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At some unspecified point in the 80's, the great J.M. DeMatteis pitched a Hugo Strange story to DC, where Hugo "apparently kills Batman and, in his arrogance and ego, decides to become Batman, putting on the costume, taking over the role, in order to prove his superiority."

Of course, this is the story which became Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt (and also informed JMD's own Batman: Going Sane, with the Joker). Can you imagine what that would have been like? The different characters right away demand fundamental changes to the story, but that had potential to be the character-defining storyline for Hugo, just as it was for Kraven.

Perhaps Denny O'Neill rejected JMD's pitch because Gerry Conway already started exploring that idea, once he revealed that Hugo was alive and well at the finale of the Rupert Thorne saga. I've decided to give Hugo's full return its own post, as it now represents a distinct shift in focus for the character.

So now that he's taken his revenge on Thorne, what's Hugo's next move? Head back to Europe and resume his lucrative life as a master criminal? Retire off to some remote island? Dedicate his life to using science to advance mankind? Ha, you're funny.

Oh wait. Hugo still knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne, doesn't he? Well, now. Something has to be done about that...

Note: These scans are from Batman #356.

You'd think Bruce would have enough on his plate between getting turned into a vampire and having Rupert Thorne hire Deadshot to kill him, but he's also had troubles with the women in his life. But at least with Thorne heading to Blackgate, things finally seem to be settling down for Batman's alter ego.

And when he wakes up, Bruce climbs out of the car, stunned by what he sees:

He enters to find Alfred waiting for him with tea, as usual. Everything seems kosher, but being the detective that he is, Bruce grows suspicious and declines.

Rule number one of Wayne Manor: Never Turn Down Alfred's Tea.

And there's Alfred, standing at attention with a full tray, as if nothing had happened. Bruce turns back around, and the Alfred who attacked him is... gone? Completely thrown off, Bruce thinks he must have been imagining things, as if he were having a bad dream, and he decides to relax with a nice hot shower.

I could have posted more pages that could actually tell this story better, but instead, I chose this panel. You're welcome, folks.

Hell, if I were really smart, I would have made that panel the preview image for the post. Probably would have gotten more attention. Meh.

Bruce strikes back against Robin, seemingly killing him in the process.

He turns to find Robin's body has vanished, while Dick looks perplexed as to why Bruce seems to be having a nervous breakdown.

Meanwhile, "Alfred" is seen heading down into the Batcave, carrying the body of "Robin" with him:

I like to imagine that Bruce actually has a dumpster in the Batcave where he throws away his used and broken butlers and sidekicks. He just has it there as a warning to the rest. "Watch out, or you'll end up just like Aunt Harriet and Fat Alfred!"

Just as Bruce is trying to pull himself together, "Dick" tries to kill him, and Bruce instinctively fights back, being pushed to the edge.

Realzing that he's not going crazy after all, Bruce heads downstairs to the Batcave. There, he finds his opponent waiting for him, dressed in a familiar costume and handing Bruce a spare.

Yoga does not work that way! ... Does it?

By the way, notice how this story is directly influenced by Alan Brennert's "Interlude on Earth-Two!" (published less than a year before this issue!) which culminated with the heroes battling Hugo--and his android replicas--in the Batcave. Conway clearly decided to take those elements and bring them into his grand return of Earth-One Hugo.

One thing I've noticed about Hugo Strange stories is that every one seems directly influenced by every one that came before. By and large, he's the only Batman villain to have a single continuous arc of development. And it carries through even in the post-Crisis, post-Miller reboot era, as you'll be seeing later.

By the way, while Bruce has been going through this whole ordeal, the real Alfred and Robin have been wondering where the hell's Batman. Using a homing beacon on the utility belt, Robin is coming to the rescue:

"... but by heaven," he declares, pulling the ominous red lever, "if Hugo Strange cannot be the Batman, then no one can!" And in a magnificent display which took up an entire page, the fake Wayne Manor goes kablooey! Oh noes!

Meanwhile, at real Wayne Manor, Alfred answers a knock at the door, finding Bruce Wayne pointing a gun at him, ready to fire. That is, until "Bruce" is knocked out by Batman.

And there you have it: Hugo Strange, criminal mastermind and brilliant manipulator, felled by poor eyesight. Man, between this and the "Zoinks!" and "Jinkies!" moments of the previous issues, it feels like Conway really was using Scooby-Doo as inspiration.

Seriously though, after all that build-up throughout the Rupert Thorne story, and all from Strange discovering Wayne's secret back in Strange Apparitions almost a decade earlier, this is kind of an ignominious death for such a major threat. Especially one as brilliant and methodical as Strange.

Clearly, Conway's successor, Doug Moench, thought so too. I was going to include that issue with this as a double-feature, but it deserves its own post, more so than even this story.

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icon_uk

GREAT story (You did trim one of my favourite scans where Alfred is walking down to the Batcave with the "corpse" of the Robin from the shower scene (and how that shower lingered in my barely adolescent memory) slung over his shoulder and noting "That WAS a messy one sir"

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Bringing the crack since December 2003

The Return of Hugo Strange

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