Detective Comics 1000 Will Be Here Soon

Quite a bit of history led up to Detective Comics #1000.

Batman wasn't the star to start the book, but took over soon after, starting with #27 by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, back in May, 1939, and took over completely by adding Robin to the book with #38, with his Secret Origin.

It even went through 9 previous centennial issues (though, to be fair....one of them wasn't....900 was only 19!).

#100 #200  #300 #400  #500  #600 #700  #800

Brian Bolland variant

As well as so many issues in between....


So many villains started here, like Penguin and Riddler, Two-Face, Clayface, the Calculator....and even some of these short-lived villains like Zebra Man and Zodiac Master, though they weren't as much a pest as Bat-Mite!



There were also other heroes in Detective Comics who were detectives, times when Batman's dad was the hero, or maybe a Mystery Man, as well as times Batman was more stylish than others.


Heck, Batman must be starting to feel a little old, as Batman's own title is 79 (with Batman approaching 80 years!).

Dan Jurgens/Kevin Nowlan variant

 
Sadly, Detective Comics was outpaced by Action Comics, who got to 1000 first.


What will happen in the next 1000 issues?

Detective Comics Centennial 800

When is an anniversary not a celebration?


When it is Detective Comics #800 (January, 2005).


This issue has two stories, both great tales, but not detailing a happy time in the life of Batman.

So, let's look under the cover by Mark Simpson....

Alone At Night

First story in the issue has Batman dealing with the Mad Hatter, and his drones (including a hypnotized Killer Croc) all across Gotham in a story by Andersen Gabrych, Pete Woods, Cam Smith and Drew Geraci.

Batman is dealing with the fallout of recent activities in Gotham (the War Games Bat-titles crossover), with Nightwing (Dick) being injured (and tended to by Alfred), Robin (Tim), Batgirl (Cassandra), Oracle (Barbara) and even Commissioner Gordon all leaving the city.

During his run through Gotham, Batman even finds the Mad Hatter is a pawn of the Black Mask...and does thwart his plans....for now.  But, Catwoman confronts Batman, declaring him unfeeling, with Batman admitting she's wrong....he feels everything....which is why Batman does what he does (and drives those he cares about away....

In The Dark

The second story is by David Lapham, and is a moody piece about Batman confronting crime on his own.


This is a Batman who is aware of being a part of the night, and swoops down vengeance on those who harm others.



Gotham will be safe....or at least as safe as one man can make it.



Both not exactly the joys of previous anniversary issues (like 500 or 700), but dark looks at the life of the Batman.

Now, there isn't an official Detective Comics #900 (it was numbered #19 thanks to the new 52....too much math!  It does feature a variant on the star of 400), but that might be covered later.   As next week is Detective Comics #1000....don't want to end on a downer, but time to prepare for life after Batman as well!

Detective Comics Centennial 700 And Legacy

When last we met (other than a brief interlude), Batman, Robin and Nightwing were about to encounter the villain of the piece in the desert....meanwhile, captive below ground, Catwoman herself found out one of the secrets of this dig as well.

No time to wait, Bat-fans, let's just dive right into the action that starts in Detective Comics #700 (August, 1996).

Detective Comics 700

The anniversary issue, by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Scott Hanna, had Batman in one normal cover, then a special edition, with Batman in on an envelope...and, when you opened the envelope, you saw the cover which revealed one of the secret villains of the issue.

Have the clues from the last column pointed you to who it is yet?

Well, here is the answer.  The mystery villain is Ra's Al Ghul, with the story of the "Progeny Of The Demon" to kick off Batman: Legacy.

Ra's has a new plan to rid the world of its human population, using the wheel to get the secret to a new contagion, as well as having a new man he deems worthy to marry his daughter and take his legacy.  Batman, Robin and Nightwing plan to stop him, with Batman and Robin getting trapped down the mineshaft as Ra's prepares to destroy the wheel to prevent anyone from getting the cure. 

Nightwing briefly faces Ra's as Batman and Robin struggle to get free from the now flooding mine.  Getting free forces Ra's and Talia to flee (planning on releasing their new plague on the New World), but also revealing the identity of the man Ra's intends to wed his daughter...Bane, the man who broke Batman's back!

Meanwhile, Catwoman, still trapped in her cell, prepares to deal with the water rapidly filling that room...

Catwoman 36

In a story by Chuck Dixon, Jim Balent and Bob Smith, Catwoman faces the unappealing death by drowning in a desert in "The Best Of Enemies".

