I think DC should produce a series of tradepaperbacks similar to their Man of Steel series, collecting the best Batman tales from the late 70s/early 80s,
leading up to the First Crisis and Year One.
Many of the stories were crafted by stalwarts like Gerry Conway, Doug Moench, Gene Colan, Don Newton and Tom Mandrake. There are even some tales in there by the likes of Jim Starlin, Craig Russell and Mike Golden in the earliest issues of Detective Comics.
They could kick of the series with Don Newton's first tale in Detective Comics, #480 (Dec 1978) and print them in chronological order right up #507 (Oct. 1981).
From then on they should be reprinted intermittedly with isssues of Batman, starting from #340 (Oct. 1981) with Gene Colan's first issue. The Batman tales should be incorporated at the appropriate chronological junctures, without disrupting continued stories, Eventually the two mags virtually merged and tag-teamed or alternated from Detective #517 (Aug 1982) and Batman #350 (Aug 1982) onwards.
The two mags should be reprinted alternately right up until when the experiment ended with Detective Comics #568 and Batman #400. Then they could round off the series by chronologically reprinting Detective Comics #569-#575 by the classic team of Mike Barr and Alan Davis.
That's approximately 160 issues of Batman goodness. 10-12 issues per volume = 15 volumes (a lot of the comics featured back-ups so the page count is 15-20 pages per issue). Bi-monthly frequency or preferably monthly. Finished in 15-30 months.
Many of the stories were crafted by stalwarts like Gerry Conway, Doug Moench, Gene Colan, Don Newton and Tom Mandrake. There are even some tales in there by the likes of Jim Starlin, Craig Russell and Mike Golden in the earliest issues of Detective Comics.
They could kick of the series with Don Newton's first tale in Detective Comics, #480 (Dec 1978) and print them in chronological order right up #507 (Oct. 1981).
From then on they should be reprinted intermittedly with isssues of Batman, starting from #340 (Oct. 1981) with Gene Colan's first issue. The Batman tales should be incorporated at the appropriate chronological junctures, without disrupting continued stories, Eventually the two mags virtually merged and tag-teamed or alternated from Detective #517 (Aug 1982) and Batman #350 (Aug 1982) onwards.
The two mags should be reprinted alternately right up until when the experiment ended with Detective Comics #568 and Batman #400. Then they could round off the series by chronologically reprinting Detective Comics #569-#575 by the classic team of Mike Barr and Alan Davis.
That's approximately 160 issues of Batman goodness. 10-12 issues per volume = 15 volumes (a lot of the comics featured back-ups so the page count is 15-20 pages per issue). Bi-monthly frequency or preferably monthly. Finished in 15-30 months.
