DETECTIVE COMICS #515

Yes, we skipped DETECTIVE #514. It was a fill-in and is not reprinted in DC's TALES OF THE BATMAN: GERRY CONWAY volumes. However, as it was written by Len Wein, it does appear in TALES OF THE BATMAN: LEN WEIN -- so someday, I might take a look at it.

"THE ACADEMY OF CRIME PART 1: COLLEGE FOR KILLERS"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Frank Chiaramonte
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: A trio of criminals robs a bank, but are jumped by Batman as they attempt escape. One of the men fires up his flamethrower and burns Batman, which prompts the ire of the men's instructor, the Headmaster. The entire scuffle was a training exercise at the Headmaster's Academy of Crime, and the Headmaster is none too pleased with his pupils' overzealousness.

A week later in Gotham City, Batman stops two muggers on the waterfront. When one of them mentions the Academy of Crime, Batman questions him and learns the school's location in Hollywood. Batman returns to Wayne Manor and changes into "Matches" Malone, then departs for California. Some time later, Matches enters the Academy's waiting room, but spies two Gotham criminals with whom he had an altercation in the past as they leave the buidling. Matches changes to Batman and tries to follow the men to get rid of them, but they depart while he is changing into costume. Batman changes back to Matches and enters the Headmaster's office.

Continuity Notes: The Headmaster states that Mirage, defeated in DETECTIVE COMICS #511, is one of his protégés. Later, as Batman fights the two men on the waterfront, he says this is "the second time [I've] heard mention of "the Academy"," though no footnote is provided. I'm trying to figure out if this a reference by Conway to something said "behind the scenes", or if Mirage mentioned the Academy and I forgot about it.

Vicki Vale visits Wayne Manor, again stating her belief to Alfred that Batman and Bruce Wayne are one and the same. Alfred recalls the first time she suggested this, in DETECTIVE #513. Vicki shows Alfred several pictures of Bruce and Batman, circumstantial evidence she believes proves her theory. But as she is falling in love with Bruce, Vicki hopes Alfred can prove her wrong, and gives him three weeks to do so before she will print the photos in the next issue of Gotham's Picture News. To this end, while Bruce is out of town, Alfred pays a final-page visit to Christopher Chance -- the "Human Target".

At Gotham University, Dick Grayson watches Dala leave after a night class. Believing she's been avoiding him because she is in trouble (with a footnote pointing to BATMAN #346 for more details), Dick changes to Robin and follows her to her home, a gloomy old mansion outside Gotham. Robin sneaks into the house and goes in search of Dala. He hears her chanting somewhere, but is knocked out by a robed figure before he can find her.

My Thoughts: So Christopher Chance's appearance on the final page got me to reminiscing... does anybody else remember the HUMAN TARGET TV show that ran for two seasons on Fox circa 2010? It starred Mark Valley, Chi McBride, and Jackie Earle Haley. I don't think it bore much resemblance to the Human Target character created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino, but really enjoyed it -- at least during its first season. It felt like a throwback in a lot of ways to eighties fare like MAGNUM P.I. and MACGYVER -- i.e., a fairly light-hearted action/adventure series with a small cast comprised entirely of men. I didn't enjoy it as much when it got a new showrunner and was retooled for its second season. But I wish season one was streamable somewhere.

{Ahem} I digress! Let's talk a bit about the Headmaster's lesson to his students in the opening page. I know I covered this a while back when Batman fought Poison Ivy and it was noted that she had, at that point, never killed anyone. And at the time, I noted that there used to be sort of a line among comic book villains back in the old days. There were the killers and there were those who didn't kill. You read old Spider-Man comics, and you'll see that Doctor Octopus never had any qualms about killing. But it was pretty unlikely that you'd see, say, Mysterio murder someone. Sure, the non-killers might threaten to kill -- and they might actively try to kill the hero of the piece -- but they would rarely just off bystanders in the way the killers might.

I also noted that the old MARVEL SUPER HEROES ROLEPLAYING GAME even delved into this, stating that most villains would rather not face murder raps, and so they did not try to kill anyone unless they were backed into a corner. Here, Gerry Conway goes so far as to give voice to this philosophy via the Headmaster. The villain tells his men that while he is not opposed to murder, anyone willing to commit it must be prepared for the consequences. And it seems that a lot of comic book writers failed to grasp this over time. As the eighties went along, into the nineties and aughts, I feel like we saw more and more villains casually committing murder, which has never sat well with me. I mean, it's one thing for an international terrorist like Magneto to kill people -- but it doesn't make sense for the Toad to do likewise. Yet by the nineties, that's exactly what was happening.

I do feel that we've moved a bit away from that in more recent years. I mean, I don't read much (or realy anything) in the way of current ongoing super hero comics, but I've kind of gathered that the "bloodlust" which gripped comic writers back in my day may have finally subsided to an extent. I hope that's true. Even though I don't care for a lot of what I hear about nowadays, it would be nice if at least that little problem has improved!

We'll talk about the actual "Academy of Crime" story next week!