Superboy #168

Superboy #168 (On Sale: July 7, 1970) has another of my favorite Neal Adams' covers. Just beautiful.

We begin with "Leave Us... or We Perish" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Murphy Anderson.

The back-up Superboy story must have been in inventory for a few years. "The Negative Boy of Steel" is by Arnold Drake who was fired in 1968, Al Plastino who was also fired in 1968 and Mike Esposito. Except for a Superman's Wedding Album pin-up in 1996, this is Al Plastino's last work for DC.

Al Plastino's earliest comic work was as an assitant to Bill Everett working on Sub-Mariner for Timely Comics and his first credited work was the cover of Novelty Press' Blue Bolt Comics #9 in 1943.

In 1948 Plastino showed samples of his work to editors at DC and began a 20-year stint on the Superman family of books. At first he was required to mimic Wayne Boring's style but as time went on he was allowed to draw like Al Plastino. The worked on Superman, Superboy, and Lois Lane. With Otto Binder he co-created Supergirl and The Legion of Super-Heroes.

Plastino also drew the Superman newspaper strip in the late 60s and the Batman strip from 1966-1972. When DC ousted him from their books in 1968 Al Plastino also took over the Ferd'nand newspaper strip which he drew until he retired in 1989. In 1983 he drew the Sunday episodes of Nancy after Ernie Bushmiller died and he also drew a year's worth of Peanuts strips in the early 1980s to be used if Charles Schulz became ill. I don't think those will ever see the light of day, but it does make for an interesting trivia question, "Who besides Charles Schulz drew an entire year's worth of Peanuts strips?"

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Detective Comics #402

Detective Comics #402 (On Sale: June 30, 1970) has a great cover by Neal Adams.

The Man-Bat returns in "Man or Bat?" by Frank Robbins, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. The story opens with some thugs pulling a heist at a biochemical lab. what they don't know is that hanging in the rafters above them lurks the tormented Kirk Langstrom, now even more bat than the last time we saw him in the classic Detective #400. He waits in an agitated state for them to crack the safe below so that he can get what he so desperately needs. But just when it seems the hour of his saving is at hand Batman appears to break up the heist. When the Man-Bat appears to join him in thwarting the crime, Batman calls him a friend, but when Man-Bat reveals that he needs something from the safe, something he has brought money to pay for, Batman tries to stop him.

When Batman tries to unmask Kirk he realizes that he is not wearing a mask, but is truly a transformed human. Still he tries to stop the Man-Bat, but is knocked unconscious in the scuffle and Kirk departs with the drug he came looking for.

When he awakens, Batman heads off for the museum when he first met the Man-Bat hoping there to find a clue to his identity. When he gets there he finds Francine Lee, Kirk's fiancée trying to gain entrance. Kirk was supposed to be at an exhibit in Chicago, but he never arrived there and Francine is worried that something may be wrong. Upstairs Kirk has concocted a formula he hopes will reverse his bizarre transformation, but when he is startled by Batman and Francine at his door he drops the serum and flees out the window.

Batman tells Francine that the strange creature who has just fled is her fiancée, Kirk Langstrom, and that when they barged in Batman saw him mouth her name. batman thinks he can recreate the dropped serum in the Batcave and heads off to find Kirk and hopefully a cure for this transformation.

He finds Kirk up on a cliff and when he comes for him Kirk leaps from the cliff in fear, but rather than dying in the fall, huge batwings appear from under his coat and his transformation complete he flies off into the night following the flight of a "brother" bat. He follows the bat to his home, which happens to be, the Batcave. Kirk reaches the inner recesses of the cave just as Batman returns. He is momentarily blinded by the lights as they come one but uses his bat sonar to find an exit. Only, Langstrom's exit is the Batmobile;s entrance and Batman leaps from the car to divert Kirk from hitting it head-on.

He latches on to the Man-Bat, telling him that he is there to help him, to create an antidote, but Kirk takes Batman on a ride to the heights of the Batcave only to drop him from there. Some light fixtures break his fall, but from the floor he sees Langstrom about to fly out the open Batcave entrance. Clicking a remote on his belt Batman closes the door and Kirk is knocked unconscious by the door. Batman then ponders what to do, should he attempt to cure Langstrom, even though his brain may have been permanently damaged by his transformation, or should he leave him alone in his cursed condition? "Merciful heaven--What an impossible decision to make! There can be only one answer...if he must ide...ket it be as the man he once was!"

Batman gets to work in a tale continued in Detective #407. "Man or Bat?" was reprinted in Batman from the 30s to the 70s HC, Man-Bat #1 and Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 HC.

The back-up story is Robin in "My Place in the Sun" by Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane and Vince Colletta. The story begins with Robin flying in on the Arrow Jet with Speedy all the way from Teen Titans #28. Dick shows Roy (Speedy) Harper around Hudson University. In the cafeteria a fight breaks out between some "punks" and a group called Project 70 who work with kids from a nearby juvenile detention farm. Dick changes into Robin to stop the fight. Robin goes after the big punk only to find out that it was the little kid Robin was trying to protect who started the fight.

Back in his room Dick is pissed at himself for jumping to conclusions without any evidence. That day Dick hears it all over campus, as Robin becomes the main topic of discussion. Some of the kids are for him, but many think he is just a vigilante and shouldn't be there. When he returns from shopping he finds Roy in his Speedy threads, heading off for a date with Wonder Girl.

After Roy leaves, Dick begins to question his role as Robin, but in the end he decides to keep the name and the costume. "...if I made a mistake once, I'm not gonna make it again! When I go out into that adult world, I want everyone to know that Robin is no longer a boy, but still a wonder!" Not a great story and certainly not great artwork.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Kerry Callen covers Marvel Chillers 4

Original cover attributed to Frank Robbins and Tom Palmer; Marvel 1976. Kerry Callen's website is here.

Superboy #166

Superboy #166 (On Sale: April 2, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with our cover-story, "Here Lies the Real Superboy" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito. The back-up is "The Kryptonite Conqueror" also by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Detective Comics #399

Detective Comics #399 (On Sale: March 26, 1970) has a great cover by Neal Adams.

