And yet, they invited Cluemaster, the poor man's Riddler. Go figure!


I've always thought this particular riddle was good counter to those who claim the Riddler's M.O. is stupid and an invitation to get caught. This particularly fiendish conundrum plays entirely fair by the Riddler's rules, but would be almost impossible to unravel before the crime (unless you're Batman, that is).

I agree with your statement that Eddie always feels the need to prove himself smarter than those around him, especially the other villains. There is a (much) later story where the Riddler says that to him crimes are performance art. I think this statement goes a long way to explaining Eddie's need for theatrics and his deliberate attention-seeking.

For me, 70ies Lex Luthor's always been like a comedic Benito Mussolini : he looks the part, is in love with himself, easy to ridicule, and is delusional about his real power yet dangerous.

BATMAN #299 and down (reviews by Hoosier X)



BATMAN #293
"Where Were You On The Night Batman Was Killed?: The Testimony of Lex Luthor!"
November 1977
Story: David V. Reed
Art: John Calnan and Tex Blaidsell
Coloring: Jerry Serpe
Lettering: Ben Oda
Editor: Julius Schwartz

The first thing the reader is likely to notice in "The Testimony of Lex Luthor!" is that Lex is an arrogant d-bag. An almost insufferable preening loudmouth.

Look at his special purple and green Victory Pimp costume, with the cape and the wristbands and the "L" on his chest. Everybody in the room is thinking "What an a-hole!"

After a few panels with captions describing the "Where Were You On The Night Batman Was Killed?" storyline for the casual comic book readers who had missed the first two parts, Lex walks in like he owns the place, strutting around as if the entire proceeding is a mere formality and the gathered Batman villains should be thankful that he has lowered himself to be seen in the company of mere costumed villains who can't even kill the Batman. Lex says:

I HAVE AN OPENING STATEMENT: HAD THE WORTHY
PROSECUTOR TAKEN MY SUGGESTION TO HEAR ME FIRST,
THESE TRIALS WOULD BE OVER BY NOW!

INSTEAD, HE HAS CHOSEN TO STAGE A REVOLVING
CIRCUS – WASTING EVERYBODY’S TIME –
MOST ESPECIALLY MINE!

Two-Face tells him to get on with it and Lex goes into such a story! He goes into great detail about his latest revenge scheme against Superman. He had a satellite called Skysurgeon that would erase Batman's mind and put Superman's mind into Batman's body! And then Lex Luthor could beat Superman to a pulp (with his special pain-inducing gloves) and kill him!

He just has to make sure both Superman and Batman are standing in just the right places at just the right time. So he arranges for Superman to give a lecture about the environment and at the same time, Lex tries to steal the Crown of Charlemagne from a museum (the Gotham museum, I presume), knowing the theft will attract Batman!

And, except for one minor detail, it works! Superman, his mind erased, falls down onstage and Batman runs around confused, tries to fly away and can only hop like a kangaroo. Lex’s gang throws a net over the flailing Batman (who now has Superman’s mind) and they take him to a concrete bunker where LEX LUTHOR BEATS BATMAN TO DEATH!



Two-Face, a bit stunned (like everyone else among the Batman villains), manages to find his voice to ask:

SO THE BATMAN’S DEATH – ACCOMPLISHED FIRST BY ERASING HIS MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS – THEN BY KILLING HIS BODY – WAS ONLY AN INCIDENTAL SIDE-ISSUE OF YOUR VICTORY OVER SUPERMAN?

To which Lex replies:


That is cold! Not cool, Lex! What a d-bag he is!

Well, Two-Face isn’t really stunned by Lex's story. He has a witness, somebody from Lex's gang, who testifies to some very odd behavior by one of the other gang members just before the caper. (HINT: It was Batman!) And then Two-Face calls in Superman!

Yes, Superman testifies! Yes, it makes no sense in about a dozen different ways! But it’s so cool!

You see, Purple and Green Lex Luthor just isn't as slick as he thinks he is. Superman was suspicious of the gig to lecture on the environment. (They should have called Green Arrow! Or Aquaman! Or post-Crisis Poison Ivy!) So he asked Batman to look into it. And Batman discovered the plot but they both went along with it … mostly just to mess with Lex, I think.

