DC Finest - Batman: Red Skies

DC Finest - Batman #1985-1986

by Doug Moench, Gene Colan (Illustrator), Tom Mandrake (Illustrator)

From deadly new villains to apocalyptic skies—Batman’s greatest challenges await in this definitive DC Finest collection!
From the dark alleys of Gotham to the red skies of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC Finest: Batman: Red Skies presents some of the most compelling stories in the Dark Knight’s history. This collection spans the debut of Black Mask, Hugo Strange’s master plans, and Batman’s high-stakes confrontations with Two-Face, Catwoman, and the False Face Society. Through it all, Batman must navigate the line between his personal losses and his unyielding commitment to justice.
This collection showcases the depth and evolution of Batman’s character during a pivotal era in his history. Brimming with action, mystery, and unforgettable storytelling, Red Skies is a cornerstone of the DC Finest series, celebrating the timeless appeal of the Dark Knight.
DC Finest continues, a major publishing initiative presenting comprehensive collections of the most in-demand and celebrated periods in DC Comics history, spanning genres, characters, and eras!
This volume collects stories from Secret Origins #6, Batman Annual #10, Batman #386-400, and Detective Comics #553-567.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fiction

656 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2025

About the author

Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)

Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.

Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of Batman tales from shortly before and during Crisis on Infinite Earths. Doug Moench is writing and the art is split between Tom Mandrake on Batman and Gene Colan on Detective Comics so it's a good looking book. Pre-Crisis Jason Todd didn't have much meat to him, almost a straight up clone of Dick Grayson. The stories are pretty good with Batman splitting his time between Robin and Catwoman and actually acts like a detective. Apart from Two-Face, most of Batman's well known foes don't appear in favor of Film Freak, Night Slayer, and others. It overstays its welcome a bit like these collections sometimes do.

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad to say, this is my least favorite Batman volume in the DC Finest line to-date. One of my first buys in this now year-old line was Batman: Year One & Two, which helped launch the series and started with Batman 401 (post-Crisis on Infinite Earth) and included the legendary Batman Year One story arc by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. I guess I shouldn’t have strayed before that post-Crisis line, though, because this 1985 & ’86 volume collects Batman issues 388-400 (a great anniversary issue, with story by Doug Moench and chapter art by the likes of George Perez, Joe Kubert, Art Adams, Brian Bolland, and many more), Batman Annual 10, Secret Origins 6, and Detective Comics 554-567. Just about all the Batman and Detective stories are written by Doug Moench, with the Batman issues drawn by Tom Mandrake and the Detective ones by Gene Colan, and that’s where my problem lies. I’ve always felt—even when I was buying these comics as they originally came out—that Colan was totally unsuited for Batman (and his run on Wonder Woman, for that matter, when he left Marvel for DC in the ‘80s). His work looks sketchy and rushed in my opinion and the inking by Bob Smith is not a good fit with Colan. And while I loved Moench on Master of Kung Fu, his Batman just didn’t score with me. Two issues that really disappoint in this volume are when Moench is teamed up once again with his MoKF artist, Paul Gulacy. I don’t know what it is with the reproduction on those two issues, but it’s among the worst I’ve seen in a DC Finest volume so far. I wonder if Gulacy did super-tight pencils on those issues and they were not inked, but while the stories are fine (and it’s great to see Moench & Gulacy together again), there’s just a loss of sharpness on those two issues. And with Moench being the only writer on both Bat-books, the Batman story often continued into the following Detective issue, and the disconnect between Tom Mandrake's hyper-detailed art (he inked his own work) and Colan's sketchy style is really apparent. Anyway, I think I will stay north of the Crisis line on subsequent Batman volumes (Red Skies refers to the year in which Crisis was published, when all DC comics were affected with that phenomenon), and it looks like two of the Batman volumes coming in 2026 will continue along those lines: Batman: A Death in the Family (due in April), and Batman: Blind Justice (July), will bring the complete run of Batman in DC Finest from 388-435, including this volume. A third Batman volume will go back to the very beginning and start with Detective 27 in 1939 and Batman 1 in 1940. That one is due in January and I'm really looking forward to it.

