In Which Batman Should Have Been Mauled by a Bear, and Yet Wasn't.

I always enjoy finding a story that has a historical tie-in with events that were actually going on in the world.  It's an unintended time capsule in a way.  Such was the case here with the lead story from Batman #126:

Yup!  Alaska was getting Statehood!

And Robin's right arm was all kinds of bendy.  He must be double-jointed, because I tried to bend my arm like that and it just isn't happening.

Anyway, Batman goes to Alaska to visit an "old dear friend" of Bruce Wayne's (who has never been mentioned before or since) and finds himself in the middle of a mysterious diamond heist.  Fortunately, no one wonders why Batman and Robin appear in Alaska just as public figure Bruce Wayne arrives, so Batman is free to tour Alaska and track down the ne'er do wells.

And, in the course of things, enjoy this silhouette of a moose.  You don't see enough of that sort of thing in comics these days. 

Actually... Batman is wrong.  The Kodiak bear will also attack if it is surprised, which is clearly the case here.  So if there was ever a time to panic, that was it.

But it's comics, so.... you know.

Now that part is actually true.  Alaskan climate does not lend itself to reptiles, so snakes aren't interested.

But this makes me call Shenanigans:

Really?  So did Bruce learn  Atkan, Attuan, Unangan, Bering, Unalaskan, Pribilof, Central Alaskan Yup'ik,

Alutiiq or Pacific Gulf Yup'ik (because they aren't the same thing), Central Siberian Yupik or Yuit of Chaplinon and St Lawrence Island), Naukan Iñupiaq, Inuvialuktun, Siglitun, Natsilingmiutut, Inuinnaqtun and Uummarmiutun, Inuktitut, Inuktun and Inuinnaqtun, Kalaallisut, Inuktun ( and I'm talking about Avanersuarmiutut, Thule dialect or Polar Eskimo) and Tunumiit oraasiat just so he could talk with whatever village dialect he ran across?  Or did he just go from village to village until he found the one that would understand him?  And since he seems to have that kind of time, did he fire up the old Rosetta Stone program to learn the extinct language of Sirenik Eskimo just in case there were any holdouts?

There are times I think I should be a staff writer on The Big Bang Theory, but you'd be surprised how few job offers a comic book blog leads to.

Anyway, we salute Alaska:   

I've actually been on an Alaskan cruise, and I will tell you that if you live in Alaska year-round, you are a badass.  It's an amazing place, and I saw things I would never otherwise see: Bald eagles flying around like it was no big deal, a half-eaten salmon left by a bear on a hiking trail, Beloved scrambling away from said salmon before the bear came back for it, ice floes as big as Volkswagens, and the beautiful city of Sitka, which used to be the capital back when Russia had the territory (so there are lots of Russian influences there).  It's absolutely amazing, and you should go if you ever get the chance.  But I will tell you, even with the comforts of a cruise ship, it's what you call an "active" vacation.  That place is for hearty people.

See you tomorrow!