A special Steve Englehart birthday celebration…
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UPDATED 4/22/23: Steve Englehart turns 76! Perfect time to re-present this piece from 2021! — Dan
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There is probably no single Batman story that I have spent more time covering at 13th Dimension than Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ classic 1970s run on Detective Comics. That’s hard to quantify, of course, but just last year, we published an 11-part interview with Englehart in which we explored in depth every issue of the run, what led up to it, and its aftermath.
One area we haven’t covered? How fans reacted to the storyline as it unfolded in 1977.
So for this year’s Steve Englehart birthday celebration — he was born 74 years ago on April 22, 1947 — we present the letter columns that covered the entire storyline, including the first two chapters that featured art by Walter Simonson and Al Milgrom.
Dig this — because the fans definitely understood what they had on their hands (save for a couple of cranks):
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DETECTIVE COMICS #469
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DETECTIVE COMICS #470
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DETECTIVE COMICS #471
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DETECTIVE COMICS #472
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DETECTIVE COMICS #473
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DETECTIVE COMICS #474 and #475
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DETECTIVE COMICS #476
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GENERAL COMMENTARY
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MORE
— INSIDE THE BATMAN: THE STEVE ENGLEHART INTERVIEWS Complete INDEX. Click here.
— An INSIDE LOOK at ENGLEHART AND ROGERS’ Unfinished BATMAN Trilogy. Click here.
April 22, 2021
I love this! Please post more letters pages like this. I love reading reactions to classic books from the time, but it also involves buying expensive old books since the letters are never reprinted.
April 22, 2021
Thanks! I do them when I can/when the opportunity strikes.
April 22, 2021
Hey, that was ME praising the conclusion of the run. “No other ending Is plausible.” After Englehart left, I barely stuck around long enough to see my letter printed; I was do disappointed with everything that followed, I wound up taking a break from comics, a break that lasted until the early ‘80s.
April 24, 2021
Man, look at those low (for the time) paid circulation numbers (around 100,000). A shame this classic run was being read by much fewer people than in the Silver Age.
April 22, 2023
If I understand what was going on at that time, the numbers aren’t showing the whole story. Issues were being reported unsold while being sold to buyers with vans out the back door. (I read your book, Paul.)
April 25, 2023
As mentioned, those circulation numbers are suspect due to possible affidavit fraud, but DC thought those numbers were legit at the time, and so was about to cancel this book as part of the DC Implosion. Then someone clued them in that Detective Comics is what gave the company its name, so they wound up merging the apparently better-selling Batman Family in with Detective as of #481, as a way to keep the company’s flagship title in publication.
April 22, 2023
Still my favourite Batman run ever. 472 was the first Batman book I bought. Weird kicking off point
April 23, 2023
Future comic book artist John Heebink! Comics historian Peter Sanderson! Comic book writer Mike Friedrich! Future comics retailer Chris Juricich! What a lineup!
April 26, 2023
Wonder if any those letter hacks are still reading comic books.