[Acton Northrop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Late Bronze-Age Batman just hits right in such a profoundly soothing way

[Riley Pilgrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was honestly such a fun read. All the stories focus around Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Gordon, and Bullock. It was fun to see this team solve mysteries, and bring in criminals. While this was a time where Batman was more serious than the 60s, it was still a very soap opera time in comics. Obviously some stories in this book aren’t great, but overall this was solid.

[Phillip Cash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite featuring some superstar creators such as Doug Moench, Gene Colon, Klaus Janson and more, the issues in this volume had mostly (entirely?) been looked over for reprinting prior to the DC Finest series. I was excited to check this out because I had never read any of these stories before, which take place before, during, and after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and feature the Robin that I'm least familiar with: Jason Todd.

I didn't expect to like this stuff very much because it doesn't have the best reputation and hasn't been made widely available before this trade paperback. Turns out, while none of it is earth-shattering or anything, most of it is decent, and some is even really solid. My biggest takeaway is that I don't understand why so many people hated Jason back in the day. I quite like him.

Port Passed (originally published September 1985 in Detective Comics #554)

Detective Bullock doesn't recognize the new Robin, which is pretty amusing. Due to the reliance on background shots for storytelling, and the way the figures are drawn, I had trouble discerning Batman from Robin, Bullock from Commissioner Gordon, and Bullock from the criminals. Other than that, it's an entertaining enough story. It's a 16-pager, along with most issues of Detective collected here, as they still featured back-ups focusing on other characters at the time. 3/5

The Round-Trip Looking Glass! (originally published October 1985 in Batman #388)

Considering the prestige of this being the main Bat title, the artwork is pretty poor, but the rivalry between the two baddies (Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang, each borrowed from the Flash's extensive rogues gallery) is pretty fun. Ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. This is a full ~22 page story, like most of the ones from the main Bat title. 3/5

Returning Reflections (originally published October 1985 in Detective Comics #555)

Wraps up the Mirror Master/Captain Boomerang story, the titular "red skies" show up in Gotham, Jason Todd's diary is used as a framing advice. Solid stuff. 3/5

Red Skies (originally published November 1985 in Batman #389)

SICK COVER ART ALERT

No supervillain fight in this issue. Just drama, the reintroduction of Nocturna (I haven't read her earlier appearances, but this arc was fairly new-reader-friendly), and a lot of talk about the red skies. 3/5

The Bleeding Night (originally published November 1985 in Detective Comics #556)

SICK COVER ART ALERT

Easily the strongest issue so far. Intro of a cool killer, development for Nocturna and Jason, very good art throughout. 4/5

Women Dark and Dangerous (originally published December 1985 in Batman #390)

SICK COVER ART ALERT

Interesting layouts, perspective, and sense of scale. Nice character work on Batman, with some philosphy interjected. Cool! 4/5

Still Beating (originally published December 1985 in Detective Comics #557)

This one takes quite a while to get going and there's a lot of repetition from previous recent issues, but once it gets its footing, multiple shoes drop. 3/5

Death Comes as the End (originally published January 1986 in Batman #391)

The art here is inconsistent. Sometimes quite nice, but other panels are hacky. Overall, it wraps up the arc that has been going on pretty well. 3/5

Strange Loves (originally published January 1986 in Detective Comics #558)

SICK COVER ART ALERT

Basically an epilogue for the previous arc, with a brief tie-in for Crisis on Infinite Earths #2. Gene Colon cooked with the art. 3/5

A Night on the Town (originally published February 1986 in Batman #392)

SICK COVER ART ALERT

We're officially in post-Crisis territory now, and I don't think that knowledge alone is what had me thinking that the dialogue seems a little more modern here.

