DC Finest: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part One by Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Doug Moench, George Pérez, et al.

DC Finest: Events: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part One

Collection published: 2025
Contents originally published: 1985-86
Acquired: December 2025
Read: January 2026

Writers: Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas (with Dann Thomas), Gerry Conway, Jason Todd, Steve Englehart, Doug Moench, Alan Moore, Robert Kanigher, Mindy Newell

Pencillers: Curt Swan, George Pérez, Mike Clark, Arvell Jones, Rafael Kayanan, Todd McFarlane, Gene Colan, Joe Staton, Tom Mandrake, Stephen R. Bissette, Judith Hunt, Sam Glanzman, Michael Esposito, Don Heck

Inkers: Dave Hunt, Dick Giordano, Vince Colletta (with DeZuniga), Alfredo Alcala, Akin & Garvey, Pablo Marcos, Bob Smith, Bruce Patterson, Steve Montana, Mike Machlan, Tom Mandrake, Tatjana Wood, Mike DeCarlo, Judith Hunt, Sam Glanzman, Michael Esposito, Don Heck
Colorists: Gene D'Angelo, Anthony Tollin, Carl Gafford, Nansi Hoolahan, Adrienne Roy, Jerry Serpe

Letterers: Ben Oda, John Costanza, David Cody Weiss, Duncan Andrews, John Workman, L. Lois Buhalis, Albert De Guzman, Gaspar, Helen Vesik
Plot: Wolfman/Wein/Greenberger

DC has begun a new reprint series called "DC Finest." Despite the name—which would seem to indicate some kind of selectivity—its aim to comprehensively reprint everything DC has ever published in various lines. One of those is the "Events" line, which reprints not just the headline event stories, but integrates them with their myriad tie-ins. Crisis on Infinite Earths has of course been reprinted many times, but never with all of the "Special Crisis Cross-overs." The core series is twelve issues long, but estimates are that its DC Finest reprinting will run four 500-page volumes! I've read Crisis a couple times before, so here I won't focus on the core story, but the various included stories.

A lot of the included issues are of Roy Thomas's Earth-Two titles: here we get issues #50-52 of the WWII-set All-Star Squadron and issues #18-19 of the present-day Infinity, Inc. (There's also Justice League of America #244, which is the second half of the story begun in Infinc #19, the last-ever JLA/JSA team-up.) Both of these titles were significantly affected by the Crisis and did a lot tying into it, so their inclusion here makes sense... though I know from past experience I will definitely be bored of A-SS's Shanghaied into Hyperspace! story by the end of it. Overall, though, no complaints; these are exactly the kind of stories that ought to be included in a book like this.

No one:
Absolutely no one:
Roy Thomas: My Crisis on Infinite Earths tie-in is going to be about Mister Mind crossing between universe because he loves listening to Charlie McCarthy on the radio so much!
from All-Star Squadron #51 (plot by Roy Thomas & Dann Thomas, script by Roy Thomas, art by Mike Clark & Vince Colletta)

We also get a bunch of one-off stories from various titles: Fury of Firestorm #41, Green Lantern #194, and Wonder Woman #327. The Firestorm one is fine, it basically just shows how Firestorm is recruited by Harbinger in more detail, which isn't particularly interesting but I guess the kind of thing you'd expect a Crisis Cross-over to do. The Green Lantern story is kind of complicated, as it's clearly very enmeshed in the ongoing stories of Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner, but I'm always happy to see some Joe Staton artwork, and I'm curious to see how it continues in later volumes. (There's a funny bit of continuity massaging; as John thinks to himself that he usually doesn't wear a mask anymore but he's going to put one on before journeying to the Monitor's satellite, presumably because George Pérez drew him with a mask.) The Wonder Woman story is clearly the wrapup of an ongoing story, and therefore pretty confusing on its own.

I'm always game for some Harbinger action, great visual design.
from The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #41 (script by Gerry Conway, art by Rafael Kayanan and Akin & Garvey)

There are a couple inclusions I didn't get. There weren't any Crisis ties in Detective Comics #555 that I detected, nor in The Losers Special, even though that does have the Crisis Cross-over branding on the cover.

