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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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