Entertaining issue overall, even though it re-uses the same hook again and again. The final page's gag is funny, and Catwoman is now firmly established as being more of the "frien" part of "frienemy" at this point in the post-Crisis era. 3/5

It Takes Two Wings to Fly (originally published February 1986 in Detective Comics #559)

The only full-size Batman story from Detective Comics published in this volume. The Gene Colon fight scenes are excellent, and the tension with Green Arrow is entertaining too. 3/5

The Dark Rider (originally published March 1986 in Batman #393)

I like that the previous lengthy arc got a couple of stand-alone stories to follow it, and that this issue is the first of what is only a two-parter. It's a Cold War-era yarn where the Batman gets to globetrot a bit. It's obviously written from an American perspective, but gives the Soviets more humanity than I'd have expected. 3/5

At the Heart of Stone (originally published April 1986 in Batman #394)

This one concludes the previous issue's story in pretty one-note fashion, and with lousy art. Disappointing. My home state of West Virginia does get a mention though, and that doesn't happen every day. 2/5

The Batman Nobody Knows (originally published March 1986 in Detective Comics #560)

Very enjoyable little story. Great character work with Robin, Catwoman, and Batman. 4/5

Flying Hi (originally published April 1986 in Detective Comics #561)

Robin asks Batman about drugs at the beginning of this story, and he gives a surprisingly nuanced take considering it was the "just say no" era. The love story is interesting. Jason is likable, dammit! 3/5

The Film Freak (originally published May 1986 in Batman #395)

Tom Mandrake is still on pencils. His art is still ugly.

I like the Batman/Catwoman dynamic here, but there's no interesting character work. The villain is this dude dubbed the "Film Freak" who uses movie references in his crimes/killings. Right off the bat (see what I did there?), he references Roger Corman and quotes Clint Eastwood. This is something that should theoretically appeal to me, but it's just not that interesting. It ends on a cliffhanger to be resolved in the next Detective. 2/5

Reeling (originally published May 1986 in Detective Comics #562)

This continues the previous Batman issue... it's the same so-so story, but the art is much better. 2/5

Box-Office Smash (originally published June 1986 in Batman #396)

Decent conclusion for an underwhelming arc. Mandrake's art is improving with some nice panels sprinkled throughout.

Jason Todd's pre-Crisis origin (which is similar to Dick Grayson's) is stated in this issue, for the second time overall in this collection. I actually wasn't aware before reading these issues that he had a different origin in the beginning. It wouldn't be long until it got retconned, which was for the better, in my opinion. 3/5

Free Faces (originally published June 1986 in Detective Comics #563)

More Jason and Rene romance! 3/5

Binary Brains (originally published July 1986 in Batman #397)

Two-Face is back... the art is mediocre... Bruce calls Lucius Fox "articulate" unironically... yawn... 2/5

Double Crosses (originally published July 1986 in Detective Comics #564)

SICK COVER ART ALERT

Two-Face story continues... Jason and this broad Rene are starting to annoy me... it's crazy how much better the art was in Detective at this time as opposed to its sister series. 3/5

About Faces! (originally published August 1986 in Batman #398)

ABSURD COVER ART ALERT

An actually decent Dent story comes to a close, and attempts are made at actual character study with the Bat and the Cat. It almost works. 3/5

Down to the Bone (originally published July 1986 in Batman Annual #10)

A nearly double-sized annual, with a story that echoes Daredevil: Born Again, which was just about to wrap up at the time this issue released. The art is inconsistent: sometimes pretty rough, other times very good. A shot is taken at Teflon Ron. 4/5

The Love Killing (originally published August 1986 in Detective Comics #565)

Some weird layouts in this one. Creative, sure, but confusing. Lips are drawn oddly, and they're not the only thing I could say that about. Story-wise, this issue seems like it's in a race to follow up on every plot thread that's been going on in Detective and Batman. 2/5

Strike Two! (originally published September 1986 in Batman #399)

SICK COVER ART ALERT

Some fairly dark subject matter here. You can see comics, as a medium, "growing up" in real time following the release of The Dark Knight Returns, with Batman: Year One on the horizon. Anyway, this one concludes the previous story, the Bat and the Cat split, and there's a hilariously anatomically incorrect kick in one panel. 3/5

The Secret Origin of Batman (originally published September 1986 in Secret Origins #6)

I'm shocked at how much I loved this story. I've always been of the opinion that Roy Thomas is a terrible writer, but telling a story about the Golden Age Batman is exactly what his talents are best suited for (along with adapting Conan stories, I guess). It was a cool thing for DC to do in the aftermath of Crisis, which of course "ended" the "original" Batman. The story, despite how familiar the ground it treads is, is very engaging, and Marshall Rogers' artwork is stunning. According to Grand Comics Database, this is the very first time this story ever got a reprint, and I'm here to say that it has been left on the shelf for way too long. 5/5

