But is Gorilla Boss any match for the Mod Gorilla Boss?

I'm up to Detective Comics #532, the middle chapter of a three-part Joker story.



This is not one of my favorite Joker stories, but it's grown on me over the years. I think maybe I took it a little too seriously when it first came out, but I've come to appreciate that the Joker's ridiculously insane plan is ridiculously insane, even for the Bronze Age Joker. He's playing off the government forces in Guatemala against the rebel forces, and he's going to step in and pick up the pieces and turn the entire country into a theme park called Joker-Land! And Vicki Vale was in Guatemala covering the revolution and she's been kidnaped by the Joker and tied to a train track, and is about to be run over by a train engine with Joker's face. But Batman derails the train (somehow) with a well-placed batarang and Vicki is free to roam about the war-ravaged nation to get more pics!

The most amazing thing about this story is ... that it takes place in a real place (Guatemala) instead of in a made-up, comic-book Latin America country with a name like San Marco or Santa Borracha.

I also read the first Nocturna storyline!



The whole Nocturna thing is one of my favorite elements of Batman in the late Bronze Age. So beautiful, as drawn by Colan, Newton and Alcala (and later by Pat Broderick), Nocturna just adds so much weird Bronze Age spice to the bizarre occurrences coming up in the next few years. Perhaps it makes little sense much of the time. But I don't care that it makes no sense.

And between the first Nocturna story and the Joker-Land epic ... Chimera! Jason Todd finds out that a circus can be a dangerous place!

I'm up to Detective Comics #535.



There's a pretty good Poison Ivy storyline in Batman #367 and Detective Comics #534. Ivy is up to her old tricks, trying to steal the Wayne Foundation assets and hypnotizing various business executives and creating man-shaped plant monsters to do her bidding. Great art from Colan, Newton and Alcala.

And then:



One of my favorite Batman covers EVER! Dick Grayson hands over the Robin identity to Jason Todd and walks out of the Bat-Cave and into the sunset with no mention (just yet) of Nightwing. Meanwhile, Crazy Quilt is out of prison and has improved his tri-colored helmet apparatus (he can shoot out a devastating laser now!). He's the only guy in the Rogues Gallery who hates Robin more than Batman. And he takes out his rage on Jason Todd with a brutal beating, having no idea that it's not the same Robin who whupped him all those years ago.

Crazy Quilt is another one that I'd bring back if I was writing Batman. I'd have him run into Damian Wayne. Damian would have little patience for Crazy Quilt and he would administer the beatdown pretty quickly.



It concludes in Detective Comics #535. Jason survives and does a pretty job of giving back as good as he got from Crazy Quilt. This two-parter is one of the highlights of the Moench run.

I guess I should say a few words about Green Arrow. It's not that bad. And I'm surprised at how few of these Green Arrow stories I actually remember. The last couple of storylines didn't ring a bell with me at all. Either I had quit reading them by this point in the 1980s or they really are forgettable. 

I think the problem with Green Arrow is that he doesn't really have a rogues gallery or a supporting cast. Sure, I know about Count Vertigo and Merlin. (And I think there's a guy who has ropes for his crime symbol.) But that's about it. And aside from Speedy and Black Canary, Green Arrow doesn't have any long-running supporting characters to help build up reader familiarity. (Although it seems to me that Joey Cavalieri (the writer on the Green Arrow strip in Detective Comics) was trying to come up with new familiar faces to help the strip in that regard. I do remember Onyx showing up. She's a recurring character for a while, isn't she?)

If I was writing Green Arrow, I would want Black Canary around as much as possible. But if I was writing Black Canary, I would want to keep Oliver as far away as possible.  

I'm up to Detective Comics #541 and I've decided to take a short break, just a few days. I love this era of Batman, and if it was just Batman, I could keep going. But lately, I've been reading an issue of Batman and loving it, and then I read the next part of the story in Detective and I love it. And then ... I put it down because I don't really want to read the Green Arrow story. Or I force myself to read the Green Arrow story before I go to sleep so I will be past it and ready for the next issue of Batman.

So I'm hoping that a few days off will help me with the Green Arrow stories.

They're not really bad, I have to say. The art is actually very good to great, with Irv Novick and Trevor von Eeden and Shawn MacManus all turning in very strong work. I just don't think that what writer Joey Cavalieri is trying to do is really working in this seven-page format. Oliver Queen has a professional life as a columnist for an independent or alternate newspaper in Star City, and there just isn't enough room in every issue to bring this little publication to life. Only seven pages. I can't name a single supporting character. And the Green Arrow has such a meager rogues gallery. None of the are appearing here. We're getting Hi-Tex and the Printer's Devil and Machiavelli, and it's hard to get too excited about any of them.

I doubt I would be having trouble reading them if I was spreading it out over a longer period of time. But I usually read two issues at night and sometimes a third issue if I have spare moment during the day. And it's just a little too frequent to be immersing myself in Green Arrow.

