DETECTIVE COMICS #522

"SNOW BLIND"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Pablo Marcos
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: In the Himalayas, Batman and his guide, Chi, are nearly buried by an avalanche. Batman spots a large figure escaping into the night, then he and Chi find a shelter and settle in for the night. As they rest, Batman recalls the circumstances that brought him to the icy mountains: in the Gotham Picture News, he spied a photo of Klaus Kristin, the Abomninable Snowman, traveling with a group of Tibetan pilgrims. Batman took the Batplane to Tibet, where he linked up with Chi and began his search for Kristin.

Morning comes and Batman and Chi continue their trek. Eventually they find Kristin at the Lake of Buddha. Batman attempts to apprehend Kristin, but he and his quarry fall into the lake and Batman is knocked out. Kristin saves him but is shot by a Tibetan guard in the process. He falls into the water and swims away. Batman and Chi follow him again, to Mount Kalais, where the Abominable Snowman attacks on a mountain path. The Snowman defeats Batman, then lumbers away. But Batman survives and again takes up his pursuit.

The Caped Crusader finds Kristin in a small Buddhist shrine, where the Abomnibale Snowman also shows himself and attacks again. Batman blinds this Snowman as he realizes that he must actually be Kristin's father, the true Yeti. Kristin, dying from his gunshot wound, begs Batman to let him stay. The Yeti picks up his dying son and walks away, leaving Batman to watch their departure.

DETECTIVE COMICS #521

"CAT TALE"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Sal Trapani
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Vicki Vale leaves the Gotham Picture News office and is attacked and mauled by Catwoman -- but then Selina Kyle awakens, realizing this is the latest iteration of a recurring dream. Selina calls Wayne Manor and asks to speak with Bruce Wayne, but Alfred tells her Bruce is asleep. Believing Alfred is lying and Bruce is actually with Vicki, Selina angrily hangs up. But in truth, Bruce is out as the Batman, rescuing a young woman from a gang called the Lords, who kidnapped the girl and requested Batman's presence as revenge for the Darknight Detective encroaching on their territory a while back.

Meanwhile, Catwoman sneaks into Vicki's apartment while she sleeps. When Vicki awakens, Catwoman tells her to stay away from Bruce, then leaves. The next morning, Vicki and Bruce meet for breakfast, and Vicki tells Bruce about Catwoman's visit. She believes it to be a cry for help, but Bruce tells her that he loves Vicki, and Selina can take care of herself. But Catwoman watches from a nearby rooftop and vows to fight Vicki over Bruce's love.

Continuity Notes: So here's a weird one: the opening pages depicting Catwoman's dream feature an omniscient narrator telling us that Vicki's mom used to warn her about Gotham City, and mentioning that Vicki was recently promoted to editor-in-chief of the Picture News. But since it's Catwoman's dream, is this true?! It feels like a sloppy way to script the scene.

BATMAN #342

"REQUIEM FOR A HERO"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Letterer: Shelly Leferman | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: In the Batcave beneath Wayne Manor, Doctor Thirteen finds Man-Bat attacking Batman. Thirteen tries to help, allowing Batman to get free and zap Man-Bat with Thirteen's sonar gun. Man-Bat escapes, and Batman emerges onto the Wayne grounds with an injured Thirteen. At the hospital, Batman and Commissioner Gordon are told that Thirteen will survive.

The next day, Bruce Wayne visits the apartment of Kirk and Francine Langstrom and their daughter, Rebecca, in Gotham's Crime Alley neighborhood. Francine explains that Kirk has been consumed by his Man-Bat persona thanks to his hatred of Batman. That night, Batman goes out in search of Man-Bat. He enters the extended network of caverns beneath the Wayne grounds, and eventually finds his quarry. Batman and Man-Bat fight, and Batman slips an antidote into Man-Bat's mouth -- but it fails to change him back to Kirk Langstrom. Instead, Man-Bat kicks Batman away and flies off, leaving the Caped Crusader behind, vowing to find a new cure for his one-time friend.