Our cover-story is "Death Comes to a Small, Locked Room" by Denny O'Neil, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. During a demonstration for cadets at the Gotham City Police Academy, Batman embarrasses Khan, a master of judo, karate and kung fu. When an enraged Khan comes after Batman with a steel identification bracelet across his knuckles, Batman decks him. In steps Arthur Reeves, the mayor's new Public Works Coordinator and soon to be a regular pain in Batman's backside.

Reeves wants to know what Batman is hiding behind that mask, why he isn't up front and out in the open. When Batman asks Reeves if that is what he believes in and Reeves answers in the affirmative, Batman lifts up Reeves toupee and quickly ducks out a window.

A month goes by and the incident quickly slides form Batman's memory till one night, 30 days later Batman is called to the site of Khan's training school which has been destroyed in a furnace explosion with Khan inside. Reeves shows up and accuses Batman of maybe causing the explosion to get back at Khan and Batman suggests that Reeves stick to sharing his fantasies with his barber.

Gordon and Batman have an appointment to get to, a séance of some sort to which they have been invited in an invitation that hinted at "solving a crime if we show." As they pull into the parking lot in Gordon's cruiser the car is strafed with machine gun bullets and crashes into a tree. As the machine gun-toting thug comes out to inspect his handy-work, Batman takes him out. Just then a man appears, "Big Dough" Joe Brunner a man sent to the pen by Gordon who is now out and wants to thank Gordon for setting his life straight. After he leaves Gordon wonders is "Big Dough" might not be behind the attack, but Batman says if he is, they know where to find him.

Inside the séance they meet the Great Dilbert--Medium Extraordinary who says he will "zummon spirits of dead!" He begins and the "spirit" has a message for Batman. The spirit seems to be speaking in Khan's voice and says that since Batman humiliated him in life he will humiliate Batman in death by killing Commissioner Gordon at midnight tomorrow. The lights go out and zee Great Dilbert has skedaddled. Batman says that Dilbert was a ventriloquist and wore a high collar to hide the movement of his throat muscles.

The next night Reeves tries to lock Gordon into a sealed vault for his protection, but one of the guards is actually Batman, who once again makes Reeves look life a fool. But the embarrassment just keeps on coming as Batman reveals that Gordon is not Gordon but actually the Great Dilbert. Pulling of Dilbert's mask and handing it to him Batman explains that "Gordon" was too clean shaven to have been on the job all day. Dilbert says that he might as well tell them where Gordon is really being held, but as he attempts to do so he dies from a poison on the outside of the Gordon mask Dilbert was holding. As he dies Dilbert says "D...do...j...jo..." and one of the guards says that it is obvious that the filler is "Big Dough" Joe Brunner, AKA Dough Joe.

Reeves sends men out to pick up Joe Brunner, but Batman has other ideas and heads back to Khan's training school, or dojo! There in a fireproof vault under the rubble Batman confronts and takes out Khan before he can harm Commissioner Gordon.

The back-up is Robin in "Panic by Moonglow" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Vinny Colletta. Continuing from last issue where the moon rock turned geeky student Herb Stroud squeaky green and all, raising a panic within NASA, but leaving Robin with that not so subtle taste of hoax in his mouth. So much so that he went and checked out the shower Herb used, finding some funny smelling soap and a massive headache when someone slammed his head into a wall and stole the soap of questionable properties. When Robin comes around it is with the help of Zukov, the Russian exchange professor, whose hands have that tell-tell smell of gimmicked out soap.

The campus is quarantined by NASA so Robin needs a place to crash and Zukov offers his cottage guest-room. using a stolen stethoscope, Robin listens in as Zukov and some cronies hidden under his floor discuss their plan to make NASA look irresponsible for "polluting our glorious planet," losing public support and dropping out of the space race so that the Soviets can get their moon program on track and once again be the leaders in space. But first they want to get Robin out of the way.

However, when they kick down the door to his room, he has of course fled the scene and is heading for the science-hall to retrieve the lunar rock sample. After skirmishing with some of Zukov's men, Robin comes in through the roof, but gets his cape caught on a piece of broken glass, hanging him up in the air. Zukov shows up with a pencil laser gun he used to drill a hole into the glass case containing the moon rock, so that he could inject a secret gas that could be triggered by cosmic rays to turn the rock and Herb a lovely shade of green. Now he plans to use the same pencil to drill a hole into Robin's brain, but Robin slips out of his cape and collar and swings into the darkness on a batrope (or do we call this a robinrope?)

Shooting wildly after Robin's ever-moving voice, Zukov severs one of the legs of a Lunar Module on display and it crashes down on him with a satisfying KRUNCH! With Robin's information the NASA people are able to determine that Herb has been exposed to a Russian nerve-virus and they are able to give him an antidote in time to stave off the bitter green end. This story has been reprinted in Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB.


Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Batman #221

Batman #221 (On Sale: March 3, 1970) has cover by Neal Adams, and what a cover. This is another one of those that I would stare at for hours and think, "Yeah, this is Batman!"

This issue begins with our cover-story "A Bat-Death for Batman" by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. This story is not nearly as exciting or moody as the cover and it could have been. Novick really needed to get some more blacks into the work and the coloring provides no mood whatsoever, relying heavily on stale blocks of orange and green. The story begins with strange goings on along the Rhine River in Germany. A man is devoured in the water by killer trout and a farmer is attacked by rampaging oxen. As luck, or the story would have it, Bruce Wayne is visiting Baron Willi Von Ritter, head of Biochem-Fabrik, Ltd, a chemical company on the Rhine.

Von Ritter lives in Fledermaus Castle, created in the shape of a giant Bat. Von Ritter and his company were cleared of accusations of conspiracy with the Nazis, but he refuses to cooperate with health inspectors who are investigating the strange animal activities. Once at the castle Bruce meets Von Ritter's wife Ilga and his head bio-chemist, Professor Otto Kramm.

That night as Batman, Bruce does a little reconnoitering of the castle's underground maze. There he finds a masked man egging on a lion to fight. The lions attacker? A lamb! The masked man says that he has synthesized the essential chemical elements that trigger the killer instinct in predators and that some of it accidentally overflowed into the Rhine. He plans on using the serum to see that Germany does not fail next time because its armies will possess the primal killer instincts of predators. With that the masked man traps Batman in the room and lets loose some bats which have been exposed to the serum.

