BATMAN #351

"WHAT STALKS THE GOTHAM NIGHT?"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Gene Colan & Tony DeZuniga
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Batman, now a vampire, watches from a rooftop as Dick Grayson escorts Vicki Vale back to her apartment building. Dick makes a pass at Vicki and surreptitiously tries to bite her neck, but freezes when he spots Batman's shadow above. Vicki angrily blows off Dick and goes into the building, then Batman swings down and knocks Dick out.

At Wayne Manor, Alfred speaks with Christopher Chance, the Human Target, then goes doesn to the Batcave when he realzies someone is there. In the cave, Alfred finds Batman strapping Dick to a gurney. Alfred calls Father Green, who soon arrives at Wayne Manor and is escorted to the Batcave by Alfred. Green tells Batman that the only thing that will save him and Dick is either a full blood transfusion or a formula created using the blood of the original vampire -- the Monk. Batman and Green leave in the Batmobile, returning to Dala's home. She tells them where to find her brother, and the duo then proceeds to an abandoned church. Batman goes inside, where he finds the Monk's and Dala's two prisoners tied to crosses, then the Monk appears and attacks.

Father Green goes into the church to help Batman, but is attacked by Dala. However Batman manages to overpower the Monk and then defeats Dala as well, and Father Green prepares to make the antidote.

Continuity Notes: A footnote to last issue reminds us that Bruce vanished during the party at Dala's house (for those keeping score, between DETECTIVE and BATMAN, the past three issues have all encompassed one single night). A few pages later, another footnote refers to DETECTIVE #517 for Father Green's initial arrival at Wayne Manor -- and then the page after that, when Alfred finds Christopher Chance disguised as Bruce Wayne in the manor's dining room, Chance reminds Alfred (and readers) that the butler retained him in "previous issues" of both series.

Gordon and Bard, Private Investigators, visit a photographer named Squeeze, confronting him regarding the doctored photos of Batman provided by Rupert Thorne to Arthur Reeves during the election.

When Father Green arrives at Wayne Manor, Chance sees Alfred greet him, then the pair vanishes, prompting Chance to realize the manor is more than it appears.

On the story's final page, Vicki visits her office and finds her Batman photos missing from her filing cabinet. Elswehere, Rupert Thorne hires the assassin Deadshot to kill Bruce Wayne, who he now believes to be Batman thanks to those same pictures.

My Thoughts: And that's... it? I don't know what I was expecting from a multi-part storyline where Batman becomes a vampire, but it was certainly a bit more than this! In a matter of hours, the Caped Crusader is bitten by the Monk and turned, then overcomes his bloodlust and easily defeats his foe in order to procure the antidote to his condition. I mean, yes -- there will be a wrap-up next issue (or in the next issue of DETECTIVE, to be precise), but overall this is a bit of a letdown.

I think, knowing this was a multi-part story, I was expecting it to take place over more than just a single night. Which may sound odd coming from me; I have long been a vocal proponent of squishing as much action and adventure as possible into very small timeframes when it comes to serialized fiction -- but a story like this, with such a dramatic plot, needs more room to breathe. If it's going to be three issues long, that's fine -- some time should pass in those issues; days, even a week or more. The fact that there is no internal conflict for Batman here is ridiculous. Yes, in the prior installment he bit a hood and sucked his blood (something I hope to see a little closure on next issue; i.e., I hope Batman didn't kill him), but then immediately afterward Batman vowed to reclaim his humanity and that was that. For this entire installment, he's basically just Batman... with fangs.

He also defeats the Monk and Dala very easily, which feels incongruous with their prior appearances. I suppose this can be chalked up to Batman now having vampire strength, which, coupled with his top-tier martial arts skills, allows him to overcome the duo's raw power where he could not before, when he was a mere mortal with those fighting skills. But it would've been nice if the narration said anything about this! As it is, we simply see Batman very, very easily (in a single page) taking out two foes who proved quite difficult for him and Robin in prior installments.

So, yeah -- I had high hopes for this one that it didn't equal. And while I often chalk that up to myself placing unrealistic expectations on a story I haven't read, I don't think that's the case here. I really think this particular tale just doesn't live up to its promise.

That said, I must at the very least submit a rave review for the artwork! Batman fighting vampires in an old gothic manor house and in a ruined church? This is stuff Gene Colan was born to draw, and he knocked all three chapters straight out of the park and into the bay! (That's a little local spin on the ol' baseball analogy.)