Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Detective Comics #573 by Mike W. Barr Detective Comics Vol 1 573. The second Mad Hatter is released from Gotham State Prison on parole. He asks them to give him a hat, but Warden Fisher says they decided against it. There is an official car waiting outside to pick him up, but Batman and Robin are in the front seat. Batman counsels the Hatter to go straight, telling him he's lucky to have a second chance. Batman explains to Robin that he's frustrated seeing so many of his villains become repeat offenders, and he's hoping they're not all beyond redemption. The second they let Hatter out of the car he makes a paper hat out of newspaper and goes crazy again. Okay, sure, why not. One week later, Commissioner Gordon tells Batman and Robin that the Hatter missed his parole meeting. They also received a package addressed to Batman, a hatbox with a clue inside. Batman hears that Mad Hatter is terrorizing the Liars' Club so he swings into action. When they arrive, they find the Hatter and his armed goons passing hats around to collect wallets. They fight Hatter's goons, but Hatter uses his flame-spewing fireman helmet and escapes. Batman and Robin retire to Wayne Manor with Alfred until they can figure out the Hatter's next clue. Batman realizes the Hatter is committing crimes that are only symbolically related to hats. They go to the Gotham Sports Arena because when someone scores three goals in a sports game it's called a hat trick. Mad Hatter is robbing the ticket booth, but he throws a gasmask filled with gas at Batman and escapes. They chase Hatter's goons into the Hall of Sport where there's a big fight on a giant billiards table. . also Robin gets shot. Batman decides to draw the Hatter out by running for councilman as Bruce Wayne, "throwing his hat into the ring." Commissioner Gordon attends the ceremony and tells Bruce Wayne that his parents would be ashamed of his foppish behavior if they were alive today. The Mad Hatter arrives with flying campaign hats that are also razor blades and they fly around and cut you. Batman and Robin spring into action, barely dodging the deadly hats. They chase Mad Hatter onto the roof where he gets onto his flying hat rocket thing to escape. Batman sabotages the Hatter's controls and makes him crash. The Hatter tries to pull a gun on Batman, but Batman knocks his hand away and punches him out. Batman is then horrified to see that the bullet hit Robin. Babblings about DC Comics 2. Detective 575 (June 1987) begins the four part Batman: Year Two storyline. A sequel only in concept to Batman: Year One. Curiously, although Mike W Barr writes the entire storyline, Alan Davis and Paul Neary provide the art for only the first issue. Through Leslie Thompkins, Bruce Wayne is introduced to Judson Caspian and his daughter Rachel, both recently returned to Gotham after many years abroad. Bruce is quite smitten with Rachel, and only mildly deterred when she announces her intentions of becoming a nun. But it’s Rachel’s father that Bruce should have been interested in. We discover that he is The Reaper, a murderous vigilante that had plagued Gotham in years past, but who has not been seen in a long time. About the same amount of time Judson Caspian was in Europe. And Caspian resumes his alternate identity, using his deadly blades to eliminate the criminals he finds. Batman encounters the Reaper, but finds himself outmatched, and has to flee. The issue concludes as Batman decides he may need to arm himself with a gun in order to be able to match the Reaper. Category: Tagged with: Detective 574 – the re-introduction of Leslie Thompkins. Continuing the story from the previous issue, Detective 574 (May 1987) sees Robin being tended to as Batman flashes back to his origin, thanks to Mike W Barr, Alan Davis and Paul Neary. The story really serves to re-introduce Leslie Thompkins. She appears a bit younger, and definitely more active, as she now runs a clinic, and is a practicing doctor. She operates on Robin and takes care of him, as she and Batman reminisce on their shared past. From this story on, Leslie has known of Bruce’s alter ego from the moment he adopted it. This expands on the earlier stories, in which Leslie took care of Bruce immediately after his parents’ murders. Now, she and Alfred are shown as the guardians of young Bruce all the way until adulthood. Interestingly, the story passes on detailing the origin of Robin to any degree, likely because they were already planning to change it. Category: Tagged with: Detective 573 – The Mad Hatter passes the hat. Detective 573 (April 1987) features the last appearance of the Mad Hatter in which Jervis Tetch resembles the Silver Age/tv version of the