Batman #400: BATMAN or SUPERMAN

REPOST: IN HONOR OF BATMAN, DARK KNIGHT RISING COMING OUT TODAY

Batman #400 was issued October, 1986.  It features a special introduction by Stephen King.  King's topic of choice. . . Batman or Superman.

This special introduction its on inside front and inside back covers.  

QUESTIONS THAT MATTER:

King writes: "When I was a kid there were certain questions which came up and had to be answered. . . or at least aired, if finding a conclusive answer proved impossible.

He then offers us a quick list of questions that had to be answered:

• Whether or not Don Larsen's World series no-hitter was skill, fate, or just dumb luck.
• What was at the center of golf balls.  
• Why all the Disney characters wore gloves.
• Was there such a thing as a complete set of green Davy Crockett trading cards.  King writes, "The red ones were easy, but the green ones were weirdly scarce."
• Here's one I've given some time to: Would you come out in China upside down i it was really possible to dig all the way through the earth to the other side.  (And, may I add. . . at what point are you upside down?)

"These were questions asked and answered after you were too tired to swim out to the raft anymore and had to crash out on the beach, or when you were walking home from the baseball field in summer's sweet dusk with your feet burning inside your sneakers, or before you fell asleep on camp-outs."

Of course, this is exactly what we are treated to in the movie Stand By Me.  Questions kids ponder.  And. . . if Mickey is a mouse, Pluto is a dog. . . what's Goofy? 

And then there was this question: Who do you like better, Superman or Batman?

Before I tell you King's preference -- I took an unofficial poll.  I discovered a little generation gap.  Teens and adults pretty quickly choose Batman.  Children were divided, but Superman was still pretty popular with the kiddos.  We, it turns out, are a house divided!  The nine year old was offended anyone would think Batman was better than Superman.  She had not considered that anyone might hold a varying opinion.

King's vote: Batman.  (Come on, no surprise there, right?  He's writing the intro in the Batman comic.  I guess he would have had to do some more soul searching if D.C. had asked him to write an introduction!)

He assures us that he still "digs" Superman, because he's the "good" guy.  However, King explains that Superman is a little removed from the rest of us.  He can't be beat!  There's Kryptonite, even red and yellow Kryptonite, but "Batman was just a guy.  A rich guy, yes.  A strong guy, granted.  a smart guy, you bet.  But. . . he couldn't fly.  I think that formed my preference more than anything else."

FLIGHT: 

King discusses the first Superman movie, and the tagline, "You'll Believe A Man can Fly."  He didn't!  He didn't believe it in the movie or the comic books.  "Ironically, the closest I ever came to believing it was in the TV series."  Interesting!  I love that old TV series.  And so do my kids.  We've watched them all, over and over.  "DON'T CALL ME CHIEF!"

King says the Batman TV show was "unpleasantly campy."  I must agree!  I saw it recently, and it pained me.  But, the actors were awesome.  They were trying to make it feel like a comic book; but in that vein, the Dick Tracy movie leads the pack, I think. 

"But when Batman swung down into the Joker's hideout on a rope or stopped The Penguin from dropping Robin into a bucket of boiling hog-fat with a well-thrown Batarang, I believed.  These were not likely things, I freely grand you that, but they were possible things.  I could believe in a Caped Crusader who swung on ropes, threw boomerangs with deadly accuracy, and drove like Richard Petty getting a pregnant woman to the hospital." 

(He also says he had trouble believing in Super-breath.)

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Batman, King explains, really was a detective.  

"He had to be a detective.  He couldn't rely on super-breath to return Gotham city to its proper place after the crime had happened; he had to catch The Riddler or whomever the villain might be before he could jump start those nuclear jets.  Like Sherlock Holmes, Batman looked at the tracks the crooks left; he took finger prints; he picked up hairs from the scene of the crime and took testimony.  He kept files -- also a la Homes -- on the modus operandi of various criminals. He searched for patterns, knowing -- as all the great detectives have -- that if a pattern can be found, you can be there waiting for the criminal at his next stop."