Know Your Foes (originally published September 1986 in Detective Comics #566)

SICK COVER ART ALERT

Too bad the issue is completely pointless. Quite literally, nothing happens at all. Batman and Robin get a threatening note, go through Batman's files to figure out who it's from, and get nowehere. No story whatsoever, and not even a cool panel of Batman punching a bad guy. It's basically just an ad for Batman #400. 1/5

Resurrection Night! (originally published October 1986 in Batman #400)

Triple-length issue, split into a number of chapters, each with a different artist, the most notable of whom likely being George Perez. Some amounts of peaks and valleys are inevitable with that sort of approach, but it's mostly good here. There are a ton of villains in this issue, and the story reasons for that are pretty believable, and it's not way too overstuffed, so it doesn't just feel like a gimmick. Alfred and Jason briefly touch on Bruce's crime and punishment philosophy, and that's an nice little interesting moment. 3/5

The Night of Thanks, But No Thanks! (originally published October 1986 in Detective Comics #567)

This issue was written by Harlan Ellison. That must have been a big deal at the time. Writers of literature coming over to comics is a fairly common thing today, but I don't think it was back then.

Anyway, it's not very good. Batman is portrayed as pretty simple-minded, he uses lots of dehumanizing language (something I don't care for), and it seems like Ellison was dying to make the issue seem like it was True Adult Entertainment™ by making Batman use the word "dammit." The overall thesis statement of the story seems to be that Gotham wouldn't notice if Batman just disappeared. That's not what I want out of a Batman story. 2/5

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd been planning to start my DC Finest Batman reading with the Year One and Two volume, both because I figured the beginning of the post-Crisis Batman was a good starting point and because it was one of the first DC Finest volumes I bought. But then I ended up dragging my feet long enough for this to come out and I figured it'd be fun to see the tail end of pre-Crisis Batman.

And yeah, this was alright. Technically a lot of this actually was published after Crisis on Infinite Earths, but Batman didn't get the same send off and immediate full reboot Superman did, so most of this stuff feels like pre-Crisis even if it's in a gray area. This is a Batman with a long and complicated history - he's on his second Robin and he's accumulated quite the long list of foes, as demonstrated in a story late in the volume devoted entirely to Batman and Robin reading up on them on the Batcomputer. I ended up feeling like I was jumping in the deep end on continuity, and I'm glad a comment I saw in another review lead me to read up on Nocturna enough to be familiar with what had happened before.

There's a surprising amount of stuff here devoted to Bruce/Batman's love life. (And even Jason gets in on that action some.) He seems to be juggling at least two women in each of his identities, with Vicki Vale and Alfred's daughter as Bruce and Nocturna and Catwoman as Batman. The latter two are complicated by events before this volume causing Jason to feel like Nocturna is his mom and thus end up viewing Catwoman as somebody trying to take her spot. It's interesting to see that overarching personal drama be the biggest throughline here. I admittedly haven't read a ton of modern Batman comics, but I expected a lot more ongoing plots to focus on the villains.

Instead, stories generally last only a few issues, weaving between Batman and Detective Comics. A tale will start in one book and be continued in the other, sometimes wrapping up and sometimes going another round through the books. Judging by the notes at the end of issues, Batman and Detective were published two weeks apart, which explains the high connectedness. Plus it makes sure everybody has to buy two Batman comics a month.

The actual stories end up being a bit of a mixed bag. There's a mix of villains old and new, with Batman fighting the Mad Hatter and Two Face and even facing off against a couple of Flash's Rogues. But he's also up against guys like the the Film Freak, a failed actor who models his crimes after his favorite movies. And actually he was one of the highlights, especially because he gave my surprise favorite character Harvey Bullock. Bullock is a cop who's also a big fan of classic movies and ends up acting as one of Batman and Robin's main contacts with the force outside of Commissioner Gordon. It's a lot of fun to have a fairly normal guy around, though I think it also works here because surprisingly Batman is consistently going up against fairly mundane foes this whole volume.