Wait, did the pre-Crisis Blue Beetle have a wife!? (It's just a joke, right?)
from Green Lantern vol. 2 #194 (script by Steve Englehart, art by Joe Staton & Bruce Patterson) 

The real highlight of the book, though, are the Batman issues: we get a continuous six-part Batman story from Batman #389-91 and Detective #556-58. The Crisis connection is technically slight, in that there's just the red skies from the Crisis... but man these stories (from the team of Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake, somehow pumping out an issue every two weeks) are great! Jason Todd is Robin, but this is before Jim Starlin turned him into an obnoxious asshole; here he's a kid trying to find his way in rough world, bereft of strong parental figures to give him guidance. Like some of the other stories I've read from this era, we're clearly at a transitional point between the Silver Age aesthetic and the Frank Miller one; unlike those other stories, I thought this really worked. It's high melodrama, but it doesn't take itself too seriously; it's dark without being grim; it's not afraid to be goofy but we get solid psychological depth for all of the principal characters. Sure, the only Crisis element is that the skies are red... but it's so beautifully used, creating a funereal atmosphere. These stories are also included in a Batman "DC Finest," Red Skies, and after reading this, I'm sorely tempted to pick up that, because I'd love to see more Moench and Mandrake on Batman.

I very much appreciated the delving into Batman's very bad taste in bad women.
from Detective Comics vol. 1 #556 (script by Doug Moench, art by Gene Colan & Bob Smith)

My only quibble with this volume is the sequencing doesn't always make sense; Detective #558 ends with Batman hearing Joker has escaped, leading into Crisis #2... but for some reason the story is placed after Crisis #2. Similarly, I think the Wonder Woman issue is also in the wrong spot. On the whole, this isn't high art, or often, even medium art, but if the point of superhero comics is their sheer interconnectedness, the creation of a massive tapestry of events that becomes a pleasure in itself, then this book captures that exceedingly well. I hope that Part Two is solicited sooner rather than later! 

"this peace, like any other, was a temporary thing" (Blackhawk, 1989–92)

The third and final (so far, anyway*) volume of Blackhawk comprised sixteen issues in 1989 and 1990, plus a 1989 annual and a belated 1992 special. It picked up from what artist Rick Burchett and writer Martin Pasko had been doing with Blackhawk in Action Comics (see item #10 below); Burchett would illustrate all sixteen regular issues of the title (occasionally with various assists), while Pasko would write the first eleven, with Grant Miehm taking over at the end.

Back when I began this series of posts, I said the question I was interested in was how various creators made use of the Blackhawks outside of their original context. Can a premise and set of characters originally anchored to a very specific time and place have any viability outside of it? The last couple incarnations of the Blackhawks have seemed to indicate "no": both Mark Evanier (see #9 below) and Chaykin returned the Blackhawks to World War II. 

Somewhat cleverly, Mike Grell and Martin Pasko followed on from Chaykin by making the viability of the Blackhawks outside of World War II the very topic of their stories. At the end of the Action Comics run, Pasko set up that the Blackhawks would be operating at the behest of U.S. intelligence, their cover story being that they were a charter air service. These warriors need a new war to fight, even if it's one they don't totally agree with themselves.

Glamorous even with one eye.
from Blackhawk Annual #1
(script by Martin Pasko, art by Rick Burchett & Bill Wray)

This is the topic of the first three issues and the annual, which see the Blackhawks go on missions like distributing anticommunist leaflets to influence elections overseas, but of course they get into fights and scrapes, and of course Janos himself gets into shenanigans with local women. There's lots of moral ambiguity here; it's a strong follow-up to what Pasko and Burchett were doing in Action Comics.

In that run, Pasko had also set up that Natalie Reed (the so-called "Lady Blackhawk") had a child she was unable to reenter the U.S. to see, thanks to increased anticommunist sentiments postwar. This is the main spine of those first four issues; from Mexico, Natalie is writing comics stories about the Blackhawks and sending them to a publisher in the U.S., who illustrates them with her name under a pseudonym. But the fact that Reed is a former communist means a right-wing member of the publisher staff informs on her, and soon the Blackhawks are battling enemies at home, not just abroad. I really enjoyed this subplot, particularly some of the revelations about who the father of Natalie's baby was, and what happens to him.