Freeing herself and Brother Umberto, Selina also realizes she must free her foe, Hellhound, as it will take all three of them to escape the flooding complex.  Alfred brings a jet to pick up Batman, Robin and Nightwing, who get a chance to repair their wounds, then the team gets in touch with Oracle, who spells out where they need to go next to stop Ra's, with Robin and the injured Nightwing headed to Paris, Batman to Edinburgh.

After a battle in the desert with Hellhound, Catwoman gets revenge on the Collector for involving her in this mess.

Robin 32

"Born With Teeth" is part three, by Chuck Dixon, Staz Johnson and Ray McCarthy, with Robin and Nightwing in Paris.

Tim and Dick look for where Ra's men might deploy the newest contagion, with Tim meeting up with Shen Chi (an oriental master Robin trained with when last in Paris) as well as Henri Ducard (who had trained young Bruce Wayne as recounted in Detective Comics #598 to #600).  Nightwing, Robin and Ducard stop Ra's men at the Louvre, with Ducard dispatching them fatally, angering Robin. 

Tim and Dick take a plane back to Gotham, with Tim worrying that everyone, himself included, may be dying from the clench virus.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat 54

Batman's detour to Edinburgh shows him "The Power Of The Picts" in the Legacy chapter by Alan Grant, Dave Taylor and Stan Woch.

Bruce Wayne explores an ancient castle, finding out a little of the history of the area, before having to become Batman.

As Batman, he faces the Taskers, a family that Ra's has inspired to use the virus to destroy the people around the castle, stopping them and Ra's plan here. 

In talking with Robin and Nightwing via radio, as his time was successful, they tell him that Oracle found another destination of Ra's, which he will investigate....Calcutta.

Batman 534

Doug Moench, Jim Aparo and Bill Sienkiewicz bring the next chapter of Legacy, with "A Wound On The Heart Of Heaven".

Batman ends up working with Lady Shiva (the world's master assassin, whom Batman has crossed paths with before).

The pair must stop the agents of Ra's from releasing the virus into the water supply which the town bathes in.

Along the way, they meet one of the starving urchins of the city, which was a good thing for the world, as he ends up preventing the virus canister from releasing, but at the cost of his own life.

Mission completed, Batman leaves Calcutta and Lady Shiva behind, returning to Gotham.

Detective Comics 701

Legacy goes into high gear with "Gotham's Scourge" by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Scott Hanna.

With Oracle directing Nightwing, Robin and Huntress against other minions of Ra's in an effort to keep Gotham safe, Batman deals with Bane in his triumphant return to Gotham.

Bane and Batman battle under the docks, with Batman renewing his fortitude for his cause, recalling how he lost his parents, to give him the strength to beat Bane, though the currents sweep Bane away from Batman.

Hearing of Bane's defeat, Ra's cancels his engagement to Talia, with her suggesting "The Detective" (Batman) as a replacement, to which, Ra's disagrees.

Robin 33

The end of Legacy comes with "Riptide" by Chuck Dixon, Staz Johnson and Rob Leigh.

Nightwing, Huntress and Robin don diving gear to sneak aboard Ra's yacht, as directed by Oracle.  The team split up, with Nightwing and Huntress facing Ra's and Talia, while Robin gets a computer model of the Wheel of Plagues to Oracle, so she can find a cure, all while Batman fights the current to stay alive (as Bane eludes his grasp). The proteges of Batman are successful, detonating Ra's yacht as well (though Ra's and Talia must have escaped the explosion), all while a new mystery surfaces as bodies wash up from Bludhaven, to be discovered by Harvey Bullock  and Renee Montoya (which will lead Nightwing to that city....and his own ongoing title by Chuck Dixon).

Detective Comics 702

Legacy gets an epilogue by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Scott Hanna, with "Second Chances".

In this case, Bruce Wayne saves Gotham, as Wayne Pharmaceuticals produces the cure to the clench virus, James Gordon reconciles with his estranged wife (and fellow police officer) Sarah Essen.  Bruce also sees the death toll that the virus has taken on a larger scale in the morgue, as does Robin, trying his best to save just one more life, with Alfred reminding the dynamic duo to remember their successes as well as their failures.


This tale also puts a wrap on Batman title crossovers for a time (though it tied together epics like Knightfall and Contagion), even though the next issue of Detective ties in with the DC crossover, the Final Night; all in all, an entertaining and thoughtful look at the career of the Batman for one of his anniversaries....recalling the past, while looking to the future!

