Meanwhile... in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection: Joker's Dozen and The Untold Legend of the Batman

The next release going out to DC Heroes & Villains Collection subscribers is significant, because not only does it boast one of the volumes I was keenest to include in the collection when I put the whole shebang together, but it comes accompanied by a subscriber-exclusive special edition. 

That special edition is Joker's Dozen, a 432-page bumper collection of some of the best Joker stories of the 1980s – 13 Clown Prince of Crime Classics, as I put it in the subtitle. There was a bit of back-and-forth with DC on the contents, but I think we've arrived at something unique: 13 Joker stories – 20 comics in total – which delineate a decade of change at DC, as the Bronze Age of Comics gave way to the Modern Age. The murderers' row of creative talent on the front cover – Len Wein, Walt Simonson, Gerry Conway, Don Newton, Jim Aparo, José Luis García-López, Doug Moench, Gene Colan and Marv Wolfman – isn't even the half of it, because there are also stories from Paul Levitz, Joe Staton, Martin Pasko, Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, Paul Kupperberg, Alex Saviuk, Max Allan Collins, Chris Warner, Ross Andru, Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, many of which have rarely been reprinted since original publication.

On top of that, the book includes October 1986's Batman #400, a 60-page multi-villain extravaganza written by Doug Moench and with art by – among others – John Byrne, Steve Lightle, George Pérez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Arthur Adams, Joe Kubert and Brian Bolland which has only been collected by DC once since its original publication 36 years ago. Plus, it's preceded by September 1986's Detective Comics #566, a Doug Moench and Gene Colan lead-in story to Batman #400 that's never been reprinted – though its cover may be familiar from posters, prints, T-shirts and the like:

As for the volume I was keen to include in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection, that would be our 32nd release, The Untold Legend of the Batman, which features the eponymous 1980 three-issue Len Wein, John Byrne and Jim Aparo miniseries. Only ever collected under its own title as a book once before – by Tor Books in 1982 as a pocket-size black-and-white paperback, long out of print – it's a terrific mystery thriller that expertly weaves together decades of piecemeal Batman continuity, an approach reflected by the four other stories in the volume, each of which I selected for the brilliant way they too embellish the legend of the Batman. (Incidentally, the Untold Legend miniseries was reissued in 1989 as a three-part 'audio theater' edition, each issue comprising a mini-version of the original comic and an audio cassette; you can hear the audio, and its accompanying funky theme tune, on YouTube.)

Speaking of those other stories, one of them is mentioned in a 'Meanwhile...' column I was reading just this morning. For those who don't know, back in the 1980s, DC's Executive Editor, Dick Giordano, wrote an editorial column, 'Meanwhile...', which appeared in most DC titles on a monthly, then later weekly, basis. The 'Meanwhile...' that appeared in comics which went on sale on 3 July, 1986 was an especially notable one, because it announced some epochal changes to come in the Batman corner of the DC Universe over the remainder of that momentous year. It's also pertinent not just to the aforementioned bonus story that appears in the The Untold Legend of the Batman, but to a pair of stories that appear in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection's edition of 1986–87 crossover event Legends, and a sequence of stories that will appear in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection down the line. Click on the column below and see if you can work out which comics I'm referring to.

On Tim Truman and the DC Heroes & Villains Collection Edition of Hawkworld

Something I don't really get into in my bonus feature on Tim Truman, Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert in the DC Heroes & Villains Collection edition of Hawkworld – which has just been published – is how the 1989 three-issue prestige format miniseries was received at the time. (There's only so much space in these books for me to bang on about the minutiae of DC's past!) Certainly it did well enough for DC to launch an ongoing series off the back of it, but it seems there were some readers who were less than pleased with Truman's take on Fox and Kubert's Silver Age Hawkman – this despite Truman being a friend and avowed fan of Katar Hol's creators. In an October 1994 interview in Wizard magazine (issue #34, which I happened to be reading just now), Truman responds to interviewer Paul J. Grant's assertion "You managed to enrage a lot of old-time Gardner Fox/Joe Kubert fans with Hawkworld" in the following manner:

"Yeah, especially those that only managed to read the first issue. Most of those that read through all three issues of the miniseries and saw what I was trying to do appreciated it, but I've had people come up to me at cons practically spitting on me. In no way did I want to denigrate the character, especially since I was dedicating this to Gardner and Joe Kubert. This was just my take on the fact that there are heroes, but they aren't created by seeing a bat fly though a window. 