Continuity Notes: Commissioner Gordon loses his temper with Batman at the hospital, then reveals why: he received a threatning note in the morning's mail.

BATMAN #341

It was a dark and stormy night. A perfect night for...
"THE GHOST OF WAYNE MANSION"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: On a dark and stormy night, three kids race out of Wayne Manor, screaming about a ghost, and are found by a passing Gotham policeman. The next morning, Commissioner Gordon asks Bruce Wayne for permission to search the mansion, but Bruce -- worried Gordon might find the old Batcave -- refuses, so Gordon leaves to get permission from the house's cartetakers at the Gotham Historical Society instead. Later, Batman examines real-time footage of the manor on his computer, and finds that the secret entrance to the Batcave behind a grandfather clock is ajar. Batman races to the house to stop Gordon's search.

Meanwhile, Gordon enters the house with Miss Crum of the Historical Society, and with Doctor Terry Thirteen, a paranormal investigator who specializes in debunking ghosts. Gordon tells Thirteen that the night before, his officer saw the same "ghost" the kids saw. Meanwhile, Batman enters the mansion as well. He secretly sabotages Doctor Thirteen's "sonar gun", but when the "ghost" swoops past overhead, he follows it. After losing the ghost, Batman shows himself and asks Gordon for time to search the mansion alone. Gordon agrees, and leaves the house with Crum and Thirteen -- but Thirteen immediately slips back inside. Batman enters the Batcave to find that the "ghost" is actually Man-Bat -- and then the creature quickly subdues him. Meanwhile, Thirteen discovers the Batcave entrance and descends the stairs, to find Man-Bat holding the unconscious Batman.

Continuity Notes: Lots of them this issue! But we'll start with a sub-plot scene, where the mystery man who was released from Arkham Asylum in DETECTIVE COMICS #507 visits the Gotham Tobacconists Club, a group of the city's most powerful political movers and shakers. The man immediately blackmails the club members into backing him, and they declare that he is still the "boss" of Gotham City. The man then says that he is barred from running for office due to his time in Arkham, but that he has one of the mayoral candidates in his pocket and he wants to ensure that candidate is elected. (You probably realize who this guy is by now, but since the story hasn't revealed it yet, neither will I!)

BATMAN #339

"A SWEET KISS OF POISON..."
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Steve Mitchell
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: An exhausted Batman returns from a night of crime-fighting, with only a few hours to sleep before attending a Wayne Foundation board meeting as Bruce Wayne. After that meeting, Lucius Fox encourages Bruce to take a vacation, but the philanthropist refuses. Later, Bruce meets with mayoral candidate Hamilton Hill for lunch, in the middle of which a mystery woman kisses him, mistaking him for someone else. The woman leaves in a taxi, revealing herself to be Poison Ivy. She crosses Bruce's name off a list and prepares for her next target.

That night, Batman is about to thwart some smugglers at the waterfront when a sudden urge seizes him and he leaves, making his way to the Ambassador Hotel. There, he spots all the other members of the Wayne Foundation board waiting at the hotel entrance. Batman changes back to Bruce Wayne and joins his fellow board members in entering the hotel. Inside, Poison Ivy appears and explains that she drugged each of them with her kiss, and they will now obey her every command. Ivy orders the men to sign over the full assets of the Wayne Foundation to her, and one by one, they do so. She then orders them never to divulge what has happened. Most of the board members leave, but Bruce sneaks into the shadows and becomes Batman once more. However Poison Ivy is ready, and traps him with a choking vine, then escapes.

Batman returns to the Batcave to call Commissioner Gordon, but finds himself choking as he struggles to spit out the story of Poison Ivy.

