Batman 300

Special 300th issue - can a legend die? Don’t miss the double-length ”the last batman story!”

THE LAST BATMAN STORY --?

In Gotham City of the future, Batman and Robin foil the attempted attack by a band of blue-costumed men on a mobile surgical capsule being transferred to the Columbia Space Station surgery department. The villains’ leader is destroyed in a strange explosion. Robin later tells Batman of how an unidentified man had demanded at a Chamber of Commerce dinner that Dick Grayson sell him his 1902 Rambler and, when refused, tore away a prism of a crystal sconce, threw it to Grayson with an implied threat, and walked away. Since then there have been three acts of disastrous sabotage to Wayne Foundation enterprises, and Annie Morgan, the woman in the surgical capsule, was an intelligence operative he sent to explore leads. Tracking down a clue left by Ms. Morgan, Batman and Robin discover that their foes are a crime-cabal named Spectrum, divided into seven sections to correspond with the colors of the light spectrum. After battling the criminal band again, they trace Spectrum video transmissions to the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. There, after discovering the group’s secret hideout, they also find the hiding place of Spectrum’s two leaders, Infrared and Ultraviolet (Earlier in the story, when Batman and Robin were elucidating the clues, they figure the number 475 and 760 when placed in nanometers it gives you the ultraviolet and infrared wave links.). Both are ringed with protective air mines, and both are destroyed when Infrared nervously moves into his own ring, setting off an explosive chain reaction. Robin calls for a police helicopter to take away the rest of Spectrum. Later, Bruce Wayne tells Dick Grayson that a political reform group has asked him to run for governor, and that he is considering asking the ”woman he loves” to marry him. If he says yes to either or both of these questions, he will have to put aside his Batman identity. Bruce confides that he will tell Dick his final decision tomorrow. Then he enters his private office to be alone with his thoughts.

Jun 1978

DC Comics

300

1978

Milestone Issue

1st

United States

$0.60

Bronze Age

English

Magazine

2018-07-02 21:51:48

Batman Vol.1 (1940-2011)

Batman intro
Bruce Wayne is the Batman, a vigilante who seeks to rid Gotham City of its crime. He has amassed a large group of allies and is a founding member of the Justice League of America.

Origin

Bruce Wayne was the only son of wealthy physician Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha. As a small child, Bruce was exposed to one of his father’s costumes, which resembled a bat and was used by Dr. Wayne for a masquerade party.[World’s Finest #255] The young Bruce encountered the mysterious avenger called the Shadow, who saved his and his father’s life during a robbery. Together, Bruce’s encounter with The Shadow and his father’s unforgettable bat costume greatly influenced the outcome of Bruce’s adult life.[Batman #259]

Some weeks following the encounter with the Shadow, Dr. Wayne, Martha and young Bruce were walking home from a night out at the movies. A mugger named Joe Chill emerged from the shadows of Park Row and threatened them with a revolver, demanding the pearl necklace Martha was wearing. Dr. Wayne tried to fight back, but Chill shot him directly in the chest, killing him. He then turned his gun on Martha and viciously ended her life as well. Bruce stared on in horror as his parents lay murdered beside him. Chill turned on his heel and ran from the alleyway. Immediately following his parents’ murder, Bruce was comforted by Leslie Thompkins, a woman who witnessed the tragedy and decided to look after the newly-orphaned young man.[Detective Comics #457] Afterwards, Bruce made a graveside promise that he would avenge his parents’ deaths by bringing the lowlife killer to justice. Years would pass before he would learn the truth behind Joe Chill’s actions.

Shortly after the funeral, Social Services placed Bruce under the care of his uncle — Philip Wayne. He stayed at Philip’s estate and, because his uncle had to travel due to work and was rarely home, became close friends with the housekeeper, Mrs. Chilton. Although he never knew it, Mrs. Chilton was the mother of Joe Chill — the man who had murdered Bruce’s parents.[Batman #208]

Teenage Years

Robin Bruce Wayne Earth-One 001
Bruce, the first Robin
When his foster parents[19] moved temporarily to Smallville, Bruce met Superboy and became his partner as ”the Flying Fox”. After discovering Superboy’s identity, his memory of these events was erased and he moved back to Gotham.[Adventure Comics #275]

As Bruce became a teenager, he dedicated himself to learning everything he could about police procedures. He decided to track down the city’s most famous police detective, Harvey Harris. Donning a bright red, yellow, and green costume to conceal his identity, Bruce tracked Harris down, only to find a criminal waiting to ambush him. Bruce used a large bell-shaped advertising display piece to waylay the thug, saving Harris’s life. Harris was so impressed with the teen’s verve that he agreed to take him under his wing. Thinking the masked teenage boy looked as colorful as a robin redbreast in his costume, Harris decided to call him Robin.[Detective Comics, #226]

As Robin, Bruce spent several weeks training under Harvey Harris’s tutelage. Harris instructed him on the finer points of criminal detection,[Detective Comics, #226] trained him in gymnastics, and hand-to-hand combat. Working together, the two became inseparable and in the span of just a few years, they managed to deal a marked blow against the criminal underworld.

