Detective Comics #27 (and #28)

Since my electronic copy of the next oldest comic in my collection contains only the 7 pages from Detective Comics #27 in which Bat-Man first appears (available for free on comiXology), I'll also tackle the 7-page Bat-Man story from issue #28 (which comiXology so thoughtfully combined with issue #29 into one 99¢ "issue").

Most Amusing Panel Prize (Detective #27):

Bruce Wayne's blase reply to his friend, Commissioner Gordon's, 
invite to visit a murder scene with him: "Oh Well. Nothing else to do."

Surprising Details: 

I was a tad disappointed to discover that the Bat-Mobile is in fact but a red sedan in the early issues of Detective Comics; however, Bat's utility belt does make an appearance in issues 28 as the source of his "silk rope" that helps him make his escape.

Dual Identities: 

The motif of dual identities, oft commented upon and requiring no addition from me, will nevertheless be touched upon here because how could I not? This motif is introduced with the first appearances of both Superman and Batman.

What I find difficult to determine is which alter ego I find the most dismaying.

Clark Kent, Superman's guise, is willing to sacrifice Lois' safety and comfort in order to maintain his rouse of being a "weakling" while on their first date. However, Clark's refusal to "defend" Lois from the sexist advances of Pushy Guy does, in fact, undermine the notion that a woman needs a man to defend her, which is cool.

His pretense also sets up Lois' brilliant retort when Clark suggests she dance with Pushy Guy to appease him. Lois: "You can stay and dance with him if you wish but I'm leaving NOW."

Bruce Wayne plays the bored socialite, but as a 1%-er, his feigned lack of "interest" in the murder of a fellow 1%-er makes him appear truly callow, especially since Bruce's motivation for his crime fighting (the death of his parents at the hands of an armed criminal) has not yet been established.

The intention seems to be to create a humorous contrast between Bruce Wayne's "boring" life and Batman's exciting one, but Batman's use of violence in this issue (and those that follow) dampens that levity.

Series: Detective Comics (1937)

Issue #: 027

Copyright: DC Comics

Cover Date: May 1939

Cover Price: 10¢

Page Count: 7 pages

Print Release: 15-March-1939

Digital Release: 10-September-2011

Writer:	Bill Finger
Penciler:	Bob Kane
Inker:	Bob Kane
Colorist:	None Listed
Cover Art:	Bob Kane
Source Links:	comiXology / Comic Vine / Wikipedia
Story Title:	The Batman: “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate”

Most Amusing Panel Prize (Detective #28):

Bat-Man's secret ID is not so secret (in case you have forgotten what is revealed at the end of the last issue. (Hint: He's Bruce Wayne.)

Heroes or Hooligans?:

What I find most interesting is how much these early incarnations of Batman and Superman resort to the very violence they would stop in others

Both Batman and Superman use their skills/strength to intimidate and menace the "bad guys."

In Action Comics #1, in order to get information out of a corrupt Washington lobbyist, Superman abducts him and dangles him from various heights throughout the capitol. 

The fact that Superman seems to enjoy his terrorizing of another person does not help.

Batman's record over two issues is even more distressing. In Detective Comics #27, Alfred Stryker is responsible for two murders and the attempted murder of a third business partner, all because of his greed.

Clearly the man deserves incarceration and punishment; however, in Batman's effort to stop Stryker, he strikes him and Stryker falls into his own "tank of acid."

For this death, Batman feels no remorse declaring it a "fitting death for his kind" (his kind presumably being the criminal one).

Batman again grapples with a "bad guy" in issue #28 who also plummets to his death, this time off the roof of a high rise.

Batman later dangles the leader of this band of thieves out a window, threatening to drop him if he does not confess to his crimes.

After he consents and Batman brings him up to safety, the thief tries to escape, and Batman beats him so thoroughly, the man begs for Batman to stop: "Don't hit me like that again. Please don't hit me. Don't...."

Last Notions:

Do these heroes need dual identities because seeking justice against criminals requires criminal behavior in the corrupted currents of this world and they need a place to hide from the consequences of their "crimes"?

Or does the capacity for menace that both Superman and Batman possess require weak/disinterested guises to hide the depth of the violence of their antisocial tendencies.

And was the violence that Batman and Superman use in these early episodes acceptable to its contemporary audience in part because it is only inflicted upon criminals?

Series: Detective Comics (1937)

Issue #: 028

Copyright: DC Comics

Cover Date: June 1939

Cover Price: 10¢

Page Count: 7 pages

Print Release: 19-April-1939

Digital Release: 10-September-2011

Writer:	Bill Finger
Penciler:	Bob Kane
Inker:	Bob Kane
Colorist:	None Listed
Cover Art:	Bob Kane
Source Links:	comiXology / Comic Vine / Wikipedia
Story Title:	The Batman: “Frenchy Blake’s Jewel Gang”

Action Comics (1938) #1

Issue #001
18-April-1938

If chronology is the plan, then the oldest book in my collection is DC's Action Comics (1938) #1, published in April of 1938, which I purchased last year for all of 99¢ on comiXology.com.*

*[Please note that this version of the comic has only the Superman story and not the other stories that were originally part of the anthology.]