"In order to appreciate the story, you had to hang with it. Luckily, a lot of people did. I'm very proud of the fact that it won a Haxtur Award, a fan-based nomination sponsored by the government of Spain in 1992, for best comic series. They flew me over there to accept it. Having been so fond of European work for so many years, that was a real honour."

In the same interview, there's a nice bit of background on the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, which Truman attended in the late 1970s – and which I do cover in my feature – Truman recalling, "We were housed in this big, ramshackle old mansion with a pool out back where we'd go swimming with tadpoles and frogs," and revealing that among the instructors, besides Kubert himself, were the likes of Dick Ayers and Dick Giordano. If you want to read more about that period of Truman's life, and how his friendships with Kubert and Fox shaped his life and career, check out the DC Heroes & Villains Collection's edition of Hawkworld.

Brian Bolland's First Joker Cover

Something I neglected to mention in my piece on Brian Bolland's Joker comic book covers in the back of the DC Heroes & Villains Collection edition of Joker: Last Laugh – which has just been published – is that Batman: The Killing Joke (1988) wasn't really Bolland's first Joker cover. That honour arguably belongs to his cover for the British Batman Annual 1982, published by London Editions in 1981. Bolland did a number of covers – and the odd interior page or endpapers – for the Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman annuals published by London Editions in the early 1980s (as did Garry Leach, Bryan Talbot and other stalwarts of the British comics scene), around the time he was breaking into US comics at DC. His Batman Annual cover naturally has the Dark Knight front and centre in the composition, but in Batman's hand is a Joker playing card, and there, behind him in the background, is the Joker himself, pointing a pistol at Batman's back. So even though the Joker's not the star of the cover, I suppose it probably does qualify as a Joker cover, and therefore Bolland's first Joker cover.

You can read more about Bolland's cover work – Joker and otherwise – in Joker: Last Laugh (available now via Hachette and at all good newsagents and supermarkets), but I'll just note here that, like many of the British superhero annuals published back then, the Batman Annual 1982 – which isn't easy to come by these days (my copy was a very lucky recent-ish eBay find) – has a text story nestled in amongst the reprinted comics stories (one of which is Len Wein, Walt Simonson and Dick Giordano's terrific 'Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker...!' from 1980's Batman #321). Written by 2000 AD and Starlord editor Kelvin Gosnell, it boasts splendid illustrations by Anderson: Psi Division/Button Man artist Arthur Ranson, who also illustrates the annual's endpapers. Well worth the price of admission alone... assuming you can find a copy in the first place.

A Big Long List of the Comics, Graphic Novels and Books I Read in 2019

I've barely had time to think over the past few months, let alone blog. Besides editing Star Trek Magazine – the next one, #74, is out in January – and related specials – a Star Trek: Voyager 25th anniversary one is out in February, followed by a Star Trek: Picard one in March – I've also written my fourth book (mostly; still a few bits to do in the new year). That will be out May 2020, and is about comic book covers. Doubtless I'll be banging on about that nearer the time, but the net result of all that is that I've been working flat out – hence the absence of posts here.

I have, however, been keeping track of what I've been reading – comics for the most part, plus a couple of science fiction novels. Next year I'd like to get back into prose fiction, but I've still got a fair way to go on Doug Moench, Don Newton, Gene Colan et al's Batman and Detective run (and have just unexpectedly secured the one issue I was missing, the elusive Batman #386, featuring the first apperance of Black Mask), plus sundry other back issues/rereads (Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman; Marv Wolfman and George Perez's New Teen Titans; Gerry Conway and George Perez's Justice League of America; Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen's Legion of Super-Heroes; Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway's All-Star Squadron; J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck's Captain America, and too many others to mention) – and that's without factoring in new comics. So we'll see if I manage to read any novels in the new year.

Anyway, here's what I read this year. Merry Christmas.

