You might have to look at the backstory to have any clue why I’m reviewing these specific comics. Also, this will probably be one of the longest ones in the retrospective, because it contains a lot of comics.
Batman #70 (1981)
Published by: Cenisio
A few notes on the Italian edition:
- The cover is a panel taken from the main story
- Notice the little “& Co.” beneath the title: this featured more than just Batman
- This was a weird format for a comic book, smaller than standard but not pocket-size: it’s 22×15 cm (8.6 by 5.9 inches)
- A lot of pages were in black & white
- The price was 600 Lire, roughly 1.6 dollars in 2024
But let’s jump straight into the comics inside.
The Brave And The Bold #173 (1981)
by Gerry Conway & Jim Aparo
Notice that this is NOT a team-up with Green Lantern, but with one of the Guardians Of The Universe.
A stylish one, who gets a much-needed change in clothes the moment he lands on Earth in a nice sequence that doesn’t need words.
And he goes directly to Batman, giving us the panel that was used for the cover.
Not a bad choice, it’s frankly a better image.
He wants Batman to help because he has a hung that one of the fellow Guardians has been replaced by an impostor, but has trouble finding proof.
The first question on Batman’s mind is why the Guardians aren’t asking the Green Lanterns to help.
But Hal Jordan is nowhere to be found.
Batman isn’t even given the time to confirm he’s going to help: the Guardian immediately decides to help Batman with his own case first.
Specifically, recovering some contraband from a ship.
The Guardian is immensely entertaining in this.
He even saves Batman when the ship is set on fire, in a very cool scene.
With Batman’s problems now solved, the unlikely duo immediately finds Hal Jordan.
Hal Jordan doesn’t recall being Green Lantern, so Batman has an easy solution: first he knocks him out…
…and then hypnotism!
It takes the combined effort of the duo to give him his Green Lantern costume and convince him to recite the oath, but it does restore his memory.
Hal recalls that Sinestro is behind all this, so he summarizes his origin story.
For some reason, the scene where the Guardians take away not just the ring, but also the mask and the insignia, is THE moment of the book that got stuck in my memory.
The Guardian is understandably VERY worried about Sinestro.
Out of nowhere, Batman suggest to check on Maltus… the planet where the Guardians originally came from, before settling on Oa.
And that’s how it ends! The follow-up was in a different issue, so I wouldn’t know what happened for over twenty years.
Which is kind of a bummer, because in the following issue the depiction of the extremely overpopulated Maltus is great.
But other than that, and giving a summary of much better stories (the classic team-ups between Green Lantern and Green Arrow), it’s a standard Green Lantern story…
…where Sinestro is exposed as masquerading as a different Guardian by just making him cold.
It is funny that the first part of the story made me a fan of the Green Lantern mythos, even though the Corps wouldn’t show up until the second part.
Historical significance: 0/10
One of the roughly fifty times Sinestro escapes from an inescapable prison.
Personal significance: 7/10
This story not only made me a fan of Green Lantern, but also of the Guardians of the Universe: I’ve always found them endlessly interesting.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
It could’ve gone sillier, but Batman reacts very matter-of-fact to the sci-fi stuff.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Pretty solid if a bit uneven: the first part does a great job balancing the Batman and Guardian parts of the story, but the second part is straight up a Green Lantern story.
And of course the artwork is gorgeous, you just can’t beat Jim Aparo at Batman.
Wonder Woman #261 (1979)
by Gerry Conway & José Delbo
I have no clue why Wonder Woman was the backup feature to Batman. It couldn’t be her TV series, which was in its third season in the US but wouldn’t be seen in Italy until 1982.
This story sees Wonder Woman fighting the Roman gods, most notably Mars who shows up as a giant. I distinctly remember thinking this was a very stupid story.
One interesting part that was changed in the Italian edition, in the reaction by the bystanders.
