DETECTIVE COMICS #518

"THE MILLIONIARE CONTRACT"
Writers Gerry Conway & Paul Levitz | Artists: Don Newton & Bruce Patterson
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: In the Batcave, Robin, Alfred, and Father Green watch over Batman as he recovers from his vampiric condition. Father Green soon leaves, bringing Dala and the Monk, imprisoned, with him. Alfred and Robin (after changing to Dick Grayson) head up to Wayne Manor, where Dick is startled to find Bruce Wayne enjoying a cocktail with Vicki Vale. Bruce and Vicki leave for a date at Gotham's Crystal Ballroom, and Alfred reveals to Dick that he hired the Human Target to impersonate Bruce Wayne in order to throw off Vicki's suspicion that Bruce is Batman. Elsewhere, Rupert Thorne dispatches Deadshot to kill Bruce Wayne, who he believes to be Batman thanks to photos stolen from Vicki.

In the Batcave, Batman takes a call from a prison official who informs him that Deadshot has escaped. Despite his weakened condition, Batman heads out in the Batmobile to find the villain. He interrogtates Deadshot's weapon manufacturer, Augustino Coppola, and soon catches up with Deadshot outside the Crystal Ballroom. Batman and Deadshot fight, their battle taking them into the ballroom, where "Bruce" and Vicki are dining. Vicki is shocked to see Bruce and Batman in the same place and decides she was wrong about the Caped Crusader's true identity. With some help from "Bruce", Batman defeats and apprehends Deadshot, and departs.

Continuity Notes: When Doctor Loom-- I mean, Father Green leaves with the Vampiri siblings, he drops some very cryptic comments which lead Robin and Alfred to speculate as to how he know so much about them. This is quite intruguing, but so far as I can tell, none of these characters would ever appear again.

BATMAN #350

"NIGHTMARE IN CRIMSON"
Writers: Gerry Conway & Paul Levitz | Artists: Gene Colan & Tony Dezuniga
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Robin awakens from a nightmare in a room at St. Jude's Hospital, where the preist, Father Green, has been watching over him. Elsewhere, Batman returns to Wayne Manor via the Batplane. After landing, he is greeted by Alfred and then Robin arrives. The Teen Wonder invites Bruce to join him for a party at Dala's house the next night, and Bruce agrees. Bruce brings Vicki Vale as his date, and he, Vicki, and Dick arrive at Dala's home that night for the outdoor gala. Dala immediately takes Dick into the house, and Bruce suspects something is amiss. He enters the house as well and finds traces of the couple Dala and her brother were holding prisoner. Bruce spots Dala and Dick outside, walking away from the party. He changes to Batman and follows, unaware that Father Green is nearby and spots him swooping throught the trees.

Batman makes his way deeper into the woods, where he is attacked by the Monk. The Monk overtakes him and bites his neck, then Batman fends off his assailant. But Dick and Dala sneak up on the Caped Crusader, and Dick knocks him out.

Continuity Notes: Surprisingly few this issue, as nearly the entire installment is dedicated to the Dala tales! But we do get a reference to DETECTIVE COMICS 516 and the Adacemy of Crime as Batman returns to Wayne Manor, followed by a scene where Vicki's editor, Morton Monroe, breaks into her desk and steals her Batman file. A page later, Vicik ruminates on her belief that Batman and Bruce Wayne are one and the same. Then later, when Bruce sneaks off to search for Dick, Vicki goes looking for him.

ADVENTURE COMICS #444, 445, 446, 447, & 448

”AND DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR”
Plot: Paul Levitz | Script: Gerry Conway | Art: Jim Aparo
Editor: Joe Orlando

Beginning here, the Aquaman serial truly ramps up, and it's in a style that I enjoy. See, I have maybe an odd take on serialized fiction: I believe that “filler” is necessary. Not “fill-ins”, mind you, but filler. One of my favorite examples of this in the field of comics is Roger Stern’s final year-ish on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. The Hobgoblin was the overarching story of that entire run, accounting for seven out of fourteen issues from #238 – 251. In the meantime, Spider-Man had other adventures unrelated to that villain, even as his presence lurked in the background, informing some of the wall-crawler’s choices in that time (such as his actively searching for the goblin in #246 and 247).

Most all the stories in that run of issues are fun adventures, but only about half of them relate to the overarching story. I really like this approach. It makes the “main” story feel more important when it’s touched upon if you have unrelated adventures interspersed among those that advance the main plot.

Side note: This is one area where I believe pretty much all of the Marvel NetFlix series fail dramatically. They have thirteen episodes per season, and they tend to devote every one of those thirteen to the main plot with no divergences or side-stories. Wouldn’t the Purple Man’s machinations be a lot more meaningful if he only appeared in about half of JESSICA JONES’ episodes, with Jessica taking on “case-of-the-week” style adventures in between? Wouldn’t DAREDEVIL be more fun if Murdock & Nelson spent a few episodes per season on some court case that had nothing to do with the Kingpin or the Punisher or whoever else? I think so, at least -- and this would also help to alleviate the Netflix shows' universally recognized flaw of treading water during the back half of every season.

But I digress; we're here to talk DC comics, not Marvel TV. As of this issue, Aquaman is voted out as kind of Atlantis, replaced by a usurper named Karshon while he was off fighting his villainous half-brother, the Ocean Master, and from this point, the Aquaman serial will feature a mixture of stories dedicated wholeheartedly to the “king in exile” saga, interspersed with others which have nothing to do with it.

ADVENTURE COMICS #435, 436, 437, 441, 442, & 443

”AS THE UNDERSEA CITY SLEEPS” | “THE KING IS DEAD; LONG LIVE THE KING!”
Story: Steve Skeates | Art: Mike Grell | Editor: Joe Orlando

“A QUIET DAY IN ATLANTIS”
Script: Paul Levitz | Art: Mike Grell | Editor: Joe Orlando

Déjà vu! I already wrote about these three issues of ADVENTURE COMICS a few years ago when I covered The Spectre by Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo! But, even while the Spectre was the lead feature in the bimonthly series, Aquaman served for a time as his backup serial before eventually — as well see below — graduating to top billing.

Unfortunately these early Aquaman tales are nothing to get too excited about. I've known for years that Black Manta is Aquaman’s main villain; his Joker or Lex Luthor, of you will. But to read these stories, one would get the impression that he's the Sea King’s only antagonist! He appears in all three stories, and unfortunately they're all pretty pedestrian. And, mind you, this is partly Aquaman’s fault, as it’s established in the first story that when he captures Black Manta, he just tosses him back out into the sea rather than incarcerate him anywhere.

Anyway, I can only assume things will pick up moving forward; otherwise what's the point of collecting this stuff in a trade paperback?