BATMAN #338

"THIS SPORTING DEATH!"
Script: Gerry Conway | Plot Assist: Roy Thomas
Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Letters: John Costanza | Colos: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Late at night on the field of Gotham Stadium, a man in sports gear kills a sportswriter named Hank Klugmann. Later, Commissioner Gordon calls Batman to assist with the investigation, which is the latest in a series of sports-related murders. The next morning, Bruce Wayne inspects the field in the daylight, but finds no leads. Later that night, the Batman stakes out a Sunday Night Hockey game. The mysterious "Sportsman" skates onto the ice and blows up star player Pierre Foote with an exploding basketball. Batman chases the Sportsman out of the arena, but the villain escapes by throwing a razor-edged tennis raquet at the Caped Crusader.

The next day, Bruce Wayne visits Gotham's Sports World Mall, looking for leads on the raquet. As he asks a saleswoman about it, a shop buyer named Martin Mantle makes a break for it. Bruce follows, but loses Mantle. He changes to Batman and finds the Sportsman terrorizing the mall patrons. Batman falls into a pitching machine's net, and elicits a confession from the Sportsman -- he was an unathletic child, and his father, a sports physician, concocted a formula to make an athlete of anyone. He injected young Mantle with the formula, and the boy grew up to become a sports star, dominating every school and collegiate sport in which he participated. But eventually he learned that the formula in his veins was killing him, and he became the Sportsman to take revenge on all the sporting world.

Batman then triggers the pitching machine, which launches a ball at Mantle. Briefly stunned, the Sportsman is easily dispatched by Batman and arrested by the police.

BATMAN #335

"ASHES TO ASHES!"
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Paul Levitz

"The Lazarus Affair" -- and our overall look at Batman in the Seventies -- concludes with the May, 1981 issue of BATMAN. On Infinity Island, the Caped Crusader is offered a chance to join Ra's al Ghul, and -- after weighing the options -- he agrees.

But of course, Batman is bluffing. The funny thing is that everyone goes along with this in their own ways, but they all know it's a sham. Ra's al Ghul welcomes Batman into the family and sends him off with Talia for a tour of the island, then confides in his chief scientist that he knows Batman's agreement is insincere. Robin puts on a show of feeling betrayed, but secretly receives hand signals from Batman that let him know the Dark Knight is simply buying time. Even King Farady, who throws a punch at Batman over his betrayal, does it for show, as he also catches the hand signals, and even though he doesn't know what they mean, he understands this is a ruse.

So surely Batman, the world's greatest detective, must realize that no one believes him. Yet for whatever reason, everybody plays along... until they decided they're finished. For al Ghul, it happens when Talia escorts Batman into a room containing the Lazarus Pit. He decides at this point to go beat Batman up and turn him into a mutate. For Robin, Faraday, and Catwoman, it happens after they've been escorted back to the slave mines. Robin randomly decides that Batman needs them, so the group breaks free -- again -- and returns to the dome -- again -- to help Batman. From a story perspective, none of this seems to make any sense. We could've jumped straight from the opening page to al Ghul knocking Batman out and his friends fighting on his behalf -- but Wolfman needs to squeeze in some exposition, so he uses Batman's transparent ploy to work it in.

BATMAN #333 & #334

"THE CHINA SYNDROME!"
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Paul Levitz

As with the previous issue in the "Lazarus Affair" saga, BATMAN 333 begins with a one-page prologue -- this time it's a mysterious white-haired man in Nepal, listening for a signal from somewhere. And, for the first time in ten years, he receives it.

We then jump to Switzerland, where Batman is impersonating Gregorian Falstaff's right-hand man, Karlyle Krugerrand, in an attempt to gain access to Falstaff's safety deposit box. But the disguise is penetrated, and the Caped Crusader finds himself on the run from several agents of Falstaff's mysterious master. It becomes immediately clear in the subsequent pages that "The Lazarus Affair" is, at least in part, Marv Wolfman's tribute to the classic James Bond movies. Because if Bond winds up in Switzerland (or really, any exotic, snowy locale), it's pretty much guaranteed that he'll get involved in a high-speed ski chase -- which is exactly what happens here to Batman.

