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.

Meanwhile, in a backup story titled "Shanghaied!" by the same creative team as above (save for John Celardo replacing Frank McLaughlin on inks), Robin and Catwoman are still investigating the late Gregorian Falstaff. But when Commissioner Gordon receives a summons from King Farady, calling Robin to Shanghai for something involving Batman, the Teen Wonder and Catwoman depart Gotham in the Batplane.

Once they arrive and meet up with Faraday, he explains that he was the mystery man on page one, and that the signal he received was from his long-missing partner, Archer Templeton (who readers saw escape from Infinity Island before being disintegrated in last issue's framing sequence). The trio goes to meet one of Faraday's contacts, but the lead fizzles when the man is murdered. But Catwoman has her own network in the Far East, and she and Robin head to Hong Kong for a meeting with Chin Ho, a drug-runner she used to know (though she adamantly informs Robin that she never had anything to do with that side of Chin Ho's business). But apparently Chin Ho isn't a big fan of Selina Kyle, because as soon as she and a disguised Robin enter his home, he drugs the Teen Wonder, knocks out both of them, and then straps them down to have them injected with "enough cocaine that even the lord himself would be helpless to quiet their pain!"

Which brings us to issue 334, where Wolfman's main feature and backup serial thread together. Batman (his costume having been changed into costume by his captors while unconscious) is taunted by a mysterious voice as he is shown video footage of the two sides of Infinity Island: an underground paradise for those who please the master, and a hellish mine for those who resist him.

Elswhere, Robin and Catwoman escape from Chin Ho and reunite with King Farady, but all three are captured and taken to Infinity Island, where they're sent to work in the mines. Batman, having been offered the choice of paradise or the mines, takes the latter upon seeing his friends there. Soon after he joins them, he leads the group in an escape toward the island's isolated dome, where the master resides. But while all this has been going on, Talia has arrived on Infinity Island as well, and has also made her way to the dome. She arrives first and is greeted by the master, who invites her to rejoin him. She wants to refuse, but just as Batman and friends arrive, she begins aging rapidly and accepts the master's hand. Talia's youthful beauty returns, and the master stands revealed as Ra's al Ghul.

...Which, of course, I'm pretty sure everyone saw coming. He's "died" more than once at this point, and the last time we saw him, he was very much alive as he was swallowed up into a burning house. It was only a matter of time until his return (though this might perhaps be a bit too soon, considering it's been less than a year since he last appeared in Denny O'Neil's final League of Assassins tale).

But, while al Ghul's return at this point might be a little questionable, his handling by Wolfman is not. We've seen plenty of Ra's al Ghul stories, spanning a full decade, over this past year. Most were written by Denny O'Neil, with one (the "Bat-Murderer" storyline) from Len Wein. And out of all those, this is sort of the first instance of the "modern-day" Ra's al Ghul. All the original stories presented him as the head of a secret brotherhood of assassins, but we never really saw much of a scope to his operation. He had hideouts around the world, but nothing like Infinity Island. As of "The Lazarus Affair", Ra's al Ghul has moved beyond his beginnings as a mysterious "Yellow Peril" type of character to become Batman's version of Ernst Stavro Blofeld -- a supervillain with a vast organization at his command, hiding out on his own personal island.

And then there's Talia. O'Neil dropped several hints over the years that Ra's al Ghul was even older than he appeared, but to my recollection, the same was never said for his daughter -- until now. In dialogue straight from the horse's mouth, Talia says that she has been under her father's thumb for over 150 years! I have no idea if O'Neil ever intended her to be that old, or if he wanted her age taken at face value, but as of this moment, Talia becomes just as much an immortal as her dad -- which gives her relationship with Batman a much different personality. Is she really still the sort of "spoiled princess" she seems, fixated on her love for Batman over all else even after fifteen decades of life experience? 150 years of outliving those around her? Or has she merely been playing her beloved all along? I'm not sure whether Wolfman will address any of this next issue (in fact, I'd guess that he won't), but it'll be interesting to find out.

Next week, our long look at Batman in the Seventies ends with the May 1981 issue of BATMAN, as the Caped Crusader has his latest in a long line of final battles with Ra's al Ghul in the conclusion to "The Lazarus Affair".