Detective Comics Centennial 700 And Legacy

When last we met (other than a brief interlude), Batman, Robin and Nightwing were about to encounter the villain of the piece in the desert....meanwhile, captive below ground, Catwoman herself found out one of the secrets of this dig as well.

No time to wait, Bat-fans, let's just dive right into the action that starts in Detective Comics #700 (August, 1996).

Detective Comics 700

The anniversary issue, by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Scott Hanna, had Batman in one normal cover, then a special edition, with Batman in on an envelope...and, when you opened the envelope, you saw the cover which revealed one of the secret villains of the issue.

Have the clues from the last column pointed you to who it is yet?

Well, here is the answer.  The mystery villain is Ra's Al Ghul, with the story of the "Progeny Of The Demon" to kick off Batman: Legacy.

Ra's has a new plan to rid the world of its human population, using the wheel to get the secret to a new contagion, as well as having a new man he deems worthy to marry his daughter and take his legacy.  Batman, Robin and Nightwing plan to stop him, with Batman and Robin getting trapped down the mineshaft as Ra's prepares to destroy the wheel to prevent anyone from getting the cure. 

Nightwing briefly faces Ra's as Batman and Robin struggle to get free from the now flooding mine.  Getting free forces Ra's and Talia to flee (planning on releasing their new plague on the New World), but also revealing the identity of the man Ra's intends to wed his daughter...Bane, the man who broke Batman's back!

Meanwhile, Catwoman, still trapped in her cell, prepares to deal with the water rapidly filling that room...

Catwoman 36

In a story by Chuck Dixon, Jim Balent and Bob Smith, Catwoman faces the unappealing death by drowning in a desert in "The Best Of Enemies".

Freeing herself and Brother Umberto, Selina also realizes she must free her foe, Hellhound, as it will take all three of them to escape the flooding complex.  Alfred brings a jet to pick up Batman, Robin and Nightwing, who get a chance to repair their wounds, then the team gets in touch with Oracle, who spells out where they need to go next to stop Ra's, with Robin and the injured Nightwing headed to Paris, Batman to Edinburgh.

After a battle in the desert with Hellhound, Catwoman gets revenge on the Collector for involving her in this mess.

Robin 32

"Born With Teeth" is part three, by Chuck Dixon, Staz Johnson and Ray McCarthy, with Robin and Nightwing in Paris.

Tim and Dick look for where Ra's men might deploy the newest contagion, with Tim meeting up with Shen Chi (an oriental master Robin trained with when last in Paris) as well as Henri Ducard (who had trained young Bruce Wayne as recounted in Detective Comics #598 to #600).  Nightwing, Robin and Ducard stop Ra's men at the Louvre, with Ducard dispatching them fatally, angering Robin. 

Tim and Dick take a plane back to Gotham, with Tim worrying that everyone, himself included, may be dying from the clench virus.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat 54

Batman's detour to Edinburgh shows him "The Power Of The Picts" in the Legacy chapter by Alan Grant, Dave Taylor and Stan Woch.

Bruce Wayne explores an ancient castle, finding out a little of the history of the area, before having to become Batman.

As Batman, he faces the Taskers, a family that Ra's has inspired to use the virus to destroy the people around the castle, stopping them and Ra's plan here. 

In talking with Robin and Nightwing via radio, as his time was successful, they tell him that Oracle found another destination of Ra's, which he will investigate....Calcutta.

Batman 534

Doug Moench, Jim Aparo and Bill Sienkiewicz bring the next chapter of Legacy, with "A Wound On The Heart Of Heaven".

Batman ends up working with Lady Shiva (the world's master assassin, whom Batman has crossed paths with before).

The pair must stop the agents of Ra's from releasing the virus into the water supply which the town bathes in.

Along the way, they meet one of the starving urchins of the city, which was a good thing for the world, as he ends up preventing the virus canister from releasing, but at the cost of his own life.

Mission completed, Batman leaves Calcutta and Lady Shiva behind, returning to Gotham.

Detective Comics 701

Legacy goes into high gear with "Gotham's Scourge" by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Scott Hanna.

With Oracle directing Nightwing, Robin and Huntress against other minions of Ra's in an effort to keep Gotham safe, Batman deals with Bane in his triumphant return to Gotham.