THE DARK SIDE

So what's really up, Mr. King?  What's the bottom line?  

"Maybe the real reason that Batman appealed to me more than the other guy: There was something sinister about him.  That's right.  you heard me.  Sinister."

And this is where the article gets real sweet, my friends.  Because, remember, I love old radio, right?  And King now compares Batman to The Shadow.  I loved the shadow! 

Batman, King says, is like a vampire -- because he is a creature of the night.  All the more a comparison, as we now know that Superman gets his power from our sun.  Thus, making Superman all the more a day creature, and Batman a night creature!

"Oh, yeah, you saw him fighting crime in the day once in a while, but mostly he was a shape in the shadows or a grim-faced man-thing crashing through a window at some small hour of the morning, his cape floating around him like a great shadow.  In those Batman-busts-in-panels, you almost always saw a horrid species of fear on the faces of the hoods he was about to flush down the toilet, and I always flet a strong sense of identity with those expressions.  yeah, I thought (and still do think), sitting under a tree in our backyard, or maybe in the tub, or on the john (or, as a kid, under the covers with a flashlight).  Yeah, that's right, they should look scared, I'd sure be scared if something like that busted in one me.  I'd be scared even if I wasn't doing something wrong."

As if to give great credibility to this line of argument, the last page of the comic -- the page facing this exposition of Batman, is a series of night scenes,w tih Batman's cape wavering around him.  The Bat signal flashes in the sky. . .

"The night was his time; the shadows were his place; like the bat from which he took his name, he saw with his hands and feet and ears.  as Bruce Wayne, he was cheerful poshy, full of savoir faire and bonhomie, a fellow easily imagined in front of the fire in his book-line library with a balloon glass of brandy and a bowl of Cheez Doodles near at hand.  But when the Bat-Signal floated against one of Gotham's skyscrapers (or perhaps the underside of a handy passing cloud) a grim and unsmiling creature emerged from the Bat-Cave.  You could shoot him and he would bleed. . . you could crank him a good one on the head and he would fold up (at least for a while ). . . but you could never, never stop him."

STEPHEN KING CONGRATULATES BATMAN

King closes by noting that Batman was on the rise (1986) and he writes:

"I'd like to congratulate the Caped Crusader on his long and valiant history, thank him for the hours of pleasure he has given me, and wish him many more years of heroic crime-busting. 

Go get'em, Big Guy.  May your Bat-Signal never fall, your Batmobile never run out of the nuclear pellets it runs on your utility belt never come up fatally under-stocked at the wrong moment. 

And please, never come busting through my skylight int he middle of the night.  You'd probably scare me into a brain hemorrhage. . . and besides, Big Guy, i'm on your side.
I always was.
--Stephen King"

That's nice, it's really really nice.  Even sweet.  

I'll weigh in on my opinion -- Batman or Superman -- in the comments section, and invite you to do the same.

Question is: WHO DO YOU PREFER, BATMAN OR SUPERMAN?

Book Formats

photo credit: HERE

Collecting Stephen King can mean purchasing multiple formats of the same book. 

I decided with Just After Sunset that I was n o long going to buy first edition hardbacks.  I'm not sure the new books are really collectible, because they print so many copies.  Better to save my money, or buy special editions of the book.  Besides. . . someone usually ends up giving me a copy of King's latest book!

When I do buy a hardcover, because it is a special edition, it is usually not what I choose to read.  In fact, for just sitting around and reading, I prefer an old paperback !  My wife usually gets the book on Kindle.  But my number one preferred way to read is the audio version.  What does this mean?  It means I pay two or three times for each book!

Formats King's books come in:
1. Hardcover first edition.  Would anyone really read their first edition?  My wife read my Dark Tower Seven first edition.  But then she bought an artist edition.

2. Audio book.  The audio edition is usually released the same day as the hardcover.  Audible had 11.22.63 at midnight the day of it's release.  By the way, transferring the audible format to disk is very easy, for those of us who still have CD players in our car!