I agree, Janos.
from Blackhawk vol. 3 #1 (script by Martin Pasko, art by Rick Burchett)

(If you want, this subplot can also be used to kind of maintain previous versions of Blackhawk in continuity. Pasko and Burchett include interpolated bits based on the original Military Comics run [see item #1] and Chaykin's miniseries [item #10]. Any story you want to keep can be an in-universe fictionalized comics based on on actual adventure!)

After this, though, the comic moves into an ongoing plotline that runs from issue #4 to 12. This takes the conspiracy thriller tone of the whole thing to a new level: the government decides they want to the Blackhawks to go to China and stop them from developing an atomic bomb... so they kidnap them and make it seem like they're dead? Meanwhile, other members of the Blackhawks are being abducted and put in suspended animation. I can enjoy conspiracy thrillers, but one that bugs me is when the antagonists are so powerful in the way they manipulate the protagonists that it doesn't really make sense that they need the protagonists to do anything to begin with. If the government can force the Blackhawks to do all this, why can't they just do it themselves directly?

As the story goes on, it gets increasingly convoluted, with the villains trying to (I think) copy the Blackhawks' memories into other people's bodies for... reasons, I guess? I don't really know, and that's despite two different issues where the plot stops so that people can explain to each other what's going on! And like I said, this plotline dominates nine issues of the title! It's pretty bad, and feels like it must be the reason the title ended up cancelled.

Martin Pasko doesn't even see it all the way through; issue #12 is actually written by Doug Moench, who wraps everything up implausibly quickly. Oh, did the Blackhawks go through the most traumatic events of their lives? That's fine, they're back to work... for the same people who did all this to them to begin with! Natalie goes through some particularly twisted shit, and he writes her out rather than deal with it. On the one hand, I'm frustrated to lose one of the new Blackhawks' best characters, but on the other hand, I'm not sure what Moench could actually do with her given how much Pasko screwed up the character that he had made so interesting!

After that, Moench quickly moves onto a four-part storyline about the Blackhawks flying experimental planes... and possibly also there are UFOs? To be honest, I found this disjointed, confusing, and pointless. Again, it's not very clear what the conspiracy is or why the conspirators want the Blackhawks; there are several different parts to the story that don't go together. A disappointing conclusion to a series that had a very strong start.

Other stuff: The series contains a couple "Blackhawk Express" stories set in the present day of the DC universe (following on from "The Crash of 88" in Action Comics) starring Weng Chan. These have good writers (Elliot S. Maggin and John Ostrander) but unfortunately a terrible artist in Dick Rockwell, and to be honest, neither writer ever does anything with the premise that convinces me it was worthwhile. Finally, 1992's Blackhawk Special (script by John Ostrander, art by Mike Vosburg) chronicles 1963 to '68 for the Blackhawks (the main body of the ongoing covered 1948 to '50), mostly focusing on the Blackhawks getting involved in a conspiracy surrounding the deaths of JFK and RFK. It's decent enough but a bit too jumpy to be engaging; I feel like Ostrander was trying to do too much even if he had 57 pages to work with.

This is the eleventh in a series of posts about the Blackhawks. The next installment covers Lady Blackhawk in Guy Gardner: Warrior. Previous installments are listed below:

1. The Blackhawk Archives, Volume 1 (1941-42)
2. Military Comics #18-43 / Modern Comics #44-46 / Blackhawk #9 & 50 (1943-52)
3. Showcase Presents Blackhawk, Volume One (1957-58) 
4. Blackhawk vol. 1 #151-95 (1960-64) 
5. Blackhawk vol. 1 #196-227 (1964-66)
6. Blackhawk vol. 1 #228-43 (1967-68)
7. Blackhawk vol. 1 #244-50 / The Brave and the Bold #167 (1976-80)
8. Blackhawk (1982) 
9. Blackhawk vol. 1 #251-73 / DC Comics Presents #69 (1982-84) 
• Pre-Crisis Continuity 
10. Blackhawk: Blood & Iron (1987-89) 

* There was a short-lived ongoing series that ran 2011–12, but it was called Blackhawks.

