Alan Davis: great Batman artist…
I’ve long had mixed feelings about Batman Day and I’ve long had mixed feelings about 1987’s Batman: Year Two. Funny thing, then, that both are colliding for this year’s annual, corporate-driven faux-liday on Sept. 20, with a special edition of Detective Comics #575’s Part 1 printed for the festivities.
Batman Day has always felt forced. I get DC wanting to do a big, commercial celebration of its most bankable superhero and I’m sure retailers appreciate it too. But September is a random month unlike March, which is when the Caped Crusader made his first appearance in 1939.
Meanwhile, Batman: Year Two, while a quality story written by Mike W. Barr, has always felt shoehorned into the Dark Knight’s mythos. It helped inspire the terrific Batman: Mask of the Phantasm animated feature, but to this day it doesn’t feel like it has any connnective tissue to the foundational Batman: Year One. (The jarring art switch from Alan Davis and Paul Neary to Todd McFarlane and Alfredo Alcala — each team excellent on its own, but profoundly clashing in the same story — doesn’t help.)
Foil variant cover
But enough Bat-moaning. Batman Day exists, I’ll be there for it, and I’ll be certain to pick up the Batman: Year Two #1 freebie, which spotlights Davis and Mark Farmer’s cover to the story’s sequel, 1991’s Batman: Full Circle. Because that’s just how I roll.
I like that the comic is being used to promote the excellent DC Finest line — smart that — but I’m especially down for the foil variant, which retails for $9.99.
Remember: The freebies are only free to you. Your store has to pay for them, so it’s always good to support them by buying stuff when you go in. Here’s the rest of the lineup, including both free comics and those with prices attached:
The free Gotham Sampler will include excerpts of current Batman books. The standard Batman: Year Two #1 and Batman and Robin: Year One #1 will also be giveaways.
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MORE
— Hey, Here’s a Big Content Update for 2026’s DC FINEST Books. Click here.
— BATMAN’s Earliest Stories Among First 2026 DC FINEST Collections. Click here.
August 26, 2025
No mention of McFarlane and Alcala on the cover? Seems a little disrespectful.
August 26, 2025
It’s only the first part.
August 27, 2025
Ah. Gotcha
August 26, 2025
I really wish DC would do something similar to what they did with that alternate version of A Death in the Family (e.g., telling that story as if Jason Todd lived) and hire Alan Davis to redraw chapters two through four of Batman Year Two. He’s not going to be with us forever, so take advantage of the fact that he’s still an actively working cartoonist. Plus, my understanding is that Mike W. Barr isn’t in the best of health, so this might have the added benefit of raising some extra royalty income for Barr’s health expenses.
The switch in artists from Davis to McFarlane and Alcala (and then McFarlane solo in chapter four) was so jarring that I’ve never bought a collected edition of this book (even though the Barr-Davis run on Detective is one of my all-time favorites).
August 26, 2025
Year Two would have been better remembered if Davis had drawn all of it.
I have thought the same thing for years, have Davis redraw parts 2 through 3 as a special re-release.
August 26, 2025
Either art team would have worked. Or even two styles that complemented each other. McFarlane and Davis are SO different.
August 26, 2025
It could have, and I like both but I believe Davis is a better visual storyteller. It is also a big reason why the Barr-Davis-Neary run worked so well.
August 26, 2025
That was a great run, yes.
August 26, 2025
It’s odd, I’m sure the Avengers mini a couple of years ago with Paul Levitz was announced this Alan’s retirement project, but recently I’ve heard he’s doing something else. I’m glad he’s still drawing, but I thought that was it from him. And yes, to Allan drawing the final two chapters.
August 26, 2025
“Batman Day has always felt forced. I get DC wanting to do a big, commercial celebration of its most bankable superhero and I’m sure retailers appreciate it too. But September is a random month unlike March, which is when the Caped Crusader made his first appearance in 1939.”
Dan, any thoughts on Local Comic Shop Day? I feel like it has the same problem: it’s intended as a commercial push (focusing on shops rather than products), but for the life of me I can seldom get excited for any of the special releases. Maybe it doesn’t help that it’s usually shoved into an odd month–usually November, this year September–where it’s competing with holidays (Thanksgiving) or other freebie events (Halloween Comicfest, Batman Day, etc.).
The most excited I’ve gotten for LCSD was when Image did a blank cover of ONE MILLION GENIES and challenged readers to make a custom cover for submission in a contest. (I played, didn’t win.) That was fun. Otherwise it’s a bunch of meh special covers.
(If it helps for your original problem: my LCS always does a big Batman Day push with sales. I’ll probably use it as an excuse to get the new Year Three hardcover.)
August 26, 2025
I have no issue with Local Comic Shop Day. Anything that gets people to the LCS is fine by me. Imperfect? Sure.
And really, the same is true for Batman Day. It just always felt, I dunno, a little off to me.
August 26, 2025
When Batman Day was in July for it’s first year, 2014, I liked it much better. Now that it is September it does not feel nearly as special.
August 26, 2025
I know this is apples to oranges, but BATMAN: Y2 and INFINITY GAUNTLET carry the same weight for me. I’ve never gotten over the artist changeup for either of those books.
All credit in the world to Ron Lim for maintaining the vibe on “Infinity,” but I bought that book primarily for George Perez’s art.
On “Year 2,” what I found even more jarring was McFarlane handling pencils and inks on the final issue when Alcala did a nice job reigning in Todd’s excesses on issue #3.