3. Kindle.  Also usually released the same time as the book, the Kindle edition is instant.  In fact, you can start reading with Kindle quicker than the hardcover.  Why?  Because how many bookstores are open at midnight for a Stephen King book?  I must be very old, but e-books are still difficult for me!  I feel like the words are stuck under glass.

4. Paperback.  When King wrote as Bachman, his books were released as simple paperbacks.  It's hard to imagine a King book now coming out in paperback.  Of course, King gave us "Stephen King Goes To The Movies" which was a paperback.  But it was a set of stories that had already be released.  Often the selling point for a paperback is either a new introduction or a preview of the upcoming Hardcover.

5. Special publishers.  Cemetery Dance and Donald M. Grant sometimes offer a special edition of King's newest book.  Cemetery Dance did a beautiful job with Full Dark, No stars!  And, this was the format I chose to spend money on, instead of the hardback first edition.  Let's face it, there is only so much room on shelves that loved ones are willing to devote wholly to Stephen King!  There still has to be room for Dickens, Bradbury and McCammon.  Wind Through The Keyhole will be offered by two publishers, Donald M. Grant and Scribner. 

6. British editions.  Some collectors make sure to buy the British edition since the cover is different and there might be other minor changes.  I am not sure that other foreign editions are really collectible.  (However, there is a German bootleg edition of IT that's worht a pretty penny.)

7. Signed editions.  Signed come in two types: Signed first editions from the publishers, and signed first editions that the reader has taken to a bookstore and gotten signed.  Sometimes the latter had special inscriptions included with the signature.  "Flat signed" is more valuable, but I always think the ones that are actually inscribed by King are a lot cooler!  These days, to get a signed copy from the publisher usually means entering a lottery.  They limit these -- because the author can only humanly sign so many copies, and to retain the value of the book.  Scribner actually prints a different price on the flap of the book if the book is signed.  So Under The Dome, signed, is marked as $200.  I like that because I think it helps the book retain at least that base value!  Also, it helps me remember which book cover goes with which book.

8. Single volumes previously published in a collection.  Sometimes popular stories that were part of a larger collection are later released individually as small paperbacks.  This usually happens when the story becomes a movie.  Thus there are single, paperback editions of books like The Mist. The Bachman books were released under the Bachman name as single paperbacks, then in a big collection with King's name on them.  You can now buy them individually under the King name.  All, except Rage, which King pulled from publication.

9. Single volumes later published together.  Green Mile fits this description best.  It was given to the public one small paperback at a time and only later as a first edition hardcover.

10. Gimmicks.  That's all I can call some editions!  Desperation and The Regulators released shrink wrapped together with a night light.  I have this somewhere. . . but who knows where!  Because to keep it "cool" it can't be taken out of the shrink wrap.  Personally, I am not a fan of keeping things shrink wrapped.  Other gimmicks have included a My Pretty Pony with a clock, Cemetery Dance's Blockade Billy with a baseball card (cool!). . . and a lot more!

11. Red Leather Bound editions.  I don't know if the Stephen King Library is still making these, but they were interesting!  No book cover, the selling point is the red leather binding with gold letters.  I have a few copies, but again, do not think I want to devote the shelf space to the entire set because they are all kind of the same!

12. Short stories.  Short stories can appear in magazines or anthologies.  These usually don't jump in value a lot.  I like the magazines, actually.  Old Twilight Zone magazines and stuff like that.  Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction published the true first editions of The Gunslinger.  They are fun to try to hunt down -- but that first one is a doozy to try and get your hands on!  King's short stories often appear in anthologies.  The Mist first appeared in Dark Forces. 

13. Introductions.  Ever notice that the old books are re-released with new introductions.  Does that make me buy the book again?  Not usually.  There is a new introduction to Salem's Lot.

14. Revisions.  Some books have been changed!  Gasp.  In particular, The Stand and the first Dark Tower come to mind.  I'm not clear if changes were made to the entire series of Dark Tower books throughout, or just the first novel.  I am not a pureist and always enjoy it when king gives us another version or edition of a story we love.