Most Amusing Panels Prize:

Superman dumps nameless bound & gagged woman on the Governor's lawn. Tells her to "make yourself comfortable." WTH?

I must confess, this will be my first time reading many of the "classics" in my collection. Yet, when I do read them, I am invariably confounded and amused, often in equal measure, and Action Comics #1 was no exception.

Surprising Details:

In Superman's first appearance in comics, this alien baby who has crash-landed on earth is not adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent as I had always believed him to be.

Rather he is "turned in" to an orphanage after his discovery at the crash site by a "passing motorist." (An alien spacecraft with a child therein was apparently not that shocking of an event back in 1938.)

Siegel and Shuster establish Superman's bona fides as a classic hero by having him complete astounding feats as an infant, much like the Greek Hercules who strangles two snakes whilst but a babe in his crib.

What really cracked me up with this issue, though, was the bound and gagged woman at the beginning of the story. Upon my first reading, I could find absolutely no explanation for her state of bondage nor for Superman's unceremonious depositing of her on the lawn at the governor's estate.

It was only on the second reading that I realized the note Superman leaves behind to explain himself contains the secret as to the bound woman's identity: She's the bad guy!

(I clearly breezed by that little detail.)


The other totally amusing reading error I made was when Clark Kent, as Superman, attempts to rescue Lois Lane from Pushy Guy (who has kidnapped her because she had turned him down when he had tried to cut in on her and Clark on the dance floor).

After catching up to them at super-speed, Superman elects to violently shake the bad guys out of the getaway car -- the same car, alas, in which they are holding Lois hostage. (Poor girl!)

But, upon closer inspection, I realized that the red I had mistaken for part of Superman's cape was, in fact, Lois' red dress as she falls from the car into superman's waiting arms (or, more accurately, his waiting left arm as he has to use his right one to shake the car).

Dang, talk about heroes causing property damage...!

The Cliffhanger:

In addition to rescuing Lois from her would-be kidnappers, Superman saves the innocent woman on death row (by depositing the real culprit on the Governor's lawn), stops a random wife-beater (after a phone tip to the newspaper where Clark Kent works), and threatens a Washington lobbyist who is trying to corrupt a Senator.

The issue ends on a literal cliffhanger in which Superman is nonchalant about missing his jump between buildings in our nation's capitol with the terrified Lobbyist dangling in his arms. "Doggone it!"

Last Notions:

I find it difficult to bring a sophisticated modern reading to material as dated as this. Crafted in a different era to an audience with radically different experiences and expectations, I might as well be a human alien commenting on Martian artistry to the Poet Laureate of Mars.

Instead I intend to read the classic comics in my collection to better understand the legacy that informs the contemporary comics that I love.

Released: 18-April-1938

Series: Action Comics (1938)

Issue: #001

Copyright: DC Comics

Cover Date: June 1938

Cover Price: 10¢

Page Count: 13 pages + Cover*

Story Title: "Superman: Champion of the Oppressed"

Writer

Pencils

Inks

Colors

Cover Pencils

Cover Inks

Cover Colors

This Blog's Purport... Conclusion

A strange thing started happening in the mid-1990s/early 2000s whilst I was away from comics. Older series from the Big Two began spawning progeny all over the place...

...and some of the longest running mags from Marvel began rebooting (and rebooting again) with new Number 1s each time.

The progeny posed no problem for completing my now grandiosely-titled Masterlist (nee Reading Order), but my efforts were "complicated" by Marvel's annoying re-numbering trend.

How should I distinguish 1996's Captain America #1 from 2002's Captain America #1 on my list? Should I identify them by Volume number?

Captain America (v.2) #1 

Or should I add the volume date in parentheses (like comiXology does for series on their site)?

Captain America (1996-1998) #1

The examples of how this dilemma has been handled online are plentiful but inconsistent and therefore not helpful.

My biggest problem arose, however, because I vacillated back and forth between strategies.

I started adding volume numbers to the half-completed list (and thus had to go back and change all the previous entries to align with this strategy).

Then I decided that adding the volume numbers was making the entries too bulky and ugly (yes, ugly). I wanted to streamline the entries, so I went back again and deleted all the volume numbers I had just added.

(This, unfortunately, is emblematic of the approach I have employed throughout this project.)

It did not occur to me during this lengthy revision process that I was creating a reading list based on CHRONOLOGICAL order and therefore there was ABSOLUTELY NO NEED to identify either the volume number or the volume date on my reading list.

(I swear to God, I used to be a smart person.)


Luckily, some good things came out of the two decades I had missed in comics.

DC and Marvel started new imprints (Vertigo in 1993 and ICON in 2004) for more mature subject matter that the industry's own Comics Code would not allow in their regular mags...










...and new publishers such as IMAGE entered the fray offering creators the chance to own the rights to the characters and stories they would create.

All of which has left me with plenty of comics I'd still like to collect...

