With a new Facsimile Edition out this week, we look back at what readers thought in 1973…
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UPDATED 9/7/26: The Batman #251 Facsimile Edition is being re-released this week. Perfect time to reprint this piece, which first ran in November 2020. Plus, also hit up BATMAN #251: Towering Evidence the Bronze Age Is the True Golden Age. Dig it! — Dan
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Hey, we all know that 1973’s Batman #251 — The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge! by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams — is an outright classic and one of the greatest Batman stories ever. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best single issue in the Caped Crusader’s history — and I’m not alone in thinking that.
But it’s always fascinating to see what contemporary readers thought about a comic that has been lionized for nearly 50 years.
Well, jump ahead to Batman #254 and you’ll see what the fuss was about when the Clown Prince of Crime returned to Gotham after a years-long hiatus.
Right on:
Almost universal praise, though reader Michael Sloan — where is he now, I wonder — was a bit all over the map.
But hey, they had hot takes even then.
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MORE
— BATMAN #251: DENNY O’NEIL and NEAL ADAMS on Bringing Back THE JOKER. Click here.
— How Fans Reacted WHEN ROBIN LEFT FOR COLLEGE. Click here.
November 8, 2020
I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to our current state of “modern” tales and the reactions of fans to the return of the “real” world of Gotham. The story today has gotten so far removed from what I recognize as the real Gotham. I wish we could go back to that world.
November 8, 2020
How the hell did Schwartz misspell Neal’s first name? Maybe a typesetting mistake? I remember being blown away at this when Ibread it as a kid…
November 8, 2020
I had fun reading this article. The Joker is one of Batman’s many adversaries. 🙂
June 21, 2023
I loved it the day it came out!
June 21, 2023
Thank you for this! I remember reading these! 50 years? Wow! (Oh, I agree with Scott Gibson on the Spectre story!)
June 22, 2023
Funny enough, I’m friends with one of the letter writers–Gail gave me my first job, at a comic book shop she owned. I was reading a bunch of Batman back issues and when I came to this ish, I had to quiz her immediately to find out if it was her, and turns out it was!
It’s a small world in a lot of ways!