I remember a house ad for this, wonder if it's in the issue?

This was a 68-pager, and while I don't think it was the first in this format, it was part of multiple revamps for the title. From 1979, Adventure Comics #463, cover by José Luis García-López.

The opener, "Urtumi the Image Eater" is an oddball one for the Flash, as returning from Earth-2 he's attacked by a bizarre creature, which had been released when archeologists removed a Native American tablet. (Story by Cary Bates, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Joe Giella.) "Mind over Murder!" is a bit more substantial, as Deadman tries to use a somewhat-unhinged scientist's invention, to create a new body for himself. It doesn't work, and Boston continues to get irritated by Rama Kushna, who tells him that would never have worked, and he should be grateful for what he has, because he might have it for eternity...I think Rama was trying to be encouraging, not threatening, but Boston doesn't really see it that way. (Written by Len Wein, pencils by José Luis García-López, inks by Frank Chiaramonte.)

"The Night of the Soul Thief" opens with the Justice Society on the trail of Batman's true killer, and both Dick Grayson and Helena Wayne are unmasked, as their secret identities had been exposed in the wake of Batman's death. The team fights assorted elementals, before being taken before one Fredric Vaux, a sorcerer plotting to end the current age of heroes, so the ongoing conflict of Order vs. Chaos could get back on track, with Chaos victorious and him ruling earth in its name. Vaux had wanted to erase even the memory of the heroes, but too many people in Gotham City remember Batman for that to go away easily. Helena is furious that her father died for nothing, a pawn in a larger game; but on losing Vaux is discarded by Chaos and seemingly done. Doctor Fate then uses what was left of his spell, to convince Earth-2 that Batman and Bruce Wayne had both died, but had been separate men, saving Robin and Huntress's identities. (Written by Paul Levitz, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Dave Hunt.)

"Climax" is an Aquaman story, and I may need to take a moment to see if he (or Flash or Wonder Woman, for that matter) had his own title at the time: I feel like I've read several Aquaman stories in Adventure. This month, it's Aquaman vs. Aqualad, Mera, Vulko, most of Atlantis, and capitalism! Universal Food Products had entered into a manufacturing partnership with Atlantis, which everyone thought would be good for everyone; except for Aquaman, who had discovered UFP's generators were heating the sea to unlivable levels, while their fertilizers were going to deplete Atlantis's farmland. Or farm-waters; I'm not sure how it works. Arthur wasn't currently the king, and everyone seems to think he's just being stubborn; but come on: the UFP guys had a boat commander in a very Nazi-style uniform, with a friggin' monocle. Pretty sure they're the bad guys, man. Aquaman exposes them, but admits to his friends he didn't blame them, since he didn't have any proof backing him up. Feels like a trust exercise they failed, though. Also, is it my imagination, or despite having less rep Aqualad threw down with his mentor more often than Robin or Speedy did with theirs? Yeah, Robin would've been a good soldier at the time; but I guess Speedy and Ollie probably rough-housed all the time. ("Put down the needle, Roy!" "Make me!" "Put down the chili, Ollie!" "Make me!") (Written by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Joe Giella.)

Bees. My god. It's Wonder Woman vs. "The Insanity Swarm!" Intelligent bees attack the Houston space center, leaving those stung as mindless and comatose. It's old JLA baddie the Queen Bee, who, when wrapped up in Diana's magic lasso, explains she had taken their minds, but even the lasso couldn't force her to give them back: she had set the self-destruct to prevent even her doing so. But, if Wonder Woman became her slave, then maybe...(Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Frank McLaughlin.) 

 This was around DC Implosion time, wasn't it? But, there is a US Postal Service Statement of Ownership this issue: total paid circulation, single issue nearest to filing date, 91,693. As usual, those would be blockbuster numbers today, but I don't think were amazing for the time, maybe even for a bimonthly book. Still, this didn't have a copy of the house ad promoting it; not because it would've been redundant, but this book was no ads at the time! I'll add said ad the next time I stumble across it.

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Well, a little Maguire is better than none.

