So, I'm back to reading Detective Comics for a while, just to keep things freshy-fresh for everyone, and I come upon this beautiful Neal Adams / Dick Giordano cover. Did I mention it was beautiful? Because I wanted to be sure I covered that before I confess that it unintentionally made me laugh:
As we've discussed many times, you can get away with a lot on a cover. There's no shame in puffery when you're trying to make your mag stand out on Ye Olde Spinning Wire Rack.
But this leads me to create a new category: The Rest of The Story (tm!)
What was that?
KLICK . . . TWANG! THOOOMP!
AIEEEEEE!!! I've been shot by a crossbow! I'm so hosed!
I mean, it's a point blank shot and the arrow is about 80 % there, so if there were any realism in comics at all, Bats would have been a gone goose.
This is kind of short-sighted on Commissioner Gordon's part:
Yes, Batman! I realize that I have now blocked the falcon from coming into my office, where we might be able to capture him and find clues, but I don't like bird poop on my desk.
Anyhoo, it turns out that Bats is being stalked by a guy named Yager, who is determined to hunt Bats and kill him like an animal because he's already hunted everything else. Of course, if you really wanted to pursue the ultimate prey, you'd probably go after Superman or J'onn J'onzz, but this isn't their book.
And, as is wont to happen when you learn too much about a protagonist in comics, the best thing you can hope for is that you'll lose your memory or vow to keep the secret to yourself for some self-serving reason. Otherwise, at the end of that pit is going to be...
Yup. Those rods wouldn't have been sharpened (heh... rods) had Yager not known just a bit too much.
The terms of his death, of course, caused my mind to go directly to...
Yeah!
We played this before the Internet was readily available, so most of us only knew how to do that one fatality. You kids today just don't know how we suffered! You just don't know!
See you tomorrow!
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2 comments:
(1) Isn't Batman's suit bullet proof? Therefore wouldn't it be arrow proof?
(2) Gordan's office is in a highrise building, yes? I don't think you can even open the windows in a highrise building can you?
Valid questions, Marv. But back in the Bronze Age, Batman's suit didn't have armor of any kind that I know of. In a story a few issues earlier, he tried to avoid the barb of a spear gun by blocking it with his cloak, so I think we're talking fabric here.
I think you're right about Gordon's office, but he had that window open all the time. I would guess he had it altered to give Batman access. You'd think they would have said that somewhere, but then again, JJJ's office window at the Daily Bugle was also open a lot! ;-)
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