Classic DC "What the Fuck?"s - RKMBs

My all time classic WTF? comes from a Batman Xmas story. Jim Aparo did the art.

Batman is driving along in the Batmobile, and sees a kid run out onto the road in front of a truck. A guy is dressed in a Santa Claus suit nearby. He stretches his arms, and saves the kid. Batman runs up and de-beards him - its Plastic Man. Turns out Plas has fallen on hard times, and is out on the street begging for change.

So what does Batman do? He throws some small change into Plastic Man's collection pot. He then drives off. "Poor Plas," Batman thinks.

Even as a 12 year old, I was horrified: Batman is a millionaire, and can't afford more than some chump change for a fellow hero who is rboke and begging? I remember thinking, "Batman, you are a stingy cunt."

I'm gonna go with the "classic" Superman story where he sees an asteroid is heading towards the Earth. Instead of moving the asteroid, he moves the Earth out of the asteroid's path.

This was one of my favorite threads on the old DC message boards. I'll mention the one thing I listed in that thread. In the Justice Leagues 5th week event, the Justice League of Arkham issue showed Batman breaking into Arkham Asylum and recruiting several villains for a mission, including... the Joker. Releasing the villains was ludicrous enough, but to release the Joker was especially ridiculous (considering the Joker killed Jason Todd, Sarah Essen, and others, and also crippled Batgirl).

Also silly is the idea of diet soda causing superhero aggression (as revealed in Justice League Europe after Giffen left). Was this some attempt to continue Giffen's humorous approach to the title? Because it does seem ridiculous.

quote:
Originally posted by Dave:
My all time classic WTF? comes from a Batman Xmas story. Jim Aparo did the art.

Batman is driving along in the Batmobile, and sees ...Plastic Man. Turns out Plas has fallen on hard times, and is out on the street begging for change.

As I noted once or twice on the old DCMB, the Brave and Bold series, as written by Bob Haney, was a treasure trove of "WTF" moments.

From making Plastic Man a sorrowful, sobbing, freak, to having Sgt. Rock still alive in the 1970s and fighting a secret war with Germany, to having Batman and Gordon speak patented DC "jive" whenever the moment suited them, Haney's B&B run was one big WTF moment.

Second only to B&B for this sort of thing was Haney's run on World's Finest, where Superman and Batman were given teenaged sons (originally claimed to be "in continuity" but then relegated to a "what if" computer simulation) and Bruce Wayne had a retarded older brother who was later possessed by Deadman, among other things.

In fact, you might say Haney's entire comic book output was one big WTF moment.

Sounds good. Has any of Haney's work been collected in bind ups?

The two WTFs that spring to mind are them cancelling Outlaw Nation, and persisting in giving Caitlin Kiernan work...

quote:
Originally posted by D. McDonagh:
Sounds good. Has any of Haney's work been collected in bind ups?

Not that I'm aware of. Maybe the odd story in a collection here and there.

The only Haney story I can recall off the top of my head that was reprinted was in "The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told." It was "Death has the Last Laugh" and it was, in fact, the "straightest" story Haney ever did. Good stuff, with some great Aparo art from back when he was on top of his game and every bit as good as Neal Adams.

In fact, I wish they'd reprint all the Haney B&Bs for the Aparo art alone.

Superboy and Ultra Boy are attending Pete Ross' birthday party in 20th century Smallville. For some reason, even though they can both travel through time, this means that they'll have to miss a Legion meeting in the 30th century. So they both build exact robot duplicates of themselves to fly to the future, announce that they're not really Superboy and Ultra Boy, and attend the meeting in their place.

quote:
Originally posted by Snapman:

Also silly is the idea of diet soda causing superhero aggression (as revealed in Justice League Europe after Giffen left). Was this some attempt to continue Giffen's humorous approach to the title? Because it does seem ridiculous.

Yes, this was a classic WTF plot device to explain both Power Girl's and Dr Light's aggressive personalities. Dr Light was made a total wuss by the writer.

