scans_daily

A post from the inestimable

bluefall on this thread here reminded me of an old post from sd 1.0, which a bit of digging around showed I first posted for Valentimes Day 2009, which was shortly before... the Great Catastrophe. Such a coincidence is not to be overlooked, so here it is again... new and improved for the new decade.

And since this is a calendar-event based crime in Gotham City, who else could the villain be but... Calendar Man! :)

This was a three part story, but I can only find the latter two parts, so have improvised a little for the first part.

The three part story (written by Doug Moench and art alternating between Rick Hoberg (an under-rated artist IMHO) on part one, Pat Broderick and Bob Smith on part two, and Hoberg and Chuck Patton on the third) so far;

Basically, a bunch of Gotham gangsters have contacted the Monitor (At this point pre-Crisis still known only as a secret super-villain referral service) to set a hit-man on Batman for his interference in their plans. The Monitor has hired the Calendar Man who, whilst not normally an assassin, is tempted by the vast wealth being offered to make an exception.

He's staged three themed crimes on three consecutive nights, the first based on New Years Eve, (Leaving a security guard buck naked apart from a sash with the year on it) the second on Groundhog Day...

Apologies for these smaller pics, but I found the original art on Comicartfans and it thought it might be interesting to show some of it.

The Groundhog Day crime involves raiding a magic shop (Shadow Tricks, as in Punxsutawney Phil and his shadow) and Batman and Robin make it in time to intercept him, it doesn't end terribly well, as Calendar Man has rigged the place to be a trap, and magically disappearing to boot escaping with a magicians "Vanishing box"!

And they're right, the Lincoln crime IS at the magicians show, but again he's prepared and rigged things in his favour, like releasing a tiger (which I include only to show an image of Robin playing rodeo rider with a full gorwn tiger... ah comics, I love you)

And connotations of Calendar Man piercing Robin are slightly disturbing, to say the least, but we'll gloss over that...

We shift to part 2 now... and Robin is not happy at what Batman has decided based on Calendar Man's warning.

This confused me a little as a kid, in the UK robin's aren't associated with Spring, they're associated with Christmas, but I looked it up and they are in the USA, so that sorted it out a little (Thus ends the educational aspect of this posting)

Bear in mind that this is also very early in Jason's career as Robin.

We interrupt the crime drama for some Bat/Bird-angsting...

Pat Broderick's style is a little different from much of the Bat-art of the era, it's nice, but some of his faces are just weird looking, especially Jason, but I think that's as much down to the inking and colouring as anything.

They continue to speculate on his likely next plan, with Alfred supplying most of the ancillary dialogue because Jason is sulking. (Even Jason Todd Mk1 had a scowly pouting mode, though one can see his point)

They narrow the target for the Valentines Day crime down to the opening of Gotham's new Hart Tunnel.

Okay, his faces may be a little off, but his action scenes are GREAT!

This is why I tend to despair of fans who say that Batman shouldn't be a competent parent and a functional human being. His link to his Robins' is shared tragedy, but that doesn't mean he can't relate on other levels...

Yup, that's one odd looking Jason there..

Calendar Man shows up in an outfit that's outrageous, even for him (which is saying something) and monolguing like there's no tomorrow (a common side effect in villains who lack henchmen) but someone is waiting...

See what I mean about the action scenes?

Dresses like a dork, but a polymath genius and even by villain standards but an impressive fighter.

Batman however, is distracted by one of the hoods who hired Calendar Man who is so sick of the delays that they think he's creating, that he shoots Batman from the crowd. it only wings him, but it's enough to allow Calendar Man to escape.

Meanwhile Alfred contacts Batman with an urgent message.. Jason is missing from his room, and so is his Robin costume! DUN-DUN-DUN!

The story continues in Batman 385, which has such a brilliant cover it seems a shame NOT to include it

The internal art shifts to Rich Hoberg, inked by Alfredo Alcala and looks great!

