NML Crossing, Episode 080 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #88 (1999)

NML Crossing, Episode Eighty

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #88 (August, 1999)
“Fruit of the Earth, Part One”
Writer - Greg Rucka
Art - Dan Jurgens & Bill Sienkiewicz
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Noelle Giddings
Edits - Illidge, Vincenzo, O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

After the Bat-Family reunion in LotDK, it's time to follow the Batman & Robin trail, as they head into Robinson Park to see what's going on with the fruit 'n veg biz. We also get some great GCPD drama in the form of a schism and possible splinter group forming!

The Bada-Bin!

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NML Crossing, Episode 068 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #87 (1999)

NML Crossing Episode Sixty-Eight

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #87 (July, 1999)
“Claim Jumping, Part Two”
Writer - Greg Rucka
Pencils - Mike Deodato
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Roberta Tewes & Wildstorm FX
Letters - Willie Schubert
Edits - Illidge, Gorfinkel, O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

It's past midnight, and by golly all hell's breaking loose in Bat-Land! Two-Face, The Penguin, and the GCPD claim jump all over the place, while our hero takes a well-deserved (and non-consensual) nap!

The Bada-Bin!

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NML Crossing, Episode 062 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #86 (1999)

NML Crossing, Episode Sixty-Two

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #86 (June, 1999)
“Home Sweet Home”
Writer - Lisa Klink
Art - Guy Davis
Colors - Pam Rambo
Letters - John Costanza
Edits - Illidge, Gorfinkel, O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

No Man's Land remains in One-Off Land, as we engage in a bit of world building.  This time out, we meet up with the last holdout of a doomed Gotham neighborhood as he tries to protect his homestead.

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NML Crossing, Episode 058 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #85 (1999)

NML Crossing, Episode Fifty-Eight

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #85 (May, 1999)
“Bread and Circuses, Conclusion”
Writer - Ian Edginton
Art - D’Israeli
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - D’Israeli & Digital Chameleon
Edits - Illidge, Gorfinkel, O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

In which Batman cracks some Penguin-Goon skulls... and Commissioner Gordon makes a deal with the devil?!

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NML Crossing, Episode 054 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #84 (1999)

NML Crossing, Episode Fifty-Four

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #84 (April, 1999)
“Fear of Faith, Part Two: To Serve and Protect”
Writer - Devin Grayson
Pencils - Dale Eaglesham
Inks - Sean Parsons
Colors - Pam Rambo
Letters - Todd Klein
Edits - Illidge, Vincenzo, O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

Coming to you live from a wind-tunnel (for the first bit of the episode), it's NML Crossing! Today is, among other things, air conditioner tune-up day... so, apologies for the ambient noise intermingling with my usual busted attempt at speaking!

Today we check back in with the Ark, where the Scarecrow is planting seeds left and right in order to compensate for the fact that No Man's Land doesn't stock his usual blend of fear toxin!  It's good stuff... check it out!

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NML Crossing, Episode 048 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #83 (1999)

NML Crossing, Episode Forty-Eight

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #83 (March, 1999)
“No Law and a New Order, Part Two: Strategy”
Writer - Bob Gale
Pencils - Alex Maleev
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Matt Hollingsworth
Letters - Willie Schubert
Edits - Illidge, Gorfinkel, Peterson, O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

Back after an extended moving break... which is hopefully not going to lead to any further interruptions, it's time for us to meet the All-New All-Different Batgirl!  Who could she possibly be... or, has she been the BatMAN this entire time?

Also: Commissioner Gordon incites a gang-war in Old Gotham in hopes of taking back the area his daughter currently resides in.

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NML Crossing, Episode 040 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #82 (1999)

NML Crossing, Episode Forty

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #82 (February, 1999)
“Wax Man and the Clown, Part 3”
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Robert Campanella
Colors - Pam Rambo & Digital Chameleon
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

With meds, food, and supplies completely depleted, Jeremiah Arkham needs to make a decision that brings with it some horrible consequences.  Does he let all of the inmates starve to death... or, does he give them their freedom -- releasing them into the new-look Gotham City?  Judging by Jerry's recent decision-making process, the answer ought to be clear!

Alan Grant and Mark Buckingham's time on Shadow ends in pretty spectacular fashion!