I have not read it, but someone told me that Batma: Year 3 features Bats with a gun (not doubt playing up the very old Batman stories where he sued a gun), but more significantly allied with Joe Chill, the murderer of his parents.

I am plumbing my brains for a Vertigo or Wildstorm WTF. Generally these imprints have a better quality of story: the only one which leaps to mind is the issue of the Authority when the mad Doctor's powers suddenly run out. I just didn't get that at all.

I got a compilation of More Fun Comics yesterday, which is filled with WTFs (DC and others), mostly from the 60s and earlier - but real groaners. Too painful to write about.

"where he sued a gun"

Lawyers.

quote:
Originally posted by Dave:
I have not read it, but someone told me that Batma: Year 3 features Bats with a gun (not doubt playing up the very old Batman stories where he sued a gun), but more significantly allied with Joe Chill, the murderer of his parents.

Batman Year Two, actually. Yes, Batman used a gun against the Reaper but he eventually buried it in the foundation of the Wayne Foundation building. And, yes, he did team up with Joe Chill and several Gotham gangsters in an attempt to stop the Reaper's murderous rampage. He even knew it was his parents' killer when he met him, yet teamed up with him anyway. Eventually, of course, he confronted him about his parents' death.

quote:
Originally posted by Marcus:
"where he sued a gun"

Lawyers.

Heh. Oops.

This is just plain WTF??!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3230388568&category=1534

quote:
Originally posted by D. McDonagh:
The two WTFs that spring to mind are them cancelling Outlaw Nation, and persisting in giving Caitlin Kiernan work...

And here I though I was the only one who ever read Outlaw Nation. Apparently having a book that was well written & drawn, had interesting characters, and could go from hilarious to poignant in the space of a few panels violated their prime directive - attract no new readers, violators will be prosecuted. Makes you wonder how Preacher ever managed to survive to the end of the tale.

quote:
Originally posted by Dave: I am plumbing my brains for a Vertigo or Wildstorm WTF. Generally these imprints have a better quality of story: the only one which leaps to mind is the issue of the Authority when the mad Doctor's powers suddenly run out. I just didn't get that at all.

Psychic precondition of the power transfer: one hour time limit. Sure, he probably could've removed it, but I think he really just wanted one last battle for the fun of it. But then we wouldn't have that great ending line: "Sixty minutes are up, asshole!" [nyah hah]

[nyah hah]

The 'Hush" thread got me thinking..

Why the hell hasn't Mr Freeze ever taken the frozen body of his wife nora and placed it in a Lazarus Pit???

Why didn't Superman get Deadman to possess the body of Doomsday and stop him before he killed all those people..??? If they know Lex Luthor is guilty of so many crimes why don't they have Deadman possess Luthor and make him do something impeachable or jailable openly in teh view of the public eye???

Post Crisis..Talia gives birth to Batman's son in an in continuity story, and gives it up for adoption... years later Denny O'Neil strikes it arbitrarily from the Batman Canon..

Why didn't Amazo ever use Martian manhunter's powers to follow the super-heroes back to their homes and uncover their secret identities..???Thus effectively making them all impotent if they had secret IDs...

quote:
Originally posted by Grimm:

quote:
Originally posted by Dave: I am plumbing my brains for a Vertigo or Wildstorm WTF. Generally these imprints have a better quality of story: the only one which leaps to mind is the issue of the Authority when the mad Doctor's powers suddenly run out. I just didn't get that at all.

Psychic precondition of the power transfer: one hour time limit. Sure, he probably could've removed it, but I think he really just wanted one last battle for the fun of it. But then we wouldn't have that great ending line: "Sixty minutes are up, asshole!"

Whoops, sorry, I messed up: I meant to say why did he become good towards the end? The Doctor anticipated that this would happen. How? It didn't happen the first time around, when he went crazy and got imprisoned, did it?

quote:
Post Crisis..Talia gives birth to Batman's son in an in continuity story, and gives it up for adoption... years later Denny O'Neil strikes it arbitrarily from the Batman Canon.

