Doug Moench, Tom Mandrake, Gene Colan, Ricardo Villagran, and Bob Smith lead Batman into the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths era in the new DC Finest: Batman: Red Skies collection.
Red Skies collects Batman #388-400, Batman Annual #10 (by Moench, Denys Cowan, and Alfredo Alcala), the Batman stories from Detective Comics #554-567, and Secret Origins #6 (featuring the origin of the Golden Age Batman by Roy Thomas, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin).
Batman and Robin continue to fight crime and right wrongs in Gotham City while the universe changes around them, taking on Two-Face, the movie-obsessed Film Freak goes, the terrorist called the Dark Rider, and Nocturna, Night-Slayer, the False Face Society, and Catwoman.
The 400th issue of Batman is another highlight, with a celebration including a two-page introduction by Stephen King, a story by Moench with rotating art by John Byrne, Steve Lightle, Bruce D. Patterson, George Perez, Paris Cullins, Larry Mahlstedt, Bill Sienkiewicz, Arthur Adams, Terry Austin, Tom Sutton, Ricardo Villagran, Steve Leialoha, Joe Kubert, Ken Steacy, Rick Leonardi, Karl Kesel, and Brian Bolland, and pin-ups by Mike Grell, Michael W. Kaluta, Bernie Wrightson, and Steve Rude.
Detective Comics #567 by Harlan Ellison, Colan, and Smith is another notable inclusion here, with a story by the famed sci-fi writer involving a rather uneventful night for Batman.
DC Finest: Batman: Red Skies consists of 656 pages for a suggested retail price of $39.99.
Check out the cover by Colan and Giordano below and stay tuned to Conskipper for all of your vintage comic news.
The nice thing about this collection is that it features a rare female Batman villain named Nocturna, and also features the original pre-Crisis version of Jason Todd. Todd’s exploits in the Batman and Detective series have rarely received the reprint attention they should have, and the exploration of the relationship a newly orphaned Todd had with the manipulative Nocturna as potential mother figure has still sadly yet to be rereleased, but this reprint of the series is a welcome one in the collection of 80’s Batman.