There's basically no superpowers to be found, just comic book normal guys with wacky gimmicks. Well, there's some of the more out there foes in Batman #400, but that's basically such a cavalcade of guys that nobody gets to show off too much. But it makes for an interesting read when Batman is mostly going up against normal criminals who just have a weird theme and even deviates into somewhat dippy things like a rogue KGB agent. It's a contrast from what I expected given that I know these days Batman goes toe to toe with powered foes all the time, but I guess I have to remember that stuff like Bane is looming in the Dark Knight's future.

The other funny thing about this volume is Jason Todd. He's one of the reasons I've been interested in these DC Finest volumes, as I'm well aware of his infamous death that's going to be collected in a new volume out in the spring. But what I didn't realize is that pre-Crisis he was basically a totally different character. I know enough comics lore to know Jason as the wiseass street thief who meets Batman trying to jack the Batmobile's tires. This is instead a Jason who's basically a carbon copy of Dick Grayson, circus past with dead parents and all. He's not the worst character ever, but he's certainly not giving enough to make him really engaging, so I'll be curious to see what the rebooted version is like and whether I'd want to vote him dead.

So overall this was an interesting read, though I have to wonder if it's the best of what this era of Batman had to offer. There's some fun concepts but I'm also not really surprised by the decision to do some serious retooling. I do plan to finally read the Year One and Two volume in the near future, but the inclusion of a comic about Golden Age Batman and some of the other reading I've been doing has made me decide that first I should check out some of the Golden Age Batman collections I have and see how this whole Caped Crusader business kicked off.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book collects a weird Batman run coming into and following Crisis on Infinite Earths. Unlike most of the heroes, Batman basically keeps going along without a big reboot or anything, so besides the red skies the Crisis doesn't really affect the story here.

Tonally, we're in kind of a soap-opera/noir mode, focusing a lot on Batman and Robin's love lives. Batman is very much in detective mode throughout this, investigating serial killers and whatnot, with most of his Rogues' Gallery (besides Two-Face) out of the picture. You also are dealing with Pre-Crisis Jason Todd, who is very much just a xerox of pre-Titans Dick Grayson without a lot of his own going on.

The writing by Doug Moench is nothing too interesting, and the art (alternating between Gene Colan on Detective Comics and Tom Mandrake on Batman) has a nice moody tone but isn't spectacular.

At the end of this collection, on the other hand, is the Anniversary Issue Batman #400, which feels like a preview of what we're going to see with Post-Crisis Batman. It's a classic "every single Batman villain all breaking out of Arkham at the same time" story with a ton of different artists each doing their own little section, forgoing a cohesive style in favor of really showing off their own style. The standouts are Bill Sienkiewicz (with his super expressionist figues, the inky contours of Batman's muscles coiling up in repressed fury) and Brian Bolland (with his super cleanly-hatched anatomy posed so precisely prefiguring his excellent work on The Killing Joke).

There's also a little story written by Harlan Ellison at the very end of the collection where Batman has a disappointing night because the citizens of Gotham prove to be perfectly capable of saving themselves which is pretty cute. The art is again by Gene Colan, but it feels like a real step up from his art in the rest of this collection, super moody and expressive with a lot of great Batman facial expressions.

Altogether this is a really interesting snapshot of a peculiar moment in Batman's run, awkwardly bridging two periods of comics history. Ironically, for taking place alongside DC's biggest cosmic universal-shattering crossover, this run is very intimate and restrained, and will appeal to those who like a Gotham that feels like its own isolated world. It feels like a real classic moody Gotham where Batman gets to really lean into being a detective, but I don't think anyone is going to fondly remember any of these particular stories.

[Stephen Wright · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a longtime Batman reader, I originally picked up this graphic novel to get a closer look at what was happening in continuity during the late 1980s, when Crisis on Infinite Earths was unfolding—the multiversal event responsible for the literal red skies hanging over the DC Universe. When thumbing through the pages, I noticed a lot of Jason Todd’s Robin, Catwoman, and Nocturna (a character I wasn’t familiar with), which intrigued me and drew me in.

However, reading all 650+ pages (yes, I stuck with it!) ended up being one of the most unrecognizable, lackluster, and illogical stretches of Batman storytelling I’ve encountered. This collection features the original version of Jason Todd as Robin, where he’s essentially a whiny carbon copy of Dick Grayson—literally another orphaned circus acrobat—now placed as Bruce Wayne’s ward. Catwoman, meanwhile, is completely reformed and steps in as Batman’s lover/sidekick, creating an odd jealousy-tinted love triangle with Robin that never feels earned or sensible. Robin spends most of his time actually working with Harvey Bullock because he’s scorned that Batman is partnering with Catwoman.