Detective Comics #541 is also a good place to stop because this is where I stopped reading Detective Comics and Batman for about six months back in 1984. I had moved off campus and I was working full-time while going to college - also full-time - and Batman was one of the things I neglected for a while. But I started reading again when I noticed Nocturna was back! And at that point I started buying Batman and Detective regularly and didn't miss any issues (except one issue of Detective) for about three years.



The last issue I commented on was Detective Comics #535, where Jason gets his act together and whups Crazy Quilt. In the next issue of Batman - #369 - we find out where Alfred has disappeared to. His daughter Julia Remarque Pennyworth has turned up and Alfred is helping her solve the murder of her adoptive father Jacques Remarque. Somebody doesn't want her snooping around and they've hired Deadshot to take her down. In two issues, Deadshot can't kill Julia. He's actually not a very good assassin, it occurs to me. He couldn't kill Bruce Wayne either in his most recent appearances. He kind of sucks. (He'll get better when Suicide Squad starts.)



For the last few issues, there's been a developing subplot about a new Gotham weirdo wanting to take over the rackets. His name is Dr. Fang and he's a former boxer who's also a Shakespearean actor. he finally gets an issue to himself (Batman #370) as Batman and Robin track him to his hide-out. He manages to escape so this subplot will go on for a few issues but not without a major detour.



Detective Comics #537 is tangentially related to the Dr. Fang storyline as the body of one his victims is improperly disposed of by Fang's dumb henchmen and it's floating around in the sewer. A homeless man who lives in the sewer tells Batman he's found a body. And so Batman enters this man's world, where he has built a small replica of his home town, a village in Mexico. Meanwhile there's a rainstorm flooding the sewer at the same time as Fang's thugs are looking for the body in order to keep Fang from killing them for botching this job. A very interesting human-interest story that I've always liked.



Catman returns in Batman #371 and Detective Comics #538. This is a fun little romp as Thomas Blake (Catman) makes a bet with his cellmate - he will escape and outwit the Batman. If he succeeds, he gets the money that his cellmate hid in the catacombs before he was caught. If he fails, the cellmate gets the magic Catman costume. He fails, of course, but Batman wants to recover the money, so he makes the cellmate think Catman won, so he surreptitiously helps the cellmate escape. He steals the Catman costume and goes to the catacombs to get the money. I've always found this story very amusing.



The Dr. Fang story comes up again in Batman #372 and concludes in Detective #539. It's wonderful! In a lot of ways, it's like a 1930s boxing movie, with Batman thrown in.



Then the Scarecrow shows up in Batman #373 and Detective #540. This is one of my favorite Scarecrow stories. I especially like the callback to the Scarecrow's first appearance in the 1940s. And also Jason Todd's first time tangling with good ol' Jonathon Crane. The best thing though is using Crane's creaky old house from his debut back in World's Finest #3. The Scarecrow has set up traps and things in the house and he's using them ahainst Jason. So cool!



Which brings us to the Penguin story in Batman #374 and Detective Comics #541. It's a really good Penguin story! I love the Don Newton art in the first part and the Gene Colan art in the conclusion. The Penguin has a grandiose scheme in mind, but he has to get some funds, so he robs a Gotham jewelry store. The Penguin also indulges his vanoty by threatening Vivki Vale and trying to get her to take some photos of him for the magazine. She takes a few clandestine shots but decides not to bow down to the Penguin's threats of force. And in the second part in Detective #541, the Penguin's latest scheme takes him to Antarctic afor the first time!

Can Batman be far behind?

This is where it all began for me. My very first issue of Batman. I read it over and over as a small child. It wasn't until many years later that I tracked down the second part in Detective. For some reason when I was little, it didn't occur to me that there was more story.

I'm up to Detective Comics #556. I've been kind of busy, so while I'm still reading these late Bronze Age issues of Batman and Detective Comics pretty much every night, I have not been taking the time to post about them. But I scooped out some time today to get caught up and say a few words about the issues I've read in the last week or so.







In Batman #380 and #381 and Detective Comics #547, the Nocturna/Night Slayer storyline is brought to a (temporary) conclusion. Nocturna escapes into the night. Anton Knight (Night Slayer) is exposed as the fake Batman ... and also escapes into the night. The social worker Amanda Groscz realizes she may have been a little overzealous in her condemnation of Bruce Wayne, so Jason Todd can go back and live at stately Wayne Manor. And the blind woman finds out that the man who she nursed back to health wasn't really Batman, and she gets to meet the real Batman who says he's going to find her a home that isn't an abandoned hovel, after which she is never heard from again, probably because she now is roommates with Ginny Jenkins or maybe Lady Cop. Or maybe BOTH!

