Thursday, January 24, 2019

100-Page FAKES! presents: DETECTIVE COMICS # 449

100-Page FAKES! imagines mid-1970s DC 100-Page Super Spectaculars that never were...but should have been!


My initial intent with the 100-Page FAKES! editions of Detective Comics was to complete the "Bat-Murderer!" serial, which ran in 'Tec # 444-448 in '74 and '75. In the real world, only the first two issues of that serial were published in the 100-page format, so I added reprints to expand issues 446, 447 and 448 into Super Spectaculars, and figured that would be the end of my faux Detectives. I went back for one wholly-fabricated issue of Detective Comics (based on a drawing I did as a teen), but now I've decided to to continue with at least a few more phony expansions of Detective Comics, probably heading into 1976.

Which brings us to this 1975 issue, featuring then-new adventures of The Batman and The Elongated Man. For reprints, we've added Golden Age tales of Doll Man and Doll Girl and Hawkman, and a Silver Age outing starring Rip Hunter...Time Master. But the real treat here is pretending that DC still held the comic book rights to Mattel's Hot Wheels in 1975, allowing us to reprint 1970's fabulous Hot Wheels # 1.

DC's Hot Wheels comic book was a short-lived but solid title, with snappy storytelling (initially by Charlton Comics vet Joe Gill) and absolutely gorgeous artwork by Alex Toth. How gorgeous was Toth's work on this title? When the legendary Neal Adams took over the art chores for the sixth and final issue, he was...fine. Great, even. But Adams wasn't better than Toth on Hot Wheels. It's a shame this title will probably never be reprinted, but I think I'm gonna try to find room for the whole run in this and future editions of 100-Page FAKES!

The Batman in "Midnight Rustler Of Gotham City!," Detective Comics # 449 (July 1975)
Hot Wheels in "Wipe-Out At Le Mans!," Hot Wheels # 1 (Marc h-April 1970)
Doll Man and Doll Girl in "Ticket Of Terror!," Doll Man # 39 (April 1952)
Hawkman in "The Case Of The Human Plants," Flash Comics # 29 (May 1942)
Rip Hunter...Time Master in "The Thousand Year Old Curse," Rip Hunter...Time Master # 1 (March-April 1961)
The Elongated Man in "The Mystery Man Who Walked On Air!," Detective Comics # 449 (July 1975)

Hot Wheels remains a copyright of Mattel, and everything else remains a copyright of DC Comics Inc. The Doll Man story is now public domain, while the rest can only be shown here in sample pages; I share the whole thing with my subscribers. More Detective Comics coming soon.

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