The references to the stock market crash and to Okinawa was translated, but “I saw Adlai Stevenson lose the presidency to Dwight Eisenhower” was changed to “I say Kennedy being murdered”.
Which makes sense, I absolutely guarantee you that the average Italian kid would not have known who Adlai Stevenson or Eisenhower were but WOULD recognize Kennedy’s name.
The Marvel version of Hercules will become one of my favorite characters the moment I see him, but the DC version is utterly forgettable.
This issue takes place within a storyline where Wonder Woman has lost her bracelets. This issue is so underwhelming that I didn’t even notice.
Wondy is trying to get to Paradise Island to ask her mother to help, but Mars unleashes his doggies.
Which SOUNDS badass, but she deals with them by tricking the dogs into falling into the ocean.
Once she reaches the island, Wonder Woman comes across her patron goddess Aphrodite.
Nice trick with the coloring of the disguise. Too bad this page was in black&white in the version I read.
She’s here to give the bracelets back to Wondy.
I mentioned that I originally thought this was a stupid story. The fact that the plan behind Mars attacking Earth is the idea of a publicist is a big part of that.
But there’s also the fact that Mars doesn’t look threatening, AT ALL.
Aphrodite has sent Wonder Woman on a quest to the other end of space…
…where she has to fight some giant statues.
Eventually she reaches the Palace At The Edge Of Time.
Notice that’s the EDGE of time, not the END of time, so no conflict with the Time Trapper.
You might recognize the design is rather similar to how Olympus will be depicted post-Crisis.
That’s where she finds both Zeus and other famous gods, turned into statues.
This kind of setup is rather common for Thor stories, but I don’t think it’s been done as often with Wonder Woman.
So… I’m no god, but what is the point of gathering at this council if they’re just going to astral project into the actual meeting?
That’s where Wonder Woman finds what Aphrodite asked her to recover: the “Gong Of Justice”.
And with that, Wonder Woman is able to bonnnng Mars away from Earth and rewrite history so that he never even attacked.
Yeah maybe lose the Anticlimax Gong, Wondy, I can’t think of a way to use it that doesn’t ruin the story.
Historical significance: 0/10
I hate it when a story is needlessly removed from history!
Personal significance: 0/10
I’m a huge fan of Greek mythology, but I didn’t even remember most of the gods showing up in this. Definitely didn’t turn me into a Wonder Woman fan.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Between the goofy designs, the overly convenient gong and the general lack of any sense of threat.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
I suppose it’s not as bad as I remember it, but it’s still not great. The artwork is a big factor: I just can’t take Mars seriously. The resolution makes a bit more sense than I remember, but it still doesn’t feel like a Wonder Woman victory since she’s basically handled the resolution.
Detective Comics #494 (1980)
by Michael Fleisher & Don Newton
I have no recollection whatsoever of reading this story. I know I must have, but it didn’t register in my brain like the Green Lantern one.
It’s about a doctor in Gotham City…
…and he has a very unique way of dealing with patients.
It’s a fascinating concept: a doctor that answers emergency calls from criminals only!
Eventually Batman finds one of his prescriptions, left behind by a criminal.
I’m kind of disappointed that this guy is just crazy. I would’ve preferred a more nuanced approach, you know, “even criminals deserve a doctor” stuff.
Good thing this is a story about doctors, because Batman got injured in a fight.
Don’t you miss when Batman’s costume wasn’t basically indestructible? He’s not Iron Man!
Bruce Wayne ends up being treated by the secret identity of the Crime Doctor, because of course he does.
It’s a shame that the Crime Doctor doesn’t get something as flashy as the Bat-Signal.
He wasn’t called to save someone’s life, but to help steal drugs.
No worries, if they need a prognosis they can just wait for Batman.
(he’s wearing that breathing mask because this is a sterile environment)
Conveniently, the Crime Doctor ends up discovering that Batman is Bruce Wayne.