Before And After

These tales, except for Detective Comics #700 are all in Batman: The Legacy Part 2, which also includes the four part mini-series that came out later, Batman: Bane Of The Demon, by Dixon, Nolan and Tom Palmer, detailing how Bane came to work for Ra's (and become a temporary beloved of Talia).  All these tales also showcase the true legacy of Batman....Nightwing, Robin, Huntress and Oracle.

Detective Comics Centennial 600

Continuing on, and starting to rack up numbers for the Darknight Detective, a look back at a few very special issues of Detective Comics....

...this time, focusing only on Detective Comics #600, as well as #598 and #599, as they also include a special 50th Anniversary for Batman as well!

Detective Comics 598

Starting up the run of three issues is Detective Comics #598 (March, 1989), with the first part of the story of "Blind Justice" by Sam Hamm, Denys Cowan, Dick Giordano and cover by Denys Cowan and Malcolm Jones III, which will lead up to #600!

Bruce Wayne finds himself deeply depressed about his mission as Batman, when he stops a villain that's a Bonecrusher (called such because of his use of sonic weapons that crush a person's bones inside of them) but that villain kills himself rather than be caught.  Meanwhile, Jeanne Bowen comes to Waynetech looking for her brother, Roy Kane, and is told by Director of Research Mitchell Riordan that Roy never worked there.  Jeanne gets in touch with Bruce, and the pair find that Roy did work there.

Batman then fights Bonecrusher, who again kills himself instead of being caught, while a homeless man acts out Bonecrusher's fight until caught.  Batman investigates to find out the homeless man is...Roy Kane, and reunites him with his sister (though Roy is amnesiac).  After another confrontation with another Bonecrusher (Alfred taking him out with a tranquilizer), Bruce goes to confront Riordan, who tells Bruce that he runs a secret empire within Waynetech, and a Dr. Kenneth Harbinger has been running the Bonecrusher bodies (via a mind switching device), with Bruce implicated in all the illegal activities (of experiments on homeless men, as well as what happen to Roy Kane).  Riordan also threatens Bruce about his secret, from all the traveling he did as a youth.  After Bruce doesn't stop, Riordan reveals Bruce's secret to the police...that Wayne is a Communist Spy! 

This issue also has special tributes to Batman, with words by Terry Gilliam, Mark Evanier, Thomas M. Disch, John Coyne, Ric Meyers, Harlan Ellison, Will Murray, Tom Fagan and Jim Shooter, and art by David Mazzucchelli, Kevin Maguire, Gene Day/Dan Day/David Day, Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, John Beatty, Howard Chaykin, Carmine Infantino/Joe Rubinstein and Tim Truman.

Detective Comics 599

The second part of "Blind Justice", Detective Comics #599 (April, 1989, by Hamm, Cowan, Giordano and McLaughlin, and cover by Cowan and Jones III), is the only normal sized issue of the three, but it covers a lot of ground.

Bruce Wayne is dealing with the accusations of being a Communist spy (brought by Riordan and his secret cartel within Waynetech).  Really, Bruce was training to be Batman, but learned from nefarious types, like Chu Chin Li of the Chinese Mafia, Tsunetomo of the Yakuza and French assassin Henri Ducard.  Riordan tries to continue with the mind transfer process, but can't as Harbinger was found dead, Roy and Jeanne get use to life at Wayne Manor, and Harbinger, in a new body, begins to kill witnesses who might find him, including shooting Bruce Wayne!

This issue has a few extras as well...


...with 50th Anniversary tributes by Bob Kane, Kyle Baker, Jeannette Kahn and Mike Mignola...

....all on the way to #600!

Detective Comics 600

The third and final part of "Blind Justice", Detective Comics #600 (May, 1989 by Hamm, Cowan, Giordano and McLaughlin, and cover by Cowan and Jones III) has to wrap up all the craziness, and has extra pages to do it!

Bruce Wayne, now paralyzed and recovering from being shot, also has to deal with Ducard returning (now hired by Riordan to testify against Bruce in his upcoming trial).  Gordon keeps waiting for Batman.  Bruce, sent home to Wayne Manor, is still rattled, and Roy Kane finds him and Alfred in the Batcave, figuring out Bruce is Batman.  Kane wants to help, offering his body for Bruce to use (as he is set up on the body switching network of Harbinger's).  Bruce does this, convincing most of Gotham that Batman is back (but not Ducard, who is now more convinced Bruce is Batman). 

