Comic Book Lucky Dip - Batman Family #4

Welcome back to Comic Book lucky dip and boy do I have a treat for you this time. I have recently subscribed to the DC Universe app so now my collection of comics covers a lot of DC History. I told the search to select at comic at random, I don’t know if it actually did but it came up with Batman Family #4 from 1976, easily the oldest comic I’ve ever reviewed.

I have no context for this one, other than it being an anthology book. It’s approved by the comics code, which means it’s likely to be somewhat sillier and goofier than modern comics. So let’s dig in, shall we

Well, the first story takes no time getting started, it’s around Christmas time and James Gordon is off a train, he wants to surprise his daughter but it’s Barbara who surprises him, having tried to call then discovered his booking on the train. They’re in Washington DC as Barbara is now working for congress. She lives in a relatively uninteresting neighbourhood as she’d rather do that than commute to work.

Next page and a guy comes up to them with a gun, the guy’s known to Commissioner Gordon, Tad Wolfe, he’s been spending time in prison for something or another but Batman sprung him after discovering he was taking the fall to cover for his brother’s crimes. But now, he needs to be in jail, as a syndicate contract is out on him, a contract that comes close to completion quite quickly as a purple car nearly runs them over, your contract killer could use a lesson in subtlety is what I’m saying.

Barbara whispers a plan to her dad, but we don’t hear it yet as she runs off to change to Batgirl. Commissioner Gordon excuses it and a father keeping his daughter out of danger. Barbara is quick on the thug’s trail, following the sports car noise, though she’s thinking that they can just as easily hear her motorcycle.

She finds the culprit, a hit lady named Diamond Lilly, Gangdom’s most deadly hit Lady. I think Lady Shiva might disagree but, I digress. Batgirl uses her impressive acrobatics to disarm Diamond Lilly, and because of reasons of supervillain branding, she will only use that specific gun, a gun with diamonds on it marking each successful hit.

Batgirl deliberately tells them that their target is at the FBI building, Barbara drops the gun and Diamond Lilly picks it up, successfully shooting down her target. Or did she? Batgirl makes chase on Diamond Lilly as Tad Wolfe gets up just fine, Batgirl had slipped blanks into the gun whilst she had it. Diamond Lilly is having trouble shooting Batgirl whilst in moving car whilst she’s on a bike, the driver snatched the gun and decides to try it himself, but Batgirl’s bike lives behind an oil slick and without full control of the car, they end up crashing into the river.

Sometime later, Tad is to have reconstructive surgery. They’d successfully tricked the assassins in believing they’d succeeded, so no more would come after him.

The second story begins with Dick Grayson and Lori in the car, they come across someone in a Santa hat and they’re all heading to Hudson University, the Santa they’re picking up is security Chief Frank McDonald and this all been pre-arranged. At Hudson U, Professors and Students alike are working to give charitable donations to the townspeople of New Carthage.

And they’re about to deliver it on a sleigh. Of course it’s Dick, Lori and Frank who are up to the job. It goes well for a while but they’re in the middle of a snowstorm and soon it becomes too dangerous. Dick is left to watch the sleigh as Lori and Frank get coffee but he’s soon sucker-punched by a thief who steals the slay. Dick changes into his Robin attire, complete with nothing covering his legs or arms.

Loti and Frank converse with Robin, but Dick doesn’t want to reveal his secret identity to Lori. He follows them but ends up losing them, spotting them again in a store window. Not sure how that works but… The theft isn’t just about the donation money, but he wants to get into the Hudson University Student Centre, where there are more sleds and much more money.

And Robin is right on the money, as the thief and 2 accomplices burst in. Of course, Dick is able to handle these mooks fairly easily. 90 minutes later Dick returns feeling somewhat disheartened that the roads and airport are snowbound so he won’t be getting back to Gotham to spend Christmas with Bruce. Still, that does mean Christmas with Lori. He makes a phone-call but it turns out Bruce, Alfred and Aunt Harriet has decided to make their way over after hearing the forecast. Typical rich people, weather can’t stop money.

Here comes something that thankfully died in the seventies, Fatman, a fat guy in a Batman costume, are you laughing yet? Anyway, he is a circus clown whose act lampoons the real Batman. But our true story begins with Batman and Robin fighting off the Red Mask Gang on a dock. The gang bail onto a nearby speedboat, and with no means to chase after them, Batman and Robin head to a circus charity event where they catch Fatman’s act, which they seem to enjoy, even offering him a ride in the Batmobile.

Batman gets a call back to the docks, they thugs had ditched the money during the previous fight in an old rowboat and they came back for it, but the boat itself is gone, it was rented out to a publicity firm to be mounted on wheels through the streets to promote a film. Fast and Furious 364 we own the ocean now.