So it wasn't Superman in Batman’s body that Lex was beating to death. It was Superman in Superman's body wearing a Batman suit. And it wasn’t dead Batman that Lex shot into space. It was very-much-among-the-living Superman!



Superman ends his testimony looking rather smug. He flies away, but not before saying that the amnesty arranged by Two-Face for the villains does not extend to Lex Luthor, and Superman will be waiting for him when he leaves.

The jury rather gleefully brings forward a verdict of "not guilty." But Lex has a few words to say before he leaves. Who is Two-Face cavorting with that he can get Superman to testify and also agree to an amnesty for the Batman villains? What kind of deals has Two-Face made? Who has he sold out?

Lex makes a good point, and Ras al Ghul, a very observant chap, notices this and asks Two-Face to explain. Two-Face says these questions will be cleared up in the next issue.

I enjoy "The Testimony of Lex Luthor" a little more every time I read it. In the 1980s and 1990s, when I re-read my late-1970s Batman collection, I always read #291 and #292 again, but I usually skipped #293 and I usually skimmed #294. So I haven’t read it nearly as often as the first two chapters. It's quite a departure from those earlier chapters! And once a Batman fan gets over his initial (and completely justifiable!) distaste for Lex's dismissive attitude towards Batman, he or she can enjoy the Schadenfreude when Lex is TOTALLY PWNED at the conclusion!

I noticed just a few days ago that this story is an excellent example of super-dickery! Perhaps one of the greatest examples of super-dickery! (It would be my favored candidate in a contest for Best Super-Dickery Ever!) Superman and Batman don't really need to drag Super-Pimp Lex Luthor into this tribunal at all! As we will find out in the conclusion, Batman knows what he is looking for in these trials, and – along with Superman – he knows that Lex Luthor’s plot to kill Superman through beating up Batman's body in no way resembles the circumstances of the grisly murder of the Batman look-alike revealed in the conclusion. But I'm sure Superman talked Batman into including Lex Luthor among the suspects. Just to see the look on Lex's face. Just to see Lex humiliated in front of all the Batman villains after being such an obnoxious know-it-all jerk for 13 pages. Just to see Lex get all mad and pissy and tantrummy before storming out.



I bet Superman was impossible to live with for weeks afterward! (Green Arrow probably liked not being the most hated JLA member for a month or so.)

Next: The Testimony of the Joker!

1970s Luthor is most commonly called "power suit" Luthor I believe. This was the version used in the Challenge of the Superfriends cartoon. At this point, the power suit is only a couple of years old. The Action #544 upgrade is "war suit" Luthor.

You can count me as a fan of the Royal Luthor outfit as well.

The look on the Gotham criminals when Superman bursts through the wall was priceless.

Superman and Batman exchanging outfits to foil the villains NEVER gets old.

Lex was so humiliated, he doesn't show up in a present day DC comic for 9 months after being everywhere in 1977.

It was likely the inspiration for the episode "Almost Got 'Im"


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Got_%27Im

BATMAN #299 and down (reviews by Hoosier X)



BATMAN #294
"Where Were You On The Night Batman Was Killed?: The Testimony of the Joker!"
December 1977
Story: David V. Reed
Art: John Calnan and Tex Blaidsell
Coloring: Jerry Serpe
Lettering: Ben Oda
Editor: Julius Schwartz

And now, it's the Joker's turn!

The Joker explains that he was about to rob a warehouse where fur coats are stored because he knew the owners had stashed a half million dollars there. But somebody else was already there robbing the place! The Joker backed off because he figured the lowlife thief might have set off an alarm.

Batman shows up and beats the guy up, giving the Joker a chance to sit back and watch his longtime enemy in action.

The Joker returns to the scene of the crime the next evening to carry out the plan that was interrupted the night before. And the Batman is there again! The Joker blinds the Batman with a dose of dissolving fluid to the face and then beats him up. "It was like a dream," the Joker says as Batman, blinded by the fluid, can't seem to land a decent punch while the Joker pummels him.