Leaving Batman to his fate the masked man takes off his protective mask to reveal Otto Kramm as Ilga brings in the valet to be used as the first human test subject for the serum. However, before they can administer the serum, Batman shows up and Ilga injects Otto with the serum. Once infected Otto turns on Ilga for hurting him and Batman has to jump in to save her. In the ensuing fight Otto is thrown into the pit with the killer lamb and is killed by it.

Ilga is dying but wants to know how Batman escaped the bats and he explains that he used a wadded up piece of tin foil, ripped into strips to confuse the bats sonar and escape. OK, not much of a story here.

The back-up Batman story is "Hot Time in Gotham Town Tonight" by Mike Friedrich, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. There is a heat wave in Gotham City and the fire department keeps being sent out on false alarms. On their way back from one such false alarm a truck gets a call of a fire in his own building. When they get there the place is in flames and a woman is yelling that her baby is trapped inside. Just then Batman is seen repelling down the side of the building, child in hand. Watching the spectacle are a couple of teenage kids who wonder what would have happened if that had been their kid sister in the fire. They decide to turn themselves in for calling in the false alarms.

Meanwhile, back at the fire the fire inspector says to the fireman that "All signs point toward the firs starting in your apartment Frank!" When they go upstairs they see that the door to Frank's apartment is not burned at all. Inside they find Frank's brother Joey who says he was just polishing an idol he brought back with him from Viet Nam. One of the firemen try to touch the idol and says he is overpowered by the feeling of evil it is generating. It begins to glow and some strange rays flash out from its eyes and suddenly Batman is there racing toward the idol.

He picks it up and with great effort tosses it out of the window where it shatters on the ground below. Once it does the eerie feeling disappears, along with Batman. The closing caption reads: "For the natural violence of life there is always the fireman! For the supernatural violence of life there is always the Batman!" Strange take and one of the first to give Batman some heretofore unknown ability to battle the supernatural. Not a great story, but it points the way that DC was moving and the way they were positioning the Batman. Reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition C-25.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Detective Comics #398

Detective Comics #398 (On Sale: February 26, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.

This issue begins with our cover-story "The Poison Pen Puzzle" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. It begins with Bruce Wayne on a jet headed for Los Angeles where Wayne Enterprises is about to buy into the picture business by purchasing a stake in Seven-Star Pictures. Sitting next to him is writer Maxine Melanie, who creates quite a stir on the plane when her identity is revealed by a couple of flight attendants. Her latest Hollywood tell-all "novel" has just been published and when she asks Bruce if he would like an autograph, he makes it clear how he feels about her type of literature, "I wouldn't be seen dead with your--book!"

But as fate would have it Seven-Star Pictures has just optioned the thing and after landing Bruce makes a big stink in the boardroom of Seven-Star, threatening to call of the merger if Seven-Star makes the movie. One of the board-members rightfully accuses Bruce of being a boorish "censor" for criticizing a book he has not read and when they go to get Bruce their advanced copy, they find it missing. This sends Bruce to a nearest bookstore where Maxine just happens to be signing her work.

Bruce is told that if he wants an autograph from Maxine that he better bring his own pen as "Maxine ran out of hers hours ago..." Just then an old woman asks to be let into the line awaiting autographs as she is "too frail to take this pushing around." As Maxine signs her book, she spasms, screams and collapses. The old woman tries to beat a hasty retreat but drops her book. Bruce tries to return it to her and is flipped onto his back by the old broad. By this time a doctor has shown up and pronounces Maxine dead. Bruce notices that there is a pin-prick in Maxine's finger and that there is a needle sticking out of the pen. When Bruce looks at the dropped book he sees that it is an advanced copy.

Back at Seven-Stars Bruce finds that they know of Maxine's death and that one of their top "properties," Loren Melburn has confessed to the murder. She is half of Hollywood's "perfect couple" with husband Dorian Spence. They were both "speared by Maxine's poison-pen in her novel." They mention to Bruce that there is a third major star mentioned in the book, Ronald Dart, who also had motive to kill Maxine. Another board-member walks in and announces that Dorian Spence has also confessed to the murder of Maxine.

Bruce says he will handle this personally and as Batman visits the Los Angeles police where he tels them to announce that Batman is on the case. Later Batman visits the Spense's where Dorian tries to convince him that he is the real killer. Planning to head over to Rod Drake's place next door Batman is confronted by Drake in the garden, where he says he overheard Spence planning Maxine's death. When Drake comes out of the shadows he is wielding a fireplace poker and is not Drake, but Dorian Spense. But just as quickly he is grabbed by Dorian Spence who pulls the mask off the attacking Spence to reveal Rod Drake.

Drake confesses that he fed Maxine most of the dirt in her "novel" with the promise that he would star in the movie version. Only, she reneged and he decided to kill her for it. Does much of this make any sense at all? Not really.

The back-up is Robin in "Moon-Struck" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Vinny Colletta. Hudson University is being visited by a moon rock which NASA is giving to Russia and is being accepted by Russian Exchange Professor Zukov. Geeky student Herb Stroud, the campus "profit of doom" who "showers every hour--on the hour" arrives to say that the moon rock may be dangerous. His prediction appears to have been right as the rock flashes green and Herb's skin turns the exact same color. The campus is quarantined and NASA people grab Herb for testing. They can find no radiation issues at all.

Meanwhile Robin is suspecting a hoax and is visiting the showers and finds a strange bar of green soap with an odd scent. Just hen the lights go out and so does Robin, who is attacked trying to keep the soap. When he awakens he smells an odd scent on the hand of the person who awakened him. Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB. Not much to say about this one except the art is horrible and I don't blame Gil Kane.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Superboy #164

Superboy #164 (On Sale: February 17, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams. Given the subject matter, this one should have been much more effective and emotional.

This issue begins with "Your Death Will Destroy Me" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito. The back-up story is "Revolt of Ma Kent" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Detective Comics #397

Detective Comics #397 (On Sale: January 29, 1970) has a beautiful Batman cover by Neal Adams.

There is a real difference between the Batman in "Paint a Picture of Peril" by Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, and the Batman DC has been publishing for decades. I think Denny O'Neil understood where to take the character better than any writer at DC and of course, Neal Adams really "got" who Batman was.

The opening sequence of this story could be used as a crib sheet for writers and artists for years to come on how to portray "the Batman." Sure, he has his "toys," his batarang and in this story a pretty cool undersea sled, but for the most part, his major tools of the trade are that he is a fairly good fighter and he scares the hell out of people.