What makes it even stranger is how thoroughly this run avoids Batman’s rogues gallery. There are virtually no major villains present, reducing every two-to-three-issue arc to street-level crimes, murder mysteries, and low-stakes procedural plots that become repetitive fast.

The one saving grace is Batman #400 at the end of the collection, a multi-chapter issue featuring incredible guest artists like Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Kubert, and others. It marks a clear turning point where DC releases Batman’s major villains from Arkham and begins steering him back toward the version we know and love today.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone—and I’m someone who usually finds value and redeeming qualities in almost everything I read.

[Matthew Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume collects the last of Batman's issues before/during the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot and after reading them it's easy to see why some changes needed to take place.

Almost the entirety of the book is written by Doug Moench (of Moon Knight fame) with art being done by the likes of Tom Mandrake and Gene Colan. The stories here are largely episodic but bounce between Batman and Detective Comics to the point they're essentially one series.

As I suggested earlier the issues here are decent but mainly carried by the art. Compared to what would come just a few issues later there's not a whole lot to them, they're fairly standard superhero stories and I can't see myself reading them again in the future. Given this run's proximity to the Post-Crisis reboot there's quite a lot of continuity baggage, especially regarding Jason Todd who is essentially a different character from the angry young man who would start to manifest just a few years later. Here he's just a Dick Grayson clone, his origin even having him be a circus performer in "The Flying Todds." Holy lazy writing Batman!

The book's tie into Crisis (taking the form of the Nocturna saga) was also a bit of a let down. Crisis is largely absent save for the red skies occasionally pointed out in the background. Instead we focus on wrapping up an earlier story that this book unfortunately doesn't collect, and as such it was hard for me to be invested in the events.

If you're interested in getting into Batman I wouldn't recommend this volume as a starting point. Instead, opt for the volume that follows this one "Batman: Years One and Two." Those issues are where the more modern rendition of the character begins to form.

[Harrison Delahunty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a really weird period for Batman, at least from a modern standpoint.

In a pre-DKR, pre-Crisis world, Batman was apparently a relatively normal dude who just happened to wear a bat costume and recruit teenagers as meat shields. He’s more concerned about romantic relationships or getting shown up by Green Arrow than he is about fighting crime. The majority of the time, these issues feel like reading a Marvel comic with Batman stapled on top of it.

The art here is very hit or miss. Klaus Janson’s issue is fantastic, and none of the regular pencillers are bad per se, but overall things feel pretty bog-standard for the time. Frequent colouring mistakes also manage to make things look even sillier or below par. Contrarily, the cavalcade of artists on issue 400 manage to make something pretty cool across the board.

While it is interesting to get a glimpse at a very different earlier take on these characters, there wasn’t a lot here that made me want to come back and read more. Contrived drama, purple prose, and continually shifting tone make for an uneven reading experience that doesn’t feel very much like Batman. The last issue collected here, Detective 567, has all of these problems wrapped up in one, and feels emblematic of what reading this volume felt like as a whole.

[Beastyos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very hard one to rate, as are most collections of stories. At first I did not really like this book, not that the issues bad, they were just slow, cartoonish and kind of boring, among other things. Now I can handle cartoonish, but the other 2 are some of the main factors for me not liking a book, besides the actual story ofcourse. Now the story was actually fine, nothing incredibly but fine, BUT a fine story packaged as a bad story, is a bad time. Then suddenly, issue 393 rolls around, and I don't know if it was guest artist Paul Gulacy, DC editorial or Green Arrow from last issue, that just told Doug Moench "we're in the modern age of comics now, act like it". It's genuinely kind of insane how good the issues after that got. I've read Silver Age comics better pased than before issue 393. I guess we can't all be Marv Wolfman

I wrongly was under the assumption that this book was going to be about crisis a lot more than just "sky is red", you don't even really feel a continuation shift between pre-and post-crisis. If I remember correctly, Batman is one of the only characters to not really be effected by it, but still I thought there would've at least been some change.

