Description

Batman ’66 – Vol. 2                                                 Sealed Hardcover
Writers: Jeff Parker & Tom Peyer
Artists: Ty Templeton, Ted Naifeh, Christopher Jones, Derec Donovan, Ruben Procopio, Craig Rousseau, Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, David Williams, Kelsey Shannon & Joelle Jones
Cover by: Michael Allred

Return to the swingin’ 60s as DC Comics reimagines the classic Batman TV series in comics form. In this volume of tales pulled from issues of the digital first series, King Tut returns to Gotham City to challenge the Dynamic Duo with his most far-reaching plan yet to rule the modern Thebes known as Gotham City! Plus, Batman and Robin meet the Bookworm and face off with False Face and more!

Stories/Spoilers
In part #1, Robin delivers the keynote address at a meeting of the Gotham Chamber of Currency, with Commissioner Gordon, Chief O’Hara, and an uncostumed Bruce Wayne (among other prominent citizens) in attendance. The Boy Wonder’s speech is warmly received by all – save Bookworm, who has infiltrated the meeting meaning to steal the giant checkbook the Chamber use to fund charities.

Despite his best efforts (and his mentor’s covert coaching), Robin fails to stop Bookworm and his gang from escaping with the checkbook. This forces Gotham’s banks to deny all payments on the checkbook, impeding Bookworm but also numerous charities. Though the Dynamic Duo are harrowed, they retain one advantage: during the fight, Robin had managed to switch Bookworm’s hat with a wired replica, letting them eavesdrop on Bookworm’s plans.

Eventually, Bookworm discerns and destroys the replica hat, but not before revealing his grand scheme: to lure Batman into action via meaningless crimes (the checkbook theft being but the first), gather minutiae on him, and use those minutiae to deduce his secret identity. In following days, Bookworm attacks a matchbook collection and a police-manual delivery van, escaping the Dynamic Duo each time while observing the following: Robin enjoys a type of vegetable juice served only at a spa from a particularly upper-class district and that Batman was educated at Londinium’s Bambridge University.

From these facts, Bookworm deduces that Batman is Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred, and leads his gang to invade Wayne Manor. There, an amused Alfred immediately reveals the real Batman and Robin, who make short work of Bookworm and his cronies. As the gang is taken into custody, and their loot recovered, Batman reveals that he had deliberately planted false hints – a fact which disgusts Bookworm like none other.

Next in part #2, False False begins a crime spree under his most prominent impersonation yet: millionaire Bruce Wayne. Batman and Robin quickly catch onto this deception, but find themselves stymied when the police charge “Bruce Wayne” for the crimes and put out a bulletin for his arrest.

While Batman and Robin work to clear Bruce’s name, False Face and his gang steal their biggest prize yet: the famed Tiger Topaz. By the time the Dynamic Duo arrive on the scene, the thieves have already fled the city, their only leave-behind a gloating note:

So long, Gotham. I can’t top this job… so I’m out of here. For once I’m going to slow down and do less. And enjoy my dead presidents!

Recalling False Face’s modus operandi, Batman concludes the note is a false clue, and its bolded words should be reversed into rush and more. In other words, False Face and his gang have fled to Mount Rushmore, home to the largest faces in the United States – all dead presidents.

The Dynamic Duo waste no time flying to the famed monument, spurring the thieves into the nearby woods. There, False Face’s underlings are picked off one at a time; still defiant, False Face threatens to dynamite all of Mount Rushmore, but Batman distracts him with an edifying speech, allowing Robin to snip the detonating cord. Now totally defenseless, False Face falls to Batman, who soon recovers his loot and clears Bruce Wayne’s name.

Next in part #3, Exploiting his “cured” identity’s resources and credentials, King Tut seizes a priceless sarcophagus that actually serves as a magical gateway to Egypt, circa 1292 BC. There, Tut and his gang establish a trade agreement with the reigning Pharaoh, exchanging (stolen) candy-bars for millions in gold.

In present-day, Tut’s technically-legal but shady wealth draws suspicion from the Dynamic Duo, who trail his gang and eventually find the sarcophagus. Threatened with arrest (Batman correctly judging the sarcophagus was obtained under fraud), Tut lures his pursuers through the gateway; while the crimefighters are disoriented by its effects, Tut’s main enforcer Waylon pushes them into a crocodile-infested river.