Catwoman: Year 2 by Doug Moench, Jim Balent, and Mark Pennington

So, this story has no direct relationship to my history of the Justice Society of America—which at forty-one installments and counting across more than three years is clearly never going to come to an end. But when researching Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper, I discovered its existence and, well, it made sense to me to read Catwoman: Year 2 after what was "Catwoman: Year One" in all but name. So here I am with a brief break from the JSA.

This story, obviously, takes place during the early years of Batman and Catwoman. Specifically, it must fall after The Long Halloween, as Harvey Dent has become Two-Face, and it must precede Dark Victory, as Batman is not yet working with Robin. Indeed, that lines it up pretty much exactly with my placement for Batman: Year Two, which seems right. In Long Halloween, Selina briefly pops up as a socialite in Bruce's circle (if I remember correctly; it's been a long time), an identity she must have established for herself with her proceeds from theft. For her, it would also go before When in Rome, another story of her early years.

The story seems to be designed to bridge the gap between the dark, gritty Selina of stuff like Batman: Year One and Her Sister's Keeper and the more lively, flirty Selina of the Batman comics of the 1990s. One aspect of the transition is very obvious. By the end of Her Sister's Keeper, Selina was wearing a gray costume; here, inspired by a meeting with the Joker in his purple suit, she discards it and replaces it with a costume in royal purple, such as she was wearing by the 1990s. More significantly, the story wants to establish Batman and Catwoman's flirtatious relationship, where he's attracted to her, she's attracted to him, but also he thinks of her as a criminal and therefore can't let himself act on that attraction, and she does enough good things that he can overlook the bad.

from Catwoman vol. 2 #39

On the other hand, while the story is designed to bridge the approach of the 1980s Catwoman to the 1990s one, it's not actually—despite the title—a very direct follow-up to "Year One." Holly Robinson is nowhere to be seen; my understanding is that she would never appear in a Catwoman story again until the Catwoman vol. 3 ongoing in the 2000s. Where did this character so integral to Selina's early days go off to? You can of course make something up, but writing her out is the kind of thing I expected this story to do. 

More jarring if you go directly from Her Sister's Keeper to Year 2 is the fact that here Selina has no sister... It's not that Maggie isn't mentioned; Year 2 goes so far as to explicitly state that Selina was an only child! Like, the last story was called "Her Sister's Keeper," you can't just ignore that. (And if Her Sister's Keeper was considered not to "count" by 1996... then what else was "Year One" supposed to be? You can't have a "Year Two" without one!) In my last post I said Her Sister's Keeper and Year 2 together would make a good trade... and that's still true but it would make an odd read!

from Catwoman vol. 2 #40

As for the actual story, well, it's okay. Selina goes for a cat-themed jewel but Batman anticipates her; to plan her next heist, she decides to distract him by releasing Two-Face, the Joker, and the Penguin from Arkham Asylum. The story tries to establish that unlike them, Selina's not a killer... but c'mon! Releasing the Joker is about as bad as being a murderer yourself! The idea that this was somehow a forgivable act was one I just could not buy no matter how hard the story tried to sell it to me. On the other hand, Jim Balent was born to draw Catwoman (her 1990s incarnation, at least), and it was always fun and engaging to read. Aside from the continuity aspects I discussed above, I also felt like I wanted a better sense of how Selina transitioned from someone adopting a costumed identity to help herself and others (in her own way) to someone obsessed with jewelry for its own sake... but that seemed to have happened off-panel between Her Sister's Keeper and this story.

Catwoman: Year 2 originally appeared in issues #38-40 of Catwoman vol. 2 (Oct.-Dec. 1996). The story was written by Doug Moench, pencilled by Jim Balent, inked by Mark Pennington, colored by Buzz Setzer, lettered by Albert T. De Guzman, and edited by Dennis O'Neil.

This post is a supplement to an ever-expanding series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Wonder Woman: Past Imperfect. Previous installments are listed below:

Chase by J. H. Williams III, Dan Curtis Johnson, et al.

