Detective Comics #643

My very first credit. Not actually the first comic I'd worked on—at least a half dozen had come out that I'd been the co-assistant editor on, but they all had Kelley Puckett's name on them, since Kelley was the assistant when at least the script had been written and, in some cases, had seen the art through nearly to completion before he left to go freelance. But this was the first issue that I'd worked on from script to printer.

Sharing a credit box with the legendary Dennis O'Neil was, of course, an unbelievable thrill and as a nice bonus, it was written by the great Peter Milligan—the last issue of Detective Comics he wrote during his brief but memorable run, so I just got to sneak in under the wire there.

And it was by Jim Aparo, my favorite Batman artist and the guy who'd been the impetus for me to go into comics in the first place. Naturally, being the nicest guy in the world, when I told him how pleased I was that my first credit was in a book he'd drawn, he sent me the page.

He even added what was for him a fairly effusive note.

I still can't believe I got to work with that guy.