Join all your DC favorites as they take on eight classic holiday stories! From Constantine and Lex Luthor’s Dickensian tale to Batwoman’s puzzling Hanukkah hijinks to your classic cocoa-swilling Christmas romance switch with Harley and Amethyst, this book is a perfect companion for cookies by the fire and extra sour cream on your latkes.
Doorway to Nightmare, introduced in 1978, was the last of the DC “Mystery” line of titles in the 1970s that became the forerunner of Vertigo. It did not have a consistent creative team—the intent was to create writer-artist pairings that had never occurred before, except for the cover art of Michael William Kaluta. Madame Xanadu, the star of the series, was not a host but an active participant, albeit never the main character in her stories.
The citizens in a retro-futuristic vision of the world of tomorrow struggle to come to terms with a variety of bizarre characters and their unusual schemes. Written by Dean Motter with art by Michael Lark.
After the launch of the Superman/Batman comic book series, Executive Editor Dan DiDio had been looking for a way to simplify the Supergirl character from her convoluted post-crisis history; the simplest version of course, was Superman’s cousin. Jeph Loeb and editor Eddie Berganza found an opening to reintroduce the character following the conclusion of the first story arc of Superman/Batman.
The modern version of Kara Zor-El made her debut in Superman/Batman #8 (2004). Kara takes the mantle of Supergirl at the conclusion of the storyline. The Supergirl comic book series would later be relaunched, now starring Kara Zor-El as “The Girl of Steel”. The first arc of the new series was written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Ian Churchill.
The title’s 500th issue (March 1981) featured stories by several well-known creators including television writer Alan Brennert and Walter B. Gibson best known for his work on the pulp fiction character The Shadow. Also used during the 1980s was the use of serialization of the main Batman story, with stories from Detective Comics and Batman directly flowing from one book to another, with cliffhangers at the end of each book’s monthly story that would be resolved in the other title of that month. A single writer handled both books during that time beginning with Gerry Conway and followed up by Doug Moench. The supervillain Killer Croc made a shadowy cameo in issue #523 (Feb. 1983). Noted author Harlan Ellison wrote the Batman story in issue #567.
Writer Mike W. Barr and artists Alan Davis and Todd McFarlane crafted the “Batman: Year Two” storyline in Detective Comics #575-578 which followed up on Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One“. Writer Alan Grant and artist Norm Breyfogle introduced the Ventriloquist in their first Batman story together and the Ratcatcher in their third (#585). Sam Hamm, who wrote the screenplay for Tim Burton‘s Batman, wrote the “Blind Justice” story in Detective Comics issues #598-600.
Edgar Wiggins, a disgraced former seminary student, is desperate to find a way to answer what he believes is his higher calling. He thinks he’s found it in a seminar hosted in a hotel conference room by the Soul Plumbers, who have a machine that could be the secret to delivering souls from Satan. Edgar’s too broke to buy in, but that’s not enough to stop this true devotee: he steals the blueprints and builds a pirated version with what components he can afford on his gas station attendant salary. Then he goes after a demon, misses… and ends up pulling out something much worse.
A former police officer known only as “S” operates as a private detective based in New York City, finding people and objects for a fee. S steals a quantity of a strange substance called “Heavy Liquid”. On its own, it is a metallic-liquid explosive, but it turns into “black milk” when cooked, and exhibits mind-altering, drug-like properties. A mysterious art collector who also has a quantity of Heavy Liquid wishes to hire S to find a missing artist named Rodan Esperella (coincidentally S’s ex-lover), whom he hopes will create a piece out of the Heavy Liquid for him. In the meantime, assassins are on S’s trail, looking to retrieve the stolen Heavy Liquid. S finally trails Esperella to Paris, and he tries to broker a deal between her and the art collector. Esperella promises to sculpt a masterpiece on the condition that she never see S again. His job done, S boards a train heading to Prague, where he is cornered by one of his pursuers. S then discovers from his pursuer that the Heavy Liquid is alien in origin, and may even possess some form of consciousness. Ingesting the drug himself, S escapes by jumping onto another train, his physical abilities dramatically increased by the Heavy Liquid. S comes to understand its nature as a medium containing an alien intelligence. Ultimately, on the European train, S experiences first contact with the being.
1st Issue Special was a comics anthology series from DC Comics, done in a similar style to their Showcase series. It was published from April 1975 to April 1976. The goal was to showcase a new possible first issue of an ongoing series each month, with some issues debuting new characters and others reviving dormant series from DC’s past. No series were actually launched from 1st Issue Special but the Warlord made his first appearance in the title and the character’s ongoing series was already slated to debut a few months later.
This Prestige format one-shot is an adaptation of Tim Burton’s 1992 Batman Returns feature film, which starred Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, Danny DeVito as the Penguin, and Michael Gough as Alfred.
The series began in April–May 1975. Like its predecessor Secrets of Sinister House, Secrets of Haunted House was originally “hosted” by Cain, Abel, Eve, and Destiny who had moved over from Weird Mystery Tales. By issue #10 (Feb.–March 1978), Destiny was the only one of these who remained a regular. In issue #40 (Sept. 1981), Abel returned with no further mention of Destiny.
A Secrets of Haunted House Special was published in 1978 as part of the DC Special Series umbrella title. Secrets of Haunted House was a temporary victim of the “DC Implosion.” With issue #14 (Oct.–Nov. 1978), it was cancelled but revived a year later with issue #15 (Aug. 1979). The title continued until issue #46 (March 1982).
EHT Comics 