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NML Crossing, Episode 039 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #81 (1999)

NML Crossing, Episode Thirty-Nine

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #81 (January, 1999)
“Wax Man and the Clown, Part 2”
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Robert Campanella
Colors - Pam Rambo & Digital Chameleon
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

Morituri Te Jokeramus!

With supplies and medications nearly depleted, Jeremiah Arkham is easily convinced that all his answers lay in.... gladiatorial combat?!  That's right, Joker's able to convince Jerry that it'd be in the best interests of the Asylum to have two of the biggest and baddest residents fight... to the death!  What could possibly go wrong?

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NML Crossing, Episode 038 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #80 (1998)

NML Crossing, Episode Thirty-Eight

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #80 (December, 1998)
“Wax Man and the Clown, Part One”
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Robert Campanella
Colors - Pam Rambo & Digital Chameleon
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $3.95 (flip-book)

It's another one of those "good news, bad news" situations on the Road to No Man's Land. The good news is, we're back to Shadow of the Bat... the bad news is, this is Alan Grant's swan song arc! This time out, we check in on our favorite Arkham, Jeremiah, as he deals with the fallout of the verybadthing that happened at 7:03, and the fact that, ever since, he's been unable to get any supplies or meds for his Asylum full'a lunatics! As of this issue, he's t-minus one week away from being out of everything! What's a man to do? Perhaps turn to... the Joker for help?!

A great issue to kick off the arc, plus (by popular demand) a replaying of my "Idiot's Guide to Comic Book Podcasting" from way back in 2021! It's a long one... but, I give ya ample warning as to where you can safely hit "stop" on your listening device!

NML Crossing, Episode 029 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #79 (1998)

NML Crossing, Episode Twenty-Nine

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #79 (October, 1998)
“The Blank Generation, Part Two: A Favorable Wind”
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Pam Rambo & Android Images
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

Wrapping up our two-parter with a bang... well, a boom.  The supervillain team-up didn't go as smoothly as the Mad Hatter would've hoped... but, hope itself now (briefly) reigns among Bruce Wayne's Junior-Entrepreneur Club!

But all 'at is just preamble to the return of the raucous NMaiLbag!

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NML Crossing, Episode 028 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #78 (1998)

NML Crossing, Episode Twenty-Eight

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #78 (September, 1998)
“The Blank Generation, Part 1: Corporate Nightmares”
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Pam Rambo & Android Images
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99

Today our "dark horse" Bat-Book delivers what might just be one of the tentpole issues of the entire NML run.  What can Gotham City do when all of the non-Wayne-owned companies and industries threaten to bail?  Thankfully, the people... those who'll stay... have some ideas, but will it (can it) be enough?!

We also get a peek at an upcoming (super?) villain team-up!

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NML Crossing, Episode 025 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #77 (1998)

NML Crossing, Episode Twenty-Five

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #77 (August, 1998)
“Arwin’s Theory of Devolution”
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Pam Rambo & Android Images
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.95

Luck is for losers... but, luck'll beat skill any day!

In today's episode we're checking in with a Professor called Arwin, who no longer believes in Darwin... and is looking to prove his own theory using the Caped Crusader as his test subject!  Lots of interesting food for thought... and, as has become a trend... plenty of callbacks to bits 'n bobs from that New York Magazine article!

Plus: The return of the NMaiLbag, featuring a discussion of comic book annuals, that is as fun as it is frustrating!

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NML Crossing, Episode 022 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #76 (1998)

NML Crossing, Episode Twenty-Two

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #76 (June, 1998)
“Aftershock: The Gauntlet”
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Pam Rambo & Android Images
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.95

Keeping up with the Aftershock theme thus far, this issue is another search-and-rescue... with a slight (and sobering) tweak on the formula.  What happens when a group of trapped partygoers run out of food?

Plus: A look at the first slew of Cataclysm ratings in Wizard Magazine, and a trip into Flashback Land for a peek Bat-adjacent USENET chatter circa early 1998!

All that plus a dip into the NMaiLbag!

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NML Crossing, Episode 019 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #75 (1998)

NML Crossing, Episode Nineteen

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #75 (June, 1998)
“Aftershock, 1: By Fire… or By Ice?"
"A Long Slow Death"
Script - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham & Norm Breyfogle
Inks - Wayne Faucher & Mark Buckingham
Colors - Pam Rambo & Android Images
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $2.95

Kicking off the Aftermath Era, with an extra-sized issue of SotB!  We've got a pair of baddies to TAKE down... and a man who's lost it all to TALK down.  Lotta interesting chatter to be had today!