We start by discovering that Jason just missed the altercation between Batman and Calendar Man, but just in time to see him leave, so without even checking in with Batman heads off to follow him... LOVE how gosh darn pretty Robin looks in these next pages Alfredo Alcala always did a nice job with the Robin costume, giving it a bit of depth and weight (Jason would have been worth waiting another few years for and no mistake, sadly DC didn't feel the same way)

The way Jasons eyes appear and disappear behind his mask is a little disconcerting, but I suppose if they are lenses then it's just the way the light catches them... or something.

This page starts one of THE best Batman and Robin discussions ever, eventually matched by Tim Drakes rationale for Robin in "A Lonely Place of Dying" I won't interrupt the flow of it either. (Though I will mention that click on this first page to be taken to the page of original inked art, if you want to see the difference a colourist makes to a piece)

"So who says maturity rules out jubilance"? Wise words Jason m'boy. BTW you can bring whatever subtext you like to that last panel, but after that little speech even I can't get into the jocularly pervy groove, it's pure father and son stuff.

I love the slightly cocky poses from Jason here, and an early example of Alfred snark, he was a lot more... respectful servant pre-Year One, since he hadn't raised Bruce, or as BTAS so eloquently puts it "powdered his bottom".

So ends another crime, but they are pretty sure they've got the Washington's Birthday crime worked out.

I like Batman not being angry with robin's impulsiveness, since he can see that this time it came from the RIGHT motivation, saving lives.

I also like Calendar Man's heel click! Not enough villains enjoy themselves so much. (Oh, and also, please note that Calendar Man /= mass murderer (You hear me Chuck Dixon? You and your wretched 80-page giant which has him as a twisted spree killer who crashes a passenger jet and who'll cut an innocent hostages hand off to prove a point. We don't NEED another psycho-bastard-killer in Gotham))

And so we head to St Patricks Day... where Batman and Robin are staking out Pat's restaurant on Gotham Green as they discuss how Saint Patrick was famed for driving the snakes out of Ireland. Jason reacts to the mention of snakes. Remember that this is Jason Todd Mk 1, show parents were murdered by Killer Croc and dumped in the crocodile exhibit in the Gotham Zoo Reptile House so he has a mild case of herpetophobia.

Calendar Man arrives in high tech Celtic warrior gear, carrying a flaming sword (Since St Patrick drove the snake out of Ireland) demanding all the money and jewellery of the rich clientele. As Batman battles him, Robin finds Calendar Man's latest themed Metonic Cycle (Took me forever to look THAT one up back in the pre-Google 1980's let me tell you) and lets the tyres down.

Yet again Calendar Man proves that the best plan a Gotham villain can pull is ALWAYS have an exit strategy, so whilst Batman has to deal with a room full of snakes and panicked guests, CM runs for it. Finding his ride ruined, he sets off on foot, with a certain sidekick following discreetly behind, this time staying in touch with Batman.

Considering how themed his crimes are, and that the culimination of his plan was going to be the "First Day of Spring", Batman is appalled to realise that he'd never thought to consider that his hideout would be at the corner of March and Day Streets. Live and learn Bats

He enters, reminding Robin of his promise to stay out of the physical side of this case until it's finished, and he has to remain outside, on penalty of not being Robin any more (I hardly need add that there are instant echoes of a certain OTHER deal made with ANOTHER blonde, even-numbered Robin many, many years later)

Oh well, there goes the Robin career, right?

And what better end for Valentines Day than Batman and Robin going on a date... wait, that's not quite what I meant!!!

And Batman's weird ass decisions regarding Steph's Robin career look even poorer with this in mind, methinks.

Now, why am I posting this BEFORE Valentines Day? Well, just in case you haven't sorted something out for your beloved, thanks to some google and flikr checking, I have found these...

For those who might want to be a little more creative...

A Robin finger puppet!!! I want one! :)

And an assortment of interiors (I think) to various cards which have just about every subtext going that I can think of...