This series ran for like two and a half years, but Maguire's name on the cover sold me on this one: from 2013, World's Finest #12, "The Price of Fame" Written by Paul Levitz, pencils by Kevin Maguire, Geraldo Borges, and Robson Rocha; inks by Kevin Maguire, J. P. Mayer, and Wayne Faucher.

I'm not entirely up on my post-New 52 continuity, but I believe this was set in the modern Earth-2, where Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had all apparently died while taking out Darkseid? Pardon me if I'm in error; Huntress does have a line about them landing on that earth; but currently Power Girl was an up-and-coming tech mogul in her secret identity of Karen Starr, with Huntress as her slightly-surly bodyguard. This month, Karen finally gets a meeting with rival/potential partner/maybe love interest Michael Holt, that goes abyssmally wrong when he reveals himself as Desaad! A more hands-on, and handsier, version than usual; but he mentions being in exile there: either unable to return to Apokolips, or maybe not having an Apokolips to return to. Desaad only lets Karen and Helena see his true form, while his bodyguards defend their boss, unaware he was a monster.

Unfortunately, Maguire doesn't do the whole issue; and while Borges and Rocha do a good job, there's a sudden shift to costumes mid-issue, as Huntress beats up some Yakuza types in search of intel. Power Girl isn't thrilled about having to leave a party for that, since after years of being Superman's secret weapon, she dug being famous. But, fame is fleeting, as the press seems to turn on Karen Starr, despite a very cheesecakey Time cover. And things go worse: Karen's Cambridge lab is blown up, drawing the heroines away, for Desaad to Boom Tube in tanks, wiping out her main office, and killing her assistant. Furious, they resolve to go underground, until they can find and end Desaad...which, I think took them a few issues.

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Back when this was published, the idea that Gothamites would immediately turn to cannibalism after a disaster might have been shocking; but nowadays we'd probably only be surprised they waited as long as they did. From 1998, the Batman Chronicles #14, featuring "Master of the House" Written by Lisa Klink, pencils by David Boller, inks by Aaron Sowd; "The Lunatic Fringe" Written by Bruce Canwell, pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Drew Geraci; and "Random Encounters" Written by Greg Rucka, illustrated by Sal Buscema and James A. Hodgkins.

These were all stories set after the "Bat-Quake" Cataclysm event. While she delivers a fun Alfred-defending-Wayne Manor story, Lisa Klink's IMDB page may be more interesting: she had written for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Voyager, as well as being a Jeopardy contestant! Huntress leads the second feature, rescuing a school bus full of children from carnivores moving up the food chain from stray animals to outright cannibalism. Although one of the thugs was bulky and probably needed a lot of protein, it's not really clear if these guys were criminals previously, or just desperate; and one has taken a name from history, Roman general Lucullus. That's a deeply obscure reference for Gotham, isn't it? Although Huntress recognizes it immediately, which also seems iffy.

"Random Encounters" is a prose piece from Rucka, with Renee Montoya's brother Benny telling a war story. He laments the grey areas of morality regular people have to live with, but someone like Two-Face seems to have circumvented: Montoya had his coin, or one of them. I haven't read a ton of Rucka's work, so I don't know if Benny would re-occur, or if this was a one-off.

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It's the spirit of Gotham! Or rabies.

Maybe the spirit of Gotham is rabies, in today's book: from 1999, Batman: No Man's Land Secret Files #1, opening with "The Message" Written by Alisa Kwitney, pencils by Michael Zulli, inks by Vince Locke.

It's New Year's Eve in Gotham City, right on the eve of No Man's Land: at midnight, the federal government will blow the bridges, cutting off anyone who hasn't already evacuated. (Criminals, insane criminals, the stubborn, the delusional, the deeply impoverished, and so forth.)  Jason had waited to the last minute, but with only bats left in his building it was time to move on. Until he hears the voice of Gotham, telling him he must deliver a message to Gotham's guardian spirit.  The voice does save him from a falling sign, but tells him he can't leave until the message is delivered.

This of course leads to a little tour of Gotham's new status quo, visiting Oracle, the Penguin, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, and finally Huntress; before Jason succumbs to rabies. Then what saved him from the sign?  