character. Mike W Barr, Alan Davis and Paul Neary are the creative team on this story. The Mad Hatter is released from prison, and Batman warns him not to make any more hats. Tetch decides to base his next series of crimes on not wearing hats – quickly pegging this notion to “passing around the hat,” and “throwing ones hat into the ring,” as the story centres on politics. Once again, this feels very much like a pre-Crisis story, and elements like the giant pool table, and billiard ball, seem out of place with the post- Crisis character appearing in Batman. Only the final page kicks this into high gear, as the Mad Hatter accidentally shoots Robin. Category: Tagged with: Detective 572 – Batman and Robin, Slam Bradley, the Elongated Man and Sherlock Holmes. It’s yet another anniversary issue in Detective 572 (March 1987), marking fifty years since the debut of Batman. Barr scripts, with Neary and Davis on the art for Batman’s chapter, but the story includes more artists for the different chapters. Slam Bradley, last seen in Detective 500, gets to open this tale, which involves a lost book being hunted by Professor Moriarty. His client barely has time to hire him before being murdered. As Slam pursues the killer, he encounters Batman and Robin – the first time these characters have met, despite all the years they shared this book. Terry Beatty also contributes to the art on Slam’s part of the tale. The Elongated Man chapter is easily the weakest part of the story, simply because of Carmine Infantino’s art. I cannot think of a single thing he drew after 1980 that does not look like a poor imitation of his style. The chapter does introduce the villain, and we also discover that the Elongated Man is a descendant of Moriarty, though that will never be mentioned again. The backstory of the book is handled superbly. Ernesto Cruz is the perfect artist on the Sherlock Holmes chapter, which looks, and feels, like something from a DC horror/mystery comic from the 70s. In a good way. After the backstory is filled in, we jump back to the present day, as Batman, Robin, Slam Bradley and Elongated Man face off against Moriarty. An extremely old Sherlock Holmes even shows up to congratulate them. It’s a decent tale, and had it been published before Crisis on Infinite Earths, Batman: Year One, and Batman – The Dark Knight Returns, would probably have been fondly remembered. But as it stands, it feels a bit like a holdover, and not on par with some of the other anniversary issues released the same year. The Elongated Man returns the following year in the pages of Adventures of Superman, while Slam has to wait for more than a decade for his return. There is a really nice Dick Sprang spread, featuring Batman and Robin, as well as both variations of Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Scarecrow and Cavalier. Sadly, at the time this did not impress me at all, it was simply another thing that made the book feel out of date before the ink was dry. Comics You Should Own – ‘Detective Comics’ #569-574. Hi, and welcome to Comics You Should Own, a semi-regular series about comics I think you should own. I began writing these a little over fifteen years ago, and I’m still doing it, because I dig writing long-form essays about comics. I republished my early posts, which I originally wrote on my personal blog, at Comics Should Be Good about ten years ago, but since their redesign, most of the images have been lost, so I figured it was about time I published these a third time, here on our new blog. I plan on keeping them exactly the same, which is why my references might be a bit out of date and, early on, I don’t write about art as much as I do now. But I hope you enjoy these, and if you’ve never read them before, I hope they give you something to read that you might have missed. I’m planning on doing these once a week until I have all the old ones here at the blog. Today it’s time for the short but amazing Barr/Davis run on Detective Comics. This post was originally published sometime in early 2006. As always, you can click on the images to see them better. Enjoy! Detective Comics by Mike W. Barr (writer), Alan Davis (penciller), Terry Beatty (penciller, issue #572), Carmine Infantino (penciller, issue #572), E. R. Cruz (artist, issue #572), Paul Neary (inker), Dick Giordano (inker, issue #572), Al Vey (inker, issue #572), Adrienne Roy (colorist), John Workman (letterer, issues #569-572), Todd Klein (letterer, issue #572), Romeo Francisco (letterer, issue #572), and Richard Starkings (letterer, issue #573). Published by DC , 6 issues (#569-574), cover dated December 1986 – May 1987. Look upon the first cover of the Barr/Davis/Neary Detective Comics run. Batman is in the forefront, glaring back