Elseworlds80-Page Giant is an 80-page collection of Elseworlds stories published by DC Comics. The collection was withdrawn and pulped after DC became concerned about a scene in one of the stories.
Publication history
It included the stories "Superman Jr. Is No More!", featuring the Super-Sons, and "Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter", among others. However, DC Comics President Paul Levitz deemed the Letitia Lerner story inappropriate and ordered the press run halted and the printed issues destroyed. However, around 2,000 copies of the issue had already been shipped to the UK. Although DC attempted to recall these copies, they quickly became a highly sought after collector's item, and estimates of available copies range between 700 and 2,000. The Letitia Lerner story earned two Eisner Awards, however, and was later republished in the pages of Bizarro Comics. The Super-Sons story was republished in Batman/Superman: Saga of the Super Sons.
Contents
The following stories were included:
The Reaching Hand: A Lovecraftian gothic horror tale about detective Bruce Wayne's investigation into the murder of Elongated Man and other stretching characters. By D. Curtis Johnson and Aaron Lopresti.
Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter. Ma and Pa Kent decide to finally risk a night out, leaving their super-powered baby with a baby-sitter who is unaware of how difficult he is to control. By Kyle Baker and Elizabeth Glass.
Superman Jr. Is No More!: The Super-Sons, Batman Jr. and Superman Jr., return in a tale that puts their friendship, and their lives, on the line. By Bob Haney and Kieron Dwyer.
Worlds Apart: Baby Kal-El's rocketship accidentally crashes into the Wayne family, causing young Bruce to declare a never-ending war against "that damn baby". By Chuck Dixon, Trevor Von Eeden, and Josef Rubinstein.
Silver Age Elseworlds: A series of gag covers for Elseworlds tales, done in the style of the Silver Age, created by Mark Waid and Ty Templeton, including:
*Luthor's Daughter, Wonder Woman: Lex Luthor goes back in time and becomes Wonder Woman's father.
*Batman with Robin, the Squid Wonder: Batman fights crime under the sea.
*The Golden Age Teen Titans in Zoot Suit Riot!: Dr. Fate Jr., Kid Spectre, Li'l Atom, the Amazon Prince, the Golden Age Arsenal, and Stripesy go up against Zoot Alores, the haberdasher of hate.
*Batman with Eve in The Garden of Evil: Batman protects Eve from a Joker-faced serpent in the Garden of Eden. Eve begins to notice that Adam is never around when Batman appears.
Dark Night of the Golden Kingdom: A parody of the famous Elseworlds tale Kingdom Come. Batman is dead and Superman left the Earth twenty years ago, partially because he is tired and he cannot stand the beeping of Jimmy Olsen's watch. It is now up to Aquahawk, Martian Manhuntress, Negative Woman, and Green Canary to fight against the composite Joker-Luthor. By Tom Peyer and Ariel Olivetti.
2012 reissue
The entire issue was reprinted as DC Comics Presents: Elseworlds 100-Page Spectacular #1 with a cover date of January 2012 and a cover price of $7.99 US. It went on sale December 28, 2011. This reissue included one story not included in the original 1999 edition: The Berlin Batman by Paul Pope, a tale of a Jewish Batman in 1939 Berlin. This story originally appeared in The Batman Chronicles #11, Winter 1998.