Chase

Collection published: 2011
Contents originally published: 1998-2002
Acquired: February 2022
Read: March 2022

Plotter/Penciller: J. H. Williams III

Writers: Dan Curtis Johnson, Doug Moench
Inks: Mick Gray, John Beatty & Shawn C. Martinbrough
Artists: Kelley Jones, Bob Hall, Charlie Adlard, Eric Canete, Rick Burchett, Yanick Paquette, Eduardo Barreto & Greg Scott

Colors: Gregory White & Lee Loughridge

Of the four collections I'm reading before starting JSA, this one's connection is the most tangential. Indeed, as far as I know it doesn't connect forward to JSA at all; rather, it connects back to Infinity, Inc. But more on that later; first let me discuss the book on its own term.

Chase is about Cameron Chase, a former P.I., now an agent of the DEO, a federal agency with jurisdiction over matters relating to superheroes. It's easy to see that this comes out of the same cultural moment that also brought us Alias and, later, Manhunter. All three series focused on women who work in law enforcement (broadly defined), largely without superpowers (sort of), with an emphasis on what it is to be ordinary and powerless in a world of power. (Gotham Central is not too far off this, either.) Chase has a live-in boyfriend, a sister who loves superheros, and a sort-of ex-partner; we eventually learn that her father had a brief superhero career that ended in his death. She herself doesn't trust those with powers.

Williams and Johnson are pretty fond of the lots-of-text-next-to-silent-image technique, and it works well given the subject matter and focus of the series.
from Chase #1 (script by Dan Curtis Johnson, art by J. H. Williams III & Mick Gray)

It's a good storytelling engine, and gives us a set of engaging tales: Chase goes to Ohio to investigate a teenage boy with pyrokinesis; Chase goes to South America to escort the Suicide Squad; Chase is assigned to watch over a Teen Titans publicity event that goes horribly wrong when the Clock King attacks; Chase goes to Gotham to see if the DEO can figure out who Batman really is. J. H. Williams III is always a solid artist with great layouts but also good storytelling and character, and that definitely comes through here; he co-plots with scripter Dan Curtis Johnson as well. Other than the Suicide Squad story (I didn't buy that such a new agent would be assigned such a difficult task solo), these are good stories, with an interesting angle of superheroes and an interesting main character. My favorite was surely the one where she tries to figure out who Batman is, which had some good twists, and a neat use of Alan Scott; I also really liked the pyrokinetic one, which really captured the "ground-level" Alias vibe. (The series is never quite that downbeat again, though, which is probably for the best.)

I felt like this subplot didn't go much of anywhere in the end, for example.
from Chase #6 (plot & script by Dan Curtis Johnson, plot & pencils by J. H. Williams III, inks by Mick Gray)

Its main downfall is that it just didn't last long. There were just nine regular issues of Chase; three of these were flashbacks, so there were only six in the ongoing narrative, plus the prequel story in Batman #550. So you can very obviously tell that Williams and Johnson are gearing up a long run with lots of threads... and it just doesn't happen. If this had lasted twenty-eight issues like Alias did, it would be a classic, I suspect; as it is, it has to be one of those things people call "a cult favorite."

Pretty nice dress on a government salary.
from Chase #8 (co-plot & script by Dan Curtis Johnson, co-plot & pencils by J. H. Williams III, inks by Mick Gray)

This collection also chucks in Chase #1,000,000 (about the DEO in the 853rd century) and a number of small Chase appearances from various DC "Secret Files" issues. These are okay, but of course mostly focused on doing things like foreshadowing about Gorilla Grodd. Weirdly Chase is barely in DCU Villains Secret Files #1, which is included... and has a footnote telling us to see DCU Heroes Secret Files #1 for more Chase... which is not included!

Like, this is just not explained or clarified!
from DCU Villains Secret Files & Origins #1 (plot by D. Curtis Johnson & J. H. Williams III, script by D. Curtis Johnson, art by Eric Canete & Shawn Martinbrough)

Anyway, though I've long been curious about Chase, I picked it up now for one reason: Mister/Director Bones. In Manhunter, Bones was a director in the DEO, a mid-level bureaucrat addicted to cigarettes... and with transparent skin and muscles and a cyanide touch. Then, I read Infinity, Inc., where he was a young supervillain who eventually made good. How did he go from the one to the other? The answer was, ostensibly, in Chase. Chase is indeed the series where Bones first appears as DEO director, his first appearance in a decade since Infinity, Inc. #53. But it's actually not really addressed in Chase because he's mostly a background figure here, just appearing in four issues, none of which delve into who he is. (If you know, you know—there's some Infinc nods in his office—but nothing in the text would tell you he's a reformed supervillain.) It doesn't really get spelled out until JSA Secret Files #2, three years after the series was cancelled! So is there a comic out there that actually delves into this transition? I will have to keep searching...

