Batman (1940-2011) #400

Batman (1940-2011)

by Doug Moench, Stephen King (Introduction), Bernie Wrightson (Illustator)

Featuring an introduction by Stephen King! As Batman ponders the note sent to him as a warning, all of his foes are sprung from Arkham Asylum.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Batman, Fiction, Superheroes, Graphic Novels

Comic

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)

Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.

Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.

Reviews

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A big anniversary for old batsy.

Jason and Alfred try to find the time to serve Bruce a special cake for the anniversary of his becoming Batman, but there's a breakout in Arkham Asylum (when is there not?) and all the villains are causing trouble around Gotham. This is the one of the very last issues before the retconning post Crisis and I read from issue #357 to here. The writing is a bit all over the place, and uncreative in a lot of places. I have no clue why they essentially created Dick Grayson 2.0 in Jason Todd and Selina Kyle 2.0 in Nocturna.

Alfred finds out he has a daughter he never knew about. She shows up, he angsts about wondering if he'll ever truly have a place in her life and she starts working with Vicki Vale. Vicki Vale spends all of her time nearly getting killed trying to report at crime scenes and exercising herself to death because Bruce Wayne is ignoring her. Jason spends all his time trying to keep from getting shuttled around in foster care, being jealous of Bruce spending time with Catwoman, and trying to get Bruce to really trust him as a partner. The hardest thing to read in all of this was the constant back and forth with Bruce's messy, messy love life. He had not one, not two, not three but FIVE love interests he kept dealing with in this chunk of time and I so badly just wanted to read about him fighting crime. Vicki Vale, Julia Pennyworth, Selina Kyle, Nocturna and then Talia shows up in #400 for good measure. I'm not sure why but it was confusing and I read this all in order. He changed his mind several times and when it seemed like Selina was the frontrunner, they're still talking about Nocturna.

Anyway, the messy love business aside, it was pretty fun to read. Now, onto retconned Jason Todd.

[Pranay · Rating 4 out of 5]

One story with each chapter drawn by the variety of best artists in the industry.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Features a fully painted wrap-around cover by Bill Sienkiewicz

"Resurrection Night":

Ra's al Ghul embarks upon one of his most ambitious schemes to confound the Batman. He engineers a massive breakout at both Arkham Asylum and Gotham State Penitentiary. Uniting both prisoners and patients, he arms them with their uniforms and weapons, giving them special instructions. Meanwhile, Batman finds a note taped to the computer in the Batcave that reads, "Know your foes!" Ra's enters the cave and tells Batman what he has done. He further offers his service in permanently eliminating Batman's adversaries should he agree to join his crusade. Batman naturally refuses, and Ra's takes his leave.

He soon discovers that the villains have kidnapped five people with strong connections to the Batman -- Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Julia Pennyworth, and Vicki Vale. Moreover, the Joker and the Penguin have enveloped Gotham City Police Headquarters with a giant steel net, turning the police into prisoners. The Joker forces Commissioner Gordon to contact Batman and tell him that he has three hours to rescue them or else all of the hostages will die.

Batman finds assistance from two former adversaries, Catwoman and Ra's daughter Talia. They split into two teams to tackle the mission from different angles. Robin and Talia go after one group of villains, while Batman and Catwoman try to free the GCPD. Throughout the course of the long evening, both parties prove successful and meet back up to tackle Ra's. They track him down to an old decrepit windmill where Ra's is housing one of his Lazarus Pits. For the first time ever, Ra's immerses himself in the pit while still alive, and soon emerges, now ten times as strong as a normal human. Batman and his allies approach the windmill. Batman uses explosive charges to blast away at the foundation, providing them with a quick entrance. Batman and Ra's fight one another and through the course of the conflict, he flips Ra's over his head. Ra's lands for a second time inside the Lazarus Pit. The explosives have greatly weakened the structure of the windmill, so Batman and the others race out of there just as it collapses. It is believed that Ra's has been destroyed in the carnage.

[Debra]

Stephen King introduction.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

La introducción de King es lo que más me gustó.
Es una típica historieta de Batman, donde lucha contra sus enemigos.
Lo bueno es que aparecen casi todos.

[Joseph Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Re-reading this for the first time in probably about 12 years. I remember finding it in my dad’s comic collection on a rainy memphis day. Sitting inside by the window and reading it. So perfectly it uses this chapter based formula with several great artists penciling the story. It’s a classical Batman tale, the master detective is faced with a mystery brought on by a strange note and while he grapples with it in his mind mayhem unfolds all around him. The art is so great and as a kid and young comic fan really brought the world alive. Reading this on my iPad with a weed pen in hand just feels too fucking great. I’m right back to being a kid again which is the whole joy of comics for me. Read it let’s talk about it.

[scribble · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Stephen King put it in his introduction for this anniversary issue, Batman sure is “sinister” (especially after the Dark Night Returns) but there is something so captivating in watching someone fight hard to be good. In it requiring a lot of effort and resilience to to try to do the right thing (unlike Superman who, let’s say, has some more advantages than Bruce here). I also really liked it being acknowledged that Bruce wasn’t satisfied with merely catching the ‘villains’ but he wanted them to actually come to the ‘good side’, which was something he didn’t quite achieve.
The amount of innuendos in this issue. Phew. It sure has a different tone than the Gotham a few decades earlier.

[Riccardo Caputi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic Batman story: it's colourful, bombastic, full of characters and, most importantly, really entertaining! In some moments it can get pretty silly, but it never becomes boring. Moreover, the ending is actually more sad than it may look at first: there's nothing to celebrate, this arc of death and resurrection will happen over and over again.

Oh, and special bonus for Moench, always coming up with weird sound effects!

[roberto ortiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

R'as Al Ghul libera a todos los enemigos de Batman y se desata una caza para volver a capturarlos y vencer al creador del caos. La desesperanza que sufre Batman se transforma en fortaleza que le permite afrontar no solo el último desafío sino un nuevo Universo Post- Crisis con una nueva continuidad.

[Matthew Kelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

More words to learn from a comic:
fete (pronounced like fate or fet at least I found multiple pronounciations): a celebration or festival.

bonhomie:cheerful friendliness; geniality.

[mage. · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was actually fun and good lmao

[lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

sosososo good

[Drake Zappa · Rating 4 out of 5]

👌
bill has always had the sauce. a great issue overall but his work has and always will stand out to me.

[Sotofunkdamental · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un especial con varios artistas, que fue la última aparición del Batman Pre-Crisis de Tierra 1. Argumento: "Ra's Al Ghul libera a todos los internos del Asilo Arkham para obligar a Batman a unirse a su causa".