By that point O'Neil had completely lost any and all sense of sanity. As of Zero Hour he was proclaiming that Batman was "an urban legend" and that nobody in the DCU believes he really exists...ignoring, of course, that he'd already edited a TON of stories in which Batman was very much a well-known and highly regarded public figure, and ignoring that Batman is a JLA member. He also helped conceive of the "Joe Chill really didn't kill the Waynes, the killer was never found" BS on the basis that Bruce Wayne would stop being Batman if he caught the guy who killed his family...ignoring, of course, that Batman had made a twofold vow to (a) find the guy responsible and (b) to wage war on all criminals in order to make sure what happened to him would never befall anyone else. THIS TWOFOLD VOW WAS DRILLED INTO THE MYTHOS AND REITERATED IN COUNTLESS STORIES. O'Neil ignored it and went his own way.

What he did to Son of the Demon wasn't an isolated incident. O'Neil had gotten into the habit of making stupid and arbitrary changes to Batman with increasing regularity.

Superman: Birthright #1 :)

quote:
Originally posted by Pig Iron:

Post Crisis..Talia gives birth to Batman's son in an in continuity story, and gives it up for adoption... years later Denny O'Neil strikes it arbitrarily from the Batman Canon..

I was very mad about this. Most significant thing to happen to Batman ever, and its negated by editorial decree.

Superman in the 60's tpb. One story has Superboy going back in time with the Kents. He refuses to help a man being victimized by pirates because it would mess with time. A few stories later, Superboy is at a President's Day celebration and decides to go back and save Lincoln. Not mentioning the ramifications once.

Another story has Superman marrying Lois and adopting Kara. Lois mopes throughout the story. She's stuck at home cleaning while Superman and Supergirl are off having adventures (Lois also had to quit her job). The end of the story has Kara being taken away by Children's Services and Superman chuckles.

WTF??

quote:
Originally posted by Pig Iron:
Why didn't Superman get Deadman to possess the body of Doomsday and stop him before he killed all those people..??? If they know Lex Luthor is guilty of so many crimes why don't they have Deadman possess Luthor and make him do something impeachable or jailable openly in teh view of the public eye???

I could be wrong, but I never thought that Deadman was someone you could call up for help.

"Yoo hoo...Deadman...DEEEEAD.....maaaannn"

"Damn. He's not here at the exact second we need him. Does anyone have his pager number?"

"Uh, he doesn't have one. He's dead, remember?"

"Oh, shit. That's right....uh, is there a psychic around here? Does any one have John Edwards' phone number? Maybe he can get ahold of him..."

I'll go with a more current one...

...this Trinity mini...

...uh, when Wonder Woman first appeared (POST-Crisis) she didn't have the invisible plane; when she was first around, Superman & Batman DIDN'T know each other's identities (AND Batman had the "Aparo-Bat" costume; BLUE and a YELLOW oval around the bat in the chest....)

...I liked Trinity #1, but....WTF?????

Well, i bet Zatanna could contact him..and they all know Zatanna...

quote:
Originally posted by Wingnut-EL:
And here I though I was the only one who ever read Outlaw Nation. Apparently having a book that was well written & drawn, had interesting characters, and could go from hilarious to poignant in the space of a few panels violated their prime directive - attract no new readers, violators will be prosecuted. Makes you wonder how Preacher ever managed to survive to the end of the tale.

I think Preacher survived because Ennis had managed to endear himself to the Wizard fanboy retard crowd. They don't seem to much like Delano for some reason. The thing that always really pisses me off about Outlaw Nation going down the tubes is that they never seemed to make any kind of attempt to plug or pimp it.

quote:
Originally posted by Dave:

quote:
Originally posted by Grimm:

quote:
Originally posted by Dave: I am plumbing my brains for a Vertigo or Wildstorm WTF. Generally these imprints have a better quality of story: the only one which leaps to mind is the issue of the Authority when the mad Doctor's powers suddenly run out. I just didn't get that at all.