Why did he stop speaking in rhyme, anyway?
from Chase #6 (plot & script by Dan Curtis Johnson, plot & pencils by J. H. Williams III, inks by Mick Gray)

This post is twenty-sixth in a series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Stargirl by Geoff Johns. Previous installments are listed below:

1. All Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever (1976-79)
2. The Huntress: Origins (1977-82)
3. All-Star Squadron (1981-87)
4. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume One (1983-84)
5. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume Two (1984-85)
6. Showcase Presents... Power Girl (1978)
7. America vs. the Justice Society (1985)
8. Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt (1985)
9. Crisis on Multiple Earths, Volume 7 (1983-85)
10. Infinity, Inc. #11-53 (1985-88) [reading order]
11. Last Days of the Justice Society of America (1986-88)
12. All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant (1999)
13. Steel, the Indestructible Man (1978)
14. Superman vs. Wonder Woman: An Untold Epic of World War Two (1977)
• Wonder Woman: Earth-Two (1977-78)
15. Secret Origins of the Golden Age (1986-89)
16. The Young All-Stars (1987-89)
17. Gladiator (1930) ["Man-God!" (1976)]
    
18. The Crimson Avenger: The Dark Cross Conspiracy (1981-88)
19. The Immortal Doctor Fate (1940-82)
20. Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice (1951-91)
21. Armageddon: Inferno (1992)
22. Justice Society of America vol. 2 (1992-93)
23. The Adventures of Alan Scott--Green Lantern (1992-93)
24. Damage (1994-96)
25. The Justice Society Returns! (1999-2001)
    

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part VI: Batman: Four of a Kind

Comic trade paperback, 207 pages
Published 1998 (contents: 1995)
Borrowed from the library
Read September 2015

Batman: Four of a Kind

Writers: Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench
Artists: Brian Apthorp & Stan Woch, Kieron Dwyer, Bret Blevins & Mike Manley, Quique Alcatena
Colorists: Linda Medley, Richmond Lewis, Stu Chaifetz

Letterers: Ken Lopez, Albert DeGuzman, Willie Schubert

Year One, November - December
This book collects four "Year One" annuals from 1995, each chronicling Batman's first encounter with one of his famous foes: Poison Ivy, the Riddler, the Scarecrow, Man-Bat. I wasn't expecting much from these, actually, my suspicions being they were cheap cash-ins on the "Year One" brand in a year of cheap cash-ins on the "Year One" brand (I think every DC annual in 1995 was a "Year One" story). So imagine my surprise when all four stories turned out to be very enjoyable!

from Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #3

First up is "Poison Ivy: Year One" by Alan Grant and Brian Apthorp & Stan Woch. Though Grant's story is fine-- it's one of those typical Batman stories where a villain interrupts a rich person's gala to get some quick cash-- what really makes it shine is the artwork by Brian Apthorp and Stan Woch. (Honestly, for a view of what makes Poison Ivy tick, you'd be better off with Neil Gaiman's Secret Origins tale.) Woch I've heard of, but I was amazed that I hadn't Brian Apthorp. His work is incredible! Good storytelling, good capturing of the "Year One" aesthetic established by David Mazzucchelli without being derivative, and most importantly, an attractive and seductive Poison Ivy. She is one of these characters where it's important to get that right, as part of her whole schtick is being attractive. Apthorp nails that, but not via the typical comic book approach of butts and boobs, but through facial expressions: her face is just inviting. It's really well done, and I'm surprised the world hasn't seen more from him, though I did note he went on to do a 1997 Batman: Poison Ivy one-shot. I'll have to pick that one up!

