I have written and spoken in the past about the summer of 1989 and how important it was to me as not only a comic book fan but also a Batman fan and how it was the first time I regularly bought the Bat books.

There were only two at the time. It is hard to fathom such a thing today.

And I think I have mentioned that Detective Comics #600 coming out that year was a big deal as well. I remember buying it with some of my Confirmation money.

So, you would think that Detective #600 would get caught in the same nostalgic glow that is cast on Batman: Year Three and the Mud Pack storyline.

It doesn’t.

It actually sits outside the glow. In the dark.

I could try to stretch this bit out further, but I think it’s best to move on.

To be fair, because I did buy Detective #600 with the previously mentioned Confirmation money there is a certain amount of nostalgia there, but despite being written by Sam Hamm, writer of the then upcoming Batman film, it’s not one of the greatest Batman stories ever told.

And it’s not one of the best anniversary issues either.

Maybe my expectations were too high. Action Comics #600 is a classic, and 13-year-old me was thinking that I would have the same reaction to Detective Comics’ anniversary issue. But the story was just…there. I liked it well enough, but it didn’t make much of an impression. And when, years later, I read it again as part of my huge Post Crisis Batman readthrough with the two previous issues as part of the experience, I came away liking it less, not more.

I kind of feel bad about that too. I shouldn’t, but I do. I’ve long accepted that certain stories, for a variety of reasons, just aren’t for me. As ever, if you loved Blind Justice then I would love to hear your take on it. Outside of the introduction of Henri Ducard, it didn’t have any staying power for me.

The Many Deaths of the Batman is more enjoyable, but outside of the “silent” first issue it doesn’t stand out for me either.

I guess nostalgia has a limit.

Neat house ad, though.

More to follow…