BOOKS
Gateway by Frederik Pohl (Del Rey, 1977)
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz, 2005)
Watching the Watchmen by Dave Gibbons, Chip Kidd and Mike Essl (Titan, 2008)
The Art of Matt Wagner's Grendel by Matt Wagner et al (Dark Horse, 2007)
Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier (Abrams, 2008)

OLD COMICS
Six from Sirius by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy (Epic, 1984)
Six from Sirius 2 by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy (Epic, 1985)
Rick Mason: The Agent by James D. Hudnall and John Ridgeway (Marvel, 1989)
Batman: Earth One Vol. 1 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank (DC, 2012) (reread)
Batman: Earth One Vol. 2 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank (DC, 2015)
Detective Comics #497–526 by Gerry Conway, Don Newton, Gene Colan et al (DC, 1980–83)
Batman #337–359 by Gerry Conway, Don Newton, Gene Colan et al (DC, 1980–83)
Detective Comics #527–539 by Doug Moench, Don Newton, Gene Colan et al (DC, 1983–84)
Batman #360–372 by Doug Moench, Don Newton, Gene Colan et al (DC, 1983–84)
Batman Annual #8 by Mike W. Barr and Trevor von Eeden (DC, 1982)
Batman: Son of the Demon by Mike W. Barr and Jerry Bingham (DC, 1987) (reread)
Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (WildStorm, 2003) (reread)
Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men: Second Contact by Dan Abnett, Ian Edginton and Cary Nord (Marvel, 1998)
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time by Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway (DC, 1994) (reread)
Batman: Brotherhood of the Bat by Doug Moench, Jim Aparo et al (DC Elseworlds, 1995)
Batman #300 by David V. Reed, Walt Simonson and Dick Giordano (DC, 1978)
Superman: Distant Fires by Howard Chaikin, Gil Kane and Kevin Nowlan (DC Elseworlds, 1998)
Batman: League of Batmen by Doug Moench, Mark Bright and Romeo Tanghal (DC Elseworlds, 2001)
Justice League: The Nail by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer (DC Elseworlds, 1998) (reread)
JLA: Destiny by John Arcudi and Tom Mandrake (DC Elseworlds, 2002)
Batman: Prelude to Knightfall by Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan et al (DC, 1993)
Batman: Knightfall Vol. 1 by Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan et al (DC, 1993)
Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2 by Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan et al (DC, 1994)
Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn, Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell (DC, 1989) (reread)
Batman: Master of the Future by Brian Augustyn and Eduardo Barreto (DC Elsworlds, 1991)
Robin 3000 by Byron Preiss and P. Craig Russell (DC Elseworlds, 1992)
Batman/Houdini: The Devil's Workshop by Howard Chaykin, John Francis Moore and Mark Chiarello (DC Elseworlds, 1993)
Batman: In Darkest Knight by Mike W. Barr and Jerry Bingham (DC Elseworlds, 1994)
Wild Dog #1–4 by Max Collins and Terry Beatty (DC, 1987)
Underworld Unleashed by Mark Waid and Howard Porter (DC, 1995) (reread)
Justice League: Trinity War by Geoff Jones, Jeff Lemire, Ivan Reis et al (DC, 2013)
Forever Evil by Geoff Johns and David Finch (DC, 2013–14)
Batman (Vol. 2) #1–27 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo (DC, 2011–13)
The Hunter by Joe Sparrow (Nobrow, 2015)
Lost Property by Andy Poyiadgi (Nobrow, 2015)