"Assignment: Bruce Wayne"  is a bit more cheery, as a reporter racks up an epic expense account trying to chase down the missing Wayne.  ("A Day in the Life" Written by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Sal Velluto, inks by Bob Almond.) The last story, "No Man's Land: the Animated Series" could maybe fit into regular continuity, except for the framing device of a boy watching it on TV.  

Well, I don't think the Cassandra-Batgirl talked much at that point. Still, looks nice.
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I don't read a ton of DC lately--their last title I bought regularly was the charming Bizarro limited. But I'm usually up for a cheap book, and picked up Secret Origins #7 for fifty cents, with the current origin for the Flash. (And likewise for the Huntress and Superboy, although they aren't mentioned on the cover.) I was curious as to the over/under of this issue being a joyless slog, and am currently betting if we see Barry remotely happy at all, it's only in flashbacks (as it were) or before he becomes the Flash...let's see!

From "The Chase," written by Robert Venditti and Van Jensen, pencils by Miguel Sepulveda, inks by Scott Hanna.

I believe the first three pages are a relatively recent addition to the origin story, and probably from Geoff Johns: the death of Barry's mom, supposedly at the hands of his dad. The only reason this seemed familiar to me was because it used in the Flash TV show. Barry thinks he sees a clue at the crime scene, which drives him to be a forensic scientist, and we get back to the lightning bolt in the lab. Driven by a sense of duty, Barry becomes the Flash, and almost has the hint of a smirk on page 8. Barry's narrating the story to his dad, the "one inmate who'll have permission to leave (Iron Heights Prison) before his sentence is up." His dad would also be the one guy in the prison that didn't need to hear that story again, but he'd been in for what, over fifteen years? Your lawyer sucks! Barry's dad doesn't want his son to waste his life trying to help him, but Barry still thinks he remembers something...namely, a shadowy figure in the room where his mom died. (Someone else in the room seems like the sort of thing you should remember, Barry.)

Wow, they used a lot of this for the show; but Barry's life seems bleak and thankless without his friends, and we don't see any here. Speaking of thankless, the rest of this issue features the updated, Earth-2 Huntress origin, which didn't feel right either: there's no way any Batman or Catwoman would raise their daughter to think she was "cannon fodder," or second-best even to Supergirl/Power Girl. Then we have the most recent Superboy origin, which has the unenviable task of recapping events from his most recent series and Teen Titans. It's so weird that the Young Justice cartoon was able to do such a good job with the character, something the comics have seemed to stuggle with for years now. Read more!

Somehow, some months it feels like comics are nothing but Batman dying...

We checked out Catwoman's version a while back, and today's another installment of "Batman Dies!" This was a theme month in the Bat-titles, not a crossover, and not unlike Marvel's "Nuff Said, a similar theme event that also said nothing...from 2001, Batman #586, "Penguin Dreams" Written by Ed Brubaker, pencils by Scott McDaniel, inks by Karl Story and John Lowe. The title is at the end, because it would be a dead giveaway otherwise. More of a dead giveaway...

Over drinks on a yacht, the Penguin tells a hidden listener how he killed Batman; which means he'll probably be on the run forever, but c'est la vie. Penguin describes Bats as "a model of determination," and somewhat boring and predictable, which is how he was able to do it, because it was obvious Batman would snap someday and better to take him out now. A car full of hired goons gun down an elderly couple and steal their young son, almost within view of Batman, who of course gives chase. Stopping the car with some clever Bat-rope work, Batman pulls the child out of the car...not realizing "he" was a "top of the line Lexcorp Decoy-Bot," crammed full of explosives! The Penguin has a brief opportunity to figuratively, if not literally, dance on Batman's grave, wearing his cape and kicking his skull around. (Part of the cowl remains, but the flesh is completely gone: this may vary from time to time, but I think generally Penguin does not seem to give a good goddamn who Batman is. "Some dick," would probably be his answer to that question...)

That's where the Penguin's luck seems to run out, though, as Batman's crew shows up--Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl (Cassandra!) and Huntress, even Azrael in a terrible, more superhero-y costume. Although he's able to get away while they're all crying, later they collectively come down on the Penguin's operations like a sack of bricks--"Even the damned Huntress...who would've thought she'd even care?" Forced to leave Gotham forever, Pengy hides out on a yacht for two days, waiting for a last bit of revenge...on Bruce Wayne, who "shamed" Penguin in trying to take his home with his "chickadee lawyer." Dumping the body in the ocean, Penguin sails off into the sunset, on the yacht Thomas Martha...all of which of course is an idle daydream from the Penguin, of "a world where I could get some justice, I guess...a better world, indeed..."