Next is "The Riddler: Year One: Questions Multiply the Mystery" by Chuck Dixon and Kieron Dwyer, which takes the form of the Riddler narrating his early days while in a cell in Arkham Asylum. Like Apthorp, Dwyer captures the "Year One" aesthetic well without being derivative, and again, I'm surprised I haven't heard of him before. The Riddler is honestly a villain I hadn't thought about very much before-- he usually seems to turn up as a tangential figure in Batman stories I read, like when he weighs in on who the Holiday Killer is in The Long Halloween-- but he was very entertaining here, a man tormented by how easy things can get when you cheat, leading to his increasingly convoluted schemes to put some excitement back in his life. An enjoyable tale.

Doug Moench and Bret Blevins & Mike Manley provide "Scarecrow: Year One: Masters of Fear" (not to be confused with the Year One: Batman/Scarecrow miniseries from a few years later that was collected in Batman: Two-Face and Scarecrow: Year One, which we'll get to in a few weeks). Though Doug Moench seems to have no idea how academia works (I think Scarecrow goes from undergraduate to professor in the space of a year, and an open tenure-track position has a mere seven applicants!), this story does a good job of utilizing both the scarecrow and Sleepy Hollow parts of Jonathan Crane's conceit, and building a compelling backstory for someone who's almost an anti-Batman in the way he approaches fear. Again, Scarecrow is a character who often features as a sideshow in other villain's tales (including Moench's own Prey), but this brought him to life for me. The art of Bret Blevins and Mike Manley make the Scarecrow's spindliness a source of fear as well.

Finally, there's "Man-Bat: Year One: Wings" by Chuck Dixon and Quique Alcatena. Man-Bat has always struck me as one of Batman's lesser villains, seemingly devised by someone going, "What if Bat-Man fought... a Man-Bat!? Genius!" As far as I know, Spider-Man has never fought a Man-Spider, nor Animal Man a Man-Animal, so we've been spared the dubious continuations of this line of thought. But Man-Bat turns out to be pretty cool in this story (which also details the creation of Batman's Bat-Glider), not a villain but a man who took a crazy chance and had it backfire on him horribly, more a tragic overreacher in the Frankenstein mold than anything else. The only other Man-Bat comics story I can remember was one by Marco Palmieri where he meets Oracle, and that had a similar tragic tone. So count me won over, and I hope I encounter the character again.

Next Week: We revisit Batman's earliest days in Shaman... Merry Christmas, Batman!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part IV: Batman: Prey

Comic trade paperback, 252 pages
Published 2012 (contents: 1992-2003)
Borrowed from the library
Read October 2014

Batman: Prey

Writer: Doug Moench
Penciller: Paul Gulacy
Inkers: Terry Austin, Jimmy Palmiotti

Letterers: John Costanza, Kurt Hathaway
Colorists: Steve Oliff, James Sinclair

Year One, November - Year Two, November
This edition of Prey collects two stories; the first, "Prey" (duh), follows on pretty well from Matt Wagner's two Dark Moon Rising stories even though they were released later; Batman and the Monster Men ends with Hugo Strange becoming a television psychologist, and that's exactly what he's doing here, and even though nothing "Prey" indicates they've battled before, nothing indicates they haven't, either. "Prey" is a solid early days of Batman story, capitalizing on Batman's early inexperience, and giving him an effective villain in the person of Strange, who actually in working psychologically here, unlike in The Monster Men. My favorite bit is something you could only pull off in the comics medium; Strange is frequently seen talking a blond women in his apartment, but it's very late in the game that you learn she's only a mannequin. Only in comics would a mannequin be indistinguishable from an very complacent person.

The second story is "Terror," which is set about a year later, when Batman's rogues gallery was much more developed. (It takes place between Batman: Year Two: Fear the Reaper and Absolute Batman: Dark Victory, which are coming up later in this readthrough.) Both Scarecrow and Catwoman play key roles in the story. Unfortunately, it feels much less focused than its predecessor, and Strange is shockingly eliminated about halfway through. Effective as a "twist," and the repeated image of his corpse is haunting, but I kept on expecting him to come back to life somehow and set this story back on the path it seemed to begin on. A waste of a good villain if nothing else.

Next Week: Batman battles the Joker for the first time in The Man Who Laughs!