NEW COMICS
Action Comics by Brian Michael Bendis, Patrick Gleason, Ryan Sook, Steve Epting et al (DC)
Batman by Tom King, Mikel Janin et al (DC)
Batman: Damned by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo (DC)
Batman: Last Knight on Earth by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo (DC)
Batman's Grave by Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch and Kevin Nowlan (DC)
Batman/Superman by Joshua Williamson and David Marquez (DC)
Batman Who Laughs by Scott Snyder and Jock (DC)
Captain America by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Leinil Francis Yu et al (Marvel)
Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
Curse Words by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne (Image)
DCeased by Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine (DC)
Detective Comics by Peter J. Tomasi, Brad Walker et al (DC)
Doomsday Clock by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank (DC)
Event Leviathan by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (DC)
Green Lantern by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp (DC)
Green Lantern: Blackstars by Grant Morrison and Xermanico (DC)
Guardians of the Galaxy by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw (Marvel)
Heroes in Crisis by Tom King and Clay Mann (DC)
House of X by Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larz (Marvel)
Invaders by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno and Butch Guice (Marvel)
Justice League by Scott Snyder et al (DC)
Lazarus Risen by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (Image)
Legion of Super-Heroes by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook (DC)
Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium by Brian Michael Bendis et al (DC)
Lois Lane by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins (DC)
Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman and R. B. Silva (Marvel)
Man and Superman by Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini (DC)
Mysteries of Love in Space by various (DC)
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaghan and Cliff Chiang
Punisher: Soviet by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows (Marvel)
Shazam! by Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham (DC)
Silver Surfer: Black by Donny Cates and Tradd Moore (Marvel)
Spider-Man: Full Circle by various (Marvel)
Superman by Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Reis et al (DC)
Superman: Leviathan Rising by various (DC)
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber (DC)
Superman: Year One by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr. (DC)
Trees: Three Fates by Warren Ellis and Jason Howard (Image)
Undiscovered Country by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli (Image)
Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (Image)
War of the Realms by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman (Marvel)
X-Men by Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu (Marvel)
Year of the Villain #1 by various (DC)
Black Adam: Year of the Villain by Paul Jenkins and Inaki Miranda (DC)
Black Mask: Year of the Villain by Tom Taylor and Cully Hamner (DC)
Joker: Year of the Villain by John Carpener, Anthony Burch and Philip Tan (DC)
Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain by Jason Latour and Bryan Hitch (DC)
Ocean Master: Year of the Villain by Dan Watters and Miguel Mendonca (DC)
Riddler: Year of the Villain by Mark Russell and Scott Godlewski (DC)
Sinestro: Year of the Villain by Mark Russell and Brandon Peterson (DC)
Young Justice by Brian Michael Bendis, Patrick Gleason et al (DC)

(Mostly) 80s Comics Cavalcade: Brighton Comic Mart Bargain Bonanza

Back in July, over successive days one weekend, there were two distinct but related comic marts, both titled Comics And Beer, in two different Brighton pubs. One was in a couple of smallish rooms upstairs at the Haus on the Hill and consisted of boxes and piles of organiser The Reaper's (no, me either) own wares; the other was in a bigger area at the back of the North Laine Brewhouse and consisted of The Reaper's wares plus a selection of other dealers. I went to both and ended up with a sizeable pile of comics, most of them hailing from the 1980s, most for either 20p or 50p each. It was brilliant. Here's what I got.

A load of '80s indie comics: Mike Grell's Starslayer (Pacific Comics/First Comics, 1982 onwards), including the second issue, which features the first appearance of Dave Stevens' the Rocketeer (in a back-up strip); Mark Evanier's DNAgents (Eclipse Comics, 1983 on); Mike Grell's Jon Sable (First, 1983); Neal Adams' Ms. Mystic (Pacific, 1982); Bill Willingham's Elementals (Comico, 1985); and Mike Baron's Badger, including the Hexbreaker graphic novel (First, 1988).

Some Marvel and Epic stuff: Simon Furman and Bryan Hitch's Death's Head #1 (1988); Alan Davis's ClanDestine #1 (1994); and Steve Englehart and Steve Leialoha's Coyote #1–5 (plus #14).

A run of Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen's Omega Men (DC Comics, 1983 on), missing #1 (which I'd bought not long before anyway for 50p in Dave's Comics' bargain dump bins) and #3 (first appearance of Lobo, so no wonder I couldn't find it in the 20p boxes).

Some random DCs: Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway's All-Star Squadron #1 and 13 (1981 on); Legion of Super-Heroes #259 (in which Superboy buggers off and lets the Legion have their own title at last) and 282 (1980/1981); Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan's Night Force #1 (1982); DC Comics Presents #36 (1981); Justice League of America Annual #1 (1983); Superman Special #1 (1983); and the New Teen Titans Drug Awareness Special (1983).

A bunch of Baxter-paper DCs: Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland's Camelot 3000 (1982–1985); J. M. DeMatteis and Paris Cullins' Forever People (1988); and a few issues of Vigilante (1983 on).

More Baxter DCs, plus a couple of 1990s DCs: Pete Milligan, Brett Ewins and Steve Dillon's Skreemer (1989); Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden's Thriller (1983–1984 – I'd previously bagged #1 in Dave's dump bins); Don McGregor and Gene Colan's Nathaniel Dusk (1984–1985); Mark Waid and Howard Porter's Underworld Unleashed #1 (1995); and Batman: KnightGallery (1995), an Elseworlds one-shot by Doug Moench and lots of different artists.