Psychic precondition of the power transfer: one hour time limit. Sure, he probably could've removed it, but I think he really just wanted one last battle for the fun of it. But then we wouldn't have that great ending line: "Sixty minutes are up, asshole!"
Whoops, sorry, I messed up: I meant to say why did he become good towards the end? The Doctor anticipated that this would happen. How? It didn't happen the first time around, when he went crazy and got imprisoned, did it?

They did explain this. It took me a couple of times reading it to quite catch it. I'll pull out the tpb and summarize. But first I need food. And sleep.

quote:
Originally posted by Pig Iron:
If they know Lex Luthor is guilty of so many crimes why don't they have Deadman possess Luthor and make him do something impeachable or jailable openly in teh view of the public eye???

Probably one of those moral issues where the superheroes "don't want to sink to the level of the villain."

quote:
Originally posted by Pig Iron:
Why didn't Amazo ever use Martian manhunter's powers to follow the super-heroes back to their homes and uncover their secret identities..???Thus effectively making them all impotent if they had secret IDs...

This reminds me of the scene in The Nail where Flash uses his powers to vibrate through Amazo's head and remove his brain, telling him how he has everyone's powers but doesn't have the intuitiveness to use them outside of straight fighting. Don't know if Amazo was always portrayed this way in continuity (or if he was portrayed that way in Hourman, which I've read but can't recall).

I think it's kind of funny that the Millennium mini-series set up the New Guardians as the next step in human evolution, and the characters fade away in obscurity.

i dont get it?

Quote:

Grimm said:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Dave:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Grimm:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Dave: I am plumbing my brains for a Vertigo or Wildstorm WTF. Generally these imprints have a better quality of story: the only one which leaps to mind is the issue of the Authority when the mad Doctor's powers suddenly run out. I just didn't get that at all.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Psychic precondition of the power transfer: one hour time limit. Sure, he probably could've removed it, but I think he really just wanted one last battle for the fun of it. But then we wouldn't have that great ending line: "Sixty minutes are up, asshole!" <img border="0" title="" alt="[nyah hah]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" /> </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Whoops, sorry, I messed up: I meant to say why did he become good towards the end? The Doctor anticipated that this would happen. How? It didn't happen the first time around, when he went crazy and got imprisoned, did it? </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">They did explain this. It took me a couple of times reading it to quite catch it. I'll pull out the tpb and summarize. But first I need food. And sleep.

Almost a year later. . .heheheh.

Essentially the difference is this: The current Doctor has all of the combined powers of all of his predecessors. He is the only Doctor to have this level of power. This also means his senses and mental state are on another level. "empathy for every single living thing" I think was the phrase used in the story.

He knew when he gave up his powers, that eventually the rogue Doctor's senses and mental state would catch up to his power level, and he would no longer be a genocidal madman. All the Authority had to do was keep him busy long enough for that to happen. Essentially, the rogue Doctor got played by the junkie.

I don't know how well I've explained that, but maybe it's helpful.

Lots of odd things...

Superman fights Popeye
Senator Barbara Gordon
Damge being molested as a child (His parents were hand picked by Vandal Savage to raise a kid who could potentially be the most powerful superhuman on the planet!)

Though my favorite odd moment comes from Vext #1. Superman & Zauriel visit recently dethroned god of mishap Vext, who is trying to fix his toilet. Superman offers this helpful advice: "Just jiggle it."

Quote:

r3x29yz4a said:
I'm gonna go with the "classic" Superman story where he sees an asteroid is heading towards the Earth. Instead of moving the asteroid, he moves the Earth out of the asteroid's path.

The fact that this would have caused more harm notwithstanding, I wonder how it would have looked like to bystanders who saw Superman do it. I'm thinking all they ever saw was Superman doing a handstand while groaning.

