Martin Sinescu

Also, I'd recommend delving back into the Tales of the Batman: Gene Colan/Len Wein/Don Newton/Gerry Conway volumes. Again, there's no complete way to read this era straight through without having the floppies or going digital, but there were some good stories covered in these volumes and it's a decent-enough survey of the early-80's fare.

Yeah, I think he has the link saved from a now-defunct site that had a very comprehensive list of all Bat-variants. Here's the link to MCS's MJ Bat category, so this should be pretty complete.

Not really and you'll probably get 10 different answers from 7 different people (including at least 3 people who will tell you ages don't matter). For me, the Dollar Comics from 'Tec mark the end of the Bronze era (the infamous DC Implosion), which is towards the end of 1980. The Bat title feels like it happens sooner 'cause a book like Bats 321, to me, is Copper and that's early 1980. I don't think anything between 300 and 321 feels much different, though, so that's kind of where it shifts in my mind, although that takes the transition back further to '78-79. Some people like to make Year One the hard transition point, but that's much later in the decade and I just don't see the pre-Year One issues in the 300's as Bronze at all. I think the mood was much lighter, less dour, than the pre-300 issues and became more like a long-running soap opera through all those issues. After Year One, the books changed again, so it's like a mid-decade makeover, but to me they went more toward the compact, defined arc (Death in the Fam, Dark Knight/Dark City, Year Two and Three, Lonely Place) as well as getting "grim n' gritty" (death of Jason, Killing Joke and Dark Knight). I'd say this was more of a transition toward the upcoming age rather than the beginning of his Copper as Bats tended to be ahead of the times rather than behind. Again, just my opinion, I've never really sat down and tried to do hard scholarship on this period.

Oof, yeah, you're right. Big difference in those two. Another thing I'd say on the pre-Crisis stuff is that, while the ongoing storylines seemed generally solid, the art could be inconsistent from issue to issue (or bouncing between 'Tec and Bats) within one arc as there were many hands contributing (which is why DC's current method of reprinting that era, broken down by artist or writer, can make for a really disjointed, unsatisfying collection). However, I always found Alcala's inking to be a real feast for the eyes, so that's something to discover for those that delve into that era. That's one of the times where I realized just how profoundly an inker can impact the art.

Infinitely skippable. It's just Batman and Robin in front of the computer in the Batcave going over the list of possible villains that could be pulling off the shenanigans that lead into 400. I mean, I'm assuming there was some sort of framing story to pad it out some, but from my memory it was kinda "Batman, someone's been pulling off (x) crime, who could it be?". "I don't know Robin, let's go through some broad descriptions of my major villains and try to narrow it down for 18 splash pages." The cover's a classic, though. I had a 9.8 as well as a 9.4 newsstand that I got for $13 in an auction no one was watching, but sold both when I did some thinning of the herd a year or so ago. I have several raw copies still. If I can get to the boxes anytime soon, I'll see if I can find a reader copy for you. I did save an image of the OA which was for sale a few years back. Just couldn't pull the trigger on it, but really wanted this for a while.....

Love that issue! Her whole storyline of trying to win over Jason is one of my favorites. I've got the 3 "Red Rain" issues from the Batman title (389-391) in 9.8 as well. Need to grab the rest of the 'Tec issues to complete the arc, but seems like every time I've looked for the 556 I can't find a single copy in 9.8 (or it's miswrapped).

Yeah, I just checked two very tough ASM's off my list last week, but the corners got dented pretty heavily (enough to break color on one) in transit. Seller's fault -- sandwiched books between cardboard but didn't use any tape to secure the book in place. So frustrating as I've been looking for those for almost a year, but it seems getting beat is the newsstand's destiny.

Death in the Family is when I started buying Bats off the newsstand, but my favorite part of the era is all pre-Year One: Black Mask, the Vampire arc, Ivy's takeover, lots of fun Joker appearances, Nocturna () and the pinnacle, Bats 400. So much great stuff without so much of the grim n' grit (okay, Black Mask's arc was actually pretty freaking intense). Lots of interlocking stories that really stretched out which gave the characters and plots time to develop. I'm really hoping the Omnibus format will eventually catch up with this material as it's really fun to read through and fairly under-appreciated.

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions hundreds of voices newsstands suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

I reckon I'll claim the freebie as well.

I'll take your nicest Bats 40 and the two FF's.

take it

I'm torn on this, too, and my time is running out. My personal preference right now is McSpidey Gold, although I'd love to spring for Spawn 227 sketch. I've always loved the way the gold ink on McS 1 makes the colors on the costume pop and it's one of Todd's most recognizable pieces of art, up there with ASM 300. One thing I would consider as well is how well a signature will stand out against the art. Busy covers tend to swallow the signature. I think the Spidey 1 green and 13 would both overwhelm the sig. I've been kind of browsing the SS books on the Bay to see what looks good and which ones fail. The silver sigs on the Gold Edition look fantastic. I went ahead and bought a Gold off the Bay just now. Apparently I was so compelling in my argument that I convinced myself.

Yeah, I remember following the drama behind this as well. Still think about that art anytime someone throws the phrase around. I wonder if the story is known among other artists; could be a theme to have other artists carry on with different characters, especially the less patient ones.

Bought a book last night (consignment, so didn't get a discount), but did get the option for 24 freebies I took about half that, but think it's a pretty neat promotion and a few were books I'd really been wanting. Kudos to MCS

Seriously, that book is no picnic to find in 9.8 (especially frustrating when you consider the billions of direct copies available). The other newsstand copper keys I've looked for have been relatively easy and I've had the luxury of holding out for nice wraps, white pages, etc. Bats 404? It took over a year before I found --a-- copy in 9.8. Seems more like two-plus years that I sifted through the saved search emails, but I don't want to embellish without proof and all my old emails have been deleted. Swamp Thing 21 is another I'll look for occasionally, but that's tough to find in either version. I remember one coming up on CLink a few years back before newsstands really got much of a premium and seem like it might've gotten into the mid-200's. Wrap was a bit wonky IIRC so I let it go without much of a fight. Probably a mistake on my part.

Take it

Finally landed a centered white page 50 8.5!!!! Release the bananas!!!!

I'm interested in money if you've got some Actually, there was a large ASM Vol. 2 lot for sale within the last week that was a solid run of newsstands. I could pick out at least two price variants from the group shot, but my short-term memory failed me and I realized the auction was ending about 30 minutes after it ended. Went for $60 total, Hopefully someone that knows what they got won it.

McTake it

Been collecting for over 30 years, finally have my first 181......

Takey takey

Late to the bloodbath, as usual. I'll go ahead and take the rest of the WW's.

Option 4. I was unenthused about the first "new" pedigree label style. Option 4 would actually get me to refresh my holder.