Great stuff by both Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams. As you can see the story opens with Batman attempting to foil a nighttime robbery of an art exhibit. By the way, there was nothing special going on during Batman's eerie stand against the robbers; he simply tried to dodge the spears by moving his body under his cape. Yeah, tried to dodge; he almost pulled it off, but got hit in the nerve of his right arm, making it all but useless and him unable to follow the underwater robbers. Up top he finds that they took a painting called "The Startled Mermaid," the least valuable item in the exhibit.

Changing back to Bruce Wayne he heads to his mid-town penthouse where he finds his cleaning lady has left the TV on. There is a special documentary on the life of wealthy Orson Payne, a Charles Foster Kane type, who bears a striking resemblance to Orson Welles. He was engaged to opera star Caterina Valance 25 years earlier when she mysteriously vanished and Payne became a recluse in his huge castle home. This is playing in the background while Bruce tends to his wounds and does yoga to "restore circulation."

As he finishes up, his cleaning woman, Cathy, comes back for her forgotten handbag and turns off the TV calling it a "vile thing." As she leaves Bruce remembers that while under water he noticed that the algae was glowing and surmises that the glow came from a submarine with low-yield nuclear engines. So come midnight we find Batman at a deserted pier launching a new underwater bat-sled and following the lingering radiation trail. The trail leads to a small nuclear sub at one of the island estates. Batman recognizes the place, it is Orson Payne's.

Sneaking past Payne's personal guards, Batman finds the man talking to an empty room of statues and paintings. Batman confronts Payne and points out the stolen painting. Payne says that he must have every likeness of Caterina, the woman who spurned him and when owners will not sell, he still acquires the piece. Since he cannot have Caterina, he now consoles himself with images of her.

Batman chases the crazed Payne through his estate, where he is lured into a trap, falling through a trap door into a small cell. Payne pulls a lever that slowly lowers a two-ton deathfall into the cell. Using a batarang on a rope Batman pulls down a chandelier, wedging it between the top of the cell and the lowering deathfall. As he comes for Payne, Payne's grip on sanity finally snaps and he sees his beloved Caterina floating in the air outside his balcony. He reaches for her, stumbling through the crumbling railing and over the edge of the balcony. Swinging out an a bat-rope Batman catches Payne who thinks he is in the arms of his beloved.

The following morning a healing Bruce is watching the coverage of the story on the news when his cleaning woman Cathy comes in and turnes off the TV saying, "You shouldn't be watching such trash." Bruce realizes it is not the TV she hates, but rather Orson Payne, and asks her if she was ever an opera singer. She says that, yes, she was, but she gave it all up to gain her freedom. Bruce says her secret is safe with him, that he sympathizes with people who want to keep secrets. Reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition C-44 and Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 HC.

The back-up story is "The Hollow Man," the conclusion of last issue's Batgirl story, by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Remember, Batgirl is trying to catch the Orchid Killer, who has been preying on redheads, and is using Barbara Gordon as bait, joining the same computer-dating service as the victims. Mousy Max Tournov brought her an orchid and she tossed him over her shoulder. He crushed the orchid and ran off and she gave chase as Batgirl, only to lose him and be pulled into a dark alley by someone who says, "A red-headed Batgirl will do for now!" So much for the recap!

She tosses this guy and is surprised that he is not Max, but instead is a rather handsome guy. Startled she lets the mystery man get the best of her, knocking her out cold. When she wakes up she is being comforted by Max Tournov, who she thanks before leaving.

Two nights later as Barbara she is back in the computer-dating scene, saddled with a really homely guy named John Milman who meets her at the door with an orchid. When the uneventful date is over, Barbara says she hopes they can see each other again and when Milman presses her on it, he becomes angry. John says he knows she doesn't mean it, that he is ugly and repulsive, "Liars! All of you! You're all fragile blossoms--too precious to touch! Well--I dare to touch! And crush you all!" As Barbara gets ready to attack back, John is accosted by Jason Bard, who with his "darned trick knee" fouls everything up and lets John escape. Jason says he saw them coming out a movie and followed them out of jealousy.

Ditching Jason, Batgirl crashes John Milman's apartment, only to find him packing for a quick exit from town. Only, he isn't John Milman, he is the handsome mugger from the alley and in his possession Batgirl finds rubber masks of John Milman and Max Tournov. When he comes to the man explains that women have always fawned over him for being so handsome, but that he felt his beauty was a barrier to finding the inner beauty of women. So he used a mask to hide his own beauty and dated homely women in order to release their inner beauty. But he found them all hollow and so he needed to crush them. Batgirl says that the hollowness was not within the women but within him, that he is "the hollow man--finding ugliness in everything!"

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Batman #220

Batman #220 (On Sale: January 22, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams. Three things about this cover: 1) I don't normally like the multi-panel covers, but this one completely works for me, 2) some attribute the inks on this cover to Dick Giordano, but I just don't see it, particularly in the Batman figure in panel one, and 3) this is the debut of a radically new Batman logo, this after reverting back to pretty much the original logo less than a year ago. Now I liked this new logo, but it would not last very long; within a year they would slip Robin's name into the logo and a year after that they will move to a new logo that is more a throw-back to the logo they are currently replacing.

This issue has the book-length "This Murder Has Been... Pre-Recorded" by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. It opens up with pretty much a rehash of the cover and then shows us how we got there. Bruce is visited by Marla Manning, the woman whose articles on "Victims Anonymous" was the inspiration for Bruce's own Victims Inc. Program. She relates how she has received anonymous threats ever since she hinted in an article that the death of young file clerk in the city contract bids department might be linked to bidder for a certain city contract. Bruce's VIP had provided some financial aid to the victims sister and when he checks his files on the woman, Sandra Sloan, they are missing and in there place is a note to "Lay off...or else!" Bruce says he will call on Batman's help and sends Manning on her way.

Manning floated the name of Nova Demolition Co. and Bruce checks into them and the other companies who bid on the suspected contract. That night Batman visits Sandra Sloan and is given the brush-off at the door. Suspecting foul play Batman crashes in and interrupts an unknown gunman who gets away. Sloan knows who it was, but refuses to tell. Batman heads to Nova Demolition where he breaks in to look at their records. There he fights with owner Zack Nova, ex-military demolition expert. Nova threatens to call the police on Batman if he doesn't leave and tells him to "lay off."

