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Batman (1940-2011)
Batman (1940-2011) #415
Batman and Robin break in to Arkham Asylum to foil Commissioner Gordon's plans!
23 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 22, 1987
1 person is currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Jim Starlin
1,334 books443 followersJames P. "Jim" Starlin is an American comic book writer and artist. With a career dating back to the early 1970s, he is best known for "cosmic" tales and space opera; for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock; and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. Death and suicide are recurring themes in Starlin's work: Personifications of Death appeared in his Captain Marvel series and in a fill-in story for Ghost Rider; Warlock commits suicide by killing his future self; and suicide is a theme in a story he plotted and drew for The Rampaging Hulk magazine.
In the mid-1970s, Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the independently published science-fiction anthology Star Reach. Here he developed his ideas of God, death, and infinity, free of the restrictions of mainstream comics publishers' self-censorship arm, the Comics Code Authority. Starlin also drew "The Secret of Skull River", inked by frequent collaborator Al Milgrom, for Savage Tales #5 (July 1974).
When Marvel Comics wished to use the name of Captain Marvel for a new, different character,[citation needed] Starlin was given the rare opportunity to produce a one-shot story in which to kill off a main character. The Death of Captain Marvel became the first graphic novel published by the company itself. (
In the late 1980s, Starlin began working more for DC Comics, writing a number of Batman stories, including the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult (Aug.-Nov. 1988), and the storyline "Batman: A Death in the Family", in Batman #426-429 (Dec. 1988 – Jan. 1989), in which Jason Todd, the second of Batman's Robin sidekicks, was killed. The death was decided by fans, as DC Comics set up a hotline for readers to vote on as to whether or not Jason Todd should survive a potentially fatal situation. For DC he created Hardcore Station.
In the mid-1970s, Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the independently published science-fiction anthology Star Reach. Here he developed his ideas of God, death, and infinity, free of the restrictions of mainstream comics publishers' self-censorship arm, the Comics Code Authority. Starlin also drew "The Secret of Skull River", inked by frequent collaborator Al Milgrom, for Savage Tales #5 (July 1974).
When Marvel Comics wished to use the name of Captain Marvel for a new, different character,[citation needed] Starlin was given the rare opportunity to produce a one-shot story in which to kill off a main character. The Death of Captain Marvel became the first graphic novel published by the company itself. (
In the late 1980s, Starlin began working more for DC Comics, writing a number of Batman stories, including the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult (Aug.-Nov. 1988), and the storyline "Batman: A Death in the Family", in Batman #426-429 (Dec. 1988 – Jan. 1989), in which Jason Todd, the second of Batman's Robin sidekicks, was killed. The death was decided by fans, as DC Comics set up a hotline for readers to vote on as to whether or not Jason Todd should survive a potentially fatal situation. For DC he created Hardcore Station.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 9, 2024
Probably the best experience I’ve had with a millennium crossover issue thus far. I don’t have access to the full crossover or any of the main issues, and I’ve heard it’s not worth it, but this issue has given me the most useful information on the event while providing a good story.
This event’s main antagonists are the manhunters. The former creation of the guardians on OA that turned rouge and have now built an empire in secret, and are now causing major problems for our heroes as they believe an event called millennium will lead to the end of their robot species. The entire event revolves around 10 special people on earth who must be kept safe, one of them being the floronic man, who is currently in Arkham. Now Batman isn’t sure on all the details of this event and has only gotten a bit of info with his interaction with other heroes in the main issues, but he is smart enough to figure out a manhunter has replaced Gordon when Gordon tries to kill him. Batman tries to rush back around and end the manhunter right here and now but once he gets back to the office, Gordon is gone. Walking back to try and find the manhunter, Batman overhears to cops talking about Woodrue and how crazy he is yelling about being let out of Arkham to participate in the millennium. Now Batman has what he needs and he knows where the manhunter is going.
Meanwhile, Robin has been on a mission of his own. Scarecrow broke out of Arkham and Batman tasked him with finding the villain. Nothing more, scarecrow is too dangerous. But as Jason found the villain immediately in his old hideout mixing up a new batch of fear gas he realizes what he has to do to take him down. And I’m so proud of Jason in the is situation, he did exactly what I wanted him to do. He put on a gas mask himself and chucked a barrel at the villain and his gas vials, causing them to break and infect scarecrow with his own fear toxin.
Batman scoped out Arkham and saw it was surrounded by cops. He knew the manhunter was just looking for a chance to kill Woodrue, so he can’t just break in and cause chaos. Instead he needs a disguise to get in. But when he arrives he finds Robin, and has to hide his pride when he realizes that he defeated the scarecrow without Batman’s help. But now scarecrow is sitting strapped down in the bat cave as he has about 36 hours until the fear toxin wears off. But that gives the perfect opportunity for a disguise Batman can use. Batman uses his modeling kit to make himself look like a beat up scarecrow. Robin dresses up as the doctor treating him. And Alfred as the ambulance driver on the way to Arkham.
