Batman #388 (October 1985)

Since last week was Batman Day, which I was unaware of until after it passed, I thought I'd make it up by looking at a comic focused on the Dark Knight. I wondered which one I should cover, as there are many stories featuring the Caped Crusader. I picked up a Batman trade off my shelf, and found one that looked fun to talk about, as it showed the Gotham Guardian facing off against two villains that he regularly doesn't. You'll see what I mean when I look at Batman #388!

The cover is a Tom Mandrake and Anthony Tollin piece. It's really cool. It depicts what looks like a bunch of reflections of Batman about to be ambushed by Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang. It's a really unique cover. Is this what it's like to be on an acid trip? I can imagine people in the DCU seeing stuff like this on LSD.

"The Round-Trip Looking Glass!"
Writer: Doug Moench
Penciller: Tom Mandrake
Inker: Tom Mandrake
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

The story begins at the Gotham Museum. It's midnight. And midnight in Gotham is a time for the creatures of the night to roam. And I'm not talking about vampires or ghosts or monsters. I'm talking about super-criminals.

The night watchman is looking over a display of a necklace. Said necklace is made of jade, the beads in the chape of elephants. But someone is interested in obtaining the necklace, and not through legit means.

"They said I was mad for creating this! They called me Nuts! Insane! WENDELL!"

Meet Sam Scudder, aka the original Mirror Master. Now, Gotham is not his normal stomping ground. He's normally active around Central City, home of the Flash. In fact, he's one of the Flash's Rogues. Thing is, at this point, Barry Allen (the Flash at the time) had gone through a criminal trial over the death of his archnemesis Eobard Thawne, aka Professor Zoom. Afterwards, he retired to the far future with his wife Iris. That was a whole thing. As such, I can imagine the Rogues were feeling a bit empty without the Flash to fight. 

The night watchman, unaware of this, is at the neanderthal exhibit. He feels a draft in the air but thinks nothing of it. And then he gets a boomerang to the head.

Yup, another one of the Flash's Rogues has decided to try his luck in Gotham.

"Awww, you always have to butt in on my heists! Go bother Heat Wave!"

It's George "Digger" Harkness, aka Captain Boomerang. He's after the jade elephant necklace too. Scudder's not surprised. After all, he came to Gotham to get away from the Flash and other super-powered heroes. He thinks Batman is nothing to worry about. After all, unlike the Flash, who is super-fast, he's just some dude in a costume who can fight good. Boomerang disagrees, as he fought the Dark Knight in Batman #321. Just because the Batman has no powers, doesn't mean he isn't dangerous. And he wants a rematch.

The two then end up arguing over their supervillain gimmicks, until a certain Caped Crusader comes by to..."greet" them. The two decide that now is good time to run away. Digger, especially. He may want revenge against the Gotham Guardian, but not like this.

Batman pursues the two to a dinosaur exhibit. Mirror Master blinds Batman with a flash of light, and Boomerang uses an explosive boomerang to pin him under a pile of dinosaur bones. The two keep running, arguing over who did more damage to Batman. This leads them to decide to compete over who will be the best criminal in Gotham. I can imagine Batman's own rogues having something to say to these two about that...

Batman eventually frees himself from the damaged dinosaur skeleton. At least he managed to foil the jade necklace robbery. In the Batcave, he discusses this with Alfred and the Jason Todd Robin. They already have enough on their plate with mopping up the remnants of the False Face Society, the criminal organization that was run by the villain known as the Black Mask. 

Here, we get to learn about the origins of the Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang for those who haven't read The Flash. 

Samuel Scudder (the comic refers to him as "Joe" Scudder for some reason. Joseph is his middle name)...

...was once an ordinary convict working in the prison's mirror factory. One day, he goofed up by putting the wrong chemical in the backing for a mirror. His foreman told him to toss it, but he discovered the mirror had gained special properties, like holding reflections, that kind of thing. He would study this strange phenomenon, and upon release from prison, used his new knowledge to start a supervillain career as the Mirror Master, using mirrors to create 3D duplicates of people to commit crimes, trapping people in mirrors, that kind of thing.

Now for Captain Boomerang! George "Digger" Harkness was an Australian criminal who was hired by a toy company to help promote the selling of boomerangs as toys. Harkness's "Captain Boomerang" persona was originally meant to be a promotional mascot, in the vein of Tony the Tiger. The promotional campaign was a failure, seen as ridiculous and idiotic. And a furious Digger decided to make the persona into a feared criminal. 

That night, Sam Scudder is in civilian clothes, trying to brainstorm a crime that'll outdo Harkness. 

However, his little his brainstorming ends up getting interrupted.

"Is it true you owe Batman twenty bucks?"

These masked men are well aware who Sam is. Which makes sense, being a super-criminal, it's likely his identity is very much public. These masked men are not looking to beat Sam up, however. They're looking for him to lead them.

