DETECTIVE COMICS #508

"SECRET OF THE SPHINX SINISTER!"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Batman enters Selina Kyle's apartment to find it ransacked, and Selina missing. The Darknight Detective brings Selina's cats back to the Batcave, along with a clue that leads him to believe the erstwhile Catwoman was kidnapped by a mummy. Bruce Wayne heads to the Gotham Metropolitan Museum to meet with his friend, Egyptology expert Gregory Griffin -- but Griffin is missing as well, his office in disarray. Bruce and Griffin's assistant, Donaldson, find a secreat passage to an Egyptian-style chamber, where a photo of Selina is hung above an altar. Donaldson translates some hieroglyphics which indicate Griffin believes Selina to be the reincarnation of Kara, Queen of the Sphinx.

Bruce heads to Giza, Egypt, where he confirms that Griffin and Selina recently entered the country. He heads into the desert and stakes out the Sphinx as Batman -- but when he's attacked by a group of jackals, Batman enters the Sphinx and finds Griffin in a burial chamber, now calling himself Khafre, Lord of the Nile. Batman surrenders to Griffin, who reveals his plan to send himself and Selina -- and now Batman as well -- into a deep, deathlike sleep from which they may never emerge. But Batman frees himself and rescues Selina. When Griffin chases them outside, he is attacked by the jackals. The next day, Bruce and Selina meet with an Egyptian policeman, who has found no sign of Griffin other than some scraps of his clothing on the desert sand.

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 #340

"A MAN CALLED MOLE!"
Writers: Gerry Conway & Roy Thomas | Inker: Adrian Gonzales
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano
take great pleasure in introducing Gene Colan, Penciler

The Plot: At night in Gotham, a stockbroker named William Elder is killed by a creature from underground. The next morning, Batman investigates the body with Commissioner Gordon. The next night, a psychiatrist, Doctor Kurtzman, is killed in the same way. But this time, Batman is on patrol and reaches the doctor's office. He enters a hole left by Kurtzman's assailant, and battles a monster calling himself the Mole underground. But the Mole, who seems to know Batman, escapes. Later, Batman recalls fighting a tunnel-digging hoodlum called the Mole, and calls Gotham State Prison to check on him. The warden says that the Mole's parole was recently denied by a board consisting of Elder, Kurtzman, and chemical mogul Sandra Clarke.

Bruce Wayne brings Sandra to Wayne Manor to keep her safe from the Mole, but he also plants a story in the newspaper indicating that she will be staying there to recuperate from an illness. That night, the Mole tunnels into the Batcave and makes his way to the manor, where he attacks Sandra and brings her underground. There, he tells her that after his parole was denied, he tunneled out of prison, but was soaked by tainted sewage and mutated into a monster. Batman arrives and defeats the Mole, who falls into an underground river, seemingly killed. Batman takes Sandra to safety and then goes to bed.

Continuity Notes: Gene Colan joins BATMAN as the new regular penciler, a role he will maintain for a number of years -- though he will hop titles to do so, becoming the DETECTIVE COMICS penciler after a few issues. But on that series, he will outlast Gerry Conway's tenure on the title and continue to draw it under the next writer, Doug Moench, right up until the CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS reboot in 1986! What I repeat now is hearsay, but I believe I recall that Colan, a longtime Marvel stalwart and favorite of Stan Lee's, was dismissed from the House of Ideas in the early eighties by editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, for "cutting corners" on his assignments.

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.

DETECTIVE COMICS #507

"DRESSED TO DIE!"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Manikin prepares to kill Hoston, but Batman emerges from the flames to stop her. Manikin begins choking on the smoke from Hoston's burning office and retreats while Batman gets Hoston to safety. Manikin is picked up by her brother, Victor, who drives her to their mansion outside Gotham. The next day, Bruce Wayne visits the Gotham Gazette to speak with the managing editor, Bud Raleigh, about a name he heard Hoston mumble the night before -- Miranda. Somehow, Raleigh knows this must be a model from West Germany who had a celebrated career in Gotham for about a year before being disfigured in a horrific car accident just as she was about to move to Hollywood to pursue her fortune in the movies.

That night, Batman prepares a device to help him against Manikin, then leaves for the hospital, where Hoston is recovering. Manikin arrives to finish her mission of killing the designer, but Batman intervenes. Their fight carries them out of the building and then back inside to Hoston's room, where Hoston confesses to planting a bomb in Miranda's car. Batman uses his device to seal Manikin's costume entirely, cutting off her air supply. Manikin passes out just as Victor appears and removes her mask, revealing her hideously scarred face. Hoston then reveals that he tried to kill Miranda because she had abandoned him for the movies.

