Batman #475 (March 1992)



"The Return of Scarface - Part One: Mustache Pete is Dead!"

Script: Alan Grant
Pencils: Norm Breyfogle
Inks: Norm Breyfogle
Colors: Adrienne Roy
Letters: Todd Klein

Grade: A-

I was a little surprised to see the return of Scarface--let alone a multi-part crossover devoted to Scarface--during this era. While Grant and Breyfogle have now been working for the Bat Office for four years by this point, they've seldom had free creative reign. In the early days, O'Neil didn't seem to pay much attention to what Grant, Wagner, and Breyfogle were doing over in Detective Comics, instead giving most of his attention to the core Batman title, as well as exciting ancillary projects. Then Marv Wolfman left, and Grant and Breyfogle became O'Neil's go-to team on the core Batman title, and everything since, from developing Tim Drake (NOT the guy they wanted to be the next Robin) to juggling crossover tie-ins (War of the Gods) and other creative teams being brought in to tell high profile story arcs in their place (Dixon and Lyle doing a follow up to the Robin limited series), they've had precious few opportunities to tell the stories they've been wanting to tell, so getting the green light to bring back a character introduced in a two-parter from four years earlier that we can almost be certain O'Neil never actually read, is unexpected. Granted, I myself selected Scarface and Ventriloquist as The best Batman villains introduced in the Post-Crisis Era, so it's great to see their return.

Grant and Breyfogle pick up on the pair's return without missing a beat. Scarface's previous appearances in Detective Comics #583 and #584 may have happened four years earlier (when many of the current audience reading Batman hadn't yet caught the 1989 Batman bug), but Breyfogle remembers exactly what Scarface's club looked like, his #1 lacky (Rhino) is still present (and surprisingly endearing this time around), and "Fever" is now still the most common drug plaguing Gotham, even though it hadn't been mentioned in the four years since that previous storyline.

Perhaps, most significantly, it's only been a year since that previous storyline according to Scarface, himself.



At this point in The Superman Office, one month in our world is roughly equal to a week in Superman's world. That same internal chronometry appears to be at work here.

In fact, we can see Grant and Breyfogle's efforts to be a little more like the Superman Office all over the place in this issue. More time is actually spent on developing the world of Gotham City and mining its dense continuity in this issue than on telling the A plot, which is a signature move of the Mike Carlin Superman Office. We've got the return of a villain not seen in multiple years, the ever-present recurring threat of the Street Demonz, the first appearance of supporting character Renee Montoya:



who is actually surprisingly bad-a$$ in her first moments on the page:



(Note: this first appearance is currently driving Batman #475 to upwards of $20 in the midst of this new comic book speculator boom)


and we have attention and characterization being given to Harvey Bullock for really the first time in the Post-Crisis Era:



(Bullock got a small amount of characterization waaaay back in Batman #400, but it's debatable whether that issue counts as being part of the Post-Crisis Era).


In fact, the introduction of Horton Spence in this issue--and his subsequent working/romantic relationship with Vicki Vale--feels very Daily Planet:




Of course, one advantage the Superman Office has over the Batman Office is an editor who actually cares about continuity and making all the pieces fit neatly. Denny O'Neil is a salesman first and outright admits in some circumstances that he isn't all that involved with these stories. So, for example, this remarkably well adjusted and happy-go-lucky Vicki Vale:



doesn't jibe very well with the Vicki Vale that was becoming emotionally and mentally unhinged as recently as Batman #460 (written and drawn by Grant and Breyfogle...oops).

Still, I respect the effort to make Batman's supporting cast more authentic and alive. Grant and Breyfogle have certainly tried at this before, but they seem to be making an effort to more explicitly follow the Superman Office model here. And of course, long before The Superman Office was doing it, Doug Moench did it right here in these pages during the Pre-Crisis, but you'd have to backtrack quite a way in these reviews to see that!

Finally, I feel repetitive pointing it out as often as I do, but Norm Breyfogle is a GOD. Check out this sequence in which Batman stumbles upon Horton Spence and Vicki Vale:







Serious WOW.


As for the A plot of this issue, it's so very good to have Scarface, The Ventriloquist, and Rhino back. The characterizations simply do not get old (even Scarface's need to replace every B with a G, which should become obnoxious over time, but doesn't). Probably my favorite part of their story was this moment, where Breyfogle ALMOST has The Street Demonz and the reader believing Scarface truly is alive:



Of course, that's later upended as this story's powerful message about addiction, and the junkie's need to escape reality at all costs, ends up subtly corresponding to The Ventriloquist's own struggle to free himself of Scarface. Really powerful stuff.





Important Details:

- 1st appearance of Renee Montoya

- 1st appearance of Horton Spence. He and Vicki Vale become romantically involved.

- One month in our world is roughly equivalent to one week in Batman's world


Minor Details:

- If Detective Comics #584 was only a year ago, then the death of Jason Todd was significantly more recent than that, and yet Batman seems to have pretty much moved on from it already and happily replaced him. This made sense over the course of several years, but not several months.

Oh wow. I wrote this on an hour's sleep. Apparently, I cannot do basic math under those circumstances. Thank you.




Absolutely, I meant the reverse of what I said. So...

12 months x 4 years = 48 months
48 months / 4.5 weeks = 10.6 months.

You are absolutely right.

Aparo had a multitude of lettering credits from the 60s onwards, usually on comics he inked as well as pencilled.

Interesting, then, that this is his first time doing it for this office, unless I've missed something.

Spent a little time on the GCD, and here is what appears to be the full list of comics penciled by Mary Mitchell.

I can find no further information on her. There are several artists by the name of Mary Mitchell on the web, but none have work that seems to stylistically resemble what is depicted in Gotham Nights #1.

I never saw Predator until a few weeks ago. My friend Mark started making fun of me because of all the 1980s movies I’ve never seen. The Karate Kid. Dirty Dancing. Flashdance. (But is Three Amigos really must-see? It got pretty ridiculous.)

I mentioned it to my mom and she started bagging on me because I’d never seen Predator. It’s one of her favorite movies.

I figured it was time.

It’s pretty good but honestly? ... I don’t feel like I was missing anything I haven’t seen a bunch of times.

I most frequently see Predator compared to Aliens, and I adore Aliens, but I worry the resemblance only extends as far as tough-people-with-big-guns-fight-alien, when that isn't what i adore about Aliens at all. It's the writing, the pacing, the characterizations, and the sets mostly for me.

Dirty Dancing is flipping incredible. I'm not much of a romance guy, but go see that film.

I've been meaning to watch the Three Amigos, as I think that comedy trio would have to be brilliant together, but maybe it's the potential more than the delivery that causes the hype. Martin Short is so damn funny, but he was incapable of carrying a film by himself, so having Martin and Chase by his side seems like a perfect solution.

Somehow this has something to do with Batman, I swear...