The Darknight Detective is shot in the arm, but nonetheless manages to elude his pursuers and meet up with Talia at their shared hotel suite. But when he changes to Bruce Wayne and attempts a romantic dinner with his traveling companion, he's attacked again -- suggesting that his enemies know his secret identity. So with dinner ruined, Bruce and Talia instead return to their room to knock boots before departing the next morning in a small plane for Hong Kong to meet with another contact, Feng-Wei. But after sneaking to the island through China, Bruce leaves Talia behind for this new rendezvous -- and is immediately captured by a sinister sea captain.

BATMAN #332

"THE LAZARUS AFFAIR: FALLOUT!"
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Paul Levitz

After a brief prologue that we'll look at in a moment, this week's BATMAN installments begin where last week's ended -- with Robin storming out of the Batcave after Batman has agreed to allow Talia to stay there. But Batman soon leaves his love behind to go investigate Gregorian Falstaff, and we learn some tidbits I don't think Len Wein intended when he created the character: specifically, that Falstaff was virtually unknown before three years ago, when he made all his money, and that he is operating as a front for someone else. This is confirmed a scene or two later, when Falstaff himself refers to a mysterious "master" while chatting with his lieutenant, Karlyle Krugerrand.

Batman deduces that Falstaff has been getting intel on Wayne Enterprises from Bruce Wayne's secretary, Caroline Crowne. The Caped Crusader payes Crowne a visit and saves her from being roughed up by a "mutate" on Falstaff's payroll. Crowne admits that she's only been spying on Bruce because Falstaff is holding her daughter hostage. Batman changes to Bruce and visits Falstaff, where he learns that the villain is seizing Wayne properties left and right. Later, back at the Batcave, Talia sedates Batman, but as she leaves to carry out a mysterious errand, she fails to realize he's still conscious.

BATMAN #330 & #331

"TARGET!" | "CLOSED CIRCUIT!"
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Dialogue: Michael Fleisher (issue 331)
Penciler: Irv Novick | Inkers: Vince Colletta (issue 330 & Frank McLaughlin (issue 331)
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Paul Levitz

And now we rejoin our story, already in progress... or so it seems when one dives into this issue. Don't get me wrong -- the story begins cleanly, with a setup introduced on the first page (specifically, a crook Batman sent up the river years ago is scheduled to be executed the next day, so he puts out a bounty -- he will pay ten million dollars in gold to anyone who can off Batman before he dies). But in terms of sub-plots, something's a bit off. Robin arrives early on to assist Batman in avoiding the various assassins who are now gunning for him. So far, so good -- until suddenly, Batman gives his partner the cold shoulder, and Robin realizes it's because this is the first time they've interacted since he announced that he was dropping out of college.

Now, look -- we haven't been reading every Batman-related story that came out around this time. Yes, we've covered BATMAN consistently; every issue dating back nearly two years now. And we've looked at a lot of consecutive DETECTIVE COMICS issues as well... but only the main stories. Both these series ran backup features, off-and-on, usually starring Robin and Batgirl. And I have to assume that Robin dropped out in one of those -- which is fine! But what strikes me odd about this is that Wolfman's script mentions it casually, almost in passing, as if we're supposed to know about it. And to the reader of 1980/81, that may well have been the case -- but you can't assume that all readers have been picking up every issue of every comic.

BATMAN #328 & #329

"DOUBLE JEOPARDY!" | "TWICE DIES THE BATMAN!"
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Paul Levitz

Look up top for a second, will you? No, not at the writing credit, which tells us that Marv Wolfman is now aboard as BATMAN's regular writer (for eight issues, anyway). Check out those story titles: "Double Jeopardy!" "Twice Dies the Batman!" Yep, you guessed it -- not only is Marv here, but Two-Face came with him! And on top of that, Wolfman is using these stories for a bit of a deep-dive into Batman's lore, which is always nice to see.

