Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe (1985) 2
Apr 1985
06/29/21 - Cover
Another gorgeous cover by George Perez.
06/30/21 - Inside Front Cover / Editorial, Pronunciation Guide
The editorial is the same one that ran in the first issue. The pronunciation guide includes Big Barda? Really?
Automan, according to my research, only had 4 appearances prior to Who’s Who and 3 of them were in the 1960s. His next appearance after Who’s Who wasn’t until 2004.
Azrael’s first appearance occurred the same month as this issue of Who’s Who. He was only around for a couple years but he appeared in a couple dozen comic books in that time.
07/02/21 - Page 2 / Babe
Babe was a member of Atari Force and first appeared in Atari Force 1 (Jan 1984).
07/03/21 - Page 3 / Balloon Buster
Balloon Buster was an American pilot during World War I. He first appeared in All-American Men of War 112 (Dec 1965). He appeared in three more issues of All-American Men of War. He also starred in a story that appeared in Our Fighting Forces 133 (Oct 1971). He crossed paths with Enemy Ace in a three-part story that began in Star Spangled War Stories 181 (Aug 1974) and ended in Star Spangled War Stories 183 (Dec 1974). He crossed paths again with Enemy Ace in stories that ran in Unknown Soldier 262 (Apr 1982) through 267 (Sep 1982).
07/04/21 - Page 4 / Baron Bedlam
Baron Bedlam first appeared in Batman and the Outsiders 1 (Aug 1983). Most of his subsequent appearances were in the pages of Batman and the Outsiders, Adventures of the Outsiders, and Outsiders.
07/05/21 - Page 5 / Baron Blitzkrieg
Baron Blitzkrieg was a great villain for All-Star Squadron. I love how he was used in that book. It didn’t occur to me until much later that the colors of his costume (yellow, pink, orange) bore no resemblance to the incredibly dark character that he was.
07/06/21 - Page 6 / Baron Winters
Baron Winters strikes me as similar to the Phantom Stranger, which might explain why he didn’t have many appearances beyond those in his own series, Night Force.
07/07/21 - Page 7 / The Barren Earth
The Barren Earth stories first appeared as a backup feature in Warlord. The Who’s Who entry says the first appearance of the Barren Earth was in Warlord 55, but according to the DC Database the first appearance was in Warlord 63. The Barren Earth was a backup feature in Warlord for a couple years. It had its own 4-issue mini-series after it was pulled from the pages of Warlord.
07/08/21 - Page 8 / Batcave
The Batcave did not have a name when it first appeared. It was described as an underground hangar at that time. Over the years there have been many Batcaves. There is no clear indication in this entry if this is the Batcave of Earth-1, Earth-2, or some other Earth. There was a Batcave 2, which is mentioned briefly in this entry. It was located in an abandoned subway tunnel in Gotham. The Batcave 2 first appeared in Detective Comics 470 (Jun 1977). It was used by the Outsiders in the mid-1980s.
07/09/21 - Page 9 / Batgirl
There have been many iterations of Batgirl but at the time this issue of Who’s Who was published there had been just two. The first Batgirl (Betty Kane) gets a brief mention but this entry is focused for the most part on Barbara Gordon. Her only crime fighting identity up to this point had been as Batgirl. The Killing Joke was still a few years away at this point.
Barbara Gordon did not have her own comic book at the time but she made numerous appearances in Detective Comics (359-431), Batman Family (1-20), and Detective Comics (481-519). She didn’t appear in every issue of Detective Comics in those runs. Batgirl’s first appearance in Detective Comics 359 was less than a year before her first appearance in the Batman TV show of the 1960s.
Barbara Gordon is the Associate Director of Humanities Research and Development for an unnamed organization. It is unclear if this is a university or a non-governmental organization (NGO), or what it is.
07/10/21 - Page 10 / Bat Lash
Bat Lash has his own series in the late 1960s but it was canceled after 7 issues. He made appearances in All-Star Western, Jonah Hex, and Weird Western Tales prior to this issue of Who’s Who.
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