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(JUNE 1982)
"College for
Killers"
("The Academy of Crime
Part I") (18 pages)
Part 1 of 2
(continued in Detective Comics
#516)
Cover pencils - Don Newton
Cover inks - Dick Giordano
Story
- Gerry Conway
Art - Don Newton
Inks - Frank Chiaramonte
Colours - Adrienne Roy
Lettering - Ben Oda
Editor - Dick Giordano
Second feature: Batgirl,
"In the Coils of the Serpent!"
(8 pages)
No letters page
REPRINT - Tales of the Batman:
Gerry Conway #3 (2019)
LOCATIONS - Gotham City,
Hollywood, Upstate New York, Boston
VILLAINS - Academy of Crime
GUEST
APPEARANCE - Christopher Chance
(Human Target)
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THE 1982 BATMAN /
DETECTIVE COMICS "CROSS-OVER"
Back
in the 1970s, Batman and Detective Comics were two
completely separate - and distinctively different -
titles.
"When I
took over the franchise I said okay, this is the way
we do it. Batman comics will be about superhero stuff
with a lot of action, and Detective Comics is about
the same character functioning as a detective."
(Denny O'Neil, in Handziuk 2019)
It worked well for
a few years, but as the 1980s rolled around, DC decided
to change things up - and not just a little, but quite a
bit. Following a couple of issues of Detective Comics
and Batman that carried over subplots from one
title to the other along with a growing number of
editorial references to events featured in the other
title, DC decided to turn Detective Comics and Batman
into virtually one comic book by running complete
storylines from one title into the other.
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| It
all kicked off with Batman #345
(March 1982) and the first part of a
story featuring the reappearance of
Batman's very first true villain, Doctor Death, which then wrapped up
in Detective Comics #512,
available that same month but two weeks
later. This
"cross-over" then ran
throughout 1982 with the exception of May
and November (when both Detective Comics
#514 / Batman
#347 and then later on Detective
Comics #520 / Batman #353
carried stand-alone stories).
The one month break for
the May publication slot gave Batman
editor Dick Giordano time to assess
readers' first (and mostly positive)
reactions and look at sales numbers
before continuing with the new "two
as one" formula.
It effectively
created a single fortnightly Batman book,
with Batman on sale on the
second Wednesday of a month and Detective
Comics on the fourth.
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In-house
ad from Detective Comics #515
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| Whilst this
running in parallel did not ultimately require readers to
buy both books (there would usually be a brief recap of
what had happened in the preceding issue of the other
title), reading only one of the two titles could make the
storyline become slightly "jumpy" at times. But
overall, writer Gerry Conway (who delivered all the
cross-over stories throughout the year) did an excellent
job on what was most certainly not an easy project. |
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PLOT SUMMARY
! SPOILER ALERT !
What first appears to be
a bank robbery during which the Batman is
literally grilled by one of the robbers using a
flame-thrower turns out to be a staged exercise
(with a stuntman impersonating the Darknight
Detective) by the mysterious "Academy of
Crime" - where students are schooled by the
headmaster in lawbreaking rather than the
sciences or liberal arts, and where graduates
take to a life of crime, such as Mirage (who fought Batman in
Detective Comics
#511).
A week later Batman puts
an end to the pocket-picking spree of two small
fry criminals who are robbing inubriated citizens
of Gotham City on the riverfront. What seems very
much like a routine clean-up soon has Batman's
full attention as the two delinquents bemoan the
fact that they never covered anything like this
encounter at the Academy.
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| It's the key word for the
Darknight Detective, since this is already the second
time running that he overhears criminals making mention
of such an institution - and from his fear-stricken prey
the Batman now learns that the "Academy for Legal
Arts" is a school for crime located in Hollywood and
run by someone calling himself "the
Headmaster". |
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| At
the same time, in Wayne Manor, Vicki Vale
presents Alfred with photographic
evidence which she claims proves that the
Batman is, in fact, Bruce Wayne. Whilst
Alfred puts on a brave face and tries to
convince Vicki that going public with
what he describes as speculative material
might not be a good idea, given the
experience from similar previous
constellations surrounding Gotham's
majoral election not too long ago.
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But Alfred realizes that there
will be no stopping Vicki Vale... who then leaves
just as Bruce Wayne arrives back at his home. Alfred does not want to
burden his Master with any information regarding
the photographs Vicki has shown him, convinced
that he can handle that situation perfectly on
his own - all the more so as Bruce Wayne is
determined to follow up the lead he now has on
the Academy by flying to LA, although not as
Bruce Wayne but rather disguised as
"Matches" Malone.