Then the Batman collapses while laughing hysterically. He's dead. The Joker has accidentally nicked him with a spiked ring coated with his deadly Joker venom.



Well, the Joker's not one to cry over spilled milk. He decides to leave a guessing game for the police and coats the Batman's face with the dissolving fluid, completely eradicating his facial features so that no one will ever be able to identify him.

Two-Face finds the story compelling but because the Joker wouldn't turn in an affidavit with the details of his claims, he hasn't had any chance to verify the story. So he asks the Joker for proof. The Joker took photographs, but he has stashed them in a safe place. The court recesses for an hour so the Joker can return with his evidence.

His case looks pretty solid. As the Joker leaves, Captain Stingaree, the Clue-Master, Tweeldedee and Tweedledum (and presumably a lot of other villains offstage) congratulate the Clown Prince of Crime on his victory.

The Joker isn't the only one who departs. Two-Face sneaks away and tears off his face to reveal the Batman!

He's not really dead! He was posing as Two-Face!

Batman tracks the Joker to his Ha-hacienda and cuffs him. The Joker responds:

HA-HA-HA! I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW YOU DID IT, BATMAN
– BUT THIS IS THE MOST FRIGHTFUL JOKE EVER PLAYED ON THE JOKER!

The Joker has one more trick up his sleeve, a metal headband that he slaps over his forehead. The device crates heat that somehow makes the surrounding air bend light, causing distortion and mirages. (The Joker gets a real kick taking a whole page to explain the thing.) Batman isn't very impressed and knocks the Joker senseless within a few panels.

After returning the Joker to Arkham, we get an epilogue, "The Testimony of the Batman," as the Caped Crusader tells Commissioner Gordon what happened.

The Joker wasn't lying, he was just wildly mistaken. He did kill somebody at the fur warehouse. But it wasn't Batman. It was a young man named Jerry Randall who was obsessed with Batman. He was worried that Batman might be killed, and then who would be there to protect Gotham City from people like the Joker and the Cavalier and Johnny Witts? So young Randall dressed as Batman and frequently went to the scenes of Batman's exploits and trained to be Batman by copying Batman's actions. That was how he ran into the Joker and that was how he got his face dissolved in a Batman suit.

Batman feels kind of bad about it. But what can he do aside from masquerading as Two-Face and staging an elaborate prank on Gotham’s underworld in order to find out who killed Jerry Randall in a Batman suit?

After explaining it all to Gordon, he disappears into the night and the city celebrates the return of Batman with a fireworks display spelling out:

BATMAN IS ALIVE AND WELL -- AND LIVING IN GOTHAM CITY!

Here’s why I didn't like this conclusion when I was a kid: Jerry Randall's fate is just too gruesome! And pathetic! He's sincerely trying to do a good deed for Gotham City and he runs into the Joker and he is murdered and gets his face burned off! That’s cold, Clown Prince of Crime! Jerry Randall never did anything to you!

Yes, Jerry Randall was not the sharpest knife in the drawer and he was as dumb as sack of Ben Carsons. Yes, Gotham City is frequently an awful awful place where things like this happen pretty regularly. But it was a bit much for me as a teen. Not so much the gruesome nature of Jerry Randall's actual demise (I have had a strong stomach for this stuff from a young age) but because of the hopeless and sad nature of his short and tragic and pathetic life. It didn't sit well with me as a kid. The world is a hard and cruel place and that is doubly true for Gotham City. But this seemed a bit much for me. Poor Jerry Randall was just a blip in the Gotham firmament, a dead bug on the window that's washed away by the windshield wiper before the driver even notices.

There's a part of me that still feels that way, but mostly I like this story. I think it was a good idea to include a real fight scene with the Joker to contrast with the rest of the mini-series, which was actually just a bunch of people (interesting people, to be sure) sitting around and talking.

However, if you think about it, the ending also proves that everyone's life has meaning to Batman: everyone's. Jerry was a harmless nobody, but Batman went to the elaborate exercise because it was the only way he could ensure that Jerry's murderer was brought to justice. And to Batman, the effort was worth it.