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

2018.027 Batgirl: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1

Batgirl: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1
Written by: Frank Robbins, Elliot S Maggin, Bob Rozakis, Gardner Fox, Mike Friedrich, Denny O'Neil
Illustrated by: Don Heck, Mike Grell, Carmine Infantino, Frank Springer, Gil Kane, Bob Brown, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Pablo Marcos, Curt Swan, Jose Delbo, Irv Novick, Dick Giordano, Vince Colletta, Sid Greene, Murphy Anderson, Frank Giacoia
DC Comics

2018.002 Adam Strange: The Silver Age Omnibus

Adam Strange is one of my all-time favorite characters.  I can't tell you why, though.  Not because it's a secret, but I really don't know what draws me to him.  He's cool, he's got a simple yet effective design, but otherwise, I don't know.

And I should NOT have enjoyed this book as much as I did.  The reason being every Adam Strange story is basically the same.  He pinpoints when the next Zeta Beam will hit Earth to take him back to Rann.  He arrives to be greeted by his true love Alanna, a crisis ensues that only Adam can save Rann from, the Zeta Beam wears off and he's drawn back to Earth.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  But there is such a charm to these stories that I can't stop reading them.

The bulk of them are drawn by Carmine Infantino, not a favorite artist of mine.  But Carmine's work on Adam Strange is some of his finest work.  There's some STUNNING Murphy Anderson art in here that fills me with such joy.

There are some stories in this book I've never read before.  I had no idea there was an Adam Strange descendant in the future who took on his mantle.  Only two or three stories, but still.  Brand new to me.

One of the things I discovered in this book, also, is Lee Elias' run on Adam Strange.  In his stories, he drew Adam without his familiar cowl, which just looked odd to me at first, but by the time I finished that run, I kind of dug seeing this version.

The New 52 ruined Adam Strange for me.  I hope DC gets it's act together to Rebirth him back to his old self.

Adam Strange: The Silver Age Omnibus

Written by: Gardner Fox, Dave Wood, Jerry Siegel, Denny O'Neil

Illustrated by: Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson, Lee Elias, Phil Kelsey, Joe Giella, Bernard Sachs, John Giunta, Sid Greene

DC Comics

146 Daring New Adventures Of Supergirl Vol 2

Oh boy.  Where do I start?

I love Supergirl.  I was stoked that she got her own series back again with this book.  I really do remember liking it a little more than I do right now.  Looking at it with fresh eyes, I realize what a total fucking disaster this book was.  I don't know if DC even cared very much when they decided to give her her own series again.  To me, this is what I imagine the pitch was.  Let's give her a book, let's try to write it for women, but put no effort into it whatsoever.  Because it really feels like it was written to try to appeal to a female audience.  Let me correct that.  Written poorly to appeal to a female audience.  Nothing against Paul Kupperberg, but this was not the way to do it.

I was never keen on Carmine Infantino, especially at this stage in his career.  He was not fit for the book.  The plots were terrible.  The art was terrible.  And the book got cancelled in time for the Supergirl movie, a movie I loved, but a movie that was terrible.

I'm so happy DC decided to collect this series.  As bad as it is, it really does hold a special place in my heart.

Daring New Adventures Of Supergirl Vol 2

Writer: Paul Kupperberg

Artist: Carmine Infantino, Eduardo Barreto, Bob Oksner

DC Comics

022 Batgirl: A Celebration of 50 Years

DC has published a whole line of these Celebration books.  From what I understand, this is the last one, at least for a while.  And what a note for them to finish this up on.  Batgirl: A Celebration of 50 Years should be the gold standard on how to assemble one of these books.  In it's limited space (less than 400 pages), it manages to cover the true spirit of Batgirl.  While it's the Barbara Gordon Batgirl who graces the cover and is the best known Batgirl, there have been others and they are all represented here.  The book starts off with a Betty Kane Bat-Girl story before devoting the most space to Barbara Gordon.  It also covers Helena Bertinelli's very short run as Batgirl as well as Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown before returning to Barbara Gordon.

The one thing I found odd about this collection is the placement of a story from Batgirl: Year One.  It's the second story in the Barbara Gordon section.  While the stories presented are in chronological order of when they happened, I would have preferred this story to show up at the end of Barbara's section, not the beginning of it.  But that's a minor nitpick.

I love that they've included the story of Barbara running for Congress (and winning!) as well as a story from Batman Family.  I'm still holding out hope that DC will reprint Batman Family in some shape someday.

At work during my lunch breaks, I'm reading a volume of Batgirl featuring Cassandra Cain, so expect a post about that shortly.  I enjoyed the Cassandra stories in this volume.  Until I started reading the trades collecting her run, I really had no experience with the character.  Stephanie Brown never truly felt like Batgirl to me.  While I enjoyed the stories, I think I would have liked her in her Spoiler identity better.  She just felt hollow to me as Batgirl.

The one story I didn't really care much for in this volume was The Last Batgirl Story.  It was a special published back in the day.  DC was retiring Batgirl (see The Killing Joke) and issued this special as a grand send off.  Only it was awful and felt like a bad inventory story rather than a last hurrah.

This book is everything!

Batgirl: A Celebration of 50 Years

Writer: Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, Frank Robbins, Bob Rozakis, Barbara Randall, John Ostrander, Kim Yale, Greg Rucka, Kelley Puckett, Dylan Horrocks, Bryan Q. Miller, Gail Simone, Cameron Stewart, Brendan Fletcher

Artist: Sheldon Moldoff, Charles Paris, Carmine Infantino, Sid Greene, Marcos Martin, Alvaro Lopez, Gil Kane, Don Heck, Irv Novick, Vince Colletta, Trevor von Eeden, Rodin Rodriguez, Barry Kitson, Bruce Patterson, Brian Stelfreeze, Karl Story, Greg Land, Drew Geraci, Mike Deodato, Sean Parsons, Damion Scott, Robert Campanella, Rick Leonardi, Jesse Delperdang, Tim Levins, Lee Garbett, Don Davis, Aaron Sowd, Trevor Scott, Pere Perez, Ed Benes, Babs Tarr

DC Comics