Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle Detective Comics era

[The Joker]

The era of Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle on Detective Comics in the late 80's to early 90's is possibly my favorite run on any Batman related comic title. So many great stories were in this era.

Not only did some great new villains spring up during this era such as The Ventriloquist and Scarface, Cornelius Stirk, The Ratcatcher, Anarky, and The Corrosive Man, but it gave great stories on classic villains like Penguin and the Clayfaces.

I also love how drugs were a prominent theme during this era. Grant was always having Batman tackle criminals who were peddling drugs. Even Scarface was dealing drugs. It gave the stories a real gritty edge.

Breyfogle is one of my favorite Batman artists. He couldn't draw a bad character if he tried, in my opinion:

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Anyone else a big fan of this era on Detective?

[Cain]

I wouldn't be a monthly Batman fan if it wasn't for their Detective Comics run. The first half of their run is stronger than the latter when you factor in Batman and Shadow of the Bat but altogether it's still a bunch of solid reads.

I think their Batman run was underrated too. Definitely up there with Englehart/Rogers and O'Neil/Adams to me when you look at their best as a whole. Only Morrison has come close since in terms of consistency with the world building being done and how the storytelling is being pushed in crazy new ways.

[TruerToTheCore]

Certainly one of the best ever, especially since they mostly told stand alone stories and don't gave a **** about continuity. You could just pick up and read. On the downside it was also, together with Starlin's run, the one when the mainstream bat books became more and more violent and also "relevant" (Batman questioning America) which worked at the time but overall things like that started to make me dislike 90s comics.





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I love it when Batman is portrayed as an naive and innocent idiot. :cwink:

The post-crisis Batman didn't really have a consistent characterization at the beginning, but I think Mike W. Barr gave the best.

[Cobblepot]

Easily the best run Batman ever had, serious stories and still appealing to young readers. Breyfogle is my favourite Batman artist, good to see him back on a batbook these days.

[MasterOgami]

As a kid, whenever I saw Grant/Breyfogle/Mitchell on the cover I knew I was in for a treat.

And I know its a little thing, but there's a moment, I think in the Obeah Man arc, where a flower or something comes up as a clue. Bruce isn't familiar with it, so he heads to the Batcave's library to do some research. I just loved how he didn't immediately know exactly what it was and actually cracked open a book to find out :)

[The Joker]

Great to see some fellow fans of this fab era.

So anyone have a favorite story they did? I have to say I love the Penguin two parter in Tec #610 & 611. Grant always wrote a really deadly Penguin, and Breyfogle drew him beautifully.

[TruerToTheCore]

Fever / Fever Break
The Ratcatcher story

[Keyser Soze]

I'm ashamed to say that, for as long as I've been a Batman fan and been reading Batman comics, I've never read any of this run. The only Alan Grant story I can think of off-hand that I've read is The Scottish Connection with Frank Quitely. Are there any collected editions of this run?

[MasterOgami]

I'm ashamed to say that, for as long as I've been a Batman fan and been reading Batman comics, I've never read any of this run. The only Alan Grant story I can think of off-hand that I've read is The Scottish Connection with Frank Quitely. Are there any collected editions of this run?

Not really. The only collection I can think of is the Anarky trade which includes his two-part introduction from Detective and the Grant/Breyfogle Anarky mini.

Its a shame because for as many single-issue stories they put out, there were great (or at least very entertaining) multi-parters with 2 or 4 installments, perfect for TPBing (maybe not so much with the 2 issues arcs, but you get the idea).

[Cain]

The Tulpa storyline featuring The Demon was my favorite from the 'tec run. So many classic moments there like when Etrigan kisses Batman on the cheek lmao. My favorite one shot was Trashed! (Detective #616) which also got reprinted in that DC retrospective that Grant and Breyfogle did last year. First time I realized that Batman cannot always save everyone because he's also human after all. That one always resonated with me.

[GothamAlleys]

Its what got me into Batman, and made me stay with Batman. By far my favorite run, excellent excellent stories and great detective mysteries. Almost every issue was like X Files, a great mystery or crime solving. And I loved the supernatural stuff the most. My ALL time favorite Batman stories come from this run, Stone Cold Killer and Identity Crisis

[Mace Dolex]

The Ratcatcher story is definitely a favorite, it felt like a gritty crime drama.