Anyways, the biggest "what the fuck" moment from DC for me...I remember at least one issue of a Superman comic that ended with him smiling and waving to Lobo. I mean, come on, Lobo's a MASS mass murderer and Superman's the ultimate boy scout, smiling and waving at him?!

"Please." That never sat right with me.

Another one: When Professor Hamilton first appeared post-Crisis, he flips out, tries to attack Superman, takes a hostage, and is arrested. Eventually, he becomes Superman's friend and go-to guy for scientific stuff.

Ironically, another big WTF is when he turns into a big time villain because his robotic arms gets infected with the B13 virus...

Quote:

I'm Not Mister Mxypltk said:
Ironically, another big WTF is when he turns into a big time villain because his robotic arms gets infected with the B13 virus...

Perfect excuse for chronic masturbation.

"You don't understand! My robotic arm is infected with the Bsomething virus!"

"You don't have a robotic arm. fucknut."

"I don't?"

In the last Generations series towards the very end, a young Lana Lang demands a kiss from Superman. Not just a peck on the cheek kiss either! And he does it! Add to the fact that the 12 issue series ended up not really happening makes the whole 3rd series a big WTF. Unfortunate since the first two series were great IMHO.

Batman No. 66, a comic which I used to own(a really messed up one) entitled "The Joker's Comedy Of Errors" or (I'm just paraphrasing here "The great BONERS of history".

Anyways the plot goes with the Joker being pissed that people laughed at a "BONER" he got (I'AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!) and to get revenge he plans to show Gotham City "HOW MANY BONERS I CAN GET". The entire issue utters the word boner at least fifteen times with classic dialouge like this:

Dick: How can he force you into a BONER Bruce?
Bruce: I don't know Dick but however it is, it isn't good.

Comissioner Gordon: If I were you Batman I would be careful of the BONER he has WAITING FOR YOU!

This comic is also littered with many "greek" and "wood" references.

Another story I would mention is this Superman (actually any Superman story from the Silver Age would do) story where where Clark Kent interviews Superman on TV, with the camera on both simultaneously. How he does it is Clark changes from Clark to Superman and switches places (in the excact and smooth positions too) SO FAST it's invisible to camera.

Or the Punisher story written by Ron Zimmerman(ack!

) where Reed Richards agrees to let Castle go back in time to kill Al Capone, because WITHOUT AL CAPONE THERE WOULDN"T BE ORGANIZED CRIME AND FRANK AND OTHER PEOPLES' FAMILIES WOULD DIE!!! Well Frank befriends Al and even CARRIES OUT THE ST. VALENTINES DAY MASSACRE FOR HIM and in the end it was all a dream.

WTF?!!!

Quote:

Anonymous One said:
Batman No. 66, a comic which I used to own(a really messed up one) entitled "The Joker's Comedy Of Errors" or (I'm just paraphrasing here "The great BONERS of history".

Anyways the plot goes with the Joker being pissed that people laughed at a "BONER" he got (I'AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!) and to get revenge he plans to show Gotham City "HOW MANY BONERS I CAN GET". The entire issue utters the word boner at least fifteen times with classic dialouge like this:

Dick: How can he force you into a BONER Bruce?
Bruce: I don't know Dick but however it is, it isn't good.

Comissioner Gordon: If I were you Batman I would be careful of the BONER he has WAITING FOR YOU!

This comic is also littered with many "greek" and "wood" references.

And people wonder how Dr. Wertham got as far as he did...

Wertham was right on the money: his peer Moulston was bang into femdom, after all...

I like the story in PLOP # 7, where Cain, Abel and Eve jump off a cliff where they know Superman will fly to rescue them, but it's a ploy to get Superman to listen to each of their stories, and at the end of the issue, they ask Superman to judge who told the best story.

And amusingly, Superman is clearly nauseated by all he's heard, and has an unexpected reaction...