angrily at the Joker, who holds an unconscious Catwoman in his arms. Batman kneels over Robin, who is wrapped in something sticky and gazing wide-eyed at the reader, obviously in some distress. Robin and Batman crouch on one playing card, while the Joker stands on another. Several Joker cards swirl around them. The sheer genius of this cover is breathtaking, and it signals the absolute thrilling issues that are to come, certainly some of the best Batman comics of the past 35 years. My love for Alan Davis should be well-known by now, and I have written about a Mike W. Barr-penned book in this column as well. The fact that both of them (ably abetted by Neary’s marvelous inks) were linked on Detective is a wonderful moment of comics synergy, and the fact that Davis left the book somewhat prematurely is a shame. They worked on only seven issues together, but they created comics that we can still read and love, for the sheer joy of the medium. (Issue #575 was their last collaboration, but as it was the first part of “Year Two” and that story is only intermittently decent, it doesn’t get a mention here.) Barr, like Steve Englehart in my last column, understood that even though Batman’s past can be goofy, there was no reason a smart writer couldn’t incorporate it into a modern, more gritty tale of our favorite Dark Knight. Barr throws Batman and Catwoman right into the wringer. These issues were coming on the heels of Doug Moench’s first run at Batman, one in which he wrote both titles for a few years and turned Batman into a long-running soap opera, with plenty of love interests (from Nocturna to Julia Pennyworth to Vicki Vale and finally Selina) and a lot of crossing over between the two books. Denny O’Neil must have had enough of this, because he brought on Barr and Davis to revamp Detective while allowing Frank Miller to tear down Batman and rebuild his origin in “Year One,” which came out about the same time as this. “Year One” gets all the press, but what Barr and Davis did with Batman is much more entertaining. In issues #569-570, Barr takes Selina and turns her back into a villain. The Joker steals a catscan machine, and the evil Dr. Moon recalibrates it so that it, in his words, “enable[s] one to ‘reprogram’ a patient’s mind, if you will, as though it were a computer.” That dastardly Dr. Moon! No hero would ever do something like that! [Edit: Obviously, I wrote this around the time Identity Crisis came out.] The plan works, of course, and Selina goes back to being the villain we all know and love. I’m not terribly sure if the story was ordered by DC editorial mandate or if Barr himself was sick of Selina making goo-goo eyes with Bruce, but the story works well because the Joker is nicely maniacal and Selina is done well, both as a good girl and a bad one. Barr understands that even when she was good, there was still a lot about her that was evil (much like cats themselves, actually), and of course, Davis drawing her helps immensely. This is a nice use of the Joker, too, because he doesn’t actually kill anyone, and he has an evil plan that doesn’t involve slaughtering hundreds of people. He just wants Selina back to being evil, and he succeeds – even though he does get captured in the end after contributing to a happy ending, which depresses him to no end. With just two issues, Barr showed that he understood the characters he was writing and that he was easily able to make them in turns light-hearted and gritty. Batman isn’t a lonely avenger of justice who is more than a little obsessed. Barr gives us one of the funniest Batman jokes ever: When the Dynamic Duo finds out that the Joker is planning on robbing the public library, Robin says “Holy Gutenberg! Let’s go!” Batman stops him and, very sternly, says “Never do that again!” Robin is suitably perplexed, but the readers are laughing at the nod toward the old television show. Barr shows us that Batman cares very much about Selina and even more about Jason. When Jason is trapped in the Chinese finger torture goop that we see on the cover of issue #569, Batman must figure out how to get out of it while ignoring the pleas of Jason at his side. Later, when Jason is shot by the Mad Hatter, Batman is almost overcome with grief, and this leads to issue #574, which tweaks Batman’s origin slightly but also shows us how much he cares for Jason. Barr does very well with Jason as well, giving us a young boy who doesn’t quite know how to be Robin but throws himself into the action with abandon and enthusiasm. He’s very naïve, as twelve-year-olds are, but Batman guides him through the perils of Gotham City like a father. In a wonderful scene at the beginning of issue #570, Batman leaves Robin in the front of a bar while he speaks