When I started DC: A New Dawn, my goal was to cover the width and scope of the new era of DC Comics that started in the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths. There’s not a particularly clear delineation line for a lot of titles in that period, but the subsequent event that came hot on Crisis’ heels does serve as a strong starting point for the new line of books. I made the decision to cover the entire DC Universe starting with the aftermath of Legends, kicking off with the launches of The Spectre, Justice League, and Suicide Squad.
That was always an imperfect starting point, however, because it skipped over Legends, a book a lot has been written about before though not nearly as much as Crisis. In the last few months, I’ve contemplated compiling the chronology of stories up through Millennium, warts and all. But I needed a stronger starting point if this was to be a book, so I’ve decided to go back in special features like this one to look back at Legends and cover it entirely before I start shopping around any of this material in book form. I’ll try to cover around three issues with each installment though all of them won’t be as quick as the first couple in this one.
Let’s dive right into the two prequel issues, featuring a pair of less-than-seasoned writers working with very seasoned artists.
Batman #401 by Barbara Randall and Trevor Von Eeden
According to Mike’s Amazing World of Comics, this is only the seventh writing credit for the future Barbara Randall Kesel. She was an active editor at the time, something destined to become far less common as DC settled into the post-Crisis era.
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This is essentially a sequel to Man of Steel (hence the choice of cover artist) bringing back the villain Magpie from Superman and Batman’s first meeting. It also shows that DC hadn’t quite cemented how they felt about the timeline for Superman as several lines between Batman and Commissioner Gordon make it seem like the events of Man of Steel were only weeks or months in the past, and certainly not years.
Magpie has taken to killing to get to the shiny things she loves, bringing Batman into action as he “recruits” Bruce Wayne to help the police plan a large party as a sting for the criminal. At the party, he meets G. Gordon Godfrey, a loud proponent that all superheroes are bad. This is our first glimpse of ol’ Triple G, but he will become a far larger player in Legends. This appearance serves as the only real tie between this issue and the crossover.
The Dynamic Duo ultimately rushes into action and takes down Magpie with Trevor Von Eeden’s art giving everything an interesting mix of Bronze Age and Iron Age styling.
Detective Comics #568 by Joey Cavalieri and Klaus Janson
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