Batman then visits Manning and convinces her to say in her next article that she has evidence of who killed Sloan. When the article hits the paper, Manning gets a call from Nova, saying he knows she is lying about having proof but offers to give her what she needs for $5,000, the money to be left in a phone booth.

In preparation for the meeting Batman goes to the airport for something and then meets Manning near the phone booth where he takes her place for the rendezvous. As soon as the booth door closes a tape plays of Zach Nova confessing to the murder and then the booth blows up. Manning comes out of hiding and is confronted by Zach Nova plans on killing her just in case she heard his confession. Just then his confession starts replaying and Nova freaks out a bit. Batman comes out of hiding and takes Nova out explaining that he used a black box recorder from a plane to capture the confession and put an inflated Batman costume into the booth while he then ran for cover, expecting that a demolition expert was planning an explosion.

Afterward we learn from Sloan's sister that Nova had saved Sloan's life in Viet Nam and used that to get secret information from Sloan so that he could win contracts. When Sloan could bear it no longer and threatened to expose Nova he murdered Sloan.

Once again, I am disappointed by the Robbins' story, yet I recall loving this stuff 40 years ago.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Superboy #163

Superboy #163 (On Sale: January 8, 1970) has a superb Neal Adams' cover which seems inspired by Cool Hand Luke.

This issue begins with Superboy in our cover-story, "Reform School Rebel" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito.

The back-up is "The Super-Robot" from Superboy #52 and produced by Otto Binder, Curt Swan and John Fischetti. Two swindlers build a Superboy robot. They then sell the robot to the gullible Pop Peabody who thinks the robot has super powers. Superboy tricks the crooks by posing as the robots and performing super deeds for Pop. When the crooks see that the robot possesses powers they offer to buy it back for twice the price. The crooks then take the real robot back to their workshop where they discover it to be worthless junk. Superboy explains his trick to Peabody and gives the extra money to charity.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Detective Comics #396

Detective Comics #396 (On Sale: December 23, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

This issue begins with Batman in "The Brain-Pickers" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. Wall Street wiz-kid Rory Bell makes the cover of Now! Magazine and the notice of Bruce Wayne and three thugs led by a guy named Sharf. Bell rides around on his motorcycle and radio-phones in his orders to his broker and girl friend, Nan Owens.

Sharf has a buddy who works at the garage where Bell keeps his bike and has had his helmet bugged, so that when he places an order Sharf and his buddies will be able to "share in the wealth." Their plan goes south when they find out Bell phones in his orders in code.

As it ends up Nan is Bruce's broker as well and Bruce calls in to see how "the street" is reacting to Wayne Enterprises proposed merger with Seven-Star Pictures. Nan mentions how Bell has bought in for a "big slice" and how others are following his lead. Meantime, Sharf and his buddies waylay Bell on his bike and say they are going to hold him up in a motel room for a few days and make all the same trades as he does to get rich quick.

Bell tells them it doesn't work that way, that if he can't ride his bike he can't figure out what to trade, so the thugs agree to just follow him by car. Bell's first order is to sell Wayne Enterprises which forces Nan to Call Bruce to try and soften the blow on "the street." Eventually Bruce figures out that Bell's orders are really a code for where he located and as Batman Bruce goes to intercept him.

At a gas station Batman confronts the thugs and has to use the remote-control features of the new Batmobile to foil the thug's plans. All in all a pretty stupid story. I remember liking Robbins' run on Batman, so either it gets a lot better or I didn't have very good taste in writing back then.

Much better written by Frank Robbins is the back-up Batgirl story, "The Orchid-Crusher," drawn by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. The Orchid-Killer is murdering one redhead after another and Barbara Gordon is even dreaming that as Batgirl she is a victim of the killer. She learns that the last victim had registered at a computer dating service when she finds a book with the woman's dating card used as a bookmark. She tracks down the last borrower of the book, but he has moved out of his apartment. Barbara immediately rents the apartment and also joins the computer dating service. She has to brush off Jason Bard's advances as she waits for the trap she is setting to be sprung.

She does get a date through the service, a mousy looking man named Max Tournov, but he seems harmless, till he buys her an orchid and then tries to kiss her. She sends him over her shoulder and he responds by crushing he orchid and running off. As Batgirl Barbara gives chase, but loses him. As she frantically searches, she is pulled into a dark alley by an unseen figure who says, "A red-headed Batgirl will do for now!"

The filler story is "The Master of Mind Over Matter" from Strange Adventures #26 by Jack Miller, Gil Kane and John Giunta. This is a tight little story about a psychiatrist and amateur magician named Blake, whom the police asked to report on the sudden death of a magician named Elmo the Great, since the man had been investigating Elmo for a while. It seemed Elmo could do miraculous things: levitate people, turn water into wine, etc. Blake was present when Elmo suddenly died. In his report he tells the police that he believes an alien creature had entered Elmo's body and was the source of his amazing powers. The police scoff at such nonsense and leave. Blake then reveals that he knows what he says to be true because when Elmo died the creature entered his own body.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Batman #219

Batman #219 (On Sale: December 4, 1969) has a nice cover by Neal Adams. This is the last issue to use this long-time logo.

We begin with our cover-story, "Death Casts the Deciding Vote" by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. Bruce Wayne heads to the state capitol to find public funding for his Victims Inc, Program but when he reaches the governor's office he finds Senator Lincoln Webster already there. Webster is visiting on the sly and informs Bruce that a new anti-crime bill he is sponsoring will put V.I.P. out of business, but that there might be a federal "Health and Welfare" bill that some of Bruce's ideas might be tacked on to.

Webster invites Bruce to fly with him back to Washington, DC where he needs to be tomorrow to vote on his bill and promises to introduce Bruce tot he right people. Little do they know that they are being watched and followed as they leave the state house. They take a commuter flight back to DC but things go bad almost immediately.

Unbeknownst to Bruce and Webster, the plane has been hijacked. Bruce notices that the plane is flying in the wrong direction and breaks into the cockpit to see what is going on. There he is knocked out and hijackers tell the passengers that Bruce was a hijacker and that they are the FBI. Webster knows something is up, but does not want to reveal his identity. They put Bruce in a back room where he escapes and returns to the front of the plane as Batman. They threaten to kill Webster if Batman doesn't stop and he is also captured and thrown in with Bruce Wayne (Bruce used inflated Mae Wests to fill out his clothing when he changed into Batman garb).