Also: Chatting up the Alan Grant letters pages! 

Plus: Yet another extra-stuffed NMaiLbag! 

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NML Crossing, Episode 010 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #74 (1998)

NML Crossing, Episode Ten

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #74 (May, 1998)
“Cataclysm, Part Nine: The Naked City”
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Pam Rambo & Android Images
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Gorfinkel & O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.95

As Gotham City continues to crumble, Batman realizes that times of crisis sometimes call for strange bedfellows to come together.  Also: Meet the... err... Quakemaster?!

Plus - Some "fun" Bat-chat outta Wizard Magazine, and your comments!

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NML Crossing, Episode 002 - Batman: Shadow of the Bat #73 (1998)

NML Crossing, Episode Two

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #73 (April, 1998)
"Cataclysm, Part One: Castles Built on Sand"
Writer - Alan Grant
Pencils - Mark Buckingham
Inks - Wayne Faucher
Colors - Pam Rambo & Android Images
Letters - Bill Oakley
Edits - Jordan Gorfinkel & Denny O'Neil
Cover Price: $1.95

At 7:03pm, Gotham City was rocked by a 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake... let's talk about it!

Today we're looking at the opening chapter of Cataclysm, in a Bat-Book I didn't even realize was still a thing in 1998!

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Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 (1992)

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 (June, 1992)
"The Last Arkham, Part One"
Writer - Alan Grant
Artist - Norm Breyfogle
Letterer - Todd Klein
Colorist - Adrienne Roy
Assistant Editor - Scott Peterson
Editor - Denny O'Neil
Cover Price: $1.50

Today we're going to discuss what just might've been my first Batman comic book ever!  This was around the time of Batman Returns, and my local shop set up a display with this (polybagged) new release, and a three-part story arc that ran between Batman and Detective Comics called "The Penguin Affair".  I wanna say I bought them all at once, but I'm pretty sure I grabbed this one first... on account of the polybag, and the "#1" on the cover.

Either way, this was the start of my on-again, off-again relationship with the Batman's sequential art adventures.  From here I would binge on Bat-books for upwards of a year... then drop'em all for another... again and again.  I think my current run with the character might just be my longest "stint" yet!

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We open with Arkham Asylum being... emptied?  Ya see, new director, Jeremiah Arkham isn't so fond of the Gothic and Victorian digs, and wants to bring the joint into the (late) 20th Century.  He's hired a crew from Hiram Contractors to... not only knock over the building, but even to dispose of all the old Arkham files!  As Jeremiah watches the blaze and discusses "logic v lunacy" with one of the workers, he thinks back to a run-in with a mad man at a liquor store.  He found himself facing the business end of a shotgun... however, is somehow able to "see" the baddie's pain... says a few things... and before we know it, the robber turns the shotgun on himself!

Time passes, and we are introduced to the new-look Arkham Asylum... which Jeremiah based on a classical labyrinth.  Here we join the new director on his rounds.  First stop, Cornelius Stirk... a disfigured multiple-murderer, who was once known as "Fear".  It is clear that he isn't comfortable in his new well-lit room.  His panic attack prompts Arkham to suggest some tranquilizers.  Stirk ain't diggin' that one bit, preferring to be "drug free".  He says drugs are unnatural... to which, Arkham compares that to Stirk's having eaten his fair share of human hearts.  The orderlies... well, beat the hell out of the inmate... and force-feed him his pills.

Next stop, Everard Mallitt... who I wanna say is a one-off (or at least a new) character.  He's suffering from nightmares... and so, Arkham has him hooked up to a machine to wake him whenever he enters REM sleep... which doesn't sound like a terribly pleasant way to live.

Then, Jonathan Crane... the Scarecrow!  He's trying to convince Arkham that he isn't a dangerous man... ya know, while dressed like a six-foot tall scarecrow.  He protests being locked in a glass cage, and calls it "inhuman".  Arkham suggests that he can make the accommodations much worse, should he deem it necessary.  He then begins talking about behaviorism... then proceeds to scare Crane with holographic birds.  Wouldn'tcha know it, on the very next page we see Arkham in bed reading a book by, one of my favorite psychological theorists, B.F. Skinner (I've written a few theses on his theories and practices).  His approach with Crane is sorta Skinnerian... but, with the volume up to eleven... maybe twelve!

