Posted By Dan Greenfield on Apr 1, 2026 | 2 comments

Bronze Age glory by Len Wein, Denny O’Neil, Irv Novick, Don Newton and more…

A whole new wave of DC Finest editions has been unveiled and you can find out all about them over here.

But I wanted to take a moment to single one of them out: DC Finest: Batman — The Curse of Crime Alley, featuring one of the greatest Batman runs ever and one that is underappreciated just the same.

Dig the official description from Penguin Random House, which handles DC in the book market:

DC FINEST: BATMAN: THE CURSE OF CRIME ALLEY

By Len Wein, Dennis O’Neil, Irv Novick, Don Newton

Some scars fade. Crime Alley never does. Denny O’Neil (Batman), and Len Wein (Swamp Thing) headline a run that fuses crime noir, gothic horror, and raw emotion.

Night after night, Gotham throws its worst at Batman: killers who freeze their victims, arsonists who turn the city into a burning maze, mystics and vampires haunting alleys, assassins sworn to Ra’s al Ghul, and a clown prince who treats murder as performance art.

This era also marks the pivotal debut of Lucius Fox, a figure who will become essential to both Bruce Wayne’s personal and corporate life. Threaded through it all is Bruce Wayne’s ritual return to the place where it began—Crime Alley—and the allies and enemies who remind him why he can never stop.

Guided by Denny O’Neil (Green Lantern/Green Arrow) and Len Wein (Detective Comics), and including “Wanted: Santa Claus—Dead or Alive!”—a crucial early Batman story by award-winning writer-artist Frank Miller (Batman: Year One)—this era pairs hard-hitting scripts with striking art from Don Newton (Detective Comics), Irv Novick (The Flash), Ross Andru (Action Comics), and more.

Collects Batman #307–324; Detective Comics #482–490; DC Special Series #21; and The Brave and the Bold #159.

$39.99
624 Pages
On Sale November 24, 2026

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Buncha thoughts:

— These were the Batman comics that made me a regular monthly reader, starting in the spring of 1979. I’ve written about them quite a bit over the years, so it fills a special part of my Bat-heart to see them collected like this. The O’Neil stuff, largely illustrated by Don Newton, is really good material from Detective’s Dollar Comics era just after it merged with Batman Family, and includes a sequel to There Is No Hope in Crime Alley! (which introduced Maxie Zeus), as well as the death of Batwoman.

— Interestingly, the volume doesn’t include Detective #481, the first merged issue. My take is because it includes a story by O’Neil illustrated by Marshall Rogers, and there’ll be a DC Finest edition that will put that story alongside the artist’s great run with Steve Englehart.

— But back to those Batman stories. Len Wein took over the flagship title (mostly pencilled by Irv Novick) and gave it a much-needed jolt of drama, soap opera, and just plain fun. Lucius Fox makes his first appearance, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne begin their first real love affair, plus there are classic villains — the Joker, Two-Face, Riddler — and ones that hadn’t been seen in a long time, such as Calendar Man, Catman, Kite-Man, and even Mr. Freeze, who’d largely been dormant since the 1960s. There’s so much more I could get into but just buy the damn book when it comes out in November. Better yet, buy it for a kid. Wonderful, wonderful stuff — even if it never gets quite the credit it deserves.

— As noted up top, this is one of a whole wave of DC Finest books (and other volumes) that have been unveiled. Links below!

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MORE

— O’NEIL and ADAMS’ Original BATMAN-RA’S AL GHUL SAGA Coming to DC FINEST Line. Click here.

— Major Wave of DC FINEST Titles Added to 2026 Schedule. Click here.

— JUSTICE LEAGUE BRONZE AGE OMNIBUS VOL. 4 Leads New Lineup of 2026 DC COMICS Retro Book Releases. Click here.

— GIBBONS AND RUDE’S Classic WORLD’S FINEST Leads New List of 2026 Book Re-Releases. Click here.

— FOUR Groovy BRONZE AGE Collections Added to DC’s 2026 Schedule. Click here.