Anybody remember Detective Comics?
More specifically, anybody remember the period that DC supersized their mags so as to charge more, and to charge more, they threw in some filler.
But in Detective Comics, there was a back of magazine filler feature called The Manhunter, a.k.a. Paul Kirk (every bit as superheroish as our intrepid and enterprising James Kirk). It was well scripted, well drawn, and the themes and plot were a bit darker and superior (though that wasn't the reason) to the front of mag Batman feature. (I recall my brother and I waiting anxiously for each installment... of the back feature!)
And toward the end, it kind of made its way to the front, so to speak, as Bats himself wound up being in it. But would anyone agree that this might have really planted the seeds of making "The Dark Knight" a reality and such a hit?
It had intriguing intrigue, far-out (for its time) martial arts fighting, biotech themes, world order conspiracy themes, a way cool costume, and the guy wasn't afraid to do a bad guy in.
At the end, I think DC had the hero get killed. My brother and I were waiting for a full-blown series with Paul Kirk (maybe even command a sta... nah!)
If I recall correctly, the artist/writer was one talented guy by the name of Walter Simonson, with a distinctive sig (... whatever these characters' real names are... ).