Continuity Notes: We get a footnote to last issue as Hoston recalls seeing Batman "overcome by the smoke" in his office.

Gerry Conway comes up with one of the goofier prior issue recaps you're likely to run across, as a police officer asks Batman a very simple question: what started the fire? And Batman proceeds, unprompted, to run down the events of his entire evening for the poor gentleman.

DETECTIVE COMICS #506

"WHO DIES FOR THE MANIKIN?"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Steve Mitchell
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Ten months ago, Batman arrives at the scene of an auto wreck. He pulls the car's lone occupant free, but she is horrifically burnt and rushed to the Gotham Burn Center. In the present day, Bruce Wayne watches the news and then prepares for a night out. He and his date, Crystal, arrive at the trendy Studio 52 nightclub, where a woman strides in and murders fashion designer Kevin Clane in front of the club patrons. Bruce follows her out the back door and changes into Batman, then confronts her in an alleyway. But the woman disrobes to reveal herself as a golden "Manikin" and easly subdues Batman with super-strength. A mystery accomplice then helps Manikin escape.

Batman takes Manikin's discarded dress to Selina Kyle for identification. Selina tells him that the dress is the handiwork of one of Gotham's greatest designers, Mister Hoston. Batman heads to Hoston's office and as they speak, the place is firebombed. Batman gets Hoston out into his showroom, where he is attacked again by Manikin. As flames spread out of the office and into the showroom, Manikin again subdues Batman and then goes after Hoston.

Continuity Notes: As Bruce watches the news, he tells Alfred that he wants to catch up on what's been going on in Gotham while he was in Alaska last issue. He sees a debate between mayoral candidates Arthur Reeves and Hamilton Hill, with the former accusing Batman of unchecked vigilantism and promising to bring him to justice, while Hill is more interested in a recent spike in police shootings, for which he plans to demand Commissioner Gordon's resignation if elected. (And again, in today's climate, it feels kind of weird that the story wants us to root against Hill over this!)

DETECTIVE COMICS #505

"WEREWOLF MOON"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Inside a hospital room, a woman pleads for Batman's help to save the life of her daughter, who is dying of leukemia and who needs bone marrow transplant from her brother. Out in the hospital corridor, Batman and Commissioner Gordon discuss the identity of the girl's brother -- he is Anthony Lupus, a werewolf apparently killed years earlier. But Gordon reveals to Batman that Lupus may yet live, in Alaska. The Darknight Detective heads north and, as Bruce Wayne, recruits a guide from the local EPA office to help him find Lupus. They locate a wooden shack in the wilderness, but find it empty. Then, as they wait, the werewolf bursts in and attacks. Bruce drives it out the door, and the next morning his guide leaves.

Bruce changes to Batman and hunts Lupus, eventually finding and fighting him under the full moon. The Caped Crusader wins and Lupus turns back to normal. Batman holds him captive in a silver net for one more night of the full moon before the pair returns to Gotham City.

Continuity Notes: Per Batman's exposition and a footnote, Anthony Lupus first appeared in BATMAN #255, by Len Wein and Neal Adams, where he was a star athlete mutated by the fiendish Professor Milo. Batman believed Lupus was killed by a lightning bolt, but apparently Gordon has known for a couple of months that he may be alive and has elected not to mention it to Batman.

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 #337

"WHERE WALKS A SNOWMAN"
Script Gerry Conway | Plot Assist: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Jose Garcia-Lopez | Inks: Steve Mitchell
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Batman arrives at a sporting good store to help the police apprehend a hoodlum holed up inside. When Batman enters the store, he finds the crook babbling about his friend Jackie. Batman captures the criminal, but also finds Jackie -- frozen solid. Soon, in Commissioner Gordon's office, Batman and Gordon go over the crook's statement: he and Jackie had broken into the store, but Jackie was attacked by a man of snow. Batman leaves police headquarters and returns to Bruce Wayne's penthouse, where a party is in full swing. Among the guests is renowned skiier Klaus Kristin, who arrived while Batman was out, and who Bruce now observes has wet shoes.

The next day, the Snowman breaks into a jewelry store while Batman investigates Kristin's hotel room nearby. He finds and pockets a diary, then leaves when he hears an alarm from the store. But the Snowman has escaped before Batman arrives. Later, Batman and Alfred go through the diary, written by Kristin'a mother, Katrina, in the fifties. It details how she was hiking with friends in the Himalayas and got separated from them. A man found her and took care of her in a cave, and in the darkness they succumbed to their passion together. But the next morning, Katrina saw the man's face by the light of the fire -- he was a yeti. When she was found later on, Katrina was completely insane.