The next issue of Batman was the first chapter of the "Officer Down" crossover; and I suspect the "Batman Dies!" event was intended as a bit of fluff before that started. But it's so fluffy, as to be completely pointless; which seems a waste from creators like Brubaker and McDaniel. Greg Rucka would take a shot at it as well with Two-Face, but I don't know if I have that one. From a friend, I'm 90% sure I have the Catwoman issue of the crossover (although she had a dream sequence in Nightwing as we mentioned) featuring Harley Quinn on the cover. Sooner or later, I suppose...
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Beat today, so just a couple from a book I'm surprised I found cheap:

From 1977, All-Star Comics #69, "United We Fall!" A classic Earth-2 story, featuring Commissioner Bruce Wayne, Robin, Hourman, Starman, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Wonder Woman against the Justice Society of America! Wayne seems to be holding the JSA responsible for actions caused by the Psycho-Pirate's influence, and when he brings the law down on the team, one of his officers panics and shoots Power Girl! (With an electric "shock-gun," that actually somehow nearly kills the usually invulnerable Power Girl.) To bring in the JSA, the former Batman calls in the other heroes; and neither group will back down.

Superman shows up in the end, and being the only one everyone will listen to, calms the situation down. Along with brainwashing from the Psycho-Pirate, Wayne was also working through his grief over the death of his wife Catwoman, and was pretty disraught; but his daughter the Huntress is glad to see he's going to be all right. And this is actually the first appearance of the Huntress! Helena Wayne had appeared before, but this was the first of her in costume--except for from the same week, DC Super Stars #17, featuring her origin. I have a vague feeling I have a beat-up copy of that somewhere, too...

Since Bruce is the only one controlled, this breaks the heroes down into those loyal to the JSA (the current team) and those loyal to Batman; which could've been a notion to play with. It also could've been a chance to really show which teammates just don't like each other. ("You've had this coming for a long time, Wildcat!")
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With a name like "Lionmane," it has to be...a D-lister, yeah.

We'll look at the lead-in story from this issue next week, but we'll wrap up this one with a quick look at "Lion at Bay" from Wonder Woman #280, written by Paul Levitz, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Steve Mitchell. We join our jailbreak already in progress, as the Huntress fights Lionmane. But Helena's not just there to stop the jailbreak, she has an old score to settle with him: he had been a goon in Catwoman's mob, who tried to take over. Catwoman was narrowly able to gas him and dump him on the police, but Huntress knows it took her mom some time to recover, and wants to pay him back.

I don't know if Lionmane is a mutant or anything, but he's ugly and strong. Since Huntress said she knew the secret of Fagan's Wood, Lionmane tries to beat the location of Catwoman's hidden jewels out of her. Huntress is nearly down, but creepily seems to hear her mother, and smashes Lionmane in the face with a good-sized rock, knocking him out. The cops surrounded the escaped prisoners during the fight, so the jailbreak is over...with only one escapee. Worse, she doesn't realize it yet, but the Huntress lost a friend: to keep him safe, Helena sent Harry Sims home, but he didn't make it.

We mentioned Brave and the Bold #200 had a senior citizen Joker: pre-Crisis on Earth-2, the Joker outlived Batman. Not sure why he'd be at the prison instead of the traditional Arkham, though. Hopefully Helena gets to deliver a stout beating about the face next issue...


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80-Page Thursdays: Batman 80-Page Giant #2!

I still find the occasional 80-pager, but today's was a bit of a disappointment: from 1999, Batman 80-Page Giant #2, featuring stories from Scott Beatty, D.G. Chichester, Jim Alexander, and more; with art by Karl Waller, Sal Buscema, Jim Balent, and more.