Now for something completely different... to the streets of Gotham where a man named Horse is being roughed up by some street toughs.  Lucky for him Robin is in the neighborhood, and makes short work of the creeps (in a wonderful two-page scene).  After the dust settles, Nightwing arrives to give him an "attaboy" and ask if there's anything he can do to help out.

Back at Arkham, Jeremiah is meeting with probably this series' most notable new villain... Mr. Zsasz!  He is locked in a metal "pod" of sorts... that only has an opening for his mouth.  They discuss Skinner, an orderly Zsasz recently... I dunno, mutilated a little bit (?) and also, whether or not Jeremiah might fall prey to the same sort of mania that claimed his uncle Amadeus Arkham.  This chat doesn't appear to be going the way Jerry wants... so he leaves.

Last stop on our tour of new Arkham brings us to a particular maximum security cell.  Jeremiah insists the orderlies have their nightsticks ready before they enter to greet their newest resident... Batman?!

A rather disgruntled Batman, actually!  So much so that Arkham immediately suggests sedation.  When Batman refuses to doze quietly, he sics the orderlies on him.  Batman is able to fight them off (his hands are chained to the wall, by the way).

Or, they were!  He manages to break the chains off the wall... however, before he might act, he finds himself on the business end of a high-pressure hose.  He's doused... then beaten by the nightstick-wielding orderlies.  One orderly goes to unmask him, but is halted by Arkham.  He doesn't want the cowl... not that way.  The only way he wants it, is if a "cured" Batman hands it to him himself.

The issue ends with Arkham and the orderlies (a great band name!) leave a battered Batman on the wet floor of his room.

--

I'd forgotten how neat this issue was... my initial thoughts about this opening arc always go back to reading it as a kid... and not really getting into it.  A few issues later (I think it was Part Three) it grabbed me... until I realized that Batman was having like three different adventures at the same time throughout his other titles... and it kinda killed any urgency this story in particular had.  This was pretty early on in my "expanded" fandom... so I guess I wasn't quite used to that kinda thing yet.

Reading it back today... I really dug it!  It's a creepy-as-hell "day in the life" for (the debuting) Jeremiah Arkham.  I appreciated seeing him on his rounds... as it allowed for us to observe his approach without having to sit through a scene consisting of expository captions.  We see the disdain he has for the mentally ill... and how extreme he can be with his "treatment".

Use of B.F. Skinner as his go-to theorist is... well, like I mentioned, I am a (non-practicing) Skinnerian... but, even I must say, it kinda makes sense.  Skinner's approach (like any, really) could be exaggerated to the point of abuse.  I appreciate Skinner's take Operant Behavioral/classical conditioning as I feel it has a higher potential of, um... "visible success/failure".  Psychology is what many refer to as a "soft science"... and a potentially slow-moving one at that.  Skinner's approach, at least to my mind, works (or is proved not to work) quicker than many forms of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.  In fairness, however, I should mention that my "experience" in using it is about 80% theoretical and role-play... and 20% "mesearch", which is to say, applying Skinnerian behavioral theory to various aspects of my own life.  I should also mention that I doubt Skinner would be on-board with beating patients with nightsticks.

Wow, that was a skippable paragraph!

Back to the story.  We've got a Batman locked in Arkham... and he's been accused of murder!  This is such a weird way to open a story, but it works so much better than had we seen his "arrest"/intake.  Even as a kid who didn't have a whole lot of investment... finding out why Batman was admitted was why I came back for the next issue.  It's a great cliffhanger, made even more so in Jeremiah's refusal to unmask the man.  I mean, it could be argued that that is a "convenient" thing to have happen... but, under the circumstances, it makes complete sense.  Arkham wants Batman to unmask voluntarily.  In his own twisted way, he's giving Batman a measure of ownership over his situation.  It's subtly played... but, it's there.  Batman's "wellness" and terms of release are almost completely in his own hands.  Really awesome touch.

Overall, this is definitely one worth reading... and in my experience, it's among the easier 1990's Batman books to find in the wild/on the cheap.  It's been collected in trade (fairly recently) and it's also available digitally... for 50-cents over cover price!

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(Not the) Letters Page:

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