[ spoilers: ]

Superman flies to the top of the cliff they jumped off of, drops all three, and lets them fall to the ground as if he never rescued them !

[ /spoilers ]

On the Marvel side, this one really threw me for a loop.
Not a dream !
Not a hoax !
It really happened...

Originally Posted By: the G-man

the Brave and Bold series, as written by Bob Haney, was a treasure trove of "WTF" moments.

From making Plastic Man a sorrowful, sobbing, freak, to having Sgt. Rock still alive in the 1970s and fighting a secret war with Germany, to having Batman and Gordon speak patented DC "jive" whenever the moment suited them, Haney's B&B run was one big WTF moment.

Second only to B&B for this sort of thing was Haney's run on World's Finest, where Superman and Batman were given teenaged sons (originally claimed to be "in continuity" but then relegated to a "what if" computer simulation) and Bruce Wayne had a retarded older brother who was later possessed by Deadman, among other things.

In fact, you might say Haney's entire comic book output was one big WTF moment.

This guy recently discovered the Haney "World's Finest" run and is spending a few days cataloging just how big a "WTF" the entire series was when Haney wrote it. For example:

Quote:

Did I mention that Bob Haney is all kinds of awesome? From World's Finest #217:

I don't think I'd measure up very well in this kind of comparison. This is just asking for a poor self-image. I'd think this would more likely appear in one of those silly women's magazines with "How Does Your Man Stack Up to Superman or Batman? Not Very Well, Does He? Use the Results of This Quiz to Emotionally Cripple Him! He Deserves It Because He Has A Penis!"

Anyway, Metamorpho appears in this ish, and Metamorpho is awesome because he was the first person to turn down membership in the Justice League, and never thought twice about telling Superman to get over himself:

Super Freak! Super Freak! He's Super Freakayyyy!

He also shows up Batman in this issue, which uncharacteristically annoys Bruce to no end:

You remember yesterday how I was talking about character continuity and how Bob Haney just didn't seem to care about it? This is the sort of thing I was talking about.

Now, mark how pouty both Supes and Bats have been up to this point. Got it set in your melon? Good.

Now, take this in:

Okay, obviously this is a ruse, and I get that. But look at Batman's private thoughts as he fights 'Mo:

You see what I mean? Even if he's faking (which Bats later says he is), you can't deny that his thoughts are more than a little vicious and that isn't explained away by a simple, "Oh, we were just funnin' with ya!"

Not to mention that whole, "Batman swore to never fire a gun" thing apparently doesn't apply to jet cannons, or atomic tanks:

I don't think Bob Haney ever read a Batman comic in his life before he wrote these stories. I really don't. I suppose one could say the same thing about Superman, but I've always thought Supes was a bit of a jackass, so I think Bob just had the guts to portray DC's golden goose in a way no one else up to that point had the nerve.

So, we explain everything away, and it's all good:

Except, of course, the sneaky plan didn't come about until after Superman had been all "screw you guys, I'm going home" and Batman had pitched his little fit about not getting medals like 'Mo, so that hackneyed plot device did absolutely nothing to repair that damage. But Bob Haney doesn't care, and he suggests you don't care, either.

Bob Haney. He cares not for your decades of character development. And what's more, you can't make him care. Bob Haney: Badass.

Comics 101 just did a piece on the "in continuity" story where Superman supposedly died and had his organs harvested, only to have them transplanted by Luthor into criminals who developed superpowers as a result:

in order to catch some fairly run-of-the-mill criminal punks, Superman is willing to order one of his seemingly sentient androids to commit suicide, then have its body harvested and butchered so that these same punks can undergo unnecessary, disfiguring and life-threatening surgery, in full knowledge that the surgeries will be ultimately unsuccessful and lead to their demise.

Does this seem like overkill to anyone else? Hey, here's an idea, Superman: when you had all four of them come in for surgery, why not arrest them before Luthor started chopping off hands and digging out lungs? Just sayin' is all.