We begin in the Batcave, as Batman is taunted by a video message from Carl Ternion, who was recently tried and found not guilty of murder, but who -- in his message -- now brags to Batman that he did commit the crime. Protected by "double jeopardy" laws, he can never be tried for that crime again, but Batman nonetheless sets out to get to the bottom of Ternion's confession. As he investigates, the Darknight Detective finds that Ternion is dating Gilda Stevens, the ex-wife of Two-Face, who was recently widowed when her second husband, David, was murdered.

So here's the thing: Wolfman plays this as a mystery, but it really isn't one. Besides big clue in the title above, Ternion is depicted several times throughout part one with half his face obscured, or split down the middle through some means such as the divider between window panes as he looks outside. Combined with the fact that he's dating Harvey Dent's ex and has killed the man who murdered her husband (who was Harvey's former assistant when he was district attorney), it's quite obvious that Ternion is Two-Face in disguise.

BATMAN #326 & #327

"THIS WAY LIES MADNESS!" | "ASYLUM SINISTER!"
Writer: Len Wein | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin | Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterers: John Costanza (issue 326) & Ben Oda (issue 327) | Editor: Paul Levitz

Len Wein's run on BATMAN comes to an end with these two issues, and while not as strong as last week's Catwoman/Cat-Man saga, the story here isn't too bad. We open with Selina leaving Gotham City. After everyone immediately thought the worst of her when the Egyptian cat exhibit was stolen, she's decided she can't live (or love) among people who inherently don't trust her. After she departs, an angst-ridden Batman goes on patrol and stops a robbery, but the suspect escapes. However, Batman recognizes him as "Mad Dog" Markham, a criminal who should be incarcerated at Arkham Asylum. Batman visits Police Headquarters and learns of Commissioner Gordon's encounter last issue with the apparent work of "Kid Gloves" McConnell, another Arkham inmate.

Deciding that something is rotten in the asylum, Batman goes undercover as a crook named "Shank" Taylor and gets himself committed. Inside, he learns that the asylum is now being run by his old enemy Professor Milo. Batman eventually gets the better of Milo, and the sinister doctor is driven mad himself thanks to exposure to a special chemical he had prepared for the Caped Crusader.

Wein must be a fan of Milo; this is the second time we've seen him use the character (the first was in "Moon of the Wolf", and Milo here is scarred down the side of his face from his encounter with the werewolf he created in that tale). Considering Wein was born in 1948 and Milo debuted in 1957's DETECTIVE COMICS #247, that's not a surprise -- he probably had some childhood memories attached to that issue. Who knows; maybe it was his first Batman comic!

BATMAN #323 & #324

"SHADOW OF THE CAT!" | "THE CAT WHO WOULD BE KING!"
Writer: Len Wein | Artists: Irv Novick & Bob Smith
Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Paul Levitz

We're entering the final stretch of Len Wein's run on BATMAN today. These two issues, plus the two we'll look at next week, mark his final four installment of the Caped Crusader's monthly adventures. And, at least based on these two, it seems like he wants to go out on a high note. "Shadow of the Cat!" and "The Cat Who Would be King!" are some of Wein's strongest stories out of his entire two-year run on the title, plus they resolve the ongoing sub-plot of Selina Kyle's headaches.

As we learned last week, the headaches were actually the final stage of some exotic virus Selina contracted during her days as Catwoman. She found out that the ancient Egyptians had cured the disease centuries ago, and not long after, a figure dressed as a cat was seen stealing some Egyptian artifacts from Gotham's Riverside Museum. This story opens later that same night, as Batman arrives at Selina's apartment to arrest her for the crime. But Selina professes her innocence and escapes. The next day, she shows up at the Wayne Foundation in costume as Catwoman to make her case to Bruce, but when he suggests she turn herself in and let the law sort things out, she runs again. Eventually Catwoman gets a lead on the stolen artifacts, while Batman shadows her. The pair winds up in some caverns that were once used by bootleggers to smuggle liquor into Gotham. Batman finally believes Catwoman is innocent, but before the two can make amends, they're captured by the villainous Cat-Man.