The disguises work and they are able to get inside Arkham with little fuss. But now that they are in they have to be quick, and upon the realization that the manhunter setup a line of villains to block the paths to Woodrue. Batman straight up chucks a vial of fear gas into the crowd, allowing our two heroes to slip in and get to the manhunter. Super extreme but effective, unfortunately what’s not effective is their normal fighting against a hard metal being like a manhunter. The only thing that finally puts a dent into the manhunter and lifts the disguise is a stray shotgun round from a guard. Robin quickly takes up the gun to use against the manhunter, revealing enough for Batman to slip in a small explosive that finally blows up the manhunter completely. Instead of attending and breaking out Woodrue, as that will more than likely happen in the pages of millennium, Batman decides to take the manhunter head back to the bat cave and try and find where they took the real Gordon. Turns out it’s Louisiana, but ultimately I can’t read the millennium storyline so I’m just gonna assume they save him.
This event’s main antagonists are the manhunters. The former creation of the guardians on OA that turned rouge and have now built an empire in secret, and are now causing major problems for our heroes as they believe an event called millennium will lead to the end of their robot species. The entire event revolves around 10 special people on earth who must be kept safe, one of them being the floronic man, who is currently in Arkham. Now Batman isn’t sure on all the details of this event and has only gotten a bit of info with his interaction with other heroes in the main issues, but he is smart enough to figure out a manhunter has replaced Gordon when Gordon tries to kill him. Batman tries to rush back around and end the manhunter right here and now but once he gets back to the office, Gordon is gone. Walking back to try and find the manhunter, Batman overhears to cops talking about Woodrue and how crazy he is yelling about being let out of Arkham to participate in the millennium. Now Batman has what he needs and he knows where the manhunter is going.
Meanwhile, Robin has been on a mission of his own. Scarecrow broke out of Arkham and Batman tasked him with finding the villain. Nothing more, scarecrow is too dangerous. But as Jason found the villain immediately in his old hideout mixing up a new batch of fear gas he realizes what he has to do to take him down. And I’m so proud of Jason in the is situation, he did exactly what I wanted him to do. He put on a gas mask himself and chucked a barrel at the villain and his gas vials, causing them to break and infect scarecrow with his own fear toxin.
Batman scoped out Arkham and saw it was surrounded by cops. He knew the manhunter was just looking for a chance to kill Woodrue, so he can’t just break in and cause chaos. Instead he needs a disguise to get in. But when he arrives he finds Robin, and has to hide his pride when he realizes that he defeated the scarecrow without Batman’s help. But now scarecrow is sitting strapped down in the bat cave as he has about 36 hours until the fear toxin wears off. But that gives the perfect opportunity for a disguise Batman can use. Batman uses his modeling kit to make himself look like a beat up scarecrow. Robin dresses up as the doctor treating him. And Alfred as the ambulance driver on the way to Arkham.
The disguises work and they are able to get inside Arkham with little fuss. But now that they are in they have to be quick, and upon the realization that the manhunter setup a line of villains to block the paths to Woodrue. Batman straight up chucks a vial of fear gas into the crowd, allowing our two heroes to slip in and get to the manhunter. Super extreme but effective, unfortunately what’s not effective is their normal fighting against a hard metal being like a manhunter. The only thing that finally puts a dent into the manhunter and lifts the disguise is a stray shotgun round from a guard. Robin quickly takes up the gun to use against the manhunter, revealing enough for Batman to slip in a small explosive that finally blows up the manhunter completely. Instead of attending and breaking out Woodrue, as that will more than likely happen in the pages of millennium, Batman decides to take the manhunter head back to the bat cave and try and find where they took the real Gordon. Turns out it’s Louisiana, but ultimately I can’t read the millennium storyline so I’m just gonna assume they save him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2018
The idea of Gordon opposing Batman is an interesting one, but things are not what they seem here. I kinda hate that this is continued in issues from two separate series. And it seems to risky for Batman to have his mask off with Scarecrow in the Batcave, even if he is drugged.
October 13, 2019
Millennium
November 4, 2021
Interesting that Jim Gordon is a robot. I hadn't gathered before that the Manhunters were replacing people. Up to this point, it seemed like the Manhunters had plants all over.
December 27, 2024
gonna be so fr rn i have no idea what this was about
July 14, 2025
Bbbbaaaatttttaman and Roooobbbbinnn in ….space or something
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews