's art, so this issue was a real no-brainer for me.

I first encountered this story in 1984, when it was reprinted in Marvel Tales #167 and it instantly became a favourite of mine. It's great to see Ditko drawing the two characters that he's most famous for co-creating, and even by Ditko's standards, the artwork in this annual is just fantastic. There's so much imagination on display, and lots of sumptuous detail to feast your eyes on, and of course, the art serves the story impeccably.

Anyway, long story short: this issue is a genuine slice of Silver Age magic. Figuratively and literally.

2. Howard the Duck and Man-Thing
Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik
Fear #19 (Marvel 1973, excerpt reprinted Treasury Edition #12 1976)

I first encountered Howard the Duck in the premiere issue of his solo series and didn't read his Man-Thing appearances until later. The Treasury Edition only reprinted PRt of Fear #19 and thus was interesting but in the end kind of unsatisfying, presented out of context that way. It wasn't until I was able to read the entire Man-Thing epic from start to finish, Fear #11 to 19 and Man-Thing #1 to 28 , that I could appreciate Howard's debut to the full, as part of a much larger story that was continually unfolding in the pages of those comics.

And I rate that larger story as one of the very best ever in comics. I think Gerber is a little underappreciated nowadays. For my money, no American comics writer has come close to him since, apart perhaps from two or three independents like the Hernandezes or Clowes. But as far as DC or Marvel go, only a few of the Brits, and only at their best, have matched him.
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#2: Swamp Thing and Adam Strange (Swamp Thing #58-59, 1987, Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Alfredo Alcala)

Alan Moore was game when incoming penciler Veitch said he liked sci-fi better than horror. So off went Swamp Thing into space, meeting Green Lanterns and so on. But Moore also seized the opportunity to tell the best Adam Strange story I’ve read. Strange’s “perpetual blue-balls” premise sounds like a punishment straight out of Dante’s inferno: He repeatedly reunites with his lover, only to be snatched away before he can enjoy any time with her. It resounds with pathos that lesser pens never found words to articulate. The usual opening Misunderstanding Fight sees Strange blasting Swamp Thing, then discovering that they need to team up against some scheming Thanagarians, setting the stage for a Rann-Thanagar war that would become a big deal in the DCU.

I'm beginning to think that you like this Spider-man character a bit.

I'm not a Spider-man guy, it bummed me out that even when he won, he would be down and depressed. But I did have one pick with him and my # 1 pick will have him, also.