Having deduced Kristin's next destination, Bruce Wayne travels to Austria. He plants the diary in Kristin's room with a note requesting a meeting that night on Summit Peak. When midnight comes, the Snowman attacks Batman on the peak, explaining during their fight that he robs in order to finance his globe-trotting ski trips, since he must remain in the cold whenever he can. Then the brief fight ends, when Batman blinds the Snowman with a flare, and the creature slips and falls off the mountain to his apparent death.

DETECTIVE COMICS #504

"THE JOKER'S RUMPUS ROOM REVENGE!"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Paul Levitz

The Plot: A shadowy figure arrives in Gotham City and visits the shop of a toymaker named Papetto, who has built some special toys for him. The figure kills Papetto and takes the toys. Later, Batman arrives to find Commissioner Gordon and several detectives combing the shop. Papetto's corpse lays on the floor with the Joker's calling card attached. Just then, City Councilman Arthur Reeves arrives with a news crew, but Batman and the commissioner pay him no heed. Batman grabs some mud from a footprint on the floor and departs. The next day, Bruce Wayne attends the grand opening of a high-end department store. The Joker appears and gases the patrons, but Bruce changes to Batman and goes after Joker. However the Clown Prince of Crime escapes, leaving his boot behind.

Back at the Batcave, after inspecting the boot and the mud, Batman determines that the Joker is hiding out at a ice cream factory in nearby Malcolmville. After seeing a news broadcast about the Joker having struck again, Batman departs for the factory. There, he knocks out some goons and makes it inside, to find the Joker waiting. Joker traps Batman in his "rumpus room", filled with toys -- all of which are programmed to kill. Joker closes the rumpus room door and waits until he hears no more sound. Then he opens it up to find Batman waiting. The Caped Crusader traps Joker in a mound of ice cream, then explains that he used the toys against each other until they were disabled.

Continuity Notes: As described above, mayoral candidate Arthur Reeves puts in another appearance, demanding to know why Batman is assisting the police. Prior to this scene, on the story's splash page, we see a Reeves billboard, showing that he is running on an anti-vigilante platform.

DETECTIVE COMICS #503

"THE 6 DAYS OF THE SCARECROW"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Paul Levitz

The Plot: On Sunday night, while stopping a crook from robbing a pawnshop, Batman is hit by a dart from a nearby rooftop. The next day, Bruce Wayne finds people reacting to him with unexpected fear. On Tuesday, a group of gangsters from Gotham City meets with the Scarecrow on a farm some miles from Gotham. Scarecrow explains that he has developed a chemical that gives anyone injected with it an aura of fear. That night, Batman stops a robbery at a roller rink, but the patrons run from him. Realizing something is wrong, Bruce Wayne calls in sick on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Alfred, also terrified of Bruce, calls Dick Grayson for help. Dick enlists Batgirl as well, but before the two can begin to help Batman, they respond to a police call at a nearby mall, where Scarecrow is leading a gang of men in terrorizing the patrons. Scarecrow and his gang escape.

Later that night, Robin and Batgirl analyze a gas pellet left by the Scarecrow, and figure out who manufactured it. Batgirl heads to the manufacturer's office and questions the company president, while Robin finds a corn husk on the rooftop from which Batman was darted. Combining their leads, the young crimefighters head for a farm in Hudson County, where they are captured by the Scarecrow. Batman waits a full day for a report from them, but receives nothing -- so on Thursday night, he heads to the farm as well. He rescues his young partners just before Scarecrow doses them with his fear formula, but in the ensuing fight, Scarecrow himelf is injected. Friday finds Batman, Robin, and Batgirl visiting Arkham Asylum, where the doctor in charge tells them that the Scarecrow is now terrified of everything -- even himself.

DETECTIVE COMICS #501 & #502

"THE MAN WHO KILLED MLLE. MARIE! | "WHO SHOT MLLE. MARIE?"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Paul Levitz

The Plot: (Issue 501) Batman watches from hiding as Alfred and Lucius Fox board a flight to France, then recalls earlier in the day, when first Alfred, then Lucius, each recieved a mysterious telegram from Paris. Bruce then found that Alfred had packed up and left the Wayne penthouse, leaving the telegram behind. Bruce buys his way aboard the plane and shortly after landing, stops a man from shooting at Alfred or Lucius. He changes to Batman and trails the man to an office, where the would-be assassin is berated by another man for failing to kill "the traitor."