A couple of Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo New 52 Batmans I was missing, and a run of Tom King et al Rebirth Batmans, mainly the rather nice Tim Sale cover variants.

And lastly, a run of #1–20 of Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas and Michael Bair's Young All-Stars (1987 on).

One of the dealers at the Sunday mart was the aforementioned Dave's Comics, whose bargain bins frequently produce fine 50p wares. Some of those I showcased in my previous 80s Comics Cavalcade post, but more recently I bagged the above. I was particularly pleased with the Mark Evanier/Steve Rude Mister Miracle Special (DC, 1987) and the complete Peacemaker miniseries (DC, 1988) by Paul Kupperberg and Tod Smith.

So those were my Bighton comic mart (and shop) bargains. Hmm. I should probably post something about some of my '80s comics eBay wins at some point as well, shouldn't I? Justice League of America and All-Star Squadron anyone...?

80s Comics Cavalcade Back Issue Bonanza: Captain America, New Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes and More

I've documented most of the early–mid 1980s Gerry Conway/Doug Moench/Don Newton/Gene Colan et al Batman and Detective Comics, er, comics I've collected – in fact have pretty much finished collecting; just the elusive (and pricey) Batman #386 from Moench's run left to secure – since the start of the year, but I've been picking up lots of other 1980s comics besides – not to mention turning up ones I'd forgotten I even had...

Somewhere, sometime – no idea where or when but it must have been a good few years before this latest collecting frenzy – I'd somehow conspired to collect (or rather re-collect; I originally had them back in the 1980s) a good number of J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck's Captain America comics (plus the preceding short stint by Roger Stern and John Byrne). With my fervour for '80s comics reinflamed this year, it seemed the right time to collect the post-Zeck DeMatteis Caps as well, which I duly did at a London comic mart, with a couple of stray issues from Dave's Comics in Brighton.

To those I added a run of late-1980s Mark Gruenwald/Kieron Dwyer Caps, which I came across at the Lewes Book Fair. I've not read those ones before, so I'm interested to find out what they're like.

Something I have read before, in large part, is George Perez and Marv Wolfman's New Teen Titans, and again in Brighton, in the basement of the ramshackle, aptly-named Raining Books (previously Rainbow Books) on Trafalgar Street I found a stack of cheap copies from early in the run. Courtesy of Dave's Comics I filled in some gaps, and then on eBay I secured a run of issues #3–15...

...plus key issues DC Comics Presents #26 – which has a 16-page New Teen Titans insert, the first appearance of the team – and Tales of the Teen Titans #44, which is the first appearance of former Robin, Dick Grayson, as Nightwing (long one of my favourite comics characters).

Then in Scorch Comics in Eastbourne, for just a tenner, I scored the first issue of the series:

(plus some Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis Detectives, and a couple of post-Moench Batman issues), meaning I now have a near-complete run of #1–50 (missing just #2, the pricey first appearance of Deathstroke).

Once again from Dave's in Brighton, I bought a run of Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen's Legion of Super-Heroes – some from the 50p dump bins, some from the general back issue bins – including the celebrated "Great Darkness Saga" – plus most of the Legends-tie-in Cosmic Boy miniseries...

...the sole remaining issue of which I subsequently picked up in 30th Century Comics in Putney, along with the first four Legion Annuals. While I was there, I also bought the issues I was missing from Steve Engelhart and Joe Staton's Millennium miniseries, some of which I'd already found in those aforementioned Dave's Comics 50p dump bins....

....alongside all manner of other 50p comics: Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden's Thriller #1; Cary Bates, Gene Colan and Klaus Janson's Silverblade #1...

...all four issues of Max Collins and Terry Beatty's Wild Dog miniseries; the first three issues of Jim Starlin and Berni Brighton's The Weird miniseries...

Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen's Omega Men #1; Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo's Outsiders #1; Gerard Jones and Mike Parobeck's El Diablo #1; plus a late-1990s JLA in Crisis Secret Files and Origins.

Further afield, in the Cartoon Shop in Basildon, I came across a cheap set of the first 13 issues of Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway's Infinity, Inc...

...which was handy, because I've also been collecting the "Ultra War" storyline from Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway's All-Star Squadron, which features the first appearance of Infinity, Inc.