[The Joker]

That one was particularly disturbing. He had like three or four people locked up in the sewers for five years, feeding them nothing but dead rats.

[Mace Dolex]

^ That's what I like about Grant's stories, they were small crime thrillers that didn't involve the entire DC universe.

[GothamAlleys]

^ That's what I like about Grant's stories, they were small crime thrillers that didn't involve the entire DC universe.

Exactly, good way to put it. They were great, self contained, very intriguing crime or horror stories with strong detective element

[The Batman]

With the new "Legends of the Dark Knight" collections collecting the runs of guys like rogers and davis, Its pretty much guaranteed that Breyfogle will get his own edition

[DrMylesOBoogie]

With the new "Legends of the Dark Knight" collections collecting the runs of guys like rogers and davis, Its pretty much guaranteed that Breyfogle will get his own edition
It's a perfect fit for the series. I just wish they'd released it as part of the first wave. Hopefully we're not waiting too long.

[The Joker]

I hope so. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[rogue trooper]

...seconded! It should be only a matter of time now. The Grant/Breyfogle run was just plain awesome! Very gritty and sometimes downright eerie!

[TruerToTheCore]

...seconded! It should be only a matter of time now. The Grant/Breyfogle run was just plain awesome! Very gritty and sometimes downright eerie!

Well, DC has some sort of aversion against Grant and Breyfolge. So don't be so sure. But okay, there's the Batman Retro 90s thing. Perhaps things changed.

[rogue trooper]

Well, DC has some sort of aversion against Grant and Breyfolge. So don't be so sure. But okay, there's the Batman Retro 90s thing. Perhaps things changed.

Hmmm?!! Interesting!

[The Joker]

What has DC got against Grant and Breyfogle?

[Cain]

Well, DC has some sort of aversion against Grant and Breyfolge. So don't be so sure. But okay, there's the Batman Retro 90s thing. Perhaps things changed.

Well they were called by DC to do that 90's retroactive comic last year. So maybe the current brass holds them to higher esteem than the previous administration?

If so then I hope they actually acknowledge their important contributions to the bat mythos and give us some remastered collections of their work. I have very small gaps in my 'tec and Batman runs by them that I'd like to fill up since I sold a lot of my comics back in the late 90's. I also sold off the singles of their Shadow of the Bat run and I'd like to be able to buy all those stories in one collection one day and read them again after all these years.

What has DC got against Grant and Breyfogle?

Breyfogle has stated that he's been blacklisted over at DC because at one point made endless proposals over at DC and they never accepted them. Here's the quote from him on the issue

"DC knows I’m available to them, but after they turned down 10 or so proposals from me after 2001, I gave up. It was quite apparent then that they’d put me on some sort of blacklist (I don’t know why they’ve done so). I’ve also heard some things from an editor at Marvel to indicate that I’m persona non grata at Marvel, too."

[The Joker]

That's bizarre. I can't imagine why the hell they would blacklist such a great artist, especially since he apparently has done nothing to warrant it.

[Mace Dolex]

^ How was Norm able to do the one-shot DC Retroactive 1990's if he's blacklisted?

[Spider-Aziz]

It's a fun run, I really enjoy reading it, and it's imo more entertaining than a couple of highly praised runs on the character
The Ratcatcher story is definitely a favorite, it felt like a gritty crime drama.
Rat shouts neek ad Batman saying "No thanks pal", I took a picture of that and posted it on my facebook album of comics before deleting that album entirely, that one is hilarious
It's funny cause the "neek" is how some people in my region say "f***"

[The Joker]

^ How was Norm able to do the one-shot DC Retroactive 1990's if he's blacklisted?

No idea. It's Breyfogle's quote, not mine.

[Mace Dolex]

It's a fun run, I really enjoy reading it, and it's imo more entertaining than a couple of highly praised runs on the character

Oh definitely, I couldn't agree with you more here

*coughthelonghalloweencough*

*coughhushcough*

[Cobblepot]

I realy realy realy want a good hardcover collection of this run, I own all the issues in triples (no kidding, one for the collection, one run in dutch and another complete US run for binding, but never got to it.) but I keep waiting to hear about collections before I start re-reading them. The entire run was collected in Italian though by Panini...