BATMAN #319, #321, AND #322

Writer: Len Wein | Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Ben Oda
Editor: Paul Levitz

"NEVER GIVE UP THE GHOST!"
Artists: Irv Novick & Bob Smith

Gentleman Ghost's turn against Batman in issue 310 must have been well received by fandom -- or at least, Len Wein must have enjoyed writing it -- because here we are nine months later with a rematch between the two. This time, Batman thwarts the Ghost and his gang from stealing some diamonds in the issue's opening pages, and then when they try again the next night, they capture the Caped Crusader before departing to steal some jewels from a party at Wayne Manor. But Batman gets free, heads home, and stops the Ghost yet again -- though the villain escapes in the end.

It's a little weird to see Wein returning to the exact same well as the last time he used Gentleman Ghost, sending him yet again to Wayne Manor. But perhaps there's some reason for this. Maybe Wein wanted to establish some connection between the Ghost and Bruce Wayne's ancestral home. But this is Wein's final outing with Gentleman Ghost, so we'll never know. (Another unsolved mystery is the fact that Batman explicitly notes in the opening scene that the Ghost is trying to steal "crude industrial diamonds" rather than some nicer jewelry. It seems unlikely Wein would've mentioned this unless he intended it to go someplace.)

In sub-plot land, Bruce talks about how happy he is to be back at Wayne Manor for this party, and considers that he may be seeing a lot more of the place in the near future. I'm pretty sure I've read that it was actually Gerry Conway, in his run that followed Wein's, who actually moved Batman back to his mansion, but I guess Wein is planting the seeds for that move here. And besides the potential move for our hero, we also find that his secret identity may be in jeopardy, as, at the party, Lucius Fox and Selina Kyle make up and then begin discussing Bruce's frequent disappearances.

BATMAN #317 & #318

"THE 1,001 CLUE CAPER or WHY DID THE RIDDLER CROSS THE ROAD?"
"MY CITY BURNS AT BOTH ENDS -- IT WILL NOT LAST THE NIGHT!"
Writer: Len Wein | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Julius Schwartz

BATMAN 317 picks up where issue 316 ended, with Batman and Robin wrapping up the Crazy Quilt caper at Gotham Police Headquarters. Their next case begins immediately as Batman receives a parcel care of the police -- a book of riddles from the Riddler. The Dynamic Duo head home so Bruce Wayne can tend to the day-to-day operations of his company, while Robin does some investigate legwork. Eventually the heroes figure out the Riddler has gotten into the lucrative game of selling guns to foreign powers, and shut him down at Gotham's waterfront.

Along the way, Bruce makes up (and makes out) with Selina Kyle following their argument a couple issues back, while Lucius Fox continues to worry over his upcoming meeting with Bruce's reclusive rival, Gregorian Falstaff. And then , in a glorious half-page panel to close out the issue, Lucius comes face-to-face with the gluttonous Falstaff.

I'm not sure what it is about this one that speaks to me... maybe it's as simple as the inclusion of the Riddler, who has long been one of my favorite Batman villains, and who has gotten pretty short shrift in these 1970s stories we've been examining. This is by no means the Riddler's first appearance of the decade, but it is the first time we've looked at a comic featuring him.

BATMAN #315 & #316

"DANGER ON THE WING!" | "COLOR ME DEADLY!"
Writer: Len Wein | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Paul Levitz

BATMAN 315 continues Len Wein's string of sub-par one-off adventures, padded by slow-moving sub-plots. This time, Batman goes up against Kite-Man, stopping the obscure villain from stealing the final day's payroll of Trans-Atlantic Airways, an airline moving out of Gotham City. It's a pretty lame story that would fit in nicely among Batman's TV episodes, but it really doesn't fit the Darknight Detective. Plus, the plot is similar in some ways to the Calendar Man story Wein just wrote a couple months earlier.