Turns out that he’s not COMPLETELY crazy, since he doesn’t allow the other criminals to shoot an injured Batman…
…but since he knows Batman’s identity he can’t be allowed to survive, and the story ends with the lab exploding.
At least that’s how the story that I read ends. In the following issue, we learn that Batman saved the Crime Doctor…
…only for him to be a vegetable by the end of the story.
Historical significance: 4/10
The Crime Doctor is actually a Golden Age villain; this is his re-introduction, and he has about a dozen appearances across multiple continuities.
His brother Rupert Thorne, on the other hand, is a much more important character in the Batman universe, as a frequent crime boss.
Personal significance: 0/10
I don’t know WHY I don’t remember this story AT ALL. It can’t be because it has no conclusion, the same is true for the Green Lantern story and I vividly remember that one.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
As typical of this Batman era.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Yeah I really should’ve remembered this one, it’s great.
Detective Comics #434 (1973)
by E. Nelson Bridwell & Rich Buckler
Speaking of stories I don’t remember in the slightest: there was also Hawkman.
Hawkman’s secret identity is a museum director, and the story opens with a thief being caught stealing a precious ring.
Except the loot vanishes soon after his arrest.
The logistics are bit baffling, as we’ll see later.
The artwork is quite solid. Perhaps I forgot this one because Hawkman doesn’t really do anything, well, hawk-like? Seriously, you can swap him with any wingless detective.
Or maybe it’s because Hawkman can talk to birds. He’s one of the DC heroes I know the least about… could he ALWAYS do that!?
It’s simply amazing just how many stories would fall apart in a decade with CCTV.
Although this is a rather important museum, wouldn’t there be a guard somewhere?
This time the loot doesn’t vanish.
I think the trident is a bit of an overkill here, Hawkman!!!
Did you figure out the thief’s trick? He didn’t really steal the jewel, he just hid it somewhere else in the museum to recover it later.
Which would be fine if this was a one-off thing, but the thief is explicitly doing this over and over… how is that a good strategy!?
Historical significance: 0/10
I’m sure I’m not the only one who completely forgot this story.
Personal significance: 0/10
I wonder if I would have become a Hawkman story if they published a decent story instead of this one.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Not only he talks to birds, but THEY TALK BACK.
Does it stand the test of time? 2/10
Good artwork. Bland story.
That Wonder Woman story was published here in Brazil once, in late 1980. The Lynda Carter series was a hit here at the time.
http://www.guiadosquadrinhos.com/edicao/mulher-maravilha-(quadrinhos-em-formatinho)-2-serie-n-36/qu00102/38967
It is just a hunch, but it may be that the TV series helped promote her comics in Italy indirectly. Once DC has gone through the trouble of preparing the photostats for a foreign licensor, it ought to become significantly easier and cheaper to offer than to a second licensor in another foreign market a few weeks or months later, thereby making it more likely to be negotiated elsewhere. An opportunity discount, if you will.
It is possible that the local TV broadcasters had some interest in promoting the character in advance as well and may have bought ads or made some other arrangements to encourage her stories to be published in Italy at the time.
Which probably means that they did not read this specific story, I suppose.
Hawkman’s favorite breakfast cereal?
*wheeties*
I remember the Hawkman story! The image of his name emblazoned on his wing left an impression on me as did some of the other images.
I agree that it’s not one of Hawkman’s best stories. I was introduced to the character and other JLA heroes through the JLA segment of the Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, a cartoon series that first aired in 1967. With his bird-like mask and wings, Hawkman was cool! “The Riddle of the Red-Handed Robber” was the first solo adventure of that I read, and it was underwhelming. The next time I caught up with Hawkman, it was in JLA #109, when he left the team and earth altogether. How disappointing!
I believe I just found an extremely obscure story featuring the Legion that you haven’t reviewed. Superman #165 features appearances from Saturn Woman and Proty II.
You’re right, I’ll definitely review it. No idea how it slipped.
“Dear, it’s not a problem if you talk with birds. The problem is when they talk you back!”