DETECTIVE COMICS #405 & #406

"THE FIRST OF THE ASSASSINS!" | "YOUR SERVANT OF DEATH -- DR. DARRK!"
Story: Denny O'Neil | Art: Bob Brown & Frank Giacoia

DC has released a trade paperback collection titled BATMAN: TALES OF THE DEMON multiple times since the nineties, though the stories in that book were collected even earlier, via a Baxter Paper mini-series called THE SAGA OF RA'S AL GHUL. And in every one of these numerous releases, the powers-that-be, in their great wisdom, have opted to omit the stories from DETECTIVE COMICS #405 and 406.

Now, while not necessarily essential to the Ra's al Ghul storyline, their omission has long felt questionable to me. They introduce both the concept of the League of Assassins, which will play a role in the upcoming al Ghul saga, as well as Doctor Darrk, the League's leader who will feature in the first appearance of Ra's's daughter, Talia.

All of the above is my way of noting that, while nearly every one of the stories I'm covering for this cherry-picked look at Batman in the Seventies is reprinted in full color in some collection or another, for these two tales I have been forced to use the black-and-white "Essential"-style SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN volume 5. Not that I object; a lot of this vintage Batman material looks nice in black-and-white. But I felt it was worth noting.

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"In the fog-shrouded sky of Gotham City, a silent plea for help--a call to... the Batman!

All who see it know that somewhere there must be extraordinary danger, a challenge worthy of the world's greatest crime-fighter! But none can realize that soon he is fated to struggle for his very life against -- the first of the assassins!

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"The First of the Assassins!" begins with an unusual sight, at least for us. While by no means his first appearance of the decade, this story is the first of the tales we've examined thus far to feature Commissioner Gordon, as he uses the Bat-Signal to summon Batman to police headquarters for help. It seems that over the past year, no fewer that fifteen of the world's top shipping magnates have been murdered, and the Gotham P.D. has received a tip that a sixteenth is upcoming. At Gordon's request, Batman takes up protecting millionaire K.C. Agonistes as he takes a week-long pleasure cruise on his yacht.

When the boat is hit by a school of dolphins carrying plastic explosives, Batman, Agonistes, his girlfriend Bettina, and one of his sailors are trapped on a deserted island. There, Batman matches wits with an assassin and saves Agonistes' life -- but not before the assassin brags about being a member of a group called -- you guessed it -- the League of Assassins.

If the above premise sounds a little off-kilter for Batman, you're not wrong. Denny O'Neil seems to be one of those writers who is greatly influenced by the strengths of his artist. When paired with Neal Adams, even if the story is flimsy or underdeveloped, you barely notice thanks to Adams' stunning visuals -- as I've mentioned before. But when paired with a Bob Brown (who is a perfectly serviceable artist but who doesn't really rise to the level of an Adams), we wind up with Batman hanging out on a yacht for a week and getting trapped on deserted tropical islands not far from from the United States' eastern seaboard.

Still, the mystery of the League of Assassins has been planted -- and readers only needed to wait one month for it to continue. The very next issue of DETECTIVE features "Your Servant of Death -- Dr. Darrk!", in which Bruce Wayne travels to the Mediterranean to check in on Count Orsini, an old friend who has narrowly survived an assassination attempt of his own. Now aware of the League of Assassins, Bruce changes to Batman to protect his friend and finds himself battling another assassin. He soon meets Doctor Ebenezer Darrk, a friend of Orsini's who is also the president of the League. Darrk fails to kill Orsini -- and Batman -- but escapes.

The story is stronger than "The First of the Assassins!", to be sure, with a great deathtrap escape scene near the end. Again we see O'Neil's Batman engaging in some globe-trotting, and O'Neil throws in one of his apparent favorite tropes, that of Batman stalking the halls of an old Gothic-type manor under cover of night (he's done this once or twice in stories we haven't read here, as well).

But it's still no match for the remainder of the Ra's al Ghul saga, which O'Neil will concoct with the assistance of Neal Adams. And, honestly, having typed out everything you just read, I can almost see why DC has omitted these stories from TALES OF THE DEMON -- they would make for exceptionally weak opening chapters in an otherwise engrossing book. But still, they are important for introducing a concept and a character which will carry on into the overall story. Even if they're not great, they have that much going for them, at least.