Okay, Loren (of Stark Raving Sane and Suspension of Disbelief fame) had a follow-up to my post from yesterday, about Superman arranging for a “mind-wipe” of Batman at the end of the “Emperor Joker” storyline. In Action Comics #784, part of the “Joker: Last Laugh” crossover series, Superman reveals to Batman what he had done (recap: Batman was driven insane by the Joker, Spectre said the memories of the torture couldn’t be erased but could be moved, and it looked like Superman had Batman’s memory of suffering placed into the Joker). Now, I didn’t remember the follow-up story, since I probably only read it once four years ago when it originally came out (and, of course, again for this post), but it implies that Superman did take Batman’s memories into himself, even though the original conclusion to “Emperor Joker” would sort of lead you to believe otherwise.
At any rate, where the memories ended up isn’t as “important” as the fact that this Superman subplot is paralleled in current DC universe events, a parallel further strengthened by developments in that later Action. Batman gets his mind wiped, he doesn’t find out ’til much later, and when he does find out, he gets royally steamed. Of course, the current version of this subplot is taking a lot longer to play out, as opposed to the earlier story which was pretty much wrapped up in that one issue.
On a related note, commenter Bob has a link to a Justice League of America image where the team happily mind-wipes the entire Earth. Wheeee!
Speaking of “Joker: Last Laugh” – what was the point of that storyline, really? What did we get out of it (aside from a cool Brian Bolland cover on the first issue of the series)?
Puzzling phone call of the day, from yesterday:
Person on the phone: “How rare is the Michael Turner Supergirl cover?”
Me: “Um, not rare at all, actually. The covers on Supergirl #1 were published in a 1:1 ratio.”
PotP: “Really? I was told that they were 1 in every 4 covers.”
Me: “Whoever told you that is probably a crook, and you should spit on him when next you see him.”
Okay, I didn’t really say that last part, but I’m hoping whoever said that to this person was just remembering incorrectly, and not deliberately trying to deceive this person for whatever reason. It may have seemed like they got less of the Turner cover, since, if other stores had the same sales pattern we did, the Turner cover sold faster, leaving more Churchill covers behind.
Of course, that’s not stopping people from selling the Turner cover as a “rare variant” on the eBay. Okay, I didn’t spot anyone coming right out and saying it’s “rare,” but they are inferring it, I think, with auction titles like “SUPERGIRL #1 BOTH REGULAR & MICHAEL TURNER VARIANT.” It could just as easily be “BOTH REGULAR & IAN CHURCHILL VARIANT,” right? But that probably doesn’t get the search results.
EDIT: Taking a cue from a commenter, I pulled out the original solicitation for Supergirl #1, which did indeed list the covers in a 1:4 ratio, even though they ended up coming out in a 1:1 ratio. So the egg is in my face, this time. Ah, well, I suppose I was due for my bi-yearly mistake. Still doesn’t excuse some of those sellers on the eBay, though.