Riordan reunites with Harbinger (using a new body, along with a new power....that of strong suggestion, which only doesn't work on bodies with the Harbinger tech....like Roy Kane's).  Batman confronts Harbinger (who is now using a Bonecrusher body), fighting Batman (but Kane's body isn't Batman's, so he gets injured, then killed).  Bruce and Roy's sister, Jeanne, blame Bruce for Roy's death.  Harbinger also died, but had put Riordan under a suggestion to only tell the truth, so he reveals that all evidence against Bruce Wayne is false, making the cartel have Ducard eliminate him.  As Ducard leaves Gotham, he tells Bruce he knows his secret.  Bruce, having recovered from this ordeal, has Alfred destroy the body switching device, and comes to terms with the pain around him, knowing he has the ability to stop some of it.

Tributes in this issue come from far and wide, with words by Alan Brennert, Adam West, Eric Van Lustbader, Stan Lee, Samuel R. Delany, Julius Schwartz and Penn & Teller, with art by Berni Wrightson, Neal Adams, Walt Simonson, Will Eisner, Dick Sprang, Mike Zeck, Keith Giffen/Al Gordon and Sergio Aragones.

This 600th issue was celebrated over many issues, not like the previous 500, but wait until you get a load of the next spectacular in the 700th (and so many more issues).

Detective Comics Centennial 500

Looking at a very special issue of Detective Comics and the life and times of Batman, halfway to 1000, here is Detective Comics #500, which is something very special.  It is the second comic book ever to reach its 500th issue!  

The reason it has lasted so long can be summed up in one word: Batman!

Detective Comics 500

Thing is, Detective Comics was also more than Batman....there was Robin, his faithful companion, as well as many back up features over the years, so this issue split its focus, giving readers 7 special stories done by a wealth of talent, as evidenced by the cover of Detective Comics #500 (March, 1981), with Dick Giordano providing the large Batman and Robin, Walt Simonson doing the Batman in the magnifying glass, Joe Kubert drawing Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez drawing Elongated Man, Carmine Infantino providing the back cover's Robin as well as Deadman and Commissioner James Gordon (inked by Bob Smith), Tom Yeates providing a Bruce Wayne, Jim Aparo finishing the rest of the detectives, with Bob LeRose providing the classic covers.  

Now, most of these are detective stories, so, all the spoilers with the solutions to the mysteries will either be in links or at the end of the article....after a spoiler space for fans!  Now...onto the stories!

Batman

First up, "To Kill A Legend" by Alan Brennert and Dick Giordano, with a one page summary of Batman's origin (as a dream) which leads him out onto the streets to stop another crime.  With a bit of magical manipulation, Batman ends up in Crime Alley (the spot where his parents were killed), and he gets a little help from Robin. 

The Phantom Stranger appears (having been the manipulator) and explains that Batman has a chance to save his parents on another world (as he failed to do here, as did the Bruce Wayne on Earth-2, predating his story of becoming the Batman in Detective Comics #27).  So, Batman (with Robin following along) so to this Earth, to find a young spoiled Bruce Wayne, who likely won't be more than the playboy Batman pretends to be, encounters the younger versions of Jim Gordon (a Lieutenant in Gotham's police force) as well as his fiancee, librarian Barbara Kean (giving Batgirl's mom a full premarital name for the first time).   

Along the way, Robin discovers this Earth has no historical heroes, nor a planet Krypton, so that this world needs a Batman.  Events progress to the faithful day and time of the alleyway shooting after Bruce and his parents attend a movie...but, what will Batman do?

Slam Bradley

Next up, a convention of detectives, with Slam Bradley, one of the stars of Detective Comics #1 as the lead (created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster),  with all these detectives (who all had features in Detective Comics), leading to "The 'Too Many Crooks...' Caper" by Len Wein and Jim Aparo.  


The detectives were honoring Archie Evergreen, a retiring detective....who, while talking to Slam, gets shot in the back at the party, prompting the roomful of sleuths to act to find Archie Evergreen's greatest enemy and murderer.  

Slam meets the other detectives at this time:  Captain Compass, naval detective; Jason Bard, Gotham private investigator; Mysto, magician detective; Roy Raymond, TV detective; Pow-Wow Smith, frontier lawman and Christopher Chance, the Human Target.  They all resolve to find the killer, with Slam starting with getting the lowdown on Archie's greatest enemy, smuggler Victor Dominion.  