And, inevitably, there have been more issues of Batman and Detective, too – from Mega City Comics (Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola's Gotham by Gaslight, the first Elseworlds title), 30th Century Comics (Batman #307, the first appearance of Lucius Fox), Gosh! Comics (Detective #575, the first part of "Batman: Year Two", which completes my run of Barr/Davis Detectives), Dave's Comics, and Scorch Comics (where I also scored DC's two-issue Christmas with the Super-Heroes, the second issue of which features stories by Paul Chadwick, Eric Shanower and Colleen Doran) – not least, and returning to my earlier comment about turning up comics I'd forgotten I had, these:

Batman #408–410 by Max Allan Collins, Chris Warner, Ross Andru and Dave Cockrum (in which, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason Todd, the second Robin, is reimagined as a juvenile delinquent rather than a circus acrobat – comics, eh?), which I came across in the loft whilst hunting for something else, and which I have no idea where (or when) they came from. A turn up for the (comic) books indeed.

80s Comics Cavalcade: Collecting Conway and Moench Batman and Detective Back Issues

So much for maintaining my blogging momentum this year: this is the first post I've managed since I declared my intention to blog more frequently two bloody months ago. I've been pecking away at a prospective post about Batman comics, but it just wasn't coming together, so rather than persist in fruitlessly puffing at the flickering flame of what I laughingly call my muse, I thought I'd simply post a bunch of pictures of the early–mid-1980s Batman and Detective Comics I've been collecting since the start of the year, and write whatever comes into my head about them.

Comprising consecutive runs by writers Gerry Conway (Detective #497–526/Batman #337–359, 1980–83) and Doug Moench (Batman #360–400/Detective #527–566, 1983–86), a lot of these issues I had and read as a kid, around the age of twelve or thirteen or so, but subsequently flogged (probably to long-lost London back issue specialists LTS/Paradise Alley to fund the purchase of import electro and hip hop 12"s from long-lost London record shop Groove Records).

Boasting terrific art by Don Newton, Gene Colan and others (with some fab Jim Aparo covers thrown in for good measure), this era of Batman is notable for the way Batman and Detective became increasingly interlinked, with stories weaving back and forth between the two titles so that they effectively became one fortnightly series. It also marked the arrival of a more sophisticated style of storytelling, with more defined characterisation and multiple ongoing subplots which would simmer away until exploding into lead stories – all of which the Gotham Calling blog has identified as the 'Marvelization' of Batman.

That's besides more prosaic – but of course of vital interest to superhero comics collectors – fictional events as the debuts of Jason Todd (although I haven't yet got my hands on the issue with his first appearance in it; I'm still missing the odd issue here and there), Killer Croc and Nocturna (all characters I have a lot of time for), the return of Bruce Wayne/Batman to Wayne Manor (after an extended stint living in the penthouse of – and Caped Crusadering out of a Batcave beneath – the Wayne Foundation building), and Batman briefly becoming a vampire!

I've been picking up issues of Batman and Detective in a handful of comic shops – my local, Dave's in Brighton, as well as Uncanny Comics in Worthing and 30th Century Comics in Putney – plus on a visit to the bimonthly London Comic Mart at the Royal National Hotel near Russell Square, which I hadn't been to in over a decade (the comic mart I mean; I've been to a fair number of book fairs at the same venue in the interim).

Somewhere else I found myself for the first time in probably a dozen years was Mega City Comics in Camden. I made the journey there on the off chance, not really expecting to find anything, only to discover that they'd just got in a collection of precisely the era of Batman and Detective I was after – the sort of serendipitous occurrence that us collectors can usually only dream of, even in the internet age.

Speaking of which, I've been picking up issues on eBay as well – a run of ten Detectives from one seller, half a dozen Detectives from another, random issues of Batman and Detective here and there.

Although this is all ostensibly an exercise in nostalgia, I am intrigued to find out if these stories are as good, as contemporary-seeming, as I half-remember and half-suspect (I've only read/re-read up to the end of 1981 so far, so the best stuff is yet to come). Certainly Gene Colan's appositely shadowy and swirling art is as excellent and evocative as I remember, and Don Newton's is even better than I recall, owing an obvious debt to Bernie Wrightson and Neal Adams but still distinctive and aesthetically inviting.

