Detective Comics #900/#19 an April Fool's joke?

Disclaimer: I was once a heavy comic buyer (focusing on the two big companies since the late 1970s, and bought a lot of Image/Dark Horse as well), and the New 52 brought me back to DC after a very long absence. I currently buy/read Aquaman, Demon Knights, Detective and Justice League. For the most part, I like them enough to continue, though I am considering dropping Demon Knights.

Was the $7.99 Detective Comics #19 (the 900th issue!) that came out this week meant to be a horrible April Fool's joke? I expected a bonus size (and priced) issue, but $8? Okay, if it were 2.5x normal size, that'd still be okay...

Though deflated by the price, I was at least looking forward to seeing an excellent Batman tale, particularly in the Detective style, so I got it from my pull box, paid and went off to lunch.

What did I later discover?

Spoiler

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Several poorly written Man-Bat interludes. Brief shots of Alfred, Batman, Batwoman and Nightwing. Zasaz and Emperor Penguin make tiny appearances, and Oswald is in there for a second. Oh, and a single small panel flashback that shows Joker. That's pretty much it. No big Batman tale, no rogue's gallery, no clever retrospective, either in art or in prose.

Nothing that makes Detective worthwhile, and certainly nothing that would make people want to continue reading it for another 900 issues.

I've seen tons of upsells, promos and cash-grabs - having lived through Secret Wars, the poly-bag phase, included coupons, limited edition trading cards, chromium covers and more "death" stories than anyone needs to read - and this may be the most disappointing of all of them. I know it wasn't meant as a prank, but at least had that been the case I would be less flabbergasted.

*sigh*

Sorry, just wanted to whine a bit. If you're a casual comic fan (particularly a Batman fan), don't waste your time or money on this book. There's plenty of other stuff out there...and you can get 2 books for the price of this one and have a couple bucks left over for an icy beverage.

- M