• The Black Casebook: Deconstructing the Silver Age Ghosts of Grant Morrison’s Batman

    ByBobo

    To a reader who is not all too familiar with Batman comics, Grant Morrison’s Batman run can, at times, feel like a fever dream. Why is there a “Bat-Mite”? Who are the “International Heroes”? The answer lies in The Black Casebook, a meta-fictional journal where Bruce Wayne recorded every encounter that defied logic, physics, or sanity.

    When I first read this run, my knowledge of Batman was limited to recent publications. I lacked a broader understanding of what the character went through. Even some recurring characters were not known to me. I caught up quickly, as the stories Morrison wrote don’t require you to be a Dark Knight scholar to be understood, but the more you know, the more you can appreciate what the author did.

    So, in this DC Casebook investigation, we strip away the modern shadows to reveal the 1950s and 60s “Golden & Silver Age” stories that Morrison transformed into psychological pieces to explore the mind of the Bat.

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  • Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul Reading Order: The Complete Guide for The Battle for the Heir

    ByBobo

    When Grant Morrison started writing his celebrated seven-year run on Batman, his first major contribution to the lore was the introduction of Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul. He didn’t take long for DC Comics to put the boy at the center of a crossover event leading to The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul!

    The Ghul family made a big comeback, as dangerous as ever, and young Damian is to play a key role in bringing his grandfather fully back from the dead. But he is not easily controlled and will not just bend the knee when he has another side of the family ready to fight for him. Well, maybe not that ready, but Batman’s sons will never let someone die if they can save them.

    As the whole story spans across Batman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, and Robin, this is not a storyline entirely written by Grant Morrison. Peter Milligan, Paul Dini, Fabian Nicieza, and Keith Champagne also wrote one or more chapters, with artists Tony S. Daniel, Ryan Benjamin, Freddie Williams II, Don Kramer, David López, David Baldeón, and Derec Donovan.

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  • Flashpoint Reading Order: The End of The Post-Crisis era

    ByBobo

    As the massive crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths did in 1985-1986, Flashpoint put an end to another major era of the DC Universe continuity in 2011: The Modern Age. The kind of events comic book companies always teased, but rarely delivered, the ones that really changed everything.

    Written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Andy Kubert, Flashpoint centers on Barry Allen, the freshly returned Silver Age Flash, who wakes up in a world he doesn’t recognize. In this fractured reality, the Justice League was never formed, Superman is a prisoner of the state, and a genocidal war between Atlantis and Themyscira has brought humanity to the brink of annihilation.

    It’s not just another event to file in the DC Casebook, it’s the one that closed the book on the Post-Crisis era (1986-2011). Published as a five-issue limited series in 2011, it paved the way for the line-wide reboot known as the New 52.

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  • Is John Byrne’s Superman Still Good? A 2026 Retrospective Review

    ByBobo

    In 1986, John Byrne undertook the challenging project of reimagining Superman as a relatable contemporary figure. This involved making some controversial decisions. He abandoned the optimism of the Silver Age in favour of a more psychologically grounded interpretation, shaped by the cultural logic of the 1980s. It was criticized by some for being Superman for adults. Four decades later, does it still resonate, or was it purely a product of its time?

    While later interpretations have emphasized Superman as a near-mythical ‘space god’, Byrne’s work is the most notable ‘human-first’ reimagining of the character. It established the modern Lex Luthor and a proactive, credible Lois Lane, but it also led to a Superman who violated his own moral code in a conclusion that remains controversial. Whether regarded as a necessary modernization or a fundamental misreading of the character, Byrne’s influence continues to shape virtually every screen adaptation of Superman.

    Although I have read DC Comics for decades, I was never particularly interested in Superman. To broaden my understanding of the character, I approached this landmark series from a contemporary perspective. So, in this review, we’re looking past the nostalgia.

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  • The Man of Tomorrow, Reborn: A Deep Dive into John Byrne’s Superman (1986-1988)

    ByBobo

    In the mid-1980s, Superman was in trouble. Decades of ‘Silver Age’ excess, such as super-dogs, pocket dimensions, and limitless powers, had made the Man of Steel feel both invincible and rather out of touch with the times. Following the universe-shaking ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’, DC Comics did the unthinkable and recruited Marvel superstar John Byrne to rewrite Superman’s mythology.