Originally Posted By: the G-man

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by D. McDonagh:
<strong> Sounds good. Has any of Haney's work been collected in bind ups?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not that I'm aware of. Maybe the odd story in a collection here and there.

The only Haney story I can recall off the top of my head that was reprinted was in "The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told." It was "Death has the Last Laugh" and it was, in fact, the "straightest" story Haney ever did. Good stuff, with some great Aparo art from back when he was on top of his game and every bit as good as Neal Adams.

In fact, I wish they'd reprint all the Haney B&Bs for the Aparo art alone.

http://www.amazon.com/Legends-Dark-Knight-Aparo-Batman/dp/1401233759/ref=pd_sim_b_3

Originally Posted By: Captain Sweden

Originally Posted By: the G-man

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by D. McDonagh:
<strong> Sounds good. Has any of Haney's work been collected in bind ups?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not that I'm aware of. Maybe the odd story in a collection here and there.

The only Haney story I can recall off the top of my head that was reprinted was in "The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told." It was "Death has the Last Laugh" and it was, in fact, the "straightest" story Haney ever did. Good stuff, with some great Aparo art from back when he was on top of his game and every bit as good as Neal Adams.

In fact, I wish they'd reprint all the Haney B&Bs for the Aparo art alone.

http://www.amazon.com/Legends-Dark-Knight-Aparo-Batman/dp/1401233759/ref=pd_sim_b_3

Cool. Thanks. If that was out for Christmas it would be on my list.

Hail Slavia!!

Haney seemed to have a thing for superheroes "defecting." In Brave and Bold 134, Green Lantern supposedly defected to the USSR, due to the inability of Hal Jordon to find civilian employ (a fact mentioned by the Soviet colonel in charge of testing Hal, which would seem to imply they knew his secret ID).

And what did the Reds want with Green Lantern? Their own commie superhero/defender? No! U.S. Aeronautical secrets! Which would seem, again, to imply they knew his secret ID (though Haney never made that explicit).

This time, Batman was the one the feds sent to bring back the defector. With instructions (which Batman willingly agreed to) to capture or kill GL (see, they didn't like each other very much pre-spacebug either).

Unfortunately, for Bats, however, the Ruskies subjected him to some sort of brainwashing/torture called "the demolishment," which would reduce him to a "wimpering pup."

First they tried drugging Batman, but that didn't work. Why? Because "Batman has long been immune to drugs...he had special nerve treatments to guard against criminals using drugs on him..."

(Yeah, we all knew that. That's why he wasn't being regularly drugged or gassed by the Penguin's Umbrella, Joker nerve toxin, Poison Ivy's lips, etc., in all the other bat-titles of the previous forty years

)

Then, they tried putting him in an isolation tank, but Batman kept his sanity by repeating the phrase "Joe Chill" over and over (arguably one of the cooler moments in the story).

(Meanwhile, the commies had taken Hal's ring and beaten him up. But, for some reason, they didn't "demolish" him, even though it would supposedly would have been a good way to get the "aeronautical secrets" out of him)

Ultimately, Batman was "demolished," leading to the scene on the cover:

And how did Batman get out of this one? What did he do to avoid his vow against using firearms and shooting GL point blank?

Nothing. He fired three times directly at Hal. (Again, proving Batman never really liked GL)

Fortunately, however, the gun...had blanks in it!

With Batman broken, GL decided to confess that he had never really intended to defect and that it was all an elaborate ruse to learn about "the demolishment" techniques.

So, the Russians, rather than say "great...so let's do it to YOU too," took GL and Batman back to the Colonel's office to make a confession.

Oops! Guess where GL's ring was! That's right!! The tea kettle in the colonel's office!!!

So...now that GL was close enough to activate his ring (and apparently this was all part of the master plan), he whispered the oath, grabbed the ring and flew himself and Batman out of the country (in a glowing green hot air balloon because he was "too groggy from the beating" [which had, according to the story, occurred at least two days' prior] to use his normal powers of flight).