Meanwhile, at Gotham
University, Dick Grayson is increasingly confused
and worried by the behaviour of Dala, who - after
seemingly being open to friendship or even
romance with him initially - has now seemingly
chosen to completely ignore him.
Feeling that something
might be amiss, Dick decides to follow her home
after class as Robin. After a longish drive out
into the countryside, Dala finally pulls up in
front of a lonely Victorian mansion. Robin has a
good look around the outside of the slightly
creepy building and then decides to continue his
search inside - even if he has no idea at all
what he is actually looking for. Once inside,
however, Robin does not get very far as he is
soon struck down by a cloaked figure from
behind...
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| On the West Coast, Bruce Wayne
enrolls himself at the Academy of Legal Arts as
"Matches" Malone and finally gets to meet
"the Headmaster"... |
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| In the meantime, Alfred
has made his way up to Boston and is
calling on one Christopher Chance - who
impersonates people who are in danger and
is better known as "The Human
Target". TO BE CONTINUED
...
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REVIEW & ANALYSIS
DC was still
evaluating reader reactions and sales feedback to the
Batman / Detective Comics cross-over formula (editor Dick
Giordano even put the question directly to readers in the
letters page of Batman #350: "Would you rather we drop all
continuing threads?"), and so Gerry Conway,
after a month's break for both titles with unconnected
stand-alone stories, opted for a subtle re-entry for the
June 1982 cover date production with limited common links
to the overall plot.
In that
vein, Detective Comics #515 starts up an
entirely new storyline by kicking off a two-parter
featuring the Academy of Crime whilst gently revisiting
the numerous subplot threads which Conway had previously
set up over the course of several issues of Detective
Comics and Batman.
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The front row story of Detective
Comics #515 sends Batman thousands of miles
away to the West Coast - whilst back on the East
Coast things are heating up with Vicki Vale's
plans to expose Bruce Wayne as Batman, with Robin
walking into a trap as he is following his
romantic encounter from University, and with
Alfred paying a visit to the Human Target. It all
provides a panopticum of events and
characters, mirrored in almost Golden Age fashion
by Don Newton and Dick Giordano on the cover. Although Batman is not confined
to Gotham, it is where he usually works the best.
Taking him elsewhere usually requires a reason in
the form of a good backstory.
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| The "Academy of Crime" is just enough of a
reason to send the Darknight Detective all the way out to
Hollywood, but astute readers may already see what Gerry
Conway is really doing: both Alfred and Robin find things
they are involved with heating up, but Bruce/Batman is
not around to help. They are both, for the time being at
least, on their own - and in trouble. It was all part
of how Gerry Conway was writing and developing the Batman
and his world. He had been assigned to pen the Darknight
Detective's adventures as of December 1980's Detective
Comics #497 before also taking up the writer's pen for Batman
as of July 1981 (starting with issue #337), staying
on both titles until May 1983 (Detective Comics #526 and
Batman #359). And during all of that time as the
principal Batman writer, he was a man with a plan.
Which made sense, since Gerry Conway (*1952) always
seems to have had a plan. He had his first letter
published at the age of 14 (in Fantastic Four
#50, May 1966), his first story published when he was 16
(in DC's House of Secrets #81, September 1969), and
started scripting Spider-Man when he was merely 19 (Amazing
Spider-Man #111, August 1972) - succeeding none other
than Stan Lee himself.
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| In addition to his
run on Amazing Spider-Man from August
1972 up until October 1975 (which included the
landmark death of Gwen Stacy in issue #121),
Conway also wrote Marvel's second flagship title,
Fantastic Four, between April 1973 and
November 1974 (issues #133-152). After some back and forth
switching between Marvel and DC in 1975/76,
Conway would go on to write exclusively for DC
Comics for a lengthy period of time - acutely
aware of the differences between the two
companies.
"Marvel was rock
and roll and DC was Lawrence Welk [a 1950s
American bandleader and tv impresario whose
music came to be known as "champagne
music"] and trying to get Lawrence Welk
to do rock and roll (...) That's why it took
DC Comics so long to catch up, because it had
an entire mentality that had to be basically
thrown out." (Gerry
Conway, in Bumeder 2010)
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Gerry
Conway in 1973
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As for Batman, Conway had a very concise perception
of how the Darknight Detective had come to rock and roll.