Batman takes out both men and turns them over to the local police, speaking with an Inspector Dupre and showing him the telegram, which summoned both Alfred and Lucius to France and instructed them to contact Julia if they wanted "justice for Mademoiselle Marie." The inspector tells Batman the story of Marie, a famous French resistance fighter during World War II, and explains that she knew both Alfred and Lucius at various points during the war, and that she was apparently murdered near its end. He also reveals that Julia is rumored to be Marie's daughter. Batman next confronts Alfred and Lucius at their hotel, but the metting is interrupted by Julia and some henchmen. When Julia tries to shoot Batman, the Darknight Detective moves to stop her -- but he himself is stopped by Alfred, who clobbers him with a fireplace poker. But Julia turns on her savior, accusing him of killing her mother, Mademoiselle Marie.

(Issue 502) Batman is held by Julia and her men in a barn on the French countryside. As he watches, Julia declares that Alfred killed her mother, and she has convened a court of Marie's resistance peers, including Lucius, to observe his execution. But Batman convinces the group that Alfred deserves a trial, and Lucius volunteers to defend him. A witness, a young girl whose grandmother knew Marie, says that Marie was indeed shot in the final days of the war, but her grandmother and her sister, Gizelle, nursed her back to health, and during that time, Marie gave birth to Julia. Then one day, Marie left, and soon afterward a body was discovered in the St. Joan River. Julia was raised by Jaques Remarque, a friend of her mother's, and he recently told her the truth, as he knew it, of Marie's demise.

Batman, having surreptitiously freed himself, asks Julia for twelve hours to find proof of Alfred's innocence, then he leaves. He visits Inspector Dupre again for information on the body recovered from the river, then goes in search of either of the elderly women who found Marie. He eventually locates Gizelle in the hospital and speaks with her about a French collaborator named Roget, who Gizelle believes killed Marie. Gizelle saved the bullet the women removed from Marie, and Batman heads to her house for it. But he finds Dupre already there. Dupre attacks but Batman defeats him, having deduced that Dupre is actually Roget with extensive plastic surgery.

Batman brings Dupre back to the barn and provides his gun and bullet as proof. Later, at the airport, Batman and Lucius watch from a distance as Alfred speaks with Jaques Remarque about Julia and Marie. Alfred is Julia's father, though he has hidden that fact from her his entire life, and he implores Jaques to continue to keep his secret. Then Alfred and Lucius board their plane to fly home.

DETECTIVE COMICS #498 & #499

"NIGHT OF THE SAVAGE | ALLIES IN THE SHADOWS"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Paul Levitz

The Plot: (Issue 498) The brute called Blockbuster emerges from Gotham Bay and makes his way ashore. Meanwhile, Batman and the police search the bay for Blockbuster, but find no sign of his body. Blockbuster makes his way to Bleak Rock, a mining town in West Virginia, where he saves a local worker, Willie Macon, from the henchman of a corrupt union boss named Dooley. Macon invites Blockbuster into his home to live with his family.

Months later, Batman suspects Blockbuster is still alive, staging a series of "smash and grab" robberies. The Darknight Detective heads out to stop one such robbery in progress, but finds he is mistaken -- the perpetrator is an ex circus strongman named Ajax. But after defeating Ajax, Batman catches sight of a news report from Bleak Rock, where he sees Blockbuster alive. Batman heads for Bleak Rock and learns Blockbuster has been working with the miners. He enters the mine, but is observed by Dooley. Believing Batman is here to investigate him, Dooley has his men knock Batman out and throw him down into the mine, where he is found by Blockbuster.

(Issue 499) Blockbuster prepares to kill Batman, but is interrupted when Dooley has the mine caved in. While the locals try to dig their friends free, Batman comes to and finds Macon injured and trapped under a beam. Blockbuster helps him lift the beam, but Batman realizes Macon must be taken up to safety immediately. Meanwhile, Dooley and his henchmen discuss the situation at Dooley's office, where Macon's daughter is spying on them. The men find and grab her. Back in the mine, Batman blows a path upward with plastic explosive, then begins climbing, with Blockbuster right behind. They emerge on the surface and get Macon and the remaining miners free.

But Dooley has arrived to observe the whole thing, and Macon's daughter is with him. When she cries out for help, Batman and Blockbuster team up to rescue her and take down Dooley and his men. Batman departs Bleak Rock, leaving Blockbuster behind to live in peace.

DETECTIVE COMICS #497

"BAD NIGHT IN BAJA"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Paul Levitz

The Plot: At a ramshackle hotel bar on a dark and stormy night in Baja California, several men go about their evening's business, including the establishment's owner, who plans to burn the place down for insurance money. Suddenly, an injured man staggers in. He drops a briefcase and goes for the telephone. The man is Bruce Wayne, and he calls his butler, Alfred, for help.