The hijackers land the plane at an abandoned airfield. There they reveal that they are simply holding Webster until after the vote of his bill, so that it will fail. When they go to check on Batman, they find an unconscious Bruce Wayne and an open door where they assume Batman has escaped. They move Bruce back up with the passengers and he talks the Senator into faking a heart attack. Bruce convinces the hijackers to fly to a nearby medic. When they take off, batman pops up in the cockpit. The gunmen freak out and run back into the passenger area where Bruce gets the better of them. He then rushes to the cockpit where he deflates the Batman suit he had rigged with the wheels hydraulic mechanism and tells the pilots to head for DC.

As they approach DC for landing the wheels open and suck the Batman suit out of the plane, which is sort of what you see on the slightly misleading cover. Not a great story by any means, but also not what this issue is known for.

The back-up story is "The Silent Night of the Batman" by Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. This is a beautifully done Christmas tale of a Christmas Eve which Batman spends singing Christmas carols with Commissioner Gordon and his men, while out across Gotham the spirit of Batman stops one crime after another. Sometimes it is a Batman toy, sometimes a blind man in a Batman costume, sometimes the shadow of a suspension bridge forming a Batman symbol. It is a classic tale like no other and has been reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition C-43, Christmas with the Super-Heroes #1 and Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 HC.

One more back-up before we go and that is "Time to Kill" by Henry Kuttner and John Giunta and reprinted from Phantom Stranger #5. This is a great little story about a rivalry between two scientists, a time machine and a murder that becomes a suicide. Henry Kuttner was a client of Julius Schwartz's, a science-fiction writer who only wrote 21 stories for DC comics. Twenty of them were written between 1944 and 1946 and all twenty were Green Lantern stories. This, his 21st and last story was written in 1953. Besides his work for DC, Kuttner also wrote for Fawcett, Ace and Avon Comics and worked for a while out of the Chesler Studio.

Kuttner was married to Catherine Louise Moore, also a writer and they co-authored a number of science-fiction novels together. Kuttner is the creator of Elak of Atlantis, an early sword and sorcery character. Ten of Kuttner's novels were published after his death in 1958. The Best of Henry Kuttner was published in 1987 and Catherine Lucille Moore and Henry Kuttner: A Marriage of Souls and Talent: A Working Bibliography was published in 1986.

Kuttner wrote under a number of pseudonyms including Lewis Padgett. One of his stories (co-written with his wife) was Mimsy Were the Borogoves which was adapted into the feature-length film The Last Mimzy.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Detective Comics #395

Detective Comics #395 (On Sale: November 26, 1969) has a wonderful cover by Neal Adams. The cover could only have been improved if they had let it go the full height of the book, with the logo on the illustration instead of above it.

We begin with Batman in "The Secret of the Waiting Graves" by Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. This classic issue redefined what a Batman story should be. Building on the ideas Neal Adams has told Julius Schwartz months earlier, this is a different Batman than we have seen before. First, without any of the nonsense of his previous few issues, this is Batman alone. No Robin, no Alfred, no Wayne Manor or Wayne Foundation, no V.I.P., no Batmobile or Batarang. Besides his body and his mind, the only tool Batman uses is a rope (not called a Batrope mind you). The entire story takes place at night and one of the tools Batman does use is that his appearance scares people. Nothing campy or hammy in this story.

This is not the guy you have seen before; the character has been remolded to more aptly fit the way Neal Adams draws him. It is not the most complicated of stories, but it is just enough to give you a feel of this new character, the one replacing the Batman you have known in the past.

The entire story takes place on a single night in Central Mexico. Bruce Wayne and every other "social butterfly in the Western Hemisphere" have been invited to a huge fiesta on the estate of notorious recluse Juan Muerto. Bruce is out touring the estate when trouble first appears. Some of the guests are engaging in a night-time hot-air balloon race when the balloon of one of the competitors, Pedro Valdes, is attacked by trained falcons, which shred his balloon. As Valdes plummets to the ground he is saved from certain death by Batman, who as Bruce Wayne quickly returns to the party.

There Bruce dances with Juan's wife, Delores, a beautiful young woman who speaks to Bruce in an oddly condescending way, as if she were talking to a child. Bruce senses a strange mustiness about her, that he can't explain. Bruce mentions how odd it is for them to hold their fiesta in a graveyard and Delores responds that she and Juan choose to laugh at death rather than fear it. Just then the returning Valdes is attacked once again, as a brazier near him shatters and Bruce hears the muffled sound of a silenced gun. Slipping away from Delores Muerto, Bruce once again sheds his civilian guise to become the Dark Knight.

He finds a group of killers on top of a nearby ridge and leaps into their midst. His sudden appearance frightens them and his quick fists begin to work them over. But one of the men summons a pair of wolves who attack Batman. He leaps into a tree to escape their jaws and from there leaps off a cliff, plummeting over the edge. The killers hear no splash of batman hitting the water below and assume he has hit the rocks and is no longer a problem.

Back at the fiesta, the Muertos decide that two bungled assassinations are enough for one night and will take matters into their own hands. They find Valdes and say they want to show him something that can be found in the old monastery on the grounds. Valdes wonders if it might be a flower. Hanging from a rope under the cliff, Batman hears the discussion and follows the group to the monastery. The Muertos show Valdes the Sybil flowers, which according to legend bestow immortality at the cost of one's sanity. Valdes reveals that he is a government agent, here to arrest the Muertos who accidentally left one of the Sybil blossoms in their hotel room during a recent stay in Mexico City. The Muertos attack Valdes and overpower him and when Batman comes to his rescue he is overtaken by the hallucinogenic nature of the scent given off by the Sybils.

Batman is knocked out by Muerto and when he comes to he and Valdes are tied up in the Monastery. The Muertos let loose the trained falcons to tear their captives apart, but Batman has been using Valdes' badge to cut at his ropes and the pain caused by the falcon attack has cleared his brain somewhat. He kicks a few falcons senseless and bags the last one with his cape before dragging Valdes out of the monastery. Once clear of the flowers Batman tosses back a torch setting the Sybils afire.

