Batman #452 (Early August 1990)

Gotham City is a city known for being a hive of, as a certain popular space franchise likes to say, "Scum and villainy". It's not hard to see why. It seems that Gotham itself has a particular knack for making people go crazy. Some stories have postulated that the city may have a sort of...supernatural reason for it. Like the city itself is cursed or something. After all, it's the DC Universe. It's hardly an unreasonable idea. One storyline implies this from 1990: Dark Knight, Dark City. Let's take a look at the beginnings of the storyline: Batman #452!

The cover is a Mike Mignola and George Pratt piece. It's really awesome, but I can't help but wonder. What did that gargoyle do to make Batman want to beat it stupid?

"Dark Knight, Dark City"
Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Kieron Dwyer
Inker: Dennis Janke
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Dennis O'Neil
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

The story begins with a peek into a journal. This journal belongs to a man named Jacob Stockman. He wrote this all the way back in 1793. That's right, we're in a flashback.

Stockman is a man with many regrets. He hopes that he will get forgiveness for a vile act he and some friends of his committed back in 1764 on his farm. On that night, a storm was raging.

The cellar in his presumed home was used for various rituals. He and five of his friends tried to summon a demon called Barbathos. One of those men had a name you may be familiar with if you know your Revolutionary War-era history: Thomas Jefferson. 

To summon the demon, they prepared a young woman to be sacrificed. You can guess what will happen next. We then flash forward to modern Gotham, where the Batman is answering the summons of one Commissioner James Gordon. So, what does the commish need the Bat's help with? Well, the Riddler claimed that he wanted Batman and Gordon to meet at a certain rooftop at midnight. The Riddler used codewords to assure Gordon he's not some random nut making a crank call. His is Oedipus, which Batman finds odd as Eddie Nygma presumably hated his mother. The hour has come, and Batman senses someone on the roof with them. It's not the Riddler.

"By the way, check out my TikTok!"

This strange woman utters a riddle, and she is clearly drugged. 

Generally my leaves aren't turned on at night, usually I'm full of worms by day, lots of words but deathly quiet.

Batman notes her costume is meant to evoke a sphinx: head of a woman, and body of a lion. Makes sense, Riddle of the Sphinx and all that. The woman falls back from the building, saying that she can fly. Batman tries to catch her with a grappling line, but the woman ends up going through a window. 

So, where is the Riddler himself? Well, he appears to be in a library.

Eddie Nygma takes libraries VERY SERIOUSLY.

He's got two guards in his grasp. One tied to a chair, and another ready to be hanged. The Riddler kills the seated guard, and wonders where Batman is. Back with Batman and Gordon, a bit of sad news. The lady dressed up as the sphinx ended up dying. Gordon thinks the Riddler is at the Gotham Memorial Cemetery, based on the words leaves, worms, words, and quiet. Cemetries are quiet, they can have trees in them, and they are quiet because the people in them are dead, being consumed by worms.

However, Batman thinks he's got the real answer. By leaves, the sphinx was referencing pages. "Full of worms"? Bookworms. "Lots of words, yet deathly quiet"? Books have lots of words in them, and they don't make noise. As for the "deathly quiet" bit? Well, what place has lots of books, is full of readers, not usually open at night, and is supposed to be a place that is quiet? Why, the library!

But not just any library! Batman realizes that the Riddler is at the Gotham University Library. How? The order of the words "generally", "usually", and "lots" in the riddle. they form the acronym G.U.L. Gotham University Library. World's Greatest Detective, folks!

 

We then go back to Stockman's journal. He prepares to stab the sacrifice in the heart, but Jefferson stops him. He thought the sacrifice would be symbolic, not an actual killing. Another one of the participants points out that Jefferson helped prepare the girl for the sacrifice, he should have figured they were going to knife her heart. What did he expect they were going to do with this girl, play Dungeons and Dragons with her? 

The demon has been summoned, and without the sacrifice, they can't control it. The group hear a noise. Jefferson tries to flee, but there's someone waiting for them at the cellar door.

"Keep it down, you noisy idiots! I'm trying to sleep!"

In the present, Batman finds the Riddler. He taunts the Dark Knight, and sends the poor guard hanging. Batman tries to save him, wondering why the Riddler is doing this. The Riddler flees with a smile on his face. Batman manages to save the guard, and get him to the hospital. The Dark Knight's inner monologue implies that the guard will live, but he'll also now be a quadriplegic. A policeman there informs the Caped Crusader that four babies have been kidnapped at gunpoint. And the gunman left a cassette tape. Batman listens to the tape, and it's another riddle.

