Batman (1940)

”Darkest Night Of The Man-Bat Part 2 Pursuit”
Batman patrols Gotham City in search of any lead that could lead him to Man-Bat. It’s been a week since Langstrom left Gotham and Batman’s cure is useless unless Man-Bat is found.

A group of scientists discover the frozen body of Man-Bat in the North Pole. They take him into their investigation center. The scientists are testing a new equipment that injects impulses into the atmosphere that are translated into energy harmonics; the kind of information that bats use to travel as they can’t see. They deduce that Man-Bat might have been attracted by those harmonics and they are hoping to study the specimen once the ice has thawed. Meanwhile they informed about the situation to Washington, but the signal stutters and the people in Washington transcripted the message as a real dangerous situation going on in the North Pole.

Washington sends some people to Gotham to retreive information on Man-Bat. Commissioner Gordon hands them the information and later informs Batman about Langstrom’s whereabouts. Gordon also tells Batman that the government is trying to kill Man-Bat.

Batman follows the government agents to Kimchatka and then he grabs the helicopter that they are using to travel.

Meanwhile at the North Pole station, Man-Bat is already free from the ice and just as one of the scientists approach to study him, Man-Bat wakes up and knocks the doctor out. Man-Bat goes berserk and knocks out three more scientists. He is hungry but he only ate rats. Later, Man-Bat finds a laboratory and he tries to create a cure for himself but his animal part is dominant and he can’t recall the right ingredients for the serum.

That moment, the government agents arrive to the North Pole. Batman descends first and he finds the station faster than the agents. Batman enters and finds Man-Bat about to feed on one of the scientists. Batman tells him not to do it and they start to fight each other. Man-Bat escapes through one of the walls and Batman follows. The agents see the bat-shaped creature and starts shooting at Batman. He takes that advantage to prevent them from killing Langstrom. Batman attacks the agents and they stop their attack.

There is one scientist who isn’t aware of what is happening and he decides to test the pulse injector. The energy beam impacts Man-Bat as the agents and Batman watch helpless and screams for Langstrom’s life.

Appearing in ”Darkest Night of the Man-Bat Pat 2 Pursuit”
Featured Characters:

Batman
Supporting Characters:

Francine Langstrom
Gotham City Police Department
Harvey Bullock
James Gordon
Antagonists:

Man-Bat
United States Government
Other Characters:

Alfred Pennyworth
Hessler
Jenks (Single appearance)
Lydea Steinman
Dr. Baldini
Trask
Locations:

Gotham City
GCPD Headquarters
Mercy Hospital
North Pole
Harmonic Atmospheric Research Project
Kimchatka
Items:

Batrope
Bat-Signal
Batarang
Vehicles:

WayneCorp Jet
Notes
Editor Dennis O’Neil wrote one of his letters, From the Den in the lettercolumn as a requiem to Mark Gruenwald, who died in August 12, 1996.
The events of this issue takes place between Batman #536 and Batman #538.
This issue is the second part of the three part storyline labeled as Darkest Night of the Man-Bat.
Trivia
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program is a real life research program. It was not located on the North Pole but instead the base is in Alaska.
The place Kimchatka might be a reference to real life place Kamchatka.
There are references to Nikola Tesla and the Tunguska event.
The events take place during an Aurora, caused by the events of The Final Night and the overload of earth’s magnetic fields by the pulse injector.

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Batman_Vol_1_537

Dec 1996

DC (Detective Comics)

761941200057

537

537

1

December

1996

Cover A

A

Newsstand

53711

United States

$1.95

Man-bat-Frank Robbins,Neal Adams,Schwartz 1989 dc.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Langstrom_(New_Earth)

Modern Age

English

Magazine

2018-07-02 21:52:11

Batman (1940)

Darkest Night of the Man-Bat, second part of the three part storyline

36

2018-07-02 21:52:11