This is where I picked up again in the 1980s after missing a few issues of both Detective Comics and Batman ... and the Nocturna thing was still gong on! Also, the art teams had changed on both comics! Rick Hoberg was drawing Batman, but the change wasn't as noticeable as it could have been because Alcala was still inking. Over in Detective Comics, Gene Colan had been replaced by Pat Broderick. I like Broderick a lot. I sure missed Colan (he will be back!) but Broderick was a great replacement! I especially like that cover to Detective Comics #547.





Then the Catwoman returns for a couple of issues. Her black panther Diablo has been poisoned and driven mad by a Syrian terrorist called Death Wolf. Diablo is roaming around Gotham and wreaking havoc. Enterprising Gotham City journalists Vicki Vale and Julia Pennyworth are on the trail, keeping the city informed. They find the panther ... at the same time Catwoman does. It's beautifully drawn by Broderick. I love all the scenes with Vicki and Julia in this run. Sometimes they are very cooperative and sometimes they are making catty remarks about each other over Bruce Wayne. Then throw Catwoman into the mix!

Batman #382 contains the conclusion ... and a nice Gil Kane cover! This story ends with Catwoman dressed as a flight attendant, grabbing a live grenade in mid-air and jumping out of a jet at 10,000 feet. Fortunately Batman throws a parachute out the door behind her so her eventual return isn't that far-fetched. (Yes, it is.)







Then we have a few one-shot stories. There's a story about Harvey Bullock's private life. (His sloppy exterior is an act ... and he loves classic Hollywood movies!) Then there's a story about how Bruce Wayne is really really busy and can't go to bed because he has to take Jason to school and he has a flat tire and the decorators need guidance and Lucius Fox calls about Wayne Foundation business and then Vicki calls and then Amanda Grocsz stops by for an in-house visit that Bruce forgot about. And Bruce is really tired! but then the sun goes down and he puts on the Batman suit and he's revitalized!

And then there's a story about a hood who just gets in deeper and deeper until he kills a nun and falls off a building rather than be apprehended by Batman.

I like all these stories. A very nice change of pace. Moench is experimenting and doing a very good job!







And then ... a three-parter with the Calendar Man! We're now getting into the era of Crisis on Infinite Earths. (Which is sometimes called DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths the first few times it's mentioned.) And so that means the Monitor is behind the Calendar Man's latest scheme to kill the Batman!

I love the Calendar Man. But only the old Calendar Man. There were quite a few calendar-themed crime sprees he could have gone on, but the whole character was changed for The Long Halloween, so he doesn't do stuff like that anymore. Booooo! (I'm not a fan of The Long Halloween.)

So this three-parter is one of my favorite storyline from the Moench run. There's so much to love in these issues! But to see a Batman writer really dig in and try to understand one of the lesser-known members of the rogues gallery ... it's a really good story! I much prefer this to the modern approach of taking these lesser known characters and making them part of somebody's gang or having them defeated by Batman in one panel in a story where Batman beats up 15 or 20 costumed villains in just a few pages or just being treated as a joke in general.

More like this, modern Batman writers!



And then ... another one-shot! In this one, Julia Pennyworth writes a news story for the Gotham Gazette about a tree that's being cut down. And then the tree gets made into a coffin. And then Batman hides in the coffin ... and then ... OK, it doesn't matter. I like this one too, but it's pretty goofy. Another experiment by Moench that's not quite as successful as some of the others, but I appreciate the effort.







Then the three-part story that introduced Black Mask! This is also pretty good. And yet another Batman villain who knows Bruce Wayne. You gots ta expect that when you're a super-hero, I guess. People you knew as a kid and people you know from your gentlemen's club are bound to show up in your rogues gallery.

On the art, Rick Hoberg is gone, replaced by Tom Mandrake, who's doing a pretty good job. I remember being a little dubious about Mandrake's style on Batman when I first read these comics in the 1980s, but he grew on me pretty quickly and I kept reading it! Also, Klaus Janson is the artist on Detective Comics #553. I'm not sure if Pat Broderick is gone for good, but I know Gene Colan will be back pretty soon!



And then ... Black Canary's new costume in the Green Arrow back up. Even when the stories are bad, I prefer it when Black Canary is in the Green Arrow series. But not in this costume! I remember thinking this costume was terrible ... but I don't remember these stories where the costume debuted at all! The stories aren't bad ... but that costume! What were they thinking!





This is pretty cool too. Flash villains Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang both end up in Gotham where they think the city is going to be easy pickings because THEY are used to fighting THE FLASH while Gotham is defended by - heh heh - Batman, who doesn't even have any powers! What a couple of TOOLS! They deserve to get beat BAD! I'd like to see what Damian thinks of these arrogant smug jokers.

This is a pretty good place to stop even though I read on to Batman #389 and Detective #556. Noturna and Night Slayer return and the Red Skies of the Crisis on Infinite Earths are a big topic of conversation and it might be fairly accurate that Doug Moench's Batman is moving into the endgame.

Somebody mentioned that on a letter page.