Does Detective Comics ever have other detectives?

[Rory]

So we're on to Issue 30 of Detective Comics and I was wondering if they will ever have another detective feature in the comic? I remember something like Detective Chimp existing in the DC Universe (sorry I have only been reading from the New 52) and wanted to know if he will get to take over at some point.
I think there is enough Batman in the DC Universe. There's what 5+ titles?

I also should ask the same of Action Comics, does it ever switch heroes?

[Lee Stone]

So we're on to Issue 30 of Detective Comics and I was wondering if they will ever have another detective feature in the comic? I remember something like Detective Chimp existing in the DC Universe (sorry I have only been reading from the New 52) and wanted to know if he will get to take over at some point.
I think there is enough Batman in the DC Universe. There's what 5+ titles?

I also should ask the same of Action Comics, does it ever switch heroes?

Nope.
The names Detective Comics and Action Comics are kept around only because they were DC's first titles for Batman and Superman.

The Detective and Action themes went away just prior to the Silver Age.

[Rory]

Nope.
The names Detective Comics and Action Comics are kept around only because they were DC's first titles for Batman and Superman.

The Detective and Action themes went away just prior to the Silver Age.

Thanks, I love how fast people respond on these boards

[tako]

Action Comics USED to feature characters other than Superman.
Detective Comics USED to feature characters other than Batman, both before and after his introduction. These were anthology books, that had like 10-11 stories. Eventually, Batman became the main and only feature.

[PretenderNX01]

While Batman was dead, Detective Comics featured the new Batwoman but that was old 52.

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[Pharozonk]

Wasn't Slam Bradley the star of Detective Comics before Batman was created?

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

Wasn't Slam Bradley the star of Detective Comics before Batman was created?

Yep, also him, Elongated Man, and Sherlock Holmes guest appeared in the 50th anniversary issue of Baman's first appearance in Detective

[John Venus]

Elongated Man had his own feature in Detective Comics for a while too.

[WillieMorgan]

Yeah, both 'Action' and 'Detective' Comics featured back-up stories during the Golden Age.

You asked about 'Action Comics' too. Issue #1, in 1938 (apart from the debut of Superman) also featured Zatara The Magician. Zatanna's father.

[K. Jones]

Does it ever? Does it ever!

It depends. The stuff cited above tends to sum it up pretty well. Slam Bradley predates Batman. Elongated Man featured a lot.

But it also depends on the writer - Scott Snyder's Detective run featured Jim Gordon as a co-lead. The current Manapul/Buccellato stuff features Harvey Bullock as a co-lead. Greg Rucka's run featured a boat-load of Renee Montoya-centric stories.

It needs to be done more!

[Thor2014]

The Dollar Comic days were great with multiple features. Personally, I think Detective and Action would be good launching grounds to spin-off characters into solos. Have Superman or Batman in the first half and then have try-out runs in the back that could be used basically as pilot runs. The Helena Wayne Huntress was a backup in Wonder Woman for years and would probably have gotten a solo book if COIE wasn't o the horizon.

Hawkman and Firestorm would be good candidates for ongoing back-up features since they haven't been able to hold onto their solo books in the New 52 era. On the Batman side maybe Zatanna, Azrael, or Martian Manhunter.

[the4thpip]

Would be nice to have Elongated Man backups back in 'Tec.

[Babylon23]

Martian Manhunter used to have a backup feature in Detective, as did Jason Bard. Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson's Manhunter. GReen Arrow and Black Canary were in the backup stories in the early 80's pre-Crisis Detective book.

[Lorendiac]

Martian Manhunter used to have a backup feature in Detective, as did Jason Bard. Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson's Manhunter. GReen Arrow and Black Canary were in the backup stories in the early 80's pre-Crisis Detective book.

One thing about that -- when 'Tec was reduced from being a Dollar Comics (64 pages with several stories each month) to a regular-sized 32 pages (counting the ads and letter columns), Barbara Gordon managed to stick around as the regular backup feature for a while, while Batman still had the longer lead feature each month -- and usually hogged the cover art, too. (Babs as "Batgirl" had already been one of several back-up stars in the Dollar days in the late 1970s). I think she lasted about another year and a half after 'Tec was downsized, then she was replaced in the back pages of each issue by Green Arrow for the remainder of the "Pre-Crisis" era of the title, as you said.

(There were also at least a couple of Catwoman backups in issues of 'Tec, somewhere along the line in the early 80s, but Selina never settled down for a long stay as a "regular feature.")

As a matter of fact, after Babs stopped being a "regular back-up" in 'Tec, I think she was scarcely heard from again anywhere until she got crippled in "The Killing Joke" several years later. DC had basically lost interest in her anyway, long before that graphic novel came out, which helps to explain why the editors were so willing to let Alan Moore's story become "canonical" and provide a handy-dandy excuse for why there was no longer any "Batgirl" running around in the Post-Crisis DCU.

P.S. I think I own copies of all the "Dollar" issues of 'Tec. Other characters who were featured in one or more adventures within its pages during that era included Robin (Dick Grayson -- who, like Batgirl, had a regular feature for a while; this was right before Wolfman and Perez started "The New Teen Titans" and gave him a different way to stay in the public eye); Elongated Man; The Human Target; Man-Bat; The Atom (at least once); Roy Raymond with his "Impossible . . . But True!" television show; a feature called "Tales of Gotham City" which usually invented a new cast of characters for the purposes of each story instead of using any superheroes or cops as permanent fixtures; at least one adventure featuring Alfred Pennyworth; and at least one story featuring a Steve Ditko creation called "The Odd Man."

And I nearly forgot that Black Lightning was around for at least a few issues! I wonder who else has slipped my mind?

[Mr. Mastermind]

Rucka's Batwoman is one of the best Detective runs, just for the art alone.