Bane and Batman battle under the docks, with Batman renewing his fortitude for his cause, recalling how he lost his parents, to give him the strength to beat Bane, though the currents sweep Bane away from Batman.

Hearing of Bane's defeat, Ra's cancels his engagement to Talia, with her suggesting "The Detective" (Batman) as a replacement, to which, Ra's disagrees.

Robin 33

The end of Legacy comes with "Riptide" by Chuck Dixon, Staz Johnson and Rob Leigh.

Nightwing, Huntress and Robin don diving gear to sneak aboard Ra's yacht, as directed by Oracle.  The team split up, with Nightwing and Huntress facing Ra's and Talia, while Robin gets a computer model of the Wheel of Plagues to Oracle, so she can find a cure, all while Batman fights the current to stay alive (as Bane eludes his grasp). The proteges of Batman are successful, detonating Ra's yacht as well (though Ra's and Talia must have escaped the explosion), all while a new mystery surfaces as bodies wash up from Bludhaven, to be discovered by Harvey Bullock  and Renee Montoya (which will lead Nightwing to that city....and his own ongoing title by Chuck Dixon).

Detective Comics 702

Legacy gets an epilogue by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Scott Hanna, with "Second Chances".

In this case, Bruce Wayne saves Gotham, as Wayne Pharmaceuticals produces the cure to the clench virus, James Gordon reconciles with his estranged wife (and fellow police officer) Sarah Essen.  Bruce also sees the death toll that the virus has taken on a larger scale in the morgue, as does Robin, trying his best to save just one more life, with Alfred reminding the dynamic duo to remember their successes as well as their failures.


This tale also puts a wrap on Batman title crossovers for a time (though it tied together epics like Knightfall and Contagion), even though the next issue of Detective ties in with the DC crossover, the Final Night; all in all, an entertaining and thoughtful look at the career of the Batman for one of his anniversaries....recalling the past, while looking to the future!

Before And After

These tales, except for Detective Comics #700 are all in Batman: The Legacy Part 2, which also includes the four part mini-series that came out later, Batman: Bane Of The Demon, by Dixon, Nolan and Tom Palmer, detailing how Bane came to work for Ra's (and become a temporary beloved of Talia).  All these tales also showcase the true legacy of Batman....Nightwing, Robin, Huntress and Oracle.

Action Comics Centennial 600 and 700

Continuing on, and starting to rack up the numbers for the Man of Steel, a look back at a few very special issues of Action Comics....

...this time, Action Comics #600 and #700, where Superman's Anniversary got to be a much bigger event and involve many more people!

Action Comics 600

After the success of the last larger than life Action Comics (#500), Action Comics #600 (May, 1988) had to be something special....and it was!

Celebrating Superman's 50th Anniversary as well as being issue 600, it also hearken back to the days of the 80-Page Giants/Superman Annuals, with John Byrne doing the main figure, and four panels from the stories on the inside.

Now, fair warning, this wasn't the Superman who celebrated the previous anniversaries, as this was the post-Crisis (on Infinite Earths) Superman, or, at the time, also referred to as the "Modern Age" Superman (as opposed to the Earth-2/Earth-1 or Golden Age/Silver Age Superman who had been in the previous tales....

....this is important. 

As, in the first tale of this issue, Superman meets Wonder Woman for the first time (just go with it, as Superman's history had a lot of the Silver Age stuff erased for a time, and Wonder Woman had all of her history taken away, leaving Paradise Island for the first time after the Crisis On Infinite Earths...which meant she wasn't there to be a charter member of the JLA, or directly inspire Wonder Girl from the Teen Titans....).   Anyway....

In "Different Worlds" by John Byrne and George Perez, Superman starts the issue with a bang (or at least a kiss).  A little forward, but the Wonder Woman and Superman titles of this month were leading up to this moment, as many people feel Diana would be a better match for Clark than Lois Lane.  Still, they backed off a bit, and were occupied by Darkseid and his Apokolipian forces, as they tried to invade Olympus.  A truly mighty story, with Clark and Diana parting as friends.

Next up is a story with Lois Lane, reacting to the headlines of a Superman/Wonder Woman romance, with a plot by John Byrne, script by Roger Stern and art by Kurt Schaffenberger (who worked on the classic Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane series, as well as Superman Family and more).