Leaving the duo for dead, Tut and his gang proceed to a new trade with the Pharaoh, obtaining several vials of a supposed invincibility potion. In his arrogance and greed, Waylon immediately grabs and drinks an entire vial – an act that drives away the Pharaoh and his entourage, scuttling any future trades. Disgusted, Tut leads his gang back through the gateway, only to be confronted by Batman and Robin (who had survived the crocodiles through a combination of Batspray and Batman’s mastery of hippo calls).

The Dynamic Duo handily crush all their foes – save Waylon, who flees halfway through the fight with his very body deteriorating. Subsequently, the police arrive and arrest the remaining gang, returning Tut (once again returned to his “Professor McElroy” identity) to Arkham’s custody. Thinking everything restored, Batman and Robin retire for the night, unaware their brief trip to the past has been preserved for all time on a hieroglyph.

Next in part #4, Dick Grayson and his new girlfriend Haley attend a performance by master escape artist the Great Griselda, with Bruce Wayne and his own paramour Kathy Kane chaperoning. Almost immediately, Bruce and Dick identify “Griselda” as their old enemy, Zelda the Great; seconds later, much to their horror, Haley becomes an onstage volunteer.

At the first opportunity, Bruce and Dick change into Batman and Robin, confront Zelda before hundreds of spectators, and unmask her. Undaunted, Zelda sends her stagehands against the Dynamic Duo, then flees the stage – with an enamored Haley following along. Batman and Robin pursue, but are quickly outmaneuvered by Zelda, and sedated with ether.

Once unconscious, the crimefighters are taken to the Arizona desert, and immured in sand before hundreds of scorpions. This, Zelda explains to the impressionable Haley, is all for her next escape show; however the duo escapes, she will replicate their method for a paying crowd. Much to her annoyance, however, Batman repels the scorpions with Tuvan throat singing, a technique she judges too obscure (and unsavory) to be worth learning.

The still-bound crimefighters are then taken to another part of the desert, and dangled over a pit of rattlesnakes by a single rope – which is soon lit on fire. As the rope burns away, Haley recalls her date, but is chided by Zelda, who expounds that to be a performer – criminal or otherwise – is to abandon love, abandon all things personal in the name of fame and legacy. Exploiting her distraction, Batman and Robin escape the pit, method unseen.

After refuting Zelda’s ethos, Batman and Robin easily apprehend the amoral escape-artist and her henchmen. But Haley, much to Zelda’s delight, flees to pursue her own dreams of fame and glory.

Finally in part #5, In the midst of a brutal August heatwave, Gotham’s citizens are grateful to be offered “You-Coolers” – handheld devices that instantly create a heat-repelling field. Only Batman and Robin are suspicious of these devices, correctly deducing that they were invented by Mr. Freeze for yet another revenge scheme.

After the You-Coolers have circulated by the thousands, Freeze forces them all to maximum power, burying all of Gotham in an unending winter. Soon, the snow grows thick enough to paralyze all traffic, including the Batmobile; undaunted, Batman and Robin ski into the city, tracing the You-Coolers’ broadcast signal to an abandoned news tower. There, a gloating Freeze confronts them with his signature freeze-gun modified into a tank.

Outsized and outgunned, Batman and Robin pursue their one advantage over Freeze’s tank: maneuverability. The Dynamic Duo ski circles around Freeze’s tank, letting their overconfident foe fire shot after shot, building patch after patch of ice that eventually walls his own vehicle in. The duo then apprehend Freeze and his gang, cheerily noting the misanthropic scientist has ironically given Gotham’s children their funnest summer yet.

Hardcover reprints/collects: Batman ‘66 (2014) Issues #6-10.  DC Comics

Sealed Hardcover is bagged and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

First Printing
Publisher: DC Comics
Publication Date: October 2014
Format: FC, 176 pages, HC, 10.5″ x 6.75″
ISBN-10: 1401249329
ISBN-13: 9781401249328

Collectible Entertainment note: Hardcover is Brand New & Factory Sealed.  Very Fine + condition.  Beautiful! Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Batman collector and/or enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Highly Recommended.

Please read return policy.