Coming out in December is a facsimile edition of Detective Comics issue 500, the big thick issue-versary release from 1981. Detective Comics is a series that began in 1937, although it really picked up steam in 1939, when issue 27 introduced a little character called “The Batman”. Reaching issue 500 is an achievement for any monthly, and a thick comic with seven short stories — including one written by the creator of The Shadow — seemed just what was called for. I bought this one off of the newsstand when it came out, so I hate hearing that it’s a 45 year old classic now (Detective Comics passed issue 1000 over 7 years ago and continues to roll on.

But why am I mentioning it in this Peanuts blog?

It’s because of one story, the shortest in the book, a mere 2 pages. The art is by a comics great and my pal, Walter Simonson. The writing is credited to Len Wein, who (with talented artists) created the Swamp Thing,  and Wolverine. He described what would be in the pictures. But the text? That was pure Snoopy. Len and Walter had taken the text of Snoopy’s dark-and-stormy-night novel and turned it into a Batman tale.

If you want this, head to your local comic shop now and ask to preorder it. There are three versions — the standard one, with a normal reproduction of the cover ($7.99); the one that uses shiny foil on the cover ($10.99), and the cover that will be basically blank except for the logo ($8.99 — people get these if they want someone to draw a custom cover on the book.)

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