Compass and Chance get proof of Dominion's other crimes on his yacht; Smith, Bard and Mysto confronting Dominion at his mansion, with Bradley confronting him and bringing Dominion down (literally) by shooting his escaping helicopter.  But, who was the murderer?  Raymond provides the facts, that, were "Impossible...But True".

Batman

Next up, back to Gotham, and an adventure of Batman by Len Wein and Walter Simonson which seems like a simple tale, as in a two page story, using every novel writer's bad cliches...a quite entertaining little Batman tale unfolds in "Once Upon A Time..."....a tale with no particular mystery!

Elongated Man

The ductile detective, Ralph Dibny, and his wife, Sue, stumble onto a talking raven, and a dying man mumbling "Reynolds" in "The Final Mystery Of Edgar Allan Poe" by Mike W. Barr and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.   The injured man in his office was Edwin Allman Pohe, a noted collector of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, with his head struck by a candlestick and holding an old piece of paper in his hand.  Pohe's assistant, Marcia Douglas, tells the Dibnys that Pohe was expecting someone, perhaps a rare book dealer to be stopping by, as well as giving the facts of Pohe's collection, which she supported (but didn't know that "Reynolds" was also Poe's mysterious last word).  

Ralph goes to very the date on the old paper, finding out it was only aged to look old, as Sue finds out Reynolds was a publisher Poe knew around the time he died.  Ralph figures out that Edgar Allan Poe had a magazine he was to print before he died, and tracks down the man Pohe was suppose to meet (to supposedly sell him a copy of that magazine, which was never printed).  Finding him, a Steve Billman, he also had access to old printing plates, and Ralph, Sue and Marcia went to find the killer!

Batman

"The Batman Encounters -- Gray Face" is a text story, by Walter B. Gibson (the creator of the Shadow), with spot illustrations by Tom Yeates.  

This story deals with Batman's detective and escape artist skills, as Batman has to track down the mysterious villain of Gotham's Chinatown area....Gray Face, after Herbert Garland was found, wandering the streets, speaking of dragons after an encounter with Gray Face. 


Batman's abilities are put to the test surviving the trials put on him by this foe!

Hawkman

"The Strange Death Of Doctor Erdel" was the case that Hawkman chose to solve (with some help from his wife, Hawkgirl) in the story by Paul Levitz and Joe Kubert.


Doctor Erdel was a scientist in an isolated laboratory who died of an apparent heart attack, where Erdel was found by his assistant, Fred Schneider, and Erdel's niece, Anna, inherited Erdel's patents and wealth.  

Erdel's heart attack was found to be brought on by electrical shock (likely from one of his inventions, that have sat untouched for years).  

Hawkman and Hawkgirl track down Anna (finding her innocent, as she had given away the money and devoted herself to charity work, with a tear stained scrapbook of her uncle's achievements), then to finding Fred, who had changed careers, becoming a successful ornithologist (thus eliminating his motive to want to steal Erdel's work).  

So, the Hawks head back to check to see who could have directed the computer to deliver the fatal shock to Dr. Erdel?  And which famous Justice Leaguer was Dr. Erdel responsible for?

Batman

Last, but not least, is "What Happens When A Batman Dies?" by Cary Bates, Carmine Infantino and Bob Smith, where....well, Batman dies!  

Disillusioned by the constant need for his services, Batman is feeling like his war on crime does no good, making him careless in taking down a few thieves at a simple mugging...

....not realizing that it was a trap by dog master Stryker, so that his hound, a trained attack dog, could bite the Batman with its poison coated teeth.  

The poison is killing Batman, and Robin and Gordon have to figure out how to save Batman (with Batman using his force of will to try to survive, ends up summoning Deadman, a wandering spirit able to possess bodies and control their actions, to help).


Deadman, possessing Robin, injects Batman with adrenaline, combined with Deadman possessing him, allows Batman to rise, and start to track down his killer as well as deal with his feelings of despair. 

Spoilers

After this brief depiction of Batman's villains by Jim Aparo (from a slightly earlier dollar sized issue of Detective Comics, and these and other previously invented villains were sadly lacking from this issue of Detective Comics)...

.....the answers to the mysteries!


Here they are!


Batman's dilemma to save his parents or not on the alternate Earth: he does, which does inspire that Earth's young Bruce Wayne to take up the study of criminology as well as athletics, leading him to a path as a possible Batman, out of awe instead of fear.

After dropping his TV show tagline, Roy Raymond reveals Archie's killer to be....Archie himself!  Using a small remote control, he fired the shot into his own back (Archie was dying, and wouldn't have been able to bring Dominion down in the time he had left, so, came up with this plan to have the world's greatest detectives do it for him).