to someone in the back. Robin orders milk, and a hooker, Rhonda, backs him up by ordering one herself. Later, Robin asks Batman if Rhonda is a … and before he can voice the word, Batman says, “She’s a lady, chum.” Yes, he calls Jason “chum.” It’s nice exchanges like this that show us the connection between Batman and Robin and why they can be a great team in the hands of a good writer. This brief run is steeped in the Silver Age, but Barr, like Englehart before him, understood how to bring these concepts into the modern age without making them silly and while still telling gripping stories with more weight than those of the 1950s. The Joker is gleefully insane, while his favorite henchman dresses like a clown in one scene and Rambo in another. Even though Straight Line (the henchman) is also nuts, he is as devilish as the Joker. Dr. Moon uses a classic Silver Age scheme to “change Selina’s mind,” but it’s tinged with a modern creepiness and subtext – this is an almost sexual violation of Selina, and although Barr doesn’t come out and call it rape, we can easily make the connection. The Scarecrow, who is wonderfully twisted in issue #571, comes up with a chemical that removes fear from the brain, and he uses it on Batman and sends him through an elaborate death trap, much like villains did in the 1950s. Finally, the Mad Hatter continues to use hat themes in his crimes, but in an inventive way, and we get a much weirder and deadlier Jervis Tetch than we’ve seen before. [Edit: I guess this is the “imposter” Mad Hatter, not the real one, but for the purposes of this story it matters not a whit.] In issue #570, Batman punches out a bodyguard by telling him first that his shoelaces are untied, but when that doesn’t work, Bats says that his own shoelaces are untied, which works. In the same issue, the Joker has set up shop in a novelties factory, which allows Robin to kick huge billiard balls around at the bad guys. All of these touches are distinctly Silver Age, but Barr has updated them wonderfully and inserts them easily into the story. However, because it’s the 1980s Batman, everything is not all cheery. Selina becomes a bad guy, Batman beats the Joker severely because of it, the Mad Hatter shoots Robin, and Leslie Tompkins berates Bruce while Jason is fighting for his life. The Scarecrow story is particularly interesting because Crane kidnaps Jason and makes Batman run through his death trap without any common sense. Batman, however, overcomes this by thinking of the worst fear he can conceive. He never tells Jason what it is, but as they walk away, we see a gravestone with Jason’s name on it. This is all part of Barr making Batman more of a father figure, and it segues easily into issue #574, when Leslie and Bruce debate turning Jason into Robin and why Bruce became Batman in the first place. Barr’s “new origin” doesn’t change too much, except that Bruce kept the gun that killed his parents (which is simply there so it can be important during “Year Two”) and that he could never allow Bruce Wayne to be too interested in knowledge, so he disguised himself in college. One thing it does, however, is let us know how lonely Bruce was during the years following his parents’ death, even though he had Alfred and Leslie, and how he does not want anyone to go through that. This is something we’ve always suspected about Bruce, but it’s rarely touched on. Why does he take in these kids and train them like he does? It’s not so they can avenge their parents’ deaths, it’s so Bruce can give them a “family structure” (such as it is) that he lacked. It’s a nice glimpse into Bruce’s character that we don’t often see. Usually it’s the death of his parents and the weird avenger of the night, but not much else in terms of psychological insight. Barr deepens Batman’s character with very little effort, and it adds a great deal to the story. The homage to the Silver Age and even the Golden Age reaches its apex with issue #572, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of Detective Comics #1 from 1937. As Barr explains on the inside front cover, Batman is the most famous hero to appear in the comic, but he wasn’t always the main star. Therefore, Barr reaches back to the past and brings us Slam Bradley, who, a few years ago, enjoyed a Renaissance in the pages of Catwoman [Edit: Obviously, longer than a few years ago now] but at this time was in the dustbin of comics. Ralph Dibny shows up, which is nice, and they all join up to solve a mystery that has its roots in Sherlock Holmes – 1987 being the 100th anniversary of the first Holmes story. Holmes himself appears at the end, and although the story is slight on its own, Barr again shows us how good he is at characterization – Jason tries to