15. Movie tie-ins.  What the cover of your Different Seasons looks like might depend on which movie was coming out at the time. 

The Red Leather Letter

This is interesting!

Peter Hansen wrote to tell me about a letter is rumored to appear in some of the red leather editions of King's books.  Hansen explains:

I'm an avid collector of Stephen King, with a bunch of rare items, a collection growing quite often. However, some items that are not so easy to get hold on, is a one-page letter by King, put in some of the red leather SK Library books. It's titled From the Desk of Stephen King and is from 1998. Do you have that letter in one of your books?


I do have a scan of a four-page letter titled A Note from Stephen King. There is also rumors of a third letter titled Welcome to the Library from about 1990 or so. It could be a mis-title or an early title for one of the above letters; or it's own stand-alone letter.

 
If anyone has one of these letters, please contact me (davidattalkstephenking@yahoo.com).  A scan of the letter Hansen has access to is posted below.  It is very readable if you click on the image.
 

Stephen King pens introduction to LORD OF THE FLIES

Lord of the Flies is a classic. One of those wonderful books forced down your throat in either junior high or high school. The result: It often takes young people a while to realize what a gem this book is. Somehow books we're required to read don't seem as beautiful as novels we have to sneak past our parents. But, in my opinion, this one ranks up there with Catcher in the Rye. It's wonderful. Like Catcher, the true darker nature of childhood is captured.

Guardian has posted news that Stephen King has written a new introduction to Lord of the Flies. Alison Flood writes that the new introduction is "part of celebrations later this summer to mark 100 years since Golding's birth." She says that when King was approached by publishers, he "jumped" at the chance to write the introduction. In fact, he turned in his work early! It has been described as autobiographical -- which is in line with the way King usually discusses books. They are part of his story.

Lord of the Flies has played a role in King literature before. Flood notes that King's fictional town of Castle Rock is named "after the area that Jack makes his fort in Golding's novel." She also points out that a copy of Lord of the Flies "plays a role in King's novel Hearts in Atlantis."

Even without King's introduction, this is a book you should own and read! http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/11/stephen-king-william-golding-centenary

Introductions

I think it's a great credit to Stephen King that I often enjoy his personal notes on a book as much as the book itself. This usually comes in the form of an introduction or afterword. The chatty introduction at the beginning of night Shift is a personal favorite. The first I read was the two part introduction to The Stand. King powerfully explained why he was issuing a new version of the book, and even asked that part of the introduction be read before the purchase. That's actually pretty bold.

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Most recently the introduction to Nightmares and Dreamscapes caught my attention. King not only admitted to believing just about anything. . . but revealed that if there were to be anymore collections they would have to contain all new stuff since he was dipping deep into his reserves.

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These introductions have also included books on tape. (Yes, they started out on TAPE not CD). I remember listening with interest as King nervously gave an introduction to the Gunslinger and explained why it is a benefit when an author reads his own work.

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These introductions are much more interesting than the common interview. Interviews tread over the same questions and get, frankly, boring. But King has the ability to sit you down and talk right to you. Just move that interviewer out of the way and it gets a lot better.

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The explanation "Why i was Richard Bachman" was wonderful! And I even enjoyed the note at the end of Dreamcatcher explaining that the book had been written out by hand with a pen.

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Of course, you have to get used to some things when you read an introduction by King.

1. Your name is now "constant reader."

2. King is more transparent than most artist. It can be unnerving.

3. King assumes you agree with him and his views on life.

4. King is not about to give you a normal introduction full of typical "thank you's."

King's introductions are strong enough to resell books. That's how they got those paperback copies of Kings early books to be repackaged and sold as oversized paperbacks. King fans will buy a book again for a new introduction (like, uh, Stephen King Goes To The Movies).

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If King never gave us On Writing, there would still be a pretty easy means of putting together an autobiography just by his introductions.