Elongated Man and Sue did find the killer...Marcia!  She was trying to destroy clues along the way, as she and Billman were trying to sell Pohe a fake Poe magazine (but, the magazine did exist in rough form, so Ralph had it printed and a copy give to Pohe upon his recovery).

Hawkman found that, in an empty room, the culprit behind the computer shocking Erdel was....the computer!  This computer achieved sentience, and wanted Erdel out of the way so it could view the galaxy unhindered by human contact.  It was also the teleportation device which brought the Martian Manhunter to Earth in his first appearance in Detective Comics #225 (thus, this absolves J'onn of his guilt for the death of Dr. Erdel).

Last, Batman found inspiration from the spirits of Thomas and Martha Wayne, and all those he had saved as Batman (who had later passed on).  Batman and Deadman found Stryker's dog training facility, finding the dog, and getting a sample of the poison for a cure, as well as stopping Stryker (who met his fate at the jaws of another of his attack dogs).

With this, Detective Comics was halfway to 1000 (not unlike Action Comics a few years before!) building from 100, 200, 300 and 400....



 

 

Detective Comics Centennial 300 and 400

This time around, continuing our celebration of Detective Comics and its many hundreds of issues....

...with a look back at Detective Comics #300 and #400, with the adventures of the classic Silver Age Batman and Robin!

Detective Comics 300

Batman and Robin face a new villain, "The Bizarre Polka-Dot Man" in Detective Comics #300 (February, 1962), under a cover by Sheldon Moldoff, and in a story by Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris.

Yes, Batman and Robin fight a villain who bases his crimes around polka dots.  Surprisingly, Mr. Polka-Dot gives the Dynamic Duo a bit of a run, capturing Robin and eluding Batman, until Batman finds Robin, and the duo beat Mr. Polka-Dot at the location of his next crime.  Even more of a shocker, this villain returned (but not for long; he's one of a long line of villains people try to forget).

Martian Manhunter, who debuted in Detective Comics was still a feature in the comic at the time, as was a short lived Aquaman feature, having transferred over briefly from Adventure Comics as his own magazine was just starting.

Detective Comics 400

While previous issues might not have been much to write home about, Detective Comics #400 (June, 1970) had two separate stories that were pretty incredible, leading off with a Batman solo story by Frank Robbins, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano (with a cover by Neal Adams), featuring the "Challenge Of The Man-Bat".

This issue introduced readers to Dr. Kirk Langstrom, who had a fascination with Batman, and with Chiroptera (bats).  While Batman was having some trouble stopping the Blackout Gang (a group of thieves who used technology to see in the dark), Langstrom was working on a formula to give himself night vision (basically, vision like a bat's).  Langstrom did get sonar abilities, but he also got a bit extra, changing into a half-man, half-bat creature. 

The Blackout Gang tried to rob the Museum of Natural History where Langstrom worked, but while they could handle Batman, they were unprepared for Man-Bat, who kept to the shadows until after the villains were defeated, then ran away after Batman saw how Langstrom now looked.

Man-Bat would return, and more of his exploits are detailed here, as he would get his own feature for a time after a few more times fighting Batman, including two issues of his own, and back-ups in Batman Family and Detective Comics (and it is well past time that all these tales of the Man-Bat were collected in one volume for readers, though most of the earliest tales have been collected, including this one).

But, an even bigger treat is the second story of this issue, as Batgirl and Robin had been alternating back-ups in Detective Comics for a while, but, with this issue, and "A Burial For Batgirl", Batgirl and Robin teamed up without Batman, in a story by Denny O'Neil, Gil Kane and Vince Colletta.

Gotham Librarian Barbara Gordon headed to Hudson University to take advantage of their library, and quickly found herself (or, her alter ego, Batgirl), involved in trying to solve the murder of Amos Willard (with a student quickly caught, but she, as well as Dick Grayson, believed this boy was innocent).  At the end of this tale, Batgirl was being sealed behind a wall....but, thankfully, the tale continued to the next issue, when Robin finally appeared, and the duo captured the real culprit.

Batgirl has an Omnibus which reprints these tales (as well as half her Detective Comics and Batman Family back-ups, with a second volume coming soon, but, Robin's solo tales are sadly without too many color reprints!).


Action Comics passed these milestones too,  and there's still quite a ways to go to get to Detective Comics #1000!