I'm starting this thread for the little things that I've discovered while re-reading my old books. This will probably be trivia of the most trivial nature but it is what it is!
Today I picked out TWO things from Detective Comics #446 (Ap'75):
1) In the lead BATMAN story which is the third part of the "Bat-Murderer" arc, the Dark Knight sneaks into the police morgue disguised as an elderly janitor, a trick that he learned from THE SHADOW who did the same thing. Sadly I don't have an image of that page but there is a small headshot of the Shadow included. Now in 1975, DC was publishing The Shadow comic book and Batman met his predecessor in two issues of his own title, Batman #253 (N'73) and #259 (D'74) so the reference makes sense.
But when the story was reprinted in the digest Best of DC #9 (F'81), the panel and reference were left intact despite DC no longer having the rights to the Shadow (at that time). I found that a bit surprising. However the much later Tales of the Batman: Len Wein and Legends of the Dark Knight: Jim Aparo Vol. 3 also have the panel intact! The oddest thing is that the two Batman/Shadow team-ups were NEVER reprinted!
While this issue was by no means a third Batman/Shadow pairing, it did make me regret that we never saw the two in Brave & Bold! So we're bereft of a Jim Aparo Shadow rendering and whatever weird story Bob Haney could have come up with!
Small observation: this chapter in the "Bat-Murderer" story could have been dropped as it did not move the plot along much as it focused on the debut of the rather pedestrian Sterling Silversmith and his bizarre motivation. He was hoarding silver in case the world switched from the gold standard to a silver one!
2) There was also a HAWKMAN back-up feature. The Winged Wonder just returned to Earth after a lengthy absence in Justice League of America #117 (Ap'75). According to the GCD, that issue came out at the beginning of January while Detective #446 came out at the end of January, which one must admit a quick transition. It's not so amazing though since Julius Schwartz was the editor of both books and E. Nelson Bridwell was the writer of the Hawkman story and the associate editor of both books!
The strange thing is that the story showed us Shayera Hol/Shiera Hall/Hawkgirl back on Earth still recovering from the Equalizer Plague with a footnote referencing her return in JLA #119 (Ju'75), a book that would not be published for TWO MONTHS! Thus readers of Detective were given a spoiler for JLA!
More to follow!
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I didn't buy any new comics between 1974 and the summer of 1977 so I am always interested in the books that came out during that time.
When I was going through my run of the 100 Page Detective Comics, I vividly recalled the DOLL MAN story reprinted in #440. The Living Action Figure battled a macabre villain named...THE UNDERTAKER! *Bong!* Given the dialogue between the two, I gathered that they met before but when I researched it, I was shocked that they fought each other TEN times in the Golden Age! That's more than most DC Golden Age baddies! Heck, Solomon Grundy only had FOUR!
I posted this on the "Back Issue" site:
I was going through one of my long boxes and was surprised to see that I had Jungle Action #1 (O'72) which had your standard jungle lord/princess stories from the 1950s. It featured:
-LORNA THE JUNGLE QUEEN encountering a giant gorilla and dodging both RKO and DC's lawyers!
-THARN THE MAGNIFICENT which I though was a stupid name but saw that it was obviously relettered. Originally he was called LO-ZAR but it was changed (now I think for the better) because Ka-Zar (more about him later)!
-JANN OF THE JUNGLE vs an evil double of herself!
Plus the story of BAZO THE ZEBRA! That's not a codename, he's a real zebra!
Earlier in the year, DC began publishing Tarzan with #207 (Ap'72) along with Korak and Weird Worlds. Ka-Zar was already starring in Astonishing Tales though I'm not suggesting that Tarzan was riding Ka-Zar's loincloth!
DC started Tarzan with a four part origin story and by an astounding coincidence, Astonishing Tales #11 (Ap'72), out the same month, retold Ka-Zar's origin!
And two months after Jungle Action #1 came the debut of Shanna the She-Devil #1 (D'72)!
The first five issues of Jungle Action were reprints but #6 (S'73) went all new with the BLACK PANTHER and Don McGregor's epic "Panther's Rage"!
So if DC never got Tarzan, would we have had the iconic Black Panther story arc?
They sure weren't fooling around cover-wise: J. Buscema, Gil Kane and Steranko vs. J. Kubert. Marvel must have been worried Tarzan would be a hit.
Looking at how many books Marvel put out just in 1972 with so many different genres, it's not hard to think that Marvel wasn't going to give DC the jungle monopoly. Indeed in 1977, Marvel would have their turn with Tarzan!
Not to be pedantic but, "You Learn Something NEW Every Day!"
If it makes you feel better...
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