The theme this issue is "luck," like we don't see heroes luck out enough in regular stories. In the opening story, Batman is forced to play a game of "Gotham Roulette" by Two-Face; and only survives because Two-Face was using a Belgium knock-off of a Smith&Wesson .44 that backfires on him. Batman plays it off like he knew that would happen, but this story pretty much sets the tone for the rest. Huntress faces a trap of the Riddler's, and although she tries to reason out his puzzle, her guess may have been wrong...next, the Ventriloquist and Scarface, with Killer Croc and the Mad Hatter, try to change their luck with a little breakout from Arkham and a trip to the Penguin's casino.

In a story set before Tim Drake became Robin, Nightwing worries Drake isn't being careful enough, and tails him to a strange destination. Then, "In Clover," Batman faces Poison Ivy and her dog roses "...made with real dogs" and gets an unexpected assist. In "Lucky's Seven" Catwoman tells of a cat she knew that actually was Lucky, and that story probably has the best of this issue. Finally, in "A Run of Bad Luck," Deadshot takes a potshot at Batman, on Two-Face's dime. When Batman confronts Two-Face, he's a little out of it since he's thrown his coin on the good side a hundred and thirty-eight times in a row...

This issue is a miss, but I'm still keeping an eye open for other 80-pagers, so here's hoping.
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80-Page Thursdays: Batman Family #18!

Because I'm obviously insane, I have 80-Page Thursdays written almost six months (!) in advance. So, this was written in January, and I can only hope I'm still diligently blogging away and haven't been lured away by something shiny or abducted or anything. Today, from 1978, Batman Family #18, featuring stories by Denny O'Neil, Bob Rozakis, and Paul Levitz; and art by Michael Golden, Joe Staton, Juan Ortiz, and more.

"The Monstrosity Chase!" opens with Batman gunned down by the Gargoyle Gang. Well, a Batman; an actor working security guarding an aging actress and a golden mask. That, and a brief scene of Batman saving a radio DJ from being mugged, is mostly just setup, for a rather exciting chase through the sewers--the gang took a hostage, the sewer plans are out of date, and severe flooding is coming. There's a lot going on for a 20-page story, but it comes together nicely.

Next, in "The Fine Art of Murder," Dick Grayson is snoozing through his art history class, when a student is killed by a sniper. Quickly changing to Robin--Dick apparently wears at least three layers of clothes--he catches the sniper, but someone knifes the killer to silence him. Getting the clues to a Rembrandt smuggling ring leads to some friction with Dick's love interest Lori, which appears to be setting up something for the next issue; but aside from Barbara, did Dick ever have a halfway decent girlfriend? (I know he was with Starfire for a long time in Teen Titans, but that seems to be handwaved away as a phase or something.)

Speaking of the "Dominoed Daredoll," (and man, Gail Simone needs to bring that back) the next story Batgirl defends against "Assault on the Pentagon!" Congresswoman Babs is out parking by the Potomac with Senator Tom Cleary, but before anything crosses party lines (hey-o!) she spies a commando group on the river, and has to slap Tom as fresh to excuse herself.

One of the commandos is wearing an amusingly garish skimask and scarf, but for a reason! It's Madame Zodiac, who plans on using "the largest man-made pentagram in the world!" on this night of mystical confluence or something, to give herself mighty astral powers. Like optic blasts, for instance.

When the army is gassed out of commission, Batgirl uses a dropped pistol briefly, but that seemed more to underline the uses of her utility belt then anything: she uses at least four different items from it in 12 pages. I kinda liked this one.

In "Man-Bat No More!" Kirk Langstrom mopes over his scrapbook of cases, since as a new dad, he's resigned himself to giving up super-heroing. Although he's a zoologist who created a pill to turn into Man-Bat, he's had a harder time parleying that into cash money, so he's working at a factory. His wife Francine feels bad, and thinks Kirk should go ahead and be Man-Bat, but he feels it would be too addictive and too hard to work full-time days and flap around nights.

Meanwhile, another Man-Bat is seen nights, stopping a robbery and vandalism of a school. Kirk swears it isn't him, but worries he may be sleepwalking; as he see a report that his old villain SNAFU has broken out of jail. (It was him or the Ten-Eyed Man; Man-Bat hadn't built up a deep rogues' gallery.) The...ugh..."razzle-dazzle villain" terrorizes Madison Square Garden, but as Man-Bat arrives, Kirk is home, asleep, alone...! I liked this version of Man-Bat, as solid family guy with a decent head on his shoulders; since numerous other versions make him out to be a loon or a loser, with assorted creepy personality problems as needed.