From afar the Muertos see the flames. Delores laments that this is the last patch of Sybils left and that their immortality is being "burned from the soil" She rushes off to save them and Juan follows, extolling her to calm herself, to remember that extreme excitement cancels the effect of the flowers fumes. As they race through the graveyard toward the monastery, Juan warns her that she will lose her beauty, that age will seize her, that her limbs will stiffen, the skin of her face will crack and crease and her heart will wither. that they are opening the portals of death itself. With each step they grow older and more enfeebled till finally they fall together into a set of waiting graves. Batman arrives and adds in their date of death. Juan was 129, his wife 126.

This classic tale, the first real modern Batman story has been reprinted in Batman from the 30s to the 70s HC, Dynamic Classics #1, Saga of Ra's Al Ghul #2, Millennium Edition: Detective Comics 395 (#27) and Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 HC.

The back-up is Robin in "Drop Out...or Drop Dead!" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Continuing from last issue the phony cops are happy when Robin shows up and starts pounding Jonah the CTT leader. They are more than happy to have Robin provide the physical proof of their police brutality. Robin is knocked unconscious. While out the other CTT members are stirring up the campus, but the students are still not ready to strike. From the campus the CTT members call the "cops" to bring in the "clincher."

Jonah tells them not to harm Robin and Dick (who they think is locked in the silo) and the "cops" agree, but after Jonah has left they attempt to kill Robin. They are some sort of "reds" who want to shut down America's campuses one at a time. Robin takes them out and as Disk, returns them to the campus, where they are in time to stop the strike vote and expose the fraud of the CTT. This story has been reprinted in Millennium Edition: Detective Comics 395 (#27) and Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Superboy #162

Superboy #162 (On Sale: November 20, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

The feature-length Superboy tale, "The Super-Phantom of Smallville" is by Frank Robbins and Bob Brown.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Detective Comics #394

Detective Comics #394 (On Sale: October 30, 1969) has a nice cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with Batman in "A Victim's Victim" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. Oh, does this issue continue harming the Batman legend. This is the second of the inane Victim's Incorporated Program (V.I.P.) stories. Picking up from the end of this month's Batman story, Bruce Wayne is confronted in his V.I.P. office by a Native American sporting a gun and an eye-patch, one Dakota Jones, race-car driver. It seems Dakota thinks Bruce Wayne hired someone to shoot him in the eye during the last Gotham Classic Cup Race, so that the car owned by Bruce could win.

I take note here that this month DC put out two comics staring Batman and featuring racing, The big difference is that in The Brave and the Bold both Batman and Bruce Wayne take an active part in the racing, while here Bruce owns the car. Anyway, Bruce and Dakota spar and Bruce wins and figures that someone must be feeding Dakota the idea that Bruce was involved.

Later that night as Batman, Bruce heads for the scene of the crime in one of the stupidest looking Batmobiles of all time. This is some Italian race-car looking thing, with one-way mirrors for windows, diplomatic license plates and an ugly spoiler on top. He thinks this will be less obtrusive than the old Batmobile. World's greatest detective my ass! I digress. At the track Batman determines that the shot must have come from the inside of the track, and since there is no place for a sniper to hide, the shot must have come from Wayne's car.

For some reason, Wayne's car is still at the track and on inspection, Batman finds a shell casing under the floor mat (a race car with a floor mat?). Just then he hears some low lifes, "Chance" Collins and some of his goons, coming, talking about how they convinced Dakota that Bruce had ordered the "hit" on Dakota, not them, who bet heavily on the Wayne car to win. They are back to retrieve the gun from behind the glove compartment of Wayne's car. Batman does see the gun there and hides in the car.

When Collins' men open the car batman attacks them but is overpowered. They tie him up and are going to use the same remote-controlled gun rig that they used to shoot Dakota to kill Batman. Before they can do that though, Dakota arrives and takes out a couple of thugs while Collins slips away in Wayne's race car. Dakota takes after him and Collins crashes the car on the same turn where Dakota was shot. An eye for an eye, as they say.

I can't go forward without mentioning the lack-luster Bob Brown and Joe Giella artwork. Brown didn't seem to be trying very hard (one Batman face is repeated three times) and Giella never was one for thrilling inks.

The back-up story features Robin in "Strike... While the Campus is Hot" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. The artwork on this one is a night and day reversal of the main story. Gil Kane's pencils are exciting and vibrant, and Murphy Anderson's inks are lush and inviting, smoothing off some of the rough edges of Kane's pencils. The story begins with Batman and Alfred reading a letter from Dick, telling of his first college "bust."

Dick relates how he has found a room in a boarding house with a conveniently-placed drain pipe for Robin to exit and enter and how on his first day on campus he ran into a protest by a group called CTT (Citizens Tomorrow--Today). They seem to be provoking the campus administrators when the dean shows up to say that they will talk with the protesters and tat they will be no police action or interference. This seems to take the wind out of the protesters who appeared gunning for violence. Suddenly police cars appear and the leaders are taken into custody.

However, Dick notices that the cops are phonies and is knocked out and taken as well. At the campus the remaining CTT leaders accuses the school of lying and along with the press head down to police headquarters. Finding no CTT leader there, CTT accuses the police of being in on a massive cover-up. Meanwhile Dick awakens in an old silo and changes into Robin (something about a reversible shirt and hidden pockets that makes little sense, but hey, it's the comics, right?). He finds the "cops" bandaging up the CTT leader. Robin leaps down and starts fighting the leader only to find the "cops" standing on the sidelines watching and smiling.

This story has been reprinted in Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Batman #217

Batman #217 (On Sale: October 16, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams, which is sometimes, inexplicably, credited to Irv Novick and Dick Giordano (which is pure lunacy).

Maybe Julius Schwartz was heeding the advice of Neal Adams when he told Julie that Batman had to change, had to be more like the Batman in the Brave and the Bold. Maybe that explains this issue and the massive changes it attempted to bring to the character. Whatever the reason, this issue marks the beginning of yet another revamping of the Batman character. As the cover depicts, Wayne Manor and the Batcave are mothballed. As last week's Detective Comics cover hinted at, Batman and Robin are a team no more as Dick Grayson goes off to college. This certainly allows for the opportunity for Batman to return to being a figure of the night, which is good, but there are other changes here that don't fare nearly as well, as you will see.