Once safely past the Iron Curtain, GL revived Batman, who explained that, even though he was "close" to being "demolished," had assumed the gun had blanks in it (sure, Batman, surrreeee.....why do you hate Hal so much?).

W....T....F?

Friends only let friends fire at them with a gun full of blanks, that they might have intended to be actual bullets !

Another Bob Haney defection story:

Nick Cardy did art on 92-96, this last issue is the one I liked the best.
These stories are always fun to read.
And I agree, from about BRAVE & BOLD 100-130, Aparo's art was some of the best in the field, Novick/Giordano, Adams/Giordano, and Aparo all gave us the definitive Batman.

Don't forget Marshall Rogers

Anyway, back to Haney/Aparo: I picked up one of those phone book sized "Showcase" volumes of their stuff today. Aparo's stuff still looks great, even in black and white on cheap paper.

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Originally Posted By: the G-man

Don't forget Marshall Rogers

Yeah. There's a new hardcover collecting all of Rogers' BATMAN work in a single volume. But I'm not eager to purchase it, because the consensus seems to be it's haphhazardly thrown together.

LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT: MARSHALL ROGERS

My favorites by Rogers are his run with Englehart in DETECTIVE 471-476, and the earlier lighter Calculator villain stories in 466-468 (468 being the first Rogers/Austin collaboration).

Also an O'Neil/Rogers story in DETECTIVE 481. And while less than Wein's best, the Clayface story by Wein/Rogers/Giordano in DETECTIVE 478-479.

And the golden age Batman origin story in SECRET ORIGINS 7 (1986) by Roy Thomas/Marshall Rogers.

I thought the 6-issue BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE follow up about 5 years ago (to DETECTIVE 471-476) was very third-rate and substandard.

All collected in the new hardcover.

But I prefer the material collected in BATMAN: STRANGE APPARITIONS trade.

Regardless, you're right that Marshall Rogers is one of the definitive Batman artists, alongside Neal Adams, Irv Novick, Dick Giordano and Jim Aparo.

For DETECTIVE 443 and 450 alone, I almost want to add Walt Simonson to that list. But those were two beautiful issues, not a sustained and influential run.
Which are different enough from Batman's normal portrayal of the time to almost qualify as WTF material. I understand DC's management didn't care for Simonson's art in 450, much looser than the ACBA award-winning story in 443.

Crap, I didn't know that there's more to Rogers's Batman than BATMAN: STRANGE APPARITIONS and DARK DETECTIVE. I thought the HC just collected those two together.

Classic WTF of DC bringing back Barry Allen just to appease LLANCE!

Franta Claus told me that LLANCE has been a very naughty boy this year! And how!

Originally Posted By: Captain Sweden

Crap, I didn't know that there's more to Rogers's Batman than BATMAN: STRANGE APPARITIONS and DARK DETECTIVE. I thought the HC just collected those two together.

Yeah, Rogers' Batman began with DETECTIVE 466-468(backups only in the first two, full story in 468), 471-476, 477 (3 new pages of Rogers + Neal Adams reprint of DETECTIVE 408), 478-479 (Wein/Rogers/Giordano Clayface story), 481 (O'Neil/Rogers)
All 1976-1979.

SECRET ORIGINS 7 (Thomas/Rogers golden age Batman origin, 1986)

LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT 132-136 (5-part "Seige" by Goodwin/Rogers)

and

BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE 1-6 (2005, Englehart/Rogers continue their original DET 471-476 storyline)

As I said prior, I only liked the 70's DETECTIVE stories. Rogers' art remains nice in the later work, but the post-detective stories are all pretty lackluster, even Englehart/Rogers' new storyline.

But I loved all the earliest stories.

Jack Kirby's The Black Racer, from NEW GODS 3 and 11.

For those who have read it, no further explanation necessary.
The goofy costume, the skis...