show Slam that he’s worthy of Slam’s respect, and Batman is humbled when he meets Holmes. Little touches like this help humanize Batman and make his relationship with Jason even more powerful. Although Barr’s writing is superb, Davis’s art elevates the stories to true greatness, because Davis is able to translate Barr’s scripts into a beautiful reality filled with the details that Davis is famous for. It begins with the wonderful cover to #569, which shows everything that happens in the book with great clarity while still remaining a powerful image. Davis brings back splash pages at the beginning of the books that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the story – in issue #571, he shows the Scarecrow in what appears to be an apothecary’s shop mixing all sorts of potions while Batman and Robin swoop down on him; #572 shows Batman and Robin, the Elongated Man, and Slam Bradley crouching on an open copy of the Doomsday book while Sherlock Holmes, in profile, hovers behind them; and #573 has Jervis Tetch escaping from the Dynamic Duo while he brings down hundreds of hats on top of them. These pages add just that touch of Silver Age to the stories, and because Barr is so economical in telling the story, they don’t feel like wasted pages. Davis also does wonders with the characters. These few issues have more panels of Batman smiling than probably any since O’Neil and Adams turned him back into a grim avenger. That’s not to say they are all mirthful smiles – it’s Batman, after all – but some of them are, and it’s nice to see. He smiles when he has fooled the bad guys and is about to pounce. He smiles when he sees Rhonda – this Batman has a soft spot for the prostitutes in his town. He smiles when he’s threatening Profile, who is an “information broker” in Gotham’s underworld. When Jonathan Crane doses him with the gas that takes away his common sense, he smiles as he runs through the Scarecrow’s death traps, which is the most unnerving use of his smile, because he’s not thinking clearly. Davis is brilliant at showing both the arrogance of a Batman who knows he’s the best and the joy of a Batman who is teaching a young boy how to be a man. Davis draws Jason like a twelve-year-old, too, and his Batman is muscular but not bulky, while his Joker is creepy and angular – some letters complained about his ridiculously long legs, but Davis is showing him as a contrast to Batman and it’s not meant to be too realistic. Selina, like all of Davis’ women, is beautiful and sexy, and his Scarecrow is disjointed and jerky, like a puppet with its strings cut. This is Davis’ book as much as it is Barr’s and the two have a wonderful relationship that makes these comics both action-filled, tragic, yet gloriously hopeful as well, which we don’t see too often anymore in Batman books. Even though Selina returns to the dark side, in the process a young girl in a catatonic stupor wakes up, and even though Jason gets shot by the Mad Hatter, he comes through stronger and more ready to beat up the bad guys. This homage to the Silver Age couldn’t last, of course, and Davis left the book (presumably to work on X-Men and Excalibur , although my dates could be off) and Barr wrote “Year Two,” about which we probably should leave well enough alone. Even though the Barr/Davis/Neary team didn’t last long, they left an indelible impression on the character. And their departure allowed DC to assign a new team to the book, one that is the subject of my next column. So it all worked out for the best. I’ve been looking around, but it does not appear that these issues have been collected in a trade paperback, which is a shame [Edit: Yes, this continues DC’s horrible policy about not reprinting 1980s and early 1990s comics because of reprint rights and such. Sweet Fancy Moses, they’re cheap!]. Dig through the long boxes next time you’re wondering if there are any good Batman books out there that you might have missed! Will the archives’ reconstruction be completed soon? No, but I’m working on it! [Hey, look, I actually wrote a little about the artwork! Huzzah! And I shouldn’t have been that cruel to “Year Two” – it’s not great, but McFarlane drawing Batman (and his cape!) will never not be entertaining. These issues did eventually get collected in a nice hardcover (along with some other issues), which I linked to below, but it’s probably pretty easy to find them in single issues, if that’s you’re jam. These are terrific comics, and it’s still too bad this team didn’t do a lot more Caped Crusader stories.] Detective Comics 1937 573. Download full Detective Comics 1937 573 Book or read online anytime anywhere, Available in PDF, ePub and Kindle. Click Get Books and find your favorite books in the online