"One Bullet Too Many" is by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano and you certainly cannot complain about the artwork, which is wonderful. We begin with Dick Grayson saying his goodbyes to Bruce and Alfred at Wayne Manor as he heads off to Hudson University. After he leaves, Bruce explains to Alfred that Wayne Manor is just too big for the two of them and that Batman must change as well. He plans on streamlining the Batman operation and reestablishing the trademark of old: Batman as a figure that strikes fear in the hearts of criminals.

And not just gangsters but those who use "phony respectablilty...big business fronts--legal cover-ups--and hide in the fortress towers of Gotham's metropolis!" So they move out of Wayne Manor and into the heart of Gotham, to the Wayne Foundation building. Bruce goes on to tell Alfred how he wants to set up a special program of the Wayne Foundation to help the victims of crime, a program they end up calling V.I.P., Victims, Inc. Program, an inane name if ever there was one. Based on a newspaper article, Bruce chooses Dr. Susan Felding, the widow of a recently slain doctor, as their first "client."

Bruce first insults the woman and then offers her a zero-interest loan from the Wayne Foundation and the Batman's help in solving the murder of her husband. they go over the night he was killed, how he answered the door late at night and helped a wounded man into his office. She later heard two gunshots and went down to find her husband shot dead and a bullet in a tray that he had taken out of the wounded man. There are no clues to the wounded man's identity and Bruce leaves.

Later that night Batman visits Susan Felding and talks her into being the "bait" in a plan to flush out the killer. In many disguises Batman plants the story in Gotham's seedier side the Susan Felding got a look at the man who shot her husband. The next day he stakes out her office to see if anyone takes the bait. The killer does show up and Batman almost misses him only to be caught flat-footed and letting the killer escape while he takes a bullet meant for Susan.

He asks Susan to extract the bullet immediately and they take it to police HQ where they compare it to the bullet that shot Susan's husband and the bullet he removed from the wounded stranger's arm. They are all the same, meaning that the man who killed Susan's husband was not the wounded man, but another individual who must have also been in Dr. Felding's office that night.

Surmising that the wounded man was killed by his partner, the man who shot Batman and Dr. Felding, the police are able to track down and arrest "Stub" Sartel. Later in Bruce's office he writes a letter to Dick telling him of the first success of Victim's, Inc. Program when a Native American bursts into his office and pulls a gun on Bruce. This story was reprinted in Batman from the 30s to the 70s HC, Batman in the Sixties TPB and Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB.

My problem with this whole Victim's, Inc. Program idea is that it is so unnecessary and restricts and confines the stories that can be told. It just seems like a really dumb idea and not the kind of thing that is going to help in making Batman a fearsome character again. Instead it makes him a pawn used by a charitable organization. V.I.P. was a step in the wrong direction for Batman. And instead of this issue breaking up the Batman and Robin team, it began the Batman and Bruce Wayne team, and man was that a dumb idea.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Superboy #161

Superboy #161 (On Sale: October 7, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

"The Strange Death of Superboy" is by the regular team of Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Wally Wood.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Detective Comics #393 (On Sale: September 30, 1969) has just a really ineffective cover by Irv Novick. The Batman figure seems squeezed in under the massive logo and it is hard to tell exactly how old Novick thinks Robin is. Ugh, I just don't like this one.

"The Combo Caper" is by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella and although the cover scene does sort of happen in this issue, it is basically the last panel, so in that way this cover is sort of a cheap "come on." as the captioned question, "Why?," is never addressed. We begin with Batman and Robin noticing while on patrol a light on at the Winslow mansion. They knew very well that the Winslows are vacationing at their beach front estate next to Bruce's in Ocean Point so they enter and surprise an thief in mid caper. Before the thief escapes in the Batmobile no less, Robin lands a right jab to his covered face. The thief didn't have enough time to crack the Winslow's safe, but left behind a clue, an aluminum pop-top with the two sets of safe combinations scratched into its surface, the Winslow's and one other.

The next morning, after retrieving the abandoned Batmobile, Bruce, Dick and Alfred head out for Ocean Point for a little R & R. On the way they pick up Skeet Callum, an under-privileged teen in crisis that Bruce is attempting to mentor for the Civic Conscience Council. Skeet has an attitude the rub Dick the wrong way, and he also has a shiner and an addiction to Kool-Up soda, in the aluminum pop-top cans.

Once at the beach, Dick and Skeet run into Deena Winslow, who is also sporting a shiner and a Kool-Up addiction. That night Bruce, Dick and Skeet attend a big bash at the Winslow estate where they are introduced to world-traveler and yacht-owner Aristide Naxos. The teens all head out for a party on the beach where Skeet and Deena have an argument and Skeet takes off alone.

As the night wears on, Aristide makes his exit to his yacht and Mrs. Winslow tries to hit on Bruce, resulting in Bruce going upstairs to fetch her wrap, only to discover that the Winslow's safe here has been robbed. Looking around Bruce finds another pop-top with this safe's combination. Bruce remembers that Skeet is always drinking Kool-Up and tells him that if he robbed the place he can still give the jewels back, no questions asked. Skeet runs off and later Bruce laments that he may have pushed Skeet towards crime by accusing him. This sends Dick out to find him, which he does lying unconscious on the beach. Skeet says that he found Deena digging in the sand and that she was being signaled from Naxos's yacht and when he tried to ask her what was going on she decked him with her surfboard.

Later Dick rides out on a surfboard toward the yacht, gathering the attention of the guards on board. What they don;t see is Batman tagging along with the board underwater. using a rebreather. While Dick catches a few waves at night, Batman sneaks on to the yacht where he confronts Naxos and Deena. When Naxos pulls a gun Deena disarms him. Inside her can of Kool-Up are the jewels, which she stole to punish her parents for only buying her things instead of loving her. Later Skeet finds out that Batman came to his aid and that if Batman thinks he is worth something, then maybe he should too.

The final panel is a close-up of Batman thinking, "The case is over...the team-up is finished! This is good-bye for Batman and Robin!"

The Batgirl back-up is "Downfall of a Goliath!" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Batgirl Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Detective Comics #392

Detective Comics #392 (On Sale: August 28, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

Inside we have Batman in "I Died... a Thousand Deaths" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. I have this book around here some where and will read it soon and give a detailed description.

The back-up Batgirl story is "A Clue... Seven-Foot Tall" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. and introduces Jason Bard. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Batgirl Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.