Lastly, we visit Earth-2 and the Huntress in "A Choice of Destinies." Helena Wayne's day job as a lawyer at a public interest research group, is not leaving her especially satisfied; she feels enforcing the law as the Huntress is more necessary. Costuming up, she helps save some people from a burning building, but then sees a man give a small child cash and a bomb...more so than the Man-Bat one, this reads like a chapter rather than a full story. Still, a solid, solid 80-pager here; although in retrospect I'm not sure the cover has much to do with the contents, save a reference to Gotham's sewers!
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80-Page Thursday: JLA 80-Page Giant #2!

We've hit the other two of the three in this series, so we may as well check out 1999's JLA 80-Page Giant #2, with stories by Christopher Priest, Len Wein, Tom Peyer, and more; and art by Cary Nord, Sal Velluto, David Boller, and more.

Priest had a great closing story in JLA 80-Page Giant #1, and has a great opener here with a Green Arrow/Batman story set early in their careers, as Ollie realizes there may be something more to Bruce Wayne than the vapid playboy facade. When Batman makes an appearance in Star City, Green Arrow comes off as the Bat-fanboy he is: "I'd heard Batman had a car. And a plane. And a CAVE. So guess what? Green Arrow had a car, and a plane, and a cave. And he had about as much use for them as Greenpeace had for Big Oil." Butting into Batman's case, Arrow gets him hurt, but starts to put together Bruce Wayne ditching his date with Batman in town. This story features probably the most dramatic racquetball game ever shown in comics...

Green Arrow also features in the next story, a satellite-era tale from Len Wein and Sal Velluto; and we see the traditional GA/Hawkman rivalry. Actually, 'rivalry' isn't the right term; they just do not like each other. The Atom pairs them up to face I.Q. and Captain Boomerang.

There's a couple of the oddball team-ups that sometimes occur in the League, with Plastic Man and Orion; and Steel, Huntress, PM and Zauriel. Big Barda and Huntress learn some lessons on a spa day with Wonder Woman on Paradise Island; and the Atom gets closer than he'd prefer with Superman when he's forced to hide out inside the Man of Steel. The issue closes revisiting the 853rd Century and Justice Legion A, as the future's Superman gives an invader a warning tour of the solar system.

Another rock-solid DC 80-pager, and both Priest and Peyer should've gotten to do more with the JLA. I like the 80-Page Thursdays, not just for revisiting books like this, but since I prepare a bunch of them at a time. The Cowboys just beat the Seahawks, if you're wondering when this was written...

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80-Page Thursdays: Batman Family #19!

For the next stretch, as long as I can find them, every Thursday we'll check out an 80-page comic! Not 64, not 100, 80-page giants only! Today, a doozy! From 1978, Batman Family #19! Featuring Huntress, Man-Bat, Batgirl, Robin, and duhr, Batman; in the lead with a twenty-page Denny O'Neil, Michael Golden, and (P.) Craig Russell story, "The Tomb of the White Bat!" Which we won't go into much, since although Batman gets trapped in and escapes from a clever homemade pit in the mountains, he also only triumphs because of the intervention of said white bat!

In the next story, Congresswoman Batgirl faces off against "The Sino-Supermen!" (Written by Bob Rozakis, art by Juan Ortiz and Vince Colletta.) Oddly enough, it ties into Firestorm continuity: the Chinese government, believing super-heroes like Superman or Firestorm to be creations of American scientists, work to create their own super-powered operatives. Batgirl points out to a federal agent that they both know damn well the U.S. didn't create Superman, but is told it's better to let the Chinese believe that, which seems somewhat dangerous. Batgirl busts up the spy ring, but gets a clue that her brother Tony may still be alive. (Where that fits in any sort of continuity, you'd have to tell me.)

Then, in "The Crime Rate is Earth-Shaking!" Robin faces a number of crimes and personal problems at Hudson University, none of which should be that big of a deal, since we see photographic proof Robin can punch a thug so hard his head explodes.