The sub-plots do a bit to elevate this one, but not by much. We get a brief appearance from Selina Kyle, who confronts Bruce Wayne about his digging up dirt on her. She's none too pleased about it, and throws a drink in Bruce's face, then leaves their lunch date in a huff. And then there's Lucius Fox, who thinks a bit about his son, Tim, before he's accosted by Karlyle Krugerrand, right-hand man to Gregorian Falstaff. It seems Falstaff wants a meeting with Lucius, and seeing an opportunity to learn a bit about his boss's rival, Lucius agrees to this proposal.

...Then he heads over to Wayne Foundation and nearly tells Bruce about the upcoming meeting, but changes his mind at the last minute and decides to keep his boss in the dark -- I assume to give him plausible deniability, though it comes across here as Lucius simply making a dumb decision, as he did last issue when he blabbed to Selina about the dossier he had compiled on her. I can see that Wein is trying to lace his stories with soap opera angst and intrigue, but the problem is that for whatever reason, he's not very good at it!

BATMAN #312 - 314

"A CAPER A DAY KEEPS THE BATMAN AT BAY!"
Writer: Len Wein | Artists: Walt Simonson & Dick Giordano
Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Paul Levitz

Beginning this month, longtime editor Julius Schwartz is off BATMAN, replaced by Paul Levitz. I once read, years ago, that Levitz came in and upended Len Wein's plan for the series, demanding that every issue feature a costumed villain, and that the stories be mostly self-contained. I'm not certain of the truth of this rumor, though. Wein certainly will go on to use super-villains pretty much exclusively for the remainder of his run, but he had already been doing it from the moment he started! The only exception was his inaugural installment, issue 307, which featured a serial killer. But since then, it's been Mr. Freeze, Blockbuster, and Gentleman Ghost -- and prior to that, in his two-part DETECTIVE COMICS story, he introduced a new Clayface!

Plus, the storylines will not be self-contained going forward. We have a few two-parters on the way, and Marvel-style sub-plots will continue to be the norm throughout the entire run. So I really don't know where that rumor came from -- I honestly can't recall where I read it, since it was probably ten years ago at this point -- but I felt it was worth mentioning for posterity.

Now, on with the stories at hand. We begin with one that featured in THE GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD, though I've never quite been certain why. It follows a week in Batman's life as he battles the nefarious Calendar Man, failing to thwart him at every turn until Sunday rolls around, when the Caped Crusader finally gets his act together and brings the bad guy to justice. I feel like there are much stronger Wein-written stories that could've made their way into GREATEST STORIES, so the only reason I can imagine for its inclusion over anything else is that it features artwork from Walter Simonson -- back to form following those two horrid issues he contributed to Steve Englehart's DETECTIVE run a couple years earlier.

BATMAN #309 & #310

"HAVE YOURSELF A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS!"
"THE GHOST WHO HAUNTED BATMAN"
Writer: Len Wein
Artists (issue 309): John Calnan & Frank McLaughlin
Artists (issue 310): Irv Novick & Dick Giordano
Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Julius Schwartz

Picking up from the final scene of the prior issue, BATMAN #311 opens with the Blockbuster, Batman's Hulk-like villain, beating up some purse snatchers and then departing to return the purse to its owner. Meanwhile, Batman and Commissioner Gordon exchange Christmas gifts. But when they find that a desk sergeant is on the phone with a girl attempting suicide-by-sleeping pills, Batman departs in a hurry to find her. It turns out she's the victim of the purse-snatch, and Blockbuster finds her before Batman. The girl faints from the bottle of pills, Blockbuster takes her away to find help.

Naturally, this leads to Batman and Blockbuster crossing paths a few times, and while Blockbuster wants to help the girl, he refuses to let Batman take her to a hospital, since -- following his "death" at STAR Labs last issue -- he believes hospitals hurt people. Nonetheless, when their chase takes them out onto a frozen lake that cracks apart, Blockbuster throws the girl into Batman's arms as he sinks into the water of Gotham Bay. Batman gets the girl to an ambulance and her life is saved.