"It's not like there was
some halcyon Golden Age of serious Batman stories
before Denny [O'Neil] and Neal [Adams] came along.
You'd have to really go all the way back to the first
three or four stories to get anything remotely like a
dark Batman. I give them an enormous amount of credit
for conceptualizing that. In other words they did not
go back to find something, they created something.
They created an interpretation that had the feeling
of what a dark Batman should be and it felt like it
was an inevitability. But it really wasn't. A guy
running around in a bat costume with pointy ears.
Trunks and boots, I mean, you know… No reason to
think that's going to be dark and spooky and
existential. It's really not an inevitability." (Gerry Conway,
in Bumeder 2010)
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Conway built up
subplots which served to drive storylines and
characterization at the same time, resulting in a
much more complex (and hence realistic) context
in which the Batman was required to operate as
city politics, corruption, and organised crime
made their influence felt. Members of the supporting
cast are also handed personal issues (again, a
typical Marvel trait) as Dick Grayson drops out
of college and outgrows his role in the Dynamic
Duo, James Gordon goes through an existential
crisis after being sacked by Gotham's new (and
corrupt) Mayor but pulls through with help from
his daughter Barbara.
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| And
in running this continuous plot in both Batman
titles, Gerry Conway - like O'Neil and Adams
before him - turned to the Batman's roots and dug
deep into the Darknight Detective's past by
unearthing and reinterpreting (and thus
elevating) his very first villains. . |
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| Following Doctor Death - Batman's very first
arch-villain from Detective Comics #29 (July 1939),
reintroduced to the Batman Universe in Batman
#345 (March 1982) after an absence of 43
years - Conway turned to the vampiric
Monk and Dala, first seen in Detective Comics #31 (September 1939) and
reappearing again for the first time
since in Batman #349 (July 1982) It
was Conway's tip of the hat to the very
early history of the Batman - and a way
of including the "dark" roots
of a character which he was writing and
interpreting in a way which really wasn't
like DC Comics at all. In many ways,
Conway "marvelized" Batman on a
conceptual storytelling level as
"the stakes seemed
higher, now that (...) adventures
could have lasting consequences"
(Baytor, 2015)
Issue after
issue, Conway cooked up an exciting
concoction of action, plot build-ups and
characterization that ran high on
thrills, suspense and story interest as
it often went from cliffhanger to plot
twist to cliffhanger.
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| Detective
Comics #515 is an unpretentious piece of comic book
writing, yet current day readers will marvel in sheer
disbelief at just how much storytelling and plot pacing
could be packed into 18 pages back in the 1980s by those
who knew their job as well as Conway. It all falls
together perfectly, and the content is brought alive by compelling
artwork from Don Newton, whose pencils are tight once
again and made to shine with great inks from Frank Chiaramonte and a fitting mix of
colours from Adrienne Roy |
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| HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING - Fast paced story which is crammed
full with characterization and subplot but is timed so
well that the suspense never drops, accompanied by moody
and dynamic artwork - an excellent example of just how
good late Bronze Age comic books could be. |
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COMMENTS FROM THE
BATCAVE
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"Just great! This
cross continuity between Batman and Detective is
the best stuff I've read in years, and I think
Gerry deserves all the praise in the world (take
a little for yourself too, Dick) for being able
to make it work so masterly (...) looking forward
to next issue... and next... and next..."
(Scott Bruce, San Francisco CA)
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"Clever
plotting and clear-cut characterization
(...) Things sure are getting
interesting!" (Susan Lattanzio,
Ellington CT)
(from the
letters page of Detective Comics
#520)
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| BIBLIOGRAPHY
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| BAYTOR
I. M. (2015) "Gerry Conway’s Marvelized Batman", published online at Gotham
Calling BUMEDER
Larry (2010) "Gerry Conway interview", published online at wtv-zone
HANDZIUK Alex (2019) "An
Interview with Legendary Creator Denny O'Neil - The
father of Modern Day Batman", cgmagonline.com,
published online 16 March 2019
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The illustrations
presented here are copyright material. Their
reproduction for the review and research
purposes of this website is considered fair
use as set out by the Copyright Act of 1976,
17 U.S.C. par. 107.
(c) 2024
first published
on the web 20 December 2024
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