Dick Grayson doesn't even have a cameo, worst book ever published

[Ángel Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doug Moench es un guionista con mucho oficio, y lo demuestra en esta recopilación de buenas y, en su mayor parte, injustamente olvidadas historias de Batman, acompañado por un excelente Gene Colan y un inspirado Tom Mandrake. Por supuesto, el número 400 de la colección que lleva el nombre del hombre murciélago destaca por su más que entretenido guion y el excelente grupo de dibujantes que lo ilustran, pero para mí las mejores historietas son las que plasma gráficamente Paul Gulacy, dos números que cuentan una magnífica historia de espías a la antigua usanza, recordándonos los buenos viejos tiempos del tándem Moench-Gulacy, cuando se dedicaban mes a mes a narrar las aventuras de Shang-Chi en la competencia.

Pero vamos, que todas las historias están bastante bien, incluida la última, bastante divertida, guionizada por Harlan Ellison. Históricamente, marcarán el final del personaje de la Edad de Plata y dejarán el camino libre para que Frank Miller y David Mazzuchelli lo reinterpreten a su gusto en Year One, obra maestra que, sin embargo, mancillará para siempre a Batman transformándolo de detective oscuro en psicópata trastornado. Y en esas estamos...

[drown_like_its_1999 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of mainline Batman stories covering events in Gotham before, during, and after Crisis on Infinite Earths. The initial storylines are largely hokey action serials (bats stops a crime spree from Captain Boomerang and Mirror Master 😴) and fail to leave much of an impression. The titular "Red Skies" storyline occurs during COIE with a soapy narrative about Batman navigating a love pentagon while trying to protect Jason Todd's adopted mother Nocturna from a supernatural nemesis. The apocalyptic visual backdrop and more mystical tone added some charm but the end product felt rather trite.

The bulk of the issues that follow engage in smaller scale crime stories while evolving a romance subplot between Catwoman and bats, resulting in Jason Todd progressively detaching from his crime fighting partnership with Bruce. The episodic storylines are of varying quality, from forgettable to charming, and the overarching narrative isn't particularly fresh but the mix of the two combined with dependable visual flair made for a breezy read. My favorite story of these was a bit of schlocky fun, centered around a failed actor turned villain calling himself "Film Freak" executing movie inspired crimes while Batman & Catwoman investigate in parallel alongside Harvey Bullock & Robin (who is tired of being a third wheel).

The last bits of the collection included a mildly engaging annual where Batman is made destitute by Hugo Strange, a guest-artist stuffed anniversary issue about every Arkham inmate being released by Ra's, and a cheeky story about a fruitless night of crime fighting (written by Harlan Ellison).

I've never been particularly charmed by Doug Moench's writing, outside of his over-the-top elseworlds books, and this collection was no real exception. His plots are serviceable, though rather derivative, and he does a good job at balancing narrative and characterization but neither his style nor the end product ends up being all that engaging.

Luckily the art in this volume was pretty solid. Mandrake does an excellent job occupying the dialogue heavy scenes with business (his Bullock really chews the scenery), Colan's style is impeccably clean, and the other guest artists all provide their own unique aesthetic.

[Tom Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really felt like a more middle-of-the-road series of Batman stories for me. While there was a lot of exploration of Batman's humanity here, it was often very soap opera in nature and sometimes seemed to unnecessarily pad out a story. The tales themselves were a mixed bag, the stronger ones benerally involving higher stakes. The art throughout is appropriately moody, but, overall, I'm not sure this is a book I'll revisit that much.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could have called this Tales of the Batman Gene Colan vol 3.
Fun 80s Batman - he eats spaghetti in an alley with Catwoman. Has coffee in a diner. Travels to cold war-era USSR.
I had to return this to the library so I skimmed through the last 100 pages... it was a lot to take in. Need a Batman break now.

[Michael Wormsbecher · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the disappointing Superheavy & Bloom combination, this was just so much fun to read.

[Hyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2

[Jack T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4

[Matt Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The end of Batman pre Crisis this is Bronze Age goodness. My favorite part was the random Film Freak villain who shows up and the Crisis tie in with Jason Todd’s past. Covers 1985-1986.