    The result was a fundamental shift in perception that still influences how we view Clark Kent today. Whether you are an avid collector or a new reader exploring these issues in digital archives, Byrne’s work remains the definitive ‘modern’ starting point.

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  • Millennium (1988) Reading Order: No man escapes the Manhunters during this Weekly Crossover event

    ByBobo

    Following the line-wide restructuring initiated by Crisis on Infinite Earths and the subsequent relaunch momentum of Legends, DC Comics introduced Millennium as its next major crossover event. I’m sure readers today may feel the use of the word “major” as an overstatement and, in the overall history of the DC Comics universe, I would certainly concur. Nevertheless, as a publishing initiative, this one was ambitious for the time. Published as an eight-issue weekly limited series between January and February 1988, the project represented one of DC’s most coordinated line-wide efforts of the decade, with extensive crossover chapters running through 45 issues of DC’s ongoing titles.

    Written by Steve Englehart and illustrated primarily by Joe Staton, Millennium centered on the Guardians of the Universe and the revelation that the ancient robotic Manhunters had secretly infiltrated Earth for centuries. The event introduced the “Millennium Week” banner across DC’s publishing line, with individual issues revealing long-standing supporting characters as sleeper agents, an approach that reoriented the DC Universe toward themes of distrust, conspiracy, and institutional corruption.

    Positioned as both a cosmic epic and a paranoid thriller, Millennium marked a tonal shift from the post-Crisis optimism of 1986 to a narrative climate defined by hidden enemies and systemic infiltration. It remains the definitive story of the Manhunter cult’s attempt to thwart the evolution of the “Chosen” ten.

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  • Legends (1986) Reading Order: The First Post-Crisis Crossover

    ByBobo

    In 1986, DC Comics was fresh off the success of Crisis on Infinite Earths. It was a new era with a rebooted universe. After that, the question was: What next? The answer seems to have been “another crossover event.”

    Before we got the Legends we know today, there was “Crisis of the Soul.” This scrapped 12-issue project was designed to show a world turning on its heroes through spiritual corruption. Though canceled after months of development, some of his ideas survived. In August 1986, editor Mike Gold and a star-studded creative team launched Legends. It wasn’t a sequel to Crisis, but an “introduction” to the modern DC Universe.

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  • DC Comics History: Following the Dark Road of the Modern Age

    ByBobo

    It’s never easy to pinpoint the exact beginning and end of an era in the history of comics. The conclusion of the Bronze Age and the start of the Modern Age is no exception. It was a transition that occurred as much on the pages of the comics as in the shops, the convergence of multiple publishing efforts and editorial decisions that changed the way comics were sold and read, but also the stories they were allowed to tell.

    Dark, British, Violent, and Paperbacks, it’s 1980s DC Comics

    The key change that occurred in the comic book industry that DC Comics quickly embraced was the emergence of the Direct Market. Consumers were not buying their comics in the newsstands, they started going to comic book shops instead. Also, the old readers were going nowhere and wanted more mature books.

    DC President Jenette Kahn looked for new ways to develop the DC Comics brand with new lines, unexpected licensing deals, and by recruiting emerging talents and allowing them to make their mark. That’s how Frank Miller came and made Ronin, then pushed DC into its dark era with The Dark Knight Returns. This violent story about an old Batman coming back to fight crime in an alternative politicized future was a comic book for adults, an instant success that started to change the creative direction of the company, but also its economic model. It was the book that incited the creation of the DC line of paperbacks, making it available long after its original publication.

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  • DC Comics History: The Bronze Age, From Explosion to Implosion

    ByBobo

    For DC Comics, the Silver Age was an era of reinvention when it came to its line of superhero comics, but it was the same people who were still creating those comics. With Marvel Comics becoming a serious competitor, changes were once again needed, but this time they were just as much on the pages as behind the scenes.

    New editorial director Carmine Infantino brought change in a notable way. The funny animal comics disappeared, and “Weird” comics became à la mode (Weird Western, Weird Adventure Comics, Weird War, Weird Mystery). But Infantino’s important change was to give artists power and to bring new talents in. Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Denis O’Neil, and Neil Adams soon became important names at DC.

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