I'm a bank with no money. But I've all different types...

This one is rather easy compared to the last one. A bank with no money, but all different types? A blood bank. Blood has different types: A, B, AB, O, etc. And there's a blood bank right near the hospital. The Caped Crusader spots a pair of men guarding the back of the building. This case is leaving the Bat confounded. What is the Riddler's endgame here? It's not many, and he can't be wanting kids. Maybe he wants to put the Batman through a maze like a lab rat. The Bat easily deals with the guards, and then finds the Riddler inside.

"What do you want, Bats? I just donated!"

During his search for the villain, Batman keeps getting this odd feeling. That something is watching him. Not the Riddler, but something else. 

Batman asks Riddler to give him the baby. Riddler's like, "okay, catch!" and tosses said baby. Batman catches the baby, and then gets the Riddler with a bat-line around his ankle. He then hears a recording of Riddler taunting him, calling him a "silly boy". He realizes the baby is not a baby. It's a dummy, and it made a dummy out of Batman.

And then, the dummy explodes. And the blood bank explodes. Basically a big ol' explosion-fest.

"AW GOD! IT'S EVERYWHERE! IT'S EVEN IN THE SPHINX WOUNDS!"

Man, it even got in the raccoon wounds! A blood-covered Bats summons his car, and gives chase to the Riddler. The Riddler's vehicle heads into an alleyway, and Batman tries to cut him off, only to find the vexing villain placed one of the kidnapped babies on the road. Batman desperately tries to stop the car. He feels a bump, terrified he ran the baby over. Thankfully, he hears the baby crying. It's just fine.

Yup. It turns out the front axle of the Batmobile came loose, and he ran over that. The baby is okay, and our man finds that the little guy or gal is holding a tarot card: The Hanged Man. 

Batman returns to Wayne Manor (after presumably returning the baby to their family, of course), and gets some shower time in. He discusses the case with Alfred. Alfred reads the riddle left on the back of the card.

I've still three brats, so plump and round. Hey, Bats, let rip as in Byron's Parisina. Seek out--less often sought than found.

As the two puzzle the riddle out, Bruce tells Alfred about the strange feeling he's been watched the entire night. Alfred realizes something. "Byron's Parisina" is a reference to Lord Byron's 1816 poem Parisina. Well, duhhhhh. "Seek out--less often sought than found" is a line from the poem. The line afterwards goes "A soldier's grave, for thee the best". "Let's rip" is not referencing the word "rip" as in "rip and tear", but the acronym R.I.P.: Rest In Peace. The Riddler's telling Batman to go to the Gotham Military Cemetery. 

The Caped Crusader makes his away to said cemetery. The narration changes, not from Batman's perspective, but...someone else's. This narrator proclaims the night is theirs. Unseen by the Dark Knight, a zombie appears to burst out of the ground. And the story ends with Batman noticing said zombie.

You know, considering that this is the DC Universe, and all the things Batman has seen in his years of crimefighting, both solo and with the Bat-Family/Justice League, I would not be surprised if he has some kind of anti-zombie spray or something like that. 

I admit, I enjoyed this issue. I can imagine writing the Riddler would be a pain, as part of his whole character is coming up with clever riddles to befuddle the Dark Knight. I do like the idea of this story implying that because of a ritual in the 1700s, Gotham is under a demonic influence. I can understand why some would find that silly. After all, in the real world, cities can have crime problems, no demonic influence necessary. However, this is the DCU. I can imagine that subtle demonic influence doesn't help things much in Gotham City. I also like that this issue emphasizes the Riddler's intellect. If anything, the Riddler should be Batman's equal in smarts. I do like Kieron Dwyer's art in this comic as well. It's got a grit to it that fits a Batman story. 

A part of me is a bit curious about something. In the 2017-2018 crossover Dark Nights: Metal, one of the main villains was a dark bat-god called Barbatos. I wonder if this story was an inspiration for it. I mean, it's not hard to see why. Both stories center around Barbatos. I also can't help but wonder if this also inspired some aspects of Grant Morrison's Batman stuff. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2015 trade paperback Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City. Thanks for reading this blog entry!