And then there are all the additional pleasures of reading these stories in their original floppy format (rather than in collections or online): comics adverts for Hostess Twinkies (and Fruit Pies and Cupcakes) and Bubble Yum; other adverts for plastic toy soldiers and Sea-Monkeys and bodybuilding courses and magic tricks and pranks and Grit newspaper and the Olympic Sales Club ("Prizes for cash") and NBC's Super Star Saturday cartoon marathons (oh how I wished we had those in the UK back then) and comic book back issues; letters pages; a very modern (employing narrative captions rather than thought bubbles) Conway-written Robin back-up strip circa 1981; house ads for other DC comics; and from 1983 onwards, DC Managing Editor Dick Giordano's Meanwhile... columns.

Collecting – or in many cases re-collecting – these comics has been a lot of fun, and reading them has been just as enjoyable so far. And hopefully, when I get a little further along in my reading, I'll find time to write about them again.

80s Comics Cavalcade: Detective Comics #526; the Best Batman Comic Ever?

In my previous 80s Comics Cavalcade post I mentioned how Doug Moench and Gene Colan's 1983–84 stint on Detective Comics and Batman made a big impression on 13–14 year-old me. But what I didn't mention was that it was probably the issue just preceding Moench's run that made the biggest impression of all: Detective Comics #526, written by Gerry Conway, art by Don Newton and Alfred Alcala.

I would have been on the cusp of 13 when this issue was published in 1983; cover-dated May, it was published in the US on 24 February, so I reckon it would have made its way over to British newsagents by early March – newsagents being where I bought the majority of my American comics at that point (I wouldn't find my way to any of London's comic shops for another year or so). I even know which newsagent I bought it in: a corner shop (long since converted to residential use) opposite Beckenham Rec on Croydon Road, south London, which I'd walk the 20 minutes to from my house at least once a week to see what new American comics might have arrived.

So vivid is my memory of buying this issue that I can pretty much picture it on the right-hand side of the bottom shelf, where the US comics were kept, its gold-stamped cover calling to me... although the copy seen here isn't actually the one I bought back then: my original copy is long gone, sold, I expect, to central London back-issue specialists LTS/Paradise Alley off Denmark Street, where a lot of my comics ended up (flogged off to feed a subsequent habit: the acquisition of import electro/hip hop 12"s from Groove Records on Greek Street). This particular copy is a more recent purchase, nabbed by chance on a flying visit to Uncanny Comics in Worthing.

Reading it again over 35 years on from first exposure, I experienced a rush of nostalgia, pages and panels so familiar to me that I can only conclude that teenage me must have read and reread the comic countless times. It's easy to see why. A 68-page square-bound anniversary issue, boasting a 56-page story (plus ads, plus a celebratory Bob Kane pin-up page), Detective #526 features all of Batman's recurring villains teaming up to take him down – an obvious conceit on reflection but one which I'd not come across before (and have rarely seen since).

But I was most struck by how the smaller character moments have stayed with me all these years: the way Conway and co. deftly demonstrate Two-Face's mercurial nature by having him let Talia al Ghul escape after his scarred coin lands good side up; Vicki Vale, working late, having to forcefully fend off the unwanted amorous advances of a sleazy colleague; Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) revealing to a shocked Dick Grayson that she's worked out that he and Bruce Wayne are Batman and Robin; various bizarre villains (some of whom I would have recognised at the time, others I wouldn't; this wouldn't have been the first Batman comic I read, but it was an early one) unused to working together, blundering into one another and taking each other off the field.

I also see things now I didn't see then, notably Conway's refreshing characterisation of Batman as a relatively balanced individual; a crime-fighter more than a crusader; an adventurer rather than an avenger: a Batman who quips, as opposed to a Batman Who Laughs. As Batman, Talia and Catwoman race to their cars, Conway's narration notes: "Three grins light three grim faces. This is what they love: in a way, it's what they live for. The chase. The hunt. The thrill of facing the unknown."

Such is the nature of nostalgia that we believe the things we loved as kids – comics, books, TV shows, films, toys – were better than the things that came later, irrespective of whether they were or not, and no doubt that's the case here too. Even so, reading Detective #526 again at this remove, I think there's more going on here. I've read a lot of brilliant Batman stories over the years – The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, too many others to name – but I struggle to think of a single issue – as in a stand-alone, effectively done-in-one instalment – as good as this one. The best Batman comic ever? That's a bold (maybe even a brave and a bold) claim. But Detective Comics #526 is hard to beat.