Years later, Batman learned that Joe Chill was the man responsible for the murder of his parents and was involved in using a trucking company as a front for smuggling wanted criminals past state lines. Batman confronted Chill and revealed his true identity to the gangster in a moment of heated passion, explaining that Chill’s murder of his parents was the direct inspiration for his entire career. Panicking out of control, Chill frantically told his henchmen that he was responsible for creating the Batman, inducing them to vent their frustrations with the Dark Knight out on him with their revolvers. Chill died before he could tell his executioners the Batman’s true identity, and the murderers were beaten into submission by Batman right afterwards anyway.[Untold Legends of the Batman, #1]

Batman discovered that Chill was not acting alone in his murder of the Waynes when he uncovered evidence that mobster Lew Moxon hired Chill to assassinate the Waynes and make it look like a mugging gone wrong. Bruce learned that his father Thomas Wayne earned Moxon’s ire when he stopped Moxon from robbing a high-society gala while wearing his bat-themed masquerade costume, thereby making Thomas the original ”Bat-Man” in a sense. However, Moxon lost memory of ordering the hit due to a head injury and consequently passed a lie detector test when he insisted that he had nothing to do with the murder. When Batman appeared to break up one of Moxon’s rackets, however, the design of the Batsuit jostled Moxon’s memory of Thomas Wayne and his bat-costume from all those years ago. Fleeing in abject terror, Moxon ran into traffic and was killed instantly by collision with an automobile. [Detective comics, #235]

Batman was drawn to the traveling Haly’s Circus during an investigation about a local mob boss named Boss Zucco. That night, the trapeze artists known as the Flying Graysons were victims of Zucco’s protection racket and their son, Richard ”Dick” Grayson, was left an orphan. Wayne would take in Grayson and focus the kid’s anger into training and enhancing his skills, which would ultimately result in Grayson becoming Batman’s junior partner, Robin.[Untold Legend of the Batman, #2]

Batman later joined Superman during the invasion of the alien Appellaxians, focusing their efforts on the one known as the Crystal Creature while Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter were preoccupied with the other Appellaxian champions. It would be during this adventure that Wayne along with the other heroes would form the Justice League of America.[Justice League of America #9] During many of the JLA’s early adventures, Batman took somewhat of a backseat role, but his participation and importance in the team increased with time.

Batman then met Patricia Powell, a police officer recently graduated from the academy who had a crush on Bruce Wayne. Patricia and Batman solved a crime together and afterwards, Bruce decided to invite her to a party at his place the next night.[37] Unfortunately, the party was disrupted by some criminals and they had to work together to bring the crooks to justice. After this encounter, Bruce never attempted to work or meet with Patricia ever again.[31] Shortly after this, Bruce Wayne’s identity was stolen by some criminals, leading Batman and Robin into an investigation in which they met Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man,[38] and this would be the first of many collaborations with him.[39]

Batgirl


Enter Batgirl
Eventually, Batman met Batgirl, a new crime-fighter who adopted the mantle of the bat and being the daughter of James Gordon. At first, he refused her collaboration on crimes, but when she proved vital in capturing Killer Moth, Batman allowed her to keep working as his close ally.[82] After her second case, Batman managed to convince Batgirl that he could not be Bruce Wayne under the mask.[83]
When Batman was affected by a rare swamp fever, Batgirl teamed-up with Robin in order to prevent the Caped Crusader from accelerating the process of the illness by overworking himself. When the fever reached the most critical stage, Batman received attention as Bruce Wayne and during his absence, the Batgirl-Robin team prowled the streets of Gotham.[84] Jealous of Batgirl’s success, Catwoman tried to impress the Dark Knight by making Batgirl look bad. Her plan backfired as Batgirl found a way to outsmart Catwoman and Batman was able to arrest the feline criminal.[85]

