DC SPECIAL SERIES #15 & DETECTIVE COMICS #481

As noted last time, we'll spend much of the next few months with Len Wein on BATMAN, but we will also look in once in a while at DETECTIVE COMICS, written (mostly) by Denny O'Neil. But first, we have an issue of DC SPECIAL SERIES which was cover dated for the same month as the second part of Wein's Clayface III story that we examined last week. Then, further down the page, we'll check out DETECTIVE COMICS #481 -- cover dated the same month as Wein's first issue of BATMAN, which we'll examine next week.

"I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU BATMAN AND WIFE!"
Writer: Denny O'Neil | Penciler: Michael Golden | Inker: Dick Giordano
Letterer: Milt Snappin | Colorist: Cory Adams | Editor: Julius Schwartz

FYI, this cover has nothing to do with the story we're about to discuss. DC SPECIAL SERIES was evidently an anthology of some sort, and the cover refers to a different tale within the issue.

Nearly seven years after he last wrote Ra's al Ghul, and with other writers -- such as Len Wein and Archie Goodwin -- having built on the al Ghul saga in the meantime, Denny O'Neil returns to his signature Batman villain. There's no Neal Adams this time, though the consolation prize isn't bad, as the great Michael Golden provides pencils.

O'Neil jumps straight into the action here, as Batman has a brief encounter with a petty hood on Gotham's streets, then returns to the Batcave, where his is immediately drugged and kidnapped by Talia and League of Assassins. The Caped Crusader awakens sometime later on Ra's al Ghul's yacht, just as the Demon's Head completes a wedding ceremony marrying Batman and Talia. Al Ghul leave the pair to consummate their union, but Batman knocks Talia out (by punching her in the face!) and then escapes the yacht via helicopter.

Al Ghul, Talia, and the League pursue Batman back to Gotham, which happens to be where they were about to undertake their latest scheme (they only left on the yacht so al Ghul could perform the wedding on international waters). The League of Assassins knock out everyone in the city with gas, and al Ghul leads his men in a raid of the diamond exchange. But Batman intervenes and thwarts the villain's plan -- however al Ghul and Talia escape in the end.

The story isn't all that much to write home about, but the artwork by Golden makes it worth reading anyway (and get ready for a dose of déjà vu, because I'm gonna say almost the same thing in just a moment about our next issue). Unfortunately, Golden eschews Ra's al Ghul's traditional "costume" of a green suit and cape, putting him in ceremonial attire for the wedding and a green-and-yellow spandex jumpsuit for the raid on Gotham. I know this seems like a minor thing, but I like all my characters to be "on-model" as often as possible, and the green suit was al Ghul's default look up to this point.

(On the other hand, Talia has no default, so Golden is free to dress her however he likes, which means a slinky dress, a black bikini, and brief scene in the buff, so I guess I'm pretty happy with that tradeoff!)

Notably, al Ghul has a hulking henchman here named Lurk, who looks and behaves exactly like his former aide, Ubu -- who readers may recall was killed off by Archie Goodwin during his brief run on DETECTIVE COMICS. I've long suspected that O'Neil's script for this story actually called for Ubu, and that Golden looked up reference and drew Ubu, and it was only after the art was completed that someone remembered Ubu was dead. I can't really place the blame on anybody here either, since O'Neil didn't write the death story and DETECTIVE was not being edited by Julius Schwartz when it happened. But in any case, I suspect that after the error was caught, the character was sloppily renamed to "Lurk" instead.

(There's even a bit where Batman compares his fight with Lurk to his fight with Ubu in "Daughter of the Demon", and the dialogue is clearly modified in such a way that the sentence, which must have originally had Batman talking directly to Ubu about this being a rematch of their duel, is now him obliquely telling Lurk that he's faced "his kind" before in the Himalayas.)

"TICKET TO TRAGEDY"
Writer: Denny O'Neil | Artist: Marshall Rogers | Editor: Julius Schwartz
Letterer: Mike Stevens | Colorist: Adrienne Roy

This is more-or-less your "typical" O'Neil Batman story -- a decent mystery populated with some colorful characters. It's the sort of story that, were it drawn by Irv Novick (who, as I've said many times before, I consider a fantastic Batman artist) would probably be long forgotten. But since it's illustrated masterfully by Marshall Rogers, inking himself in his final issue of DETECTIVE, it's been reprinted more than once over the years as is thus an O'Neil "evergreen" story.

It opens in London, where Batman is keeping an eye on the famous surgeon, Sir Basil Smythe. Smythe's latest patient is killed, but Batman deduces that Smythe was the actual target. The doctor has invented a revolutionary new heart transplant procedure, but, being what some might call a bit of a bleeding heart, he's decided that the world doesn't deserve his knowledge since there's so much violence and war out there. But Smythe agrees to publish the procedure if Batman can catch the person who tried to kill him within two days, when Smythe arrives in Gotham. So Batman follows his only lead -- a train ticket dropped by the assassin. The Caped Crusader does his thing, and on the final page, dramatically presents Smythe with his would-be killer.

Also, Alfred is Smythe's cousin and flies a Bat-copter for some reason. (He departs Gotham to get some urgent news to Batman, but we never see him again in the story.)

Like I said -- judged solely by the writing, it's a middle-of-the-road O'Neil Batman outing at best. But thanks to Rogers, it sure does look beautiful!

Next week, Len Wein begins his two-year run on BATMAN with one new villain and one classic.