Gladly. You see, these guys were once members of the False Face Society, hence the masks. But since Batman and Robin took down Black Mask, the leader of said Society, these guys have been feeling down and rather rudderless. They're looking for someone to tell them what do to. Sam agrees and puts on some special glasses. These glasses have special lenses in them, allowing Scudder to hypnotize the men. He orders them to go find Captain Boomerang and beat him up. This'll cause Harkness some problems for a while. Scudder eyes a nearby bank and decides, "What the heck? I'll just rob this bank!"

At Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne has a visit from Julia Remarque. She's the daughter of Alfred Pennyworth and the WWII-era French resistance fighter known as Mademoiselle Marie. During the war, Alfred served in France as part of British Intelligence. Of course, that was plausible in the 1980s, but due to comic book time (not to mention DC rebooting their universe every week), it's become less plausible over time.

Right. Anyway, Remarque announces to Bruce that she wants to write a true crime book about Black Mask and the False Face Society, kind of like In Cold Blood. Hey, if she was doing this today, she'd be doing a podcast about it! However, Bruce's mind is on other things. He's not just worried about what the two Flash rogues are up to, he's also been thinking about Vicki Vale. Yeah, she was part of Batman's supporting cast at the time, basically a parallel to Lois Lane. The two of them had broken up, causing her to become obsessed with working out. And then he spots the Bat-Signal. 

He heads to the Batcave, donning his Batman togs. He finds Robin waiting for him in the Batmobile. The two head out to a police station, only to nearly crash into Harvey Bullock. Bullock informs him that there's a suspicious figure hanging around Zindorf Jewelers. Bullock himself was responding to a call elsewhere. Robin figures it's both Scudder and Harkness waging their little war. So, they decide to split up.

Robin goes with Bullock, and Batman continues on his own. Over at Zindorf Jewelers, Captain Boomerang manages to easily break into the building. You'd think a business in city with its own supervillain problems would have better security systems.

Anyway, Harkness is unaware that he was spotted by the False Face Society members hypnotized by Mirror Master. Boomerang looks over the jewel cases, picking out which are the best to steal, when the False Face men bust in. 

"CANDYGRAM!"

Meanwhile, Bullock and Robin have arrived at a bank. They spot Mirror Master and have an easy time with him. Sort of. Scudder manages to blind Bullock with a mirror, but Jason Todd kicks him and Bullock shoots the mirror, rendering it useless. 

Batman arrives at the jewelers, and the former False Face Society members end up facing him. Boomerang takes the opportunity to, again, run for his life. 

Boomerang makes his way to Scudder's hideout. It's easy to find, as it is the only apartment that has a bunch of mirrors in it. 

Harkness even spots the mirror that Scudder used to make his glasses with the hypnotic lenses. Robin and Bullock are taking Scudder to the police station. Scudder uses the car's rear-view mirror and the image of Boomerang in a mirrored false tooth to create an illusion of Captain Boomerang. This distracts the Boy Wonder and the cop, allowing Scudder to hack Bullock in the back of the head with his shoulder. The car crashes, and Scudder escapes into the bay.

At police headquarters, Commissioner Gordon thinks that since they've been foiled, the two Rogues will leave. Batman doesn't think so. Besides, he wants them to stay. I can imagine it's also because Batman wants a bit of payback against them.

Scudder heads back to his hideout, where he notices one of his mirrors is missing. A boomerang flies into his apartment, shattering his mirrors. Oh, Sammy is in for a lot of bad luck...

...which makes sense somewhat. I think this storyline is his last appearance before he becomes one of the casualties of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He catches the boomerang, which was carved from the missing mirror. It plays a recording of Captain Boomerang that helps hypnotize Scudder.

"You will also get naked and dance at the police station."

The story ends with Captain Boomerang thinking that regardless of what happens next, he'll be rid of one of his enemies tonight...

I enjoyed this issue. The main hook is Batman fighting super-criminals he normally doesn't fight. I love stories like this because not only does it show that the DC Universe is interconnected, but it actually would make sense that in a universe like the DCU, a superhero would occasionally face off against a villain outside their usual Rogues Gallery. I also like the feuding between the two Rogues. Thing is, just because they both fight the Flash regularly, doesn't mean they have to like each other. Over the years, Boomerang would go on to be one of the worse Rogues thanks to his depiction in Suicide Squad. Also, the Rogues aren't generally a formal team like say, the Justice League. The cliffhanger is a nice bit of irony, Sam Scudder being placed in peril by his very gimmick.  

I also enjoyed the comic touching on the issues regarding Bruce Wayne's personal life. It's something about this era of Batman I actually enjoy. He isn't just the costume. He has a life outside it...a life that is often complicated by the Batman suit, but a life nonetheless. Vicki Vale's obsession with working out is an example of that. 

Tom Mandrake is an underrated artist. I really enjoyed his art here. I was more familiar with his work on The Spectre, which I found perfect for him with his use of shadow and moodiness. We start to see the beginnings of that here. What a difference a few years makes, huh? 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2025 trade paperback DC Finest: Batman - Red Skies. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give my blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!