Batman trade SECRETS OF THE BATCAVE 8/29

[nightwing]

India, I for one hope you're right and we'll see less of books that try to mix "classic" and "modern" stories.

For one thing, as you suggest, I am a fan of the one but not the other.  This is why I passed on the recent "Daily Planet" and "Lex Luthor" TPBs, for instance...the "good" stuff didn't make up for the crud at the end.  I understand mixing things up from a marketing perspective; no doubt the aim is to turn modern readers on to the old stuff, and prod codgers like myself into coming back to the monthlies.  But I really think we're becoming more and more two different audiences, and nobody's really satisfied with collections that are neither fish nor foul.  The average Jim Lee Batman fan, for instance, probably doesn't care a whit for Shelly Moldoff.

Also, from a conceptual standpoint, we're often talking here about very different characters.  The Superman of the 90s is not the Superman of the 50s and 60s, and tacking on a Jurgens-era story to a book full of Hamilton and Binder tales is disorienting and frustrating for everybody, IMHO.  This is how I felt about the "Greatest Stories Ever Told" books from years ago...especially the Superman and Flash versions.  The "current era" stuff in the back of those books didn't fit at all with the rest of the volumes.  It reminded me of those annoying previews they stick in the middle of a comic with a totally different audience..."Hey kids, if you think this issue of Spider-Man is cool, check out this cool preview for the Radioactive Gang Banger Skate Squad!"

BUT...I think there are some different explanations for why this particular book is so "classic"-heavy, and why the Kandor book probably will be, too.  And that is, the vast majority of this mythology was built up prior to the Crisis.  How many stories have there been, really, about the Bat-Cave in recent times (if you don't count blowing it up in that earthquake storyline, and that's probably 2000 pages in itself).

Also, I think it's entirely possible that now DC's remembered they have references like "The Complete Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Heroes," they're using those volumes to select stories around specific themes.  And everything chronicled in those books is pre-1965.

[Superman Forever]

Don´t know about the editorial decisions for the content of the new TPs, but as a fan of the characters, I don´t like being an exclusivist. A good story is a good story, being it pre-Crisis or Post-Crisis. I started collecting with the Superman revamp, and liked the character enought to buy all the back issues I could find and reprints of Pre-Crisis stuff. I have the Candor book pre-ordered on Amazon and enjoy Busiek´s and Morrison´s take on Superman. Even Jurgens years have good stories like Homeless for the Holidays and Krisis of Krinson Kryptonite. Even John Byrne have at least a good stoty, the vampire annual illustrated by Arthur Adams. And reading all the Silver Age Showcase editions, I see that it wasn´t at all perfect. So yes, I,m a fan of the Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale penned Batman storylines, but also care the same about Denny O´Neil/Neal Adams or, for the matter, Sheldon Moldoff.

[TELLE]

I've mentioned before that my real introduction to Batman in the comics came with a Blue Ribbon digest reprinting several classic tales from different eras, with some editorial comment.  These mixed books have their place --you can't expect new readers to patiently read through the entire 60-year history of a character before enjoying The Joker's Five-Way Revenge, Dark Knight, etc.