Flashbacks explain how Bruce wound up in this situation: the Batman was called to Baja by the FBI for help in catching "The Squid", a mobster from Gotham who is in town to meet a buyer for some top-secret defense documents. Bruce and Alfred checked into their hotel, then Batman confronted the Squid and his men at their estate. Batman procured the documents, but was shot in the process. He escaped and changed to Bruce Wayne in order to travel anonymously.

Now, the hotel barkeep finds the documents in the briefcase and stashes them. Meanwhile, a newlywed couple arges in one of the small hotel's dingy rooms. The wife leaves and finds Bruce, helping him to safety outside just as the Squid and his men show up. Bruce changes back to Batman and, with help from the barkeep's can of gasoline hidden behind the bar, rigs an explosion to blow up the villains' car before they can escape. The police arrive and arrest the Squid and his men, and Batman and Alfred go on their way.

BATMAN RETURNS

Back in 2019, for the bulk of the year, I took a "curated" look at BATMAN IN THE SEVENTIES, by means of several major stories available via DC collected editions or digitally. We looked at material from Frank Robbins, Irv Novick, Dennis O'Neil, Neal Adams, Archie Goodwin, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, Don Newton, Len Wein, Jim Aparo, Marv Wolfman, and others. The final issue I looked at was BATMAN #335, the end of Wolfman's brief run on the title, which was actually published in 1981.

Now here we are five years later, and I've got another Batman itch to scratch -- and fortunately, I know exactly how to do it! We're essentially going to pick up where we left off, by way of DC's three-volume TALES OF THE BATMAN: GERRY CONWAY series. This is another one of those runs I've wanted to read for years. Indeed, I've gone so far as to avoid as many spoilers about it as I could, knowing I would someday check it out. All I'm really aware of is that Conway writes both BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS almost as one biweekly series, he brings back Englehart & Rogers' corrupt city councilman Rupert Thorne for an extended engagement, and introduces Killer Croc and a new Robin. (Oh, and the stories run contemporaneously with the NEW TEEN TITANS stories I looked at several years ago.)

Conway's run begins on DETECTIVE COMICS with isue 497, cover dated December 0f 1980 -- which places Conway's DETECTIVE alongside Wolfman's BATMAN for several months. Conway then takes over BATMAN as well with the July 1981 issue, 337, just a month after Wolfman jumps ship. Conway's primary collaborators for his time with Batman are pencilers Don Newton and Gene Colan, two artists I'm always happy to see more from.

So next week, we're jumping back over to the DC Universe after spending several solid years with Marvel. As near as I can tell, Conway wrote about fifty issues of BATMAN and DETECTIVE combined, so this will be another year-long project, at a pace of one issue per week, for the most part. So as the old saying goes, be here next week -- same Bat-time, same Bat-... uhh... website!

Available on Amazon:
TALES OF THE BATMAN: GERRY CONWAY vol. 1 | vol. 2 | vol. 3

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And that's another (calendar) year in the books, folks! It's hard for me to believe, but I'm still going after ten years of this thing! Yes, it's true -- I stopped making blog anniversary posts some time back, but if I hadn't, I would've celebrated a full decade of NOT A HOAX! back in August. I started this site in 2013 as a way to "discuss" comics I was reading, even if it meant hollaring into a void (but thankfully I've had many readers and commenters in all this time, so that hasn't been the case). First it was Marvel's CAPTAIN BRITAIN and EXCALIBUR, then it was IRON MAN by Michelinie, Layton, and Romita Jr., then Spider-Man by Roger Stern, and then on and on and on, running a gamut of creators, publishers, and content.

Now, I hesitate to say at this point that I'm still "going strong" after ten-plus years. There have been points, particularly when my son was a newborn and toddler, where I was barely able to hang on by a thread! And I've long since moved away from more than a single post a week; even when I think I'll be able to manage more, something always happens to prevent it. But I'm okay with that! I'd rather be going one post a week after ten years than not at all.

So as usual for these year-end posts, let's have a quick rundown of what we covered in the past year, as well as the now-annual tradition (down from once a month many years ago) of The Unboxing.

The first part of that is pretty straightforward, of course. It was the Avengers. That's pretty much it. I started reading the Bob Harras/Steve Epting/Tom Palmer run late last year and it carried us through November of this year as well. Then we wrapped things up with James Bond in December, closing a hole which has bothered me for several years, as the Bond newspaper strips were my only cancelled/unfinished series in all this time.