Lois was not all that happy that Superman seemed to found himself an Amazonian Princess, but Clark Kent showed up at her door to try to make her feel better (at this point, Lois didn't know that Clark was Superman).  Clark really was there to comfort Lois....at least until he got an alarm from Jimmy Olsen's signal watch and left to handle the emergency as Superman (upsetting Lois to no end....again).

The next story in this issue featured Lex Luthor (and was written by John Byrne, drawn by Dick Giordano and John Beatty), with "Games People Play".

Evil businessman Lex Luthor (one of those post-Crisis changes to Luthor, now a businessman, not mad scientist) was attempting to blackmail police Captain Maggie Sawyer with knowledge of a secret in her life, but was unable to complete his process, as he suddenly had to leave the meeting due to intense pain in his hand.

Checking with his doctor, Gretchen Kelley, Luthor found out that he had advanced cancer in his hand, due to Kryptonite poisoning from the Kryptonite Ring he wore (Kryptonite is not normally harmful to humans, except, it appears, when one has prolonged exposure to it, as Luthor had had).  This would eventually lead to Luthor's hand being amputated, as well his death....but, those are stories for later days (and issues and articles). 

Meanwhile, Sawyer gets some comfort from her police partner, Inspector Dan Turpin (whom Maggie will soon tell her secret to....).

Superman does finally arrive to help Jimmy Olsen, who is a "Friend In Need" (plot by John Byrne, script by Roger Stern, art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, who worked on Superman/Action Comics a lot before the Crisis, as well as on classic Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen).

Superman did respond to Jimmy's emergency (a near oil tanker truck explosion in a small town), but as Superman stopped the problem, he fell weak, and it was up to Jimmy Olsen to rescue his pal!  Jimmy thought fast, putting a plan in action, getting a forklift and a mattress to lift Superman, then taking him out of town to the local caverns, which seemed to provide Superman some relief when he was taken there, with Jimmy going to get some help from "the whole darned Justice League" if need be.

With that, Superman was left alone in the cavern, in "The Dark Where Madness Lies" (by John Byrne and Mike Mignola).

While trapped in the caves, Superman encounters Batman foe, Man-Bat (a little more feral than he was pre-Crisis), and with Superman not exactly in his right mind (and may or may not have met Man-Bat in this version of history), the two battle a bit until Man-Bat leaves.  Shame he didn't stay, as he might have worked well with the high-flying Hawkman, who showed up at the end of the issue (and into Superman #18, where Hawkman and his wife Hawkwoman, would end up helping Superman "Return to Krypton"!

The issue had many pin-ups as well, by artists Medley and Art Adams, Jon Bogdanove, Kevin Maquire and Dave Gibbons, Mike Zeck and Walt Simonson.


 

Action Comics 700

With all the last special Action Comics had, Action Comics #700 (June, 1994) had to be even bigger (even though it was only 64 pages), and it did end with quite a bang with the Fall of Metropolis (including the Daily Planet globe as shown on the cover by Jackson Guice), and a "Swan Song" for a member of the team, in a story by Roger Stern, Jackson Guice with Denis Rodier, and special sections drawn by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

This, the culmination of quite a few storylines well over the last 100 issues (not only of Action Comics, but Superman, Adventures of Superman and Superman: the Man of Steel, as S-triangle #24, as the four Superman titles a month were linked now).  

Reporter Lois Lane uncovered the truth about Lex Luthor's son, that he was a clone of the original (supposedly deceased from Kryptonite poisoning Lex Luthor) with the original's memories.   Superman and Superboy (a younger clone of Superman, created by Cadmus Labs, now a smoking crater in the ground), along with help from Supergirl (Matrix, a clone of an alternate Earth's Lana Lang, with super powers) had to try to save Metropolis from the destructive tendencies of Luthor (with only some success), as well as soon leading to a trial for Lex Luthor as he had finally been convicted of murder as well.

Meanwhile, in the special sections drawn by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, back in Smallville, Lana Lang and Pete Ross got married, under the watchful eyes of Ma and Pa Kent (in the post-Crisis continuity, they hadn't died and Clark was never Superboy).

This issue also marked the last Superman tale for a time, as writer Roger Stern left the super-team, having written about 10 issues of Superman, the Action Comics Weekly Superman feature for #601-642, and most of the issues up to #700...


...bringing a major chapter in Superman (and Lex Luthor's) life to a close (and setting up for another 100 issues.....).