So, though I may claim here that I have finally finished my Reading Order (and thus am ready to begin writing my blog), I know it will never truly be finished.

Now, how to begin...?

This Blog's Purport... Part 3

Like all professional nerds, I have a database listing all the comics (and related items) in my collection -- with columns for identifying details such as authors, artists (including pencilers, inkers, AND colorists), publication dates, and purchase info for each issue, etc.

My collection fills several pages of an Excel database, color-coded by publisher and electronic location. For example, a comic in the comiXology cloud = green fill with black font, a PDF on my computer = green fill with red font, a hard copy only = white fill with black font, Dark Horse Digital comics = blue fill with black font, yada, yada, yada.

(A total dork, I know. Perhaps you doubted my true-fan bona fides?)

However, no. I was not satisfied that I could navigate that database easily enough to readily locate which issue should follow the next in the Holy Chronology of Comic Book Publications.

No, I would need to generate a "reading order" showing the sequence of all the comics at once, perhaps week by week -- starting from, say, January 1960. Something that may look like this: 


Now, I am truly a glutton for the punishment my over-organizational tendencies cause me, but I had no idea what taking this path to an accurate and usable reading order would require of me.

First, I discovered that the "publication" date for a comic and its "cover" date are two different things to the Big Two. The actual publication date (or release date) is two to three months (depending on which decade the comic was published) EARLIER than the date on the cover of the comic.

(a consequence, I learned, of how long the books were 
intended to linger on the news stands back in the day). 

My reaction to this discovery:

WTF? My database has been wrong all these years!?

I also learned that, at some uncertain point in comic history and for an unclear period of time, comics were released on Tuesdays  (instead of Wednesdays, as is the current practice).

So, of course I HAD to go back and correct all the back issue dates for the Marvel and DC comics in my database.

But, how to do that? While some comics are released consistently from month to month, not every comic is published every month.

I started by going to comiXology.com to check all the publication dates against my database.

However, I quickly found that the comiXology dates for older issues are often inaccurate.

So, I found a listing of calendar dates online that goes all the way back to the '60s and before (which you can find here). 


Then I cross-checked the pub dates I had with those posted on my two main resource sites for data on comics: mycomicshop.com and Comic Vine.

Sheesh, THAT was FUN.

But, through this process, I also discovered that Vertigo is not an "independent" publisher, as I had originally thought, but an imprint of DC comics. 

R U F-ing Kidding ME? I have to correct all of those dates, too?!

Shoot me now.

To be continued...

This Blog's Purport... Part 2

My brother, Dan, and I collected Neal Adams' Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics in the '70s. 

I focused on The New Teen Titans, X-Men, and The New Mutants during my high school years in the '80s... 

and I renewed my collecting in the mid-2000s with the major cross-over events for the Big Two (Marvel's House of M/Civil War and DC's 52/Countdown). 

And in between, there were HUGE gaps in my knowledge of comics (even the comics that I loved). 

Travels, Trolls, & Tropes janhaffley.blogspot.com

As I was helping my mother start her own blog last year, I set this one up to practice on and become familiar with the interface, in part so I could be of more service to her.

But, as I debated and discerned a focus for this blog, an audacious plan began to take root.

I would fill in all the blank spaces in my personal comic history by reading -- and then writing reviews/commentaries -- on the electronic issues forming my current collection (from DC, Marvel, and Independent publishers like Image and Dark Horse) -- ALL in chronological order.

I know. Crazy, right?! That's, like, thousands of comics now.

Who the hell would want to read that?

But in my crazy-making adventure-planning, I decided I would need an accurate and complete reading order to see what pursuing this plan would actually entail.

Twelve. Months. Later,

to be continued...

This Blog's Purport... Part 1

Being the unabashed nerd that I am, I had planned to dedicate this blog to all my nerdy interests, most especially comics.

However, my heady ambitions and my chronic ailments have colluded in delaying that mission somewhat as this is the first real post towards that end since this blog's inception.


Ah, well. So it goes.




I was quite the comic collector in my youth, but with the move to college and in an effort to be a "proper adult," I sold that physical collection for a paltry price (a decision I regret to this day).

Many moons later I was able to resume my comic collecting with re-newed access to many of my old favorites in a new electronic form: the PDF (Portable Document Format).

GIT (Graphic Imaging Technology), Corp put out a handful of DVD-ROMs collecting 40 years of various Marvel mags including all the majors: X-Men, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Avengers, and two of their universe-wide cross-over events: House of M and Civil War.

Menus for CIVIL WAR by Marvel, DVD-ROM by GIT, Corp.

That is one helluva boat-load of back issues in a few easily portable packages.

Covers for various DVD-ROM Collections of Marvel Comics by GIT, Corp.

And then in 2011 the comiXology app came along making new issues (as well as old ones) available from a variety of publishers and in multiple electronic formats (.PDF, Guided View, .CBZ) online.

Needless to say, serving my addiction to comics has never been easier.


Yet, despite my history as a collector, I have discovered that I am frightfully uniformed about comics outside of those I had read during my primary collecting years.


to be continued...