See? And there's also Man-Bat, and a Huntress story, which oddly appears to be the only one here to have been reprinted. ("Gotham Town is Burning Down!" Written by Paul Levitz, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Bob Layton.)



All for a dollar, which according to this inflation calculator provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, had in 1978 the same buying power as $3.47 in 2011. If you find an 80-pager for that price today--ha!--buy it. That said, I know I didn't buy this issue in 1978--I'm pretty sure I paid fifty cents for it in the 90's, and I bought a couple other Batman Family issues around then as well...
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Man, I hate it when celebrities do Cialis ads.

You would think he'd be happier in the 'after' photos...

Oh. Oh.

If I made Huntress cry, I may have gone too far with that last crack.
From The Brave and the Bold #184, "The Batman's Last Christmas!" Written by Mike W. Barr, art by Jim Aparo.

For a time, maybe about five or ten years pre-Crisis, DC characters got to be pretty blase about Earth 1, 2, X, or Pistachio. In this issue, Helena Wayne, the Huntress of Earth-2, is still mourning the death of her father, the Earth-2 Batman. She decides to spend Christmas with her 'uncle,' Earth-1 Batman. The different Earths seem dated but charming now, but aside from the different super-heroes and ages, it was never differentiated that much: both Earths suffered through McCarthyism, the energy crisis of the 1970's, and probably boy bands as well.

I do kind of miss the Huntress that was Batman and Catwoman's daughter, as opposed to the hardass mafia don's daughter in the current DC Universe. As other bloggers have pointed out, she's a bit of a square peg now, being forced into a round hole. Hopefully, she'll be able to pick up a full-time spot on the new Justice Society or Birds of Prey rosters. And there is a lot gained by the 'legacies' of heroes all living on the same world, so the Huntress may have been a necessary sacrifice.

Helena is welcomed for the holidays, but Batman is distracted by the discovery of evidence that his father may have loaned money to back a gangster's rise to power. Helena encourages Batman to investigate further and find the truth, and he does. They go to visit Amos Randolph, Thomas Wayne's accountant, who despite being old, frail, and wheelchair bound, still has records from 25 years ago in his living room. The next time I see my accountant, I'm throwing this issue in his face and asking why he isn't more hands-on like that. The records show monthly withdrawals of ten thousand dollars on dates that match the alleged payoffs. Hmm. This issue was 1982, so the payoffs would have been in 1957 dollars, which probably would've been enough to fund a military coup.

Batman and Huntress then visit mob boss and cowboy fetishist "Spurs" Sanders, who has audiotape evidence of Thomas Wayne's payoffs, let also declares that the tape isn't legal evidence. Huh? Believing that his father wasn't a good man worth avenging, Batman unmasks and renounces his mission. Um, wasn't your mom killed too, Bruce? Oh, women don't need avenging. Bruce hits the town and mopes a good deal.

Meanwhile, the mob tries to take out the thug that lost the records in the first place, and the Huntress saves him and his son. Upon seeing that, Bruce realizes that Batman "existed for more reasons than fighting crime...he exists to spare others the loss I felt when my parents died." Batman also recalls more details of his last Christmas with his parents, and goes back into action; while Helena cries with joy at helping her 'uncle' and making peace with her father's death. Pretty touching, really.

Oh, and Randolph disguised himself as Wayne, and used Wayne's money to get rich backing the mob. Although he was given away by a habit of 'nervous tapping,' he was apparently good enough at disguising his voice as to fool Batman, which has to be embarrassing for him. Batman doesn't even bother taking Randolph in, as his guilt is punishment enough. Or being old and incontinent, maybe that's his punishment. Either or.

A smiling Huntress tells Spurs that Wayne was innocent, and turns over the gift-wrapped records to Commissioner Gordon. The story ends with Huntress watching Batman reaffirm his vow at his parents' graves, which I'm going to interpret as more inspiring than creepy.

The backup feature was another Nemesis story, cool in a very 70's-80's cop show kind of way, and not just Nemesis' hair either. There's a helicopter crash in there that wouldn't have been out of place on any number of shows I watched as a kid. Anyway, glad to see he's back in the DCU now as well. Read more!