Batman and Robin head to the promotion to fight off some of the Red Mask Gang but rope holding the sail in place is cut and it swings right into the caped crusaders, knowing them out. They’re now caged up in a horse pen and only Fatman can save them. Now he’s not very good, but he’s got the goons laughing too hard to stop him, he raises a hammer but it slips out of his hand, smashing the lock on the pen, allowing Batman and Robin to escape and take care of the gang.

Batman has deduced that his supposedly incompetence was a ploy, something to catch the gang off-guard. We don’t know if that’s true but yay If it is, and he seems to be attracting quite a crowd at the circus.

The last story of the comic begins with Batman and Robin heading to answer the call of Ralph Dibney, aka the Elongated Man. But before they get there they’re alerted to a large scale robbery at the Gotham City terminal. Purple dressed goons, guess it was the fashion in the 70s are holding up the place and there are a fair few of them, keeping the public hostage whilst they rob the place. Batman and Robin arrive, taking out a few but many of them get away on a train.

Batman thinks they’re using military tactics, even having stretchers to carry away their injured. At the New Gotham Hotel, Ralph says goodbye to his wife, sue, who’s off to the music hall. Batman recounts the robbery being perpetrated by a criminal mastermind which piques Ralph’s interest, he thinks he may know something.

But before we get there, we’re flashing back to few weeks before. A group of criminals were bemoaning their bad luck after encounters with Batman and Robin. But someone comes in, wearing bright purple, so you know you should take them seriously, he identifies himself as General Von Dort, a former Nazi general who was believed dead. He’d given up the military lifestyle to become a general of crime and because of his reputation, people don’t turn against him.

Ralph recounts that he and Sue had just returned from South America and there he’d heard of a gang of former Nazi’s led by Von Dort. He was investigating said rumour and even got on his trail, learning he’d left the Andes for Gotham City and came in unrecognised. They decide to work together, Ralph continuing his digging on Von Dort, whilst Batman pursues leads in the underworld.

2 nights later, Batman and Robin have been unable to dig anything up, but they know he’s gonna strike again and they’ll be ready for it, and as if on cue, they spot parachutists coming down over Gotham Park over an mammoth antiques auction.

Batman and Robin leap into action, taking down some of the thugs, they use tear gas to try and incapacitate them but Batman notices a fan, and blows the gas away, as Batman and Robin gain the upper hand, they goons try and contact Von Dort but get no answer. He in fact had been using this fight as a distraction to subtly steal something else from a Gotham lab. They then sneak aboard a plan and loudly announce inside that the world will be at their mercy. Good job on subtlety.

2 days after that, Ralph gives his report. Turns out Von Dort had been working on a death ray for the Nazis in the final days of the war. They need a radioactive isotope called M-244 to complete the weapon, which is what he was in Gotham to steal.

The trio head on the Batplane to get back on his trail in South America. They use a Geiger counter to detect where the isotope is and land nearby. A guard is at the ready, but Elongated man is ready faster, using a stretching punch to knock the guard out. Batman and Robin engage more thugs as Elongated Man finds Von Dort.

But it’s not over yet as Von Dort’s monacle exerts a hypnotic control over Ralph, forcing him to turn against Batman and Robin. He has them in his stretchy grasp but the hold is very temporary and Ralph soon snaps out of it. Robin spots Von Dort but didn’t get Ralph’s warning and is frozen in his tracks. Batman keeps his head down and charges him, knocking him out rather easily.

We get a little bit of wrap up and this scene just shouts out to me

“Whatever happens, nothing ruffles Ralph’s wife Sue! Just looking at her makes you realise that everything’s alright in the world and probably always will be”

Thanks a lot for ruining that Identity Crisis!

So that was Batman Family #4 and overall, I thought it was pretty good. We get three solid stories, each with a little bit of character and all with decent artwork if not always full of detail and a lot of white space. The choice of the colour purple for villains and I wonder if that was a modern re-inking thing.

The villains leave a lot to be desired. Diamond Lilly was pretty standard for a Mob Thug and aside from her gimmick, she wasn’t all that impressive. Von Dort was better but I find it rather hard to get past the name Von Dort. The Red Mask gang were cannon fodder and their only victory against the dynamic duo was pure luck. I can’t even remember the name of the villain in the Robin story.

For a comic titled Batman and Family, Batman and Robin were in 3 of the 4 stories, I figured they’d have a bit more diversity than that. Elongated Man’s story is the strongest by virtue of it being the longest, that being said Von Dort goes down rather easily once Batman actually fights him. Elongated Man himself is fine though they don’t make much use of his abilities, and looking at Sue after knowing the events of Identity Crisis does make this slightly more uncomfortable.

Still, this shouldn’t be judged on future stories, any more than it will be on past ones but other than some weird bits, Barbara working for congress for example, you’d catch up with what’s going on quite quickly. It helps that each story is standalone so doesn’t draw on much continuity.

Rating 4/5 stars