This is the kind of story where you honestly don't know which way it will go. We're so deep into the Bronze Age at this point, that there's just as good a chance the girl could die as there is that Batman could save her -- which gives the story an air of suspense that might otherwise have been missing were it published a few years earlier. There are no sub-plots in this one, either -- it's wall-to-wall Batman vs. Blockbuster action, which is always a nice change of pace in any sub-plot heavy series. Though I sometimes complain that such issues are "filler" without any sub-plots, in this case, for whatever reason, it doesn't feel that way.

BATMAN #260 & DETECTIVE COMICS #457

"THIS ONE'LL KILL YOU, BATMAN!"
Story: Denny O'Neil | Art: Irv Novick & Dick Giordano | Editing: Julius Schwartz

I don't know if it was an official mandate or an unspoken rule, but for whatever reason, it seems as if Denny O'Neil was the only Bat-writer allowed to use the classic rogues' gallery for a few years in the seventies (or perhaps he was, for reasons unknown, the only writer interested in them). Following the status quo reset in 1969's "One Bullet Too Many", Frank Robbins never touched any of those villains. Nor did Archie Goodwin in his year as editor and writer of DETECTIVE COMICS. But, with Neal Adams, O'Neil reintroduced Two-Face and the Joker to Batman's world, and with Irv Novick, he brought back Catwoman and Penguin.

Mind you, I can only speak to goings-on in the core Bat-titles, BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS, from this period. If the classic adversaries popped up in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD or anyplace else, I wouldn't know about it. But even when the Joker gets his very own ongoing series in mid-1975 -- first issue cover dated three months after this one -- it is O'Neil who handles writing chores initially before handing the series off to others.

Yes, I did just say this issue was published in early '75. We're jumping back a ways to look at a story published during the "Bat Murderer" storyline we looked at last week, and then below we will skip ahead a full year to an issue published nine months after "Bat-Murderer" ended. Got it?

BATMAN #256 & #257

"CATWOMAN'S CIRCUS CAPER!" | "HAIL EMPEROR PENGUIN!"
Story: Denny O'Neil | Art: Irv Novick & Dick Giordano | Edited by: Julius Schwartz

We interrupt our look at Archie Goodwin's year as writer/editor of DETECTIVE COMICS to check in with a couple issues of its sister title which were released during that same span (for the record, these two issues were published immediately after Neal Adams' final bat-story, "Moon of the Wolf", which we looked at a few weeks back). For the most part, BATMAN is written by Dennis O'Neil at this point, and features various appearances from the classic rogues' gallery -- including the first 1970s showings of Catwoman and Penguin in these two installments.

Occasionally, when reading a solo Denny O'Neil Batman outing (by which I mean "with any artist other than Neal Adams"), I feel like O'Neil regresses back to the Silver Age in some ways. Which isn't to say he didn't do that now and then with Adams -- see the BRAVE AND THE BOLD installment "Red Water, Crimson Death" from a while back -- but it's just way more apparent when Adams isn't there to help temper him. We've seen it in some of the early League of Assassins tales with Bob Brown, and now we see it here. "Catwoman's Circus Caper!" is the feline femme fatale's reintroduction to Batman's world after years of absence. But rather than getting something along the lines of the moody and atmospheric "Half an Evil" or the dark and chilling "Joker's Five-Way Revenge", which reintroduced Two-Face and the Joker respectively, Catwoman makes her grand reappearance in a story that would've been right at home during the Bat-mania of the sixties.

The story begins for no apparent reason in the Batcave, where Batman has returned after sometime abroad in pursuit of criminals. The only explanation given for the cave's use here is that Bruce has asked Alfred to open up Wayne Manor so he can spend some time recuperating there after this latest mission. But when the Caped Crusader reads a letter from Dick Grayson informing his mentor that he's run off to join the circus, Batman departs to check on his ward.