2018.039 Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Vol 1

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Vol 1
Written by: Mike W. Barr, Joey Cavalieri, Jo Duffy
Illustrated by: Alan Davis, Paul Neary, Jim Baikie, Terry Beatty, Norm Breyfogle, E.R. Cruz, Carmine Infantino, Klaus Janson, Dick Giordano, Pablo Marcos, Al Vey
DC Comics

2018.021 Batman And The Outsiders Vol 2

This continues to be a fun read for me.  Sure, Mike Barr isn't my favorite writer.  He can be very hokey at times (a lot of the time), but he does tell a fun story.  This era of BATO was probably my favorite.  The characters were still new, Barr was trying to figure out what works with them and what doesn't.  We delve further into the new characters backstories.  It's all good stuff.  And if that's not enough, Jim Aparo hits home run after home run with his art.  I remember reading years ago that the thing he detested most was drawing team books.  You'd never know it looking at his art here.  It's just perfect.  And we get a look of the future of BATO with Alan Davis jumping in to draw some stuff.  

If you enjoy some of the cheesier aspects of the 80s, you'll love the pants off this book.

Batman And The Outsiders Vol. 2

Written by: Mike W. Barr

Illustrated by: Jim Aparo, Alan Davis, Jermoe K. Moore, Alex Saviuk, Jan Duursema, Rick Hoberg, Bill Willingham, Bill Anderson, Trevor Von Eeden, Ron Randall

DC Comics

2018.016 Batman Arkham: Clayface

I forget sometimes exactly how many people have used the name Clayface.  But DC hasn't.  And this collection covers them all.  I love books like this.  It really does give a nice overview of the entire Clayface family with stories from the 40s all the way through the New 52.  One of the nice things about the various and sundry Clayfaces is that the stories tend not to contradict each other.  Reading other books, the elements and plot points of the stories change like the wind depending on the weather.  But having so many different Clayfaces means there isn't too much history on any one character to change.

I love this whole Batman Arkham series.  Different villains getting the spotlight.  I look forward to more.

Batman Arkham: Clayface

Written by: Bill Finger, Len Wein, Mike W Barr, Dough Moench, Ed Brubaker, Steve Purcell, A.J. Lieberman, John Layman, Dan Raspler

Illustrated by: Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Sheldon Moldoff, Charles Paris, Marshall Rogers, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Keith Giffen, Bernie Mireault, Tom Grummett, Al Gordon, Denis Rodier, Gary Martin, J.H. Williams III, John Beatty, Mick Gray, Darwyn Cooke, Mike Allred, Mike Mignola, Al Barrionueva, Bit, Cliff Richards

DC Comics

180 The DC Universe By John Byrne

This is a fun, if uneven, collection of John Byrne stories that were not part of the regular series he did for DC.  It's a nice overview of some of the stuff he did and highly enjoyable.  If you're a Byrne fan, that is.

The DC Universe By John Byrne

Writer: John Byrne, Marv Wolfman, Mike W Barr, Paul Kupperberg, Roger Stern, Paul Dini, Josh Siegal, Cary Bates, Keith Champagne

Artist: John Byrne, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Kurt Schaffenberger, Keith Wilson, Andy Kubert, Rick Burchett, Lary Stucker, Keith Champagne

DC Comics

165 Batman: Year Two *The 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition*

Sequels rarely live up to the original.  It's a fact.  Sometimes they excel, but more often than not, they fall short.  Batman: Year Two is a sequel to Batman: Year One.  Different creative team, different approach.  And it's a damn fine story.

I'm not the biggest fan of Mike Barr.  He's a fine writer, but I don't often take him seriously.  He writes fun stuff, but it's mostly fluff to me.  However, it's been years since I've read this, so I tried to go in with fresh eyes.  And he surprised me.  The book isn't the cutesy fluff I'm used to from him.  It's straightforward, decent writing.  And I enjoyed every bit of it.  I guess I didn't realize Alan Davis only drew the first chapter of the story before quitting the book (detailed in the forward).  Todd McFarlane stepped in and finished the book off.  Alan Davis came back for the sequel to this sequel and both men gave us top notch stuff.

This book collects the original Year Two and the follow up story, Full Circle.  Full Circle had a lot of holes in it, but it suspend your disbelief just a little more than normal, it's not a problem.  

I don't know how much of this book is still in continuity.  My memory gets worse with age, but I don't think much of any of it is canon anymore.  It features a lot of Joe Chill and his family.  That's the part that I'm not sure fits in with current (or even later pre-New 52) continuity.  Things like this change from time to time and I wouldn't be surprised to learn this continuity went out the window two decades ago.

This is a really good and satisfying read.  If you haven't read it recently, it's worth picking up.

Batman: Year Two *The 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition*

Writer: Mike W. Barr

Artist: Alan Davis, Todd McFarlane, Paul Neary, Mark Farmer, Alfredo Alcala, Pablo Marcos

DC Comics

018 Batman And The Outsiders Vol 1

This is a book I loved back in the day.  It wasn't my favorite, but I really did love this book.  I'm a sucker for team books.  This came out during the height of the popularity of The New Teen Titans, my favorite book of the 80s.  It used the formula that Titans used when it came out.  Take a handful of established characters, sprinkle in a couple new ones and voila, super-team.

The team formed by sheer luck.  Batman had just quit the JLA because the team vowed to stay out of Markovia during civil unrest.  Batman wasn't having it because Lucius Fox was in Markovia and was kidnapped.  So Batman recruited Black Lightning and the two of them went in to rescue Lucius.  Along the way, they met up with Metamorpho, Katana, Geo-Force and Halo.  Mission accomplished, they returned to America and formed their own superteam.

The writing in this book is just as cliched and subpar as I remembered, but the art by Jim Aparo is stunning.  Still to this day I look at it and oooh and ahhh at it.  As off as the writing is, it was still a really fun read and it brought me back to my youth in the 80s.  And as much as I gushed about the Showcase line of books a few posts ago, reading this in full color and reading this in the Showcase format are two totally different beasts.

That cover, too.  That cover is just beautiful to me.

Batman And The Outsiders Vol 1
Writer: Mike Barr
Artist: Jim Aparo, Bill Willingham, Steve Lightle, Pablo Marcos
DC Comics