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.
April 1, 2026
Great…I’m a buyer!
DC needs to keep doing more like THIS!
MORE MORE MORE 1970s BRONZE AGE COMICS!
And THIS is the best most reader friendly format to do them in, not those damn huge omnibuses!
GREAT JOB DC!
April 1, 2026
I’m so thrilled the Len Wein/Irv Novick run will be collected again. One of my favorite runs ever and it doesn’t get nearly enough love.
However, the Batman story in Detective 482 is the second part of a two-parter. Maybe DC will adjust this before the book sees print.
April 1, 2026
I am wondering how will DC list present these stories in this book? Probably chronologically as before and in line with other finest books. But I kind of wish they put all of the Batman stories up front and the Detective Comics stories next for a better flow – particularly with Wein’s stories.
April 2, 2026
What are you talking about?! Detective Comics never merged with Batman Family! Neither Batman or Detective were the same after Dick Giordano left as inker. Frank McLaughlin was close, but made things look more cluttered. And Don Newton’s art–ehh. He drew characters that seemed to have no spine.
April 2, 2026
Everyone has their personal Golden Age of Comics, usually around the age of ten. I think this is Dan’s.
I’m a little older than Dan, my tastes are closer to yours regarding this run loved Newton’s Shazam, but hated his Batman for some reason. I also think the Bruce /Selina romance ended up doing permanent damage to the Catwoman character as it planted the seeds that took her from comics number one femme fatale into (post 2000 or so) Batman’s girlfriend/sidekick.
but Dan likes what he likes. And, to be fair, Wein and Novick were miles ahead of Reed/Vern and Chua/Chan in terms of a more superhero-y sensibility.
Me? The first Batman comic I read (as opposed had read to me) was “Daughter of the Demon” so I was spoiled for life.
April 2, 2026
>> Detective Comics never merged with Batman Family!
>
Check out issues #481-492. The funny thing was Family was the better selling book. It was part of the $1 Dollar line of titles too.
April 2, 2026
Um. OK. Detective Comics and Batman Family did merge. It’s well known and well documented. Look it up. Right here on this site, even.
April 2, 2026
These were some of my earliest Batman stories, but objectively they are not a patch on the Englehart run, or even close to Denny O’Neil. I am saying that from a position of huge nostalgia and I will buy it.
April 4, 2026
Yeah. I’m definitely going to buy this as well.
I really wish I’d read the comments before posting my own (especially yours) since I’ve JUST realized that I misspelled Englehart, not once, but TWICE.
WhOoOops!!!
April 4, 2026
I love the fact that this run is being collected.
But I’m also just a little bit disappointed that there hasn’t been any word about Strange Apparitions getting any sort of reprint. The tail end started Len Wein’s run, didn’t it?
I suppose adding in the Engelhart issues at the start would have overshadowed Len Wein?
Still I have to wonder, why did DC cancel the deluxe edition of Strange Apparitions some years ago.
I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed that the Bronze Age Omnis volumes sell well enough for steady release to bring me my much anticipated Engelhart/Rogers Batman sooner than later.