Batman #354
December 1982
Cover art by: Keith Giffen and Dick Giordano
Story: Showdown
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Don Newton
Inks: Alfredo Alcala
Newly appointed Police Commissioner Pauling has stripped Batman of his Special Deputy status, and now the cops are hunting him. Batman confronts him and Mayor Hill, and Pauling pulls out a gun, but doesn't have the guts to pull the trigger. He does have the stones to fire off an alarm once Batman leaves, and a police officer actually shoots him square in the back. Once they get to his body, he is gone!
Meanwhile, Boss Thorne has hired Dr. Thirteen to investigate his house. Thorne believes he is being haunted by the ghost of Dr. Hugo Strange. Thirteen quickly figures out the ruse. Someone has been using a hologram and recorded messages. After he makes this discovery Thirteen leaves without being paid. He just doesn't like being involved with Thorne. Boss Thorne believes it was Hill and Pauling who are behind the “haunting”
Later that night Thorne is at his house getting his drink on, and trying to gin up the courage to confront the mayor and commissioner. Batman enters the home, and Thorne starts yelling at him, yet Batman says nothing. Thorne continues to yell, and probably due to the booze, blurts out exactly everything he, Pauling, and Hill have done. Thorne spilled some alcohol on the carpet, and the flame from his fireplace causes it to catch fire. Batman pulls off his cape to the fire out, but Thorne escapes.
Where to you might ask? To the office of Commissioner Pauling. He pulls his gun, and the cop who shot Batman pulls his. Suddenly, Batman appears and both men shoot. Pauling is dead. Thorne is wounded. Hill is relieved to be alive, and informs Batman he can't prove any the illegal activities he was involved in, but reinstates his Special Deputy status.
The silent Batman was Dick Grayson in the suit. The other mystery of who haunted Boss Thorne's house is revealed to be a very much alive Hugo Strange.
A great comic, with great art. I really like that cover.
Replies
When I have seen Hugo Strange he always impressed me as a really formidable Batman villain. I keep hoping they'll use him in a movie some day.
At the time Batman's two main titles were both written by Conway and closely connected. The Strange storyline concluded in Batman #356.
For those who don't know, Hugo Strange first appeared in three Golden Age stories. One of these, in which he injects men with a serum that turns them into giant monsters, appeared in Batman #1. It was the sole Batman story in the issue in which Robin didn't appear. The GCD's page on the issue says it was originally prepared for Detective Comics #38, where Robin's debut story appeared, but I don't know if there's evidence of that.
Steve Englehart brought Strange back during his run on Detective Comics. Possibly he knew of him because Batman #1 was reprinted in the mid 70s in DC's tabloid Famous First Edition series. (Warning: the rest of this paragraph contains spoilers for Englehart's Detective Comics run.) In Englehart's storyline Batman went to a clinic to recover from radioactive burns he'd gotten fighting Doctor Phosphorus. The clinic was run by Strange, and he captured Batman and discovered his secret identity. Strange announced to the underworld he was going to sell the secret of who Batman really was. Boss Thorne had him seized and tortured to get the information. Strange refused to tell and the torture killed him. Thorne was then haunted by his ghost until he couldn't take it any more and confessed his crimes. There was ambiguity in the issues as to how the haunting was to be understood.
It seemed to me that Conway was trying to duplicate Englehart's run without bringing back Silver St. Cloud.
Conway was the regular Bat-writer, responsible for Detective #497-536 (D'80-My'83) and Batman #337-359 (Ju'81-My'83). He used all the major Bat-foes and several minor ones. He also brought back enemies from the Dark Knight's first year: Doctor Death, the Monk and Dala.
He had thee anniversary issues and introduced Killer Croc and Jason Todd.
I haven't read this particular issue, but I do have volume 1 of the Batman stories featuring the art of Don Newton. (I looked, but this issue isn't covered in that volume.) I have to say that Don Newton was a fantastic artist, especially for that time. I would say his art is in the same vein as Alan Davis.
The Batman stories of the era appeared here in Australia in B&W local editions. His art looks great in B&W.
Another feature he worked on in the period was "Shazam!": he drew the final issue of the feature's 70s title, its run in World's Finest Comics, and a final two instalments which appeared in the digest Adventure Comics. He was also the artist of the two Ch'p instalments of "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" in Green Lantern.
He also drew other issues and stories here and there, some of which might be easier to find at affordable prices than his Batman work, but I should say his art wasn't enough to make me enjoy his stories when I didn't care for the writing. At DC he always had that very distinctive style, but I think he grew in artistic skill during his time at the company. Before moving to DC he drew ghost stories and issues of The Phantom for Charlton.
Don Newton is one of my all-time favorite Batman artists... and his Shazam work was nothing to sneeze at, either. Right before he passed away, he had taken on the assignment of Infinity Inc. -- and managed to produce one terrific issue of that, as well.
I think you're right, Phillip, in that Conway really was calling back to those Englehart stories, with Thorne, Strange, and others. And one of the creations from this era, the Squid, has been brought back as the villain in Manapul & Bucellato's Detective Comics!
I would LOVE to have a Bridwell/Newton SHAZAM! collection!
As is noted in his Wikipedia entry, Don Newton did a large number of covers for fan publications before breaking into professional comics. I got to know his work this way. Sadly he died shortly before his fiftieth birthday.