library. Create free account to access unlimited books, fast download and ads free! We cannot guarantee that Detective Comics 1937 573 book is in the library. READ as many books as you like (Personal use). Detective Comics 1937 573. Author : Mike W. Barr Publisher : DC Comics Release Date : 2014-05-14 Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels Pages : 22 ISBN 10 : PKEY:T0039005735001. Enjoy this great comic from DC’s digital archive! Batman 1940 2011 573. Author : Greg Rucka Publisher : DC Release Date : Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels Pages : ISBN 10 : PKEY:T0037605735001. No Man's Land part 43 and "Shellgame" part 1. The rebuilding of Gotham City forces the Joker and Harley Quinn to step back into the spotlight and sabotage the efforts of Gotham's savior, while Pettit and the Strong Men prepare to save the city through extreme measures of their own. Continued in DETECTIVE COMICS (1937-2011) #740. Detective Comics 1937 2011 740. Author : Greg Rucka Publisher : DC Release Date : Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels Pages : ISBN 10 : PKEY:T0039007405001. No Man's Land part 44 and "Shellgame" part 2, continued from BATMAN #573. While Joker and Harley's violent move against the rebuilding of Gotham City forces its benefactor to pull out the ultimate weapon, the Huntress questions her alliance with Pettit in the wake of his growing insanity. Legends of The Dark Knight Norm Breyfogle Vol 1. Author : Alan Grant Publisher : DC Release Date : 2015-07-28 Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels Pages : ISBN 10 : 9781401260408. Often credited with revitalizing the Dark Knight in the 1980's, Norm Breyfogle's Batman was known for his signature dynamic style. Collected here for the first time are some of the Bat's most seminal moments-from the first appearances of Ratcatcher, the Ventriloquist and Cornelius Stirk to an epic battle against all four Clayfaces, all drawn with Breyfogle's always dramatic style. Written by comics greats Alan Grant (BATMAN: ANARKY), John Wagner (JUDGE DREDD) and more, LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT: NORM BREYFOGLE collects DETECTIVE COMICS #579, #582-594, #601-607 and stories from BATMAN ANNUAL #11-12. United States Code. Author : Publisher : Government Printing Office Release Date : 1998 Genre: Law Pages : 1330 ISBN 10 : United States Code. Author : United States Publisher : Release Date : 2012 Genre: Law Pages : ISBN 10 : MINN:31951D036688178. American Book Trade Directory 2003 2004. Author : Information Today, Incorporated Publisher : Rr Bowker Llc Release Date : 2003-04 Genre: Reference Pages : 1930 ISBN 10 : 1573871575. Finding your way through the hug U.S. book trade community has never been easier! The comprehensive volume profiles nearly 30,000 retail and antiquarian book dealers, plus 1,000 book and magazine wholesalers, distributors, and jobbers--in all 50 states and U.S. territories. This useful tool will help you: - Keep tabs on the entire bookselling industry--from the smallest specialty bookstore to the largest chains.- Locate wholesalers and jobbers for hard-to-find books, software, and audiocassettes.- Track down foreign book dealers, importers, exporters, library collection appraisers, and specialty sidelines. Organized by state and city, entries include store or company size, specialties, years in business, owner and key personnel, contact information (including e-mail addresses), and notations for those businesses that also handle audiocassettes, software, and other sidelines.Youll also find: - A Types-of-Stores Index, listed under bookselling categories - An Index to Wholesale Remainder Dealers, Paperback Distributors, Exporters, and Importers, - And more. The Official Overstreet. Author : Robert M. Overstreet Publisher : House of Collectibles Release Date : 1990-05-05 Genre: Pages : 704 ISBN 10 : 0876378203. The bible of the comic book industry is updated for 2002 with Web site information, tips about grading and caring for comics, and more than 1,500 black-and-white photos. Detective Comics #573 by Mike W. Barr. "50 Years" anniversary issue. On-sale date from DC Releases #34. This issue has variants: [no title indexed] (Table of Contents) Batman / cover / 1 page (report information) in Batman (Zinco, 1987 series) #10 (Junio 1988) in Batman Sonderband (Norbert Hethke Verlag, 1989 series) #7 - das Buch vom jüngsten Tag (1990) in Batman: The Dark Knight Detective (DC, 2018 series) #1 ([June] 2018) in DC's Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told (DC, 2021 series) (2020), (2020) Indexer Notes. Colors credit confirmed by Anthony Tollin. Has framed cover to Detective Comics (DC, 1939 series) #27, the first Batman appearance on wall.