It would be impossible for me to remember the first comic I ever owned; as I’ve mentioned time and time again on this site, my dad would take me on Saturday mornings to a coffee shop called the Varsity in Closter, NJ. He would buy two cups of coffee in the classic blue ‘We are Happy to Serve You” cardboard cups and pick up a comic for me to read while he and his friend Gaetano talked about…well, adult stuff. It could’ve been politics, local gossip, who knows.
So while I don’t know what the first comic was, there are three comic covers that stand out in my head from that era: “Justice League” #1 from 1987, “Legends” #3 from later in 1986, and this comic, “Batman” #401. This is the first that came out, chronologically, so I presume that this was the first one of those three. It felt appropriate that my final review on Multiversity would be the first comic I remember reading. The fact that it is the firs post-Crisis Batman story and the first chapter of “Legends” is almost too perfect, isn’t it?
Written by Barbara J. Randall
Illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden
Colored by Adrienne Roy
Lettered by John Costanza
Unlike a lot of the titles coming out of “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” and predating getting the same treatment post-“Flashpoint,” the Bat-titles didn’t look all that different than they did before DC’s continuity-rearranging event. This issue, in very subtle ways, gives readers a real sense for the Bat-status quo. Writer Barbara Kesel, here credited under her pre-marriage surname, gives the readers all they need: in this issue we see Batman and Robin (a pre-brooding Jason Todd), Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon, as well as get a good look at both the Bruce Wayne and Batman personae. Everyone who encounters Bruce thinks he’s an idiot playboy, and yet the Batman scenes are tonally so different.
While this is Magpie’s second appearance (she appeared earlier this month in “The Man of Steel” #3), Kesel does a fantastic job of painting a relatively complete picture of what is, honestly, a pretty silly character. Imagine Catwoman’s love of jewels, but with the single minded focus of a seagull in pursuit of a stray hot dog bun. Even though Magpie would only have 17 more pre-“Flashpoint” appearances, the cover image by John Byrne and the status of this being the first post-Crisis issue makes Magpie one of the more memorable infrequently used villains of the era.
But this issue also begins the ‘Legends’ crossover, and Kesel does a nice job of re-introducing G. Gordon Godfrey in the new continuity. To a 2024 reader, we know what Godfrey means for ‘Legends,’ but Kesel does a great job of allowing the character to stand out without making it apparent just how important he’ll be.
While the modern era certainly has a different look than the Bronze Age, Trevor Von Eeden’s art feels at home in both worlds, but really reads pre-Crisis. Von Eeden’s Batman is often in the shadows, with his cape over one of his shoulders and the ears at a longer than Frank Miller but shorter than Kelley Jones drew them. It’s a classic look, and Von Eeden lets his layouts and sequential storytelling do the heavy lifting. Von Eeden doesn’t draw too many splashes or panels that would make great pinups, but the story moves briskly and clearly.
There is a very silly sequence where Robin does a sort of somersault over Magpie, he grabs her shoulders and ‘unwittingly’ pulls down her top. Von Eeden draws this in a way that sells the comedy without making the situation more lurid or exploitative than it needs to be. It should be noted that this era Jason Todd is notoriously horny (see the “For the Man Who Has Everything” Superman story and how he can’t stop ogling Wonder Woman), so the jury is out just how accidental the de-clothing was.
But more than anything else, this issue is a fantastic reminder that, much like this book’s sister title, Batman is a detective. This doesn’t devolve into Adam West-ish silliness, but Batman is on top of every bit of this case, to the point of other characters being somewhat awed by him. It isn’t laid on too thick, but it borders on cloying. Similarly, when Magpie has to commend Batman’s integrity at the end of the issue, this issue doesn’t feel as far removed from the Silver Age as it probably should.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this issue is that DC let a one-time creative team re-launch the book after “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” as well as kick off the new crossover, set to establish the current continuity. That is something that would never happen now unless the creative team was made up of absolute, pardon the pun, legends.
Final Verdict: 8.6 – A solid issue, but a perfect memory.