League of Assassins, Talia and Ra’s al Ghul
Batman first became aware of a mysterious group of killers called the League of Assassins, when he saved a shipping magnate from being killed by one of the members of this group.[107] Afterwards, Bruce learned of a second attack on another wealthy industrialist and after investigating as Batman, he confronted the so-called President of the League of Assassins, Dr. Darrk. Batman was captured by Darrk, but when he managed to escape the deadly trap, Darrk had no choice but to retreat without claiming the life of his victim.[108] After thwarting the League on these two occasions, Batman was lured into a trap by his old enemy, Dr. Tzin-Tzin, who had been hired by the League to eliminate Batman. Tzin kidnapped Robin and almost defeated Batman, but the Dark Knight managed to rescue his partner, thwarting Tzin and the League’s plans once again.[109]


Enter the Demon
Following the trail of Dr. Darrk, Batman tracked him to Asia. There Batman was captured by members of the League and locked away with a woman called Talia. Batman and Talia worked together to bring down Darrk, who was killed by Talia during the final confrontation.[110] Not long after this, Batman was informed that Robin had been kidnapped and he rushed to the Batcave to investigate the clues. Inside his sanctuary, Batman met the man who would become his most formidable adversary, Ra’s al Ghul. He was the father of Talia and he sought Batman’s help to find her, as she had also been kidnapped in the same way as Robin. Batman agreed to help Ra’s and they travelled together to Calcutta and later the Himalayas, following the trail of the Brotherhood of the Demon, the faction responsible for the kidnappings. After overcoming several obstacles, Batman and Ra’s got separated, but by the time Batman located Robin in the lair of the brotherhood, he had rightfully deduced that Ra’s and his men were behind everything. After Batman and Robin knocked down their opponents, Batman demanded answers from Ra’s and his fake quest, to which Ra’s replied that it was all part of a test to verify Batman’s worthiness to become his successor since his daughter Talia, was in love with Batman. Batman had passed Ra’s test and he was offered Talia’s hand in marriage along with Ra’s al Ghul’s empire.[25]


Forbidden Love
Batman continued his crusade against crime, ignoring Ra’s intentions, but he was soon prompted to save Talia from killing one of Ra’s former scientists, who had developed a formula which could be turned into a deadly plague.[111] After this, Batman started investigating the murder of another scientist and the theft of his brain. He was joined by Talia, but he learned that she had interrupted his investigation on purpose to cover Ra’s criminal activities. When Batman learned that Ra’s was behind the gruesome crime, he realized Ra’s evil nature and their longtime rivalry started. Although, Ra’s became his enemy, Batman still had romantic feelings for Talia.[112]
After learning of Ra’s wickedness, Batman faked Bruce Wayne’s death in order to gather a small group of people to fight Ra’s. He recruited Dr. Harris Blaine, one of Ra’s own assassins and he tried to recruit the gangster Matches Malone, but instead he was forced to pose as him since Malone killed himself by accident.[113] With Blaine and Lo Ling, Batman traveled to Switzerland, where they struggled to locate Ra’s secret lair and after locating it, they learned that Ra’s was dead. After confirming the events, Batman retreated along with Talia, leaving Ra’s corpse behind.[114]


Batman vs Ra’s al Ghul
However, before they could reach safety, Batman and the others were attacked by a crazed Ra’s al Ghul, who had been brought back to life with help from a Lazarus Pit. Batman was easily defeated and Ra’s escaped along with Talia, forcing the Dark Knight to track them down again in an effort to stop Ra’s once and for all. Batman tracked Ra’s to his secret base in the desert. There he was forced to fight Ra’s in a duel to the death and he almost lost the fight. Talia was responsible for saving Batman in the last minute and mustering all his strength, Batman finally captured Ra’s al Ghul and gave Talia a well-deserved kiss, after which he took Ra’s to the authorities.[115]
After having finished his business with Ra’s, Batman returned to Gotham, where he learned that someone was claiming that Bruce Wayne had been murdered. Batman had to step in to solve the mystery before he could fake Wayne’s sudden reappearance.[116] Shortly after this, Batman was faced by a crazed Ubu, who had been exposed to the Lazarus Pit during a big explosion as a result of his last encounter with Batman. Seeking revenge, Ubu travelled to Wayne Manor, where he destroyed a great part of the place and seriously injured Alfred, until Batman confronted him. In the struggle, Batman kicked Ubu with such strength, that caused him to fall into a splintered wood, ending his life.[117]

~$44.87

2024-02-21

2018-07-02 21:51:48