Modern YEAR FIFTEEN (Part 1)

2003 (January to June)^[1]
_______________________________

–REFERENCE: In Batman/Aliens II #2. Batman goes on an unspecified case and nets a human skull with bullet hole in it, which goes as a trophy in the Batcave.

–FLASHBACK: From Batman: Joker’s Apprentice #1. January 4. “Day One” of the Joker’s Apprentice narrative. Batman busts serial rapist/killer Arthur Rankel, who is fast-tracked into Arkham Asylum. At Arkham, Joker takes a liking to Rankel, telling him it’s the anniversary of the day he first met Batman (in The Man Who Laughs). Joker is actually a day late, but his extremely fuzzy anniversary math will prove to be a focal point by the end of the Joker’s Apprentice narrative, so I wouldn’t focus too much on the error. Joker decides that he’ll take Rankel under his wing and train him to be Batman’s perfect foil. These training sessions, which will go on until late March, will happen only when Joker is locked in Arkham. (Joker will escape and return a lot in the coming months.)

–Batman/Judge Dredd: Die Laughing #1-2
A recently escaped Joker gets his hands on the inter-dimensional time-travel belt (last seen in the hands of Scarecrow in Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham a year ago). Batman is unable to prevent Joker from activating the device, but something malfunctions during the trans-universal leap to 22nd century Mega-City One’s Earth causing only Joker’s spirit to jump and leaving his corporeal form in a comatose state on Earth-0. Joker’s ghost, loose in Mega-City One, is able to take over a gang leader’s body for a host vessel and free the imprisoned Judge Death, Judge Fire, Judge Fear, and Judge Mortis. Judge Mortis is able to manipulate law enforcement agents to attack and shoot Judge Anderson, who manages to trans-jump to Gotham where Batman nurses her back to health. While Anderson recovers, Batman universe-leaps to Mega-City One and joins up with Judge Dredd. “Judge Joker” and his four “Dark Judges” then take control of all the judges and begin wreaking bloody havoc all across the domed city. After a battle, Batman and Dredd defeat the evil judges. Joker, incorrectly thinking he has gained immortality, universe-jumps back to Earth-0. However, Joker’s spirit leaves his host body and returns to his own body, which is safely secured at Arkham. Back in the Batcave, a slightly injured Dark Knight checks up on Anderson, who has nearly made a full recovery and now lounges in the nude on a bed in the middle of the cave. The story ends with the heavy implication that Batman and Anderson get it on before she returns to Mega-City One. Dope.

–Green Lantern Vol. 3 #71 
Green Lantern Kyle Rayner (who replaced the villainous Hal Jordan), still basically in his rookie year, travels to Gotham as a part of a “Hero Quest” to talk to Batman about what it means to be a hero. After helping the Dynamic Duo defeat the Checquered Gang, Kyle tries to chat with the Dark Knight, but gets the brush-off. Luckily, Robin isn’t such a dick and talks to Kyle.

–Batman #526
In case you haven’t noticed the trend, lately Batman has relied less and less on others and hasn’t been patrolling with Robin at his side as much. Alfred definitely has noticed and he has a long talk with Bruce about how the latter has changed ever since Bane. Alfred goes on to say how Tim is the most capable Robin of the three Robins and that Bruce should put more faith in him. By the end of this issue, Bruce’s eyes are indeed opened and the Dynamic Duo is operating at 100% capability again.

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #46
It’s election night in Gotham—and Marion Grange is elected the new mayor! Seth Voder, who is secretly in the Penguin’s pocket, is elected the new District Attorney, besting candidate Darlene Hunt. Both of their terms won’t begin for a month or two. Batman busts some safecrackers trying to break into Mayor Krol’s house. Linking the petermen to Penguin, Batman shakes down the latter but can’t prove his legitimate connection to the former. Penguin then departs to host a lavish election eve party, to which all of Gotham’s well-to-do citizens (including Bruce) and all of the candidates have been invited. Meanwhile, Cornelius Stirk easily escapes from the new Arkham Aslyum, which apparently still lacks any real security.

–Batman #527-528 (“TWO-FACE”)
It’s still the eve of the Gotham mayoral election—(not even an hour has passed since Marion Grange’s victory). Batman continues to patrol, busting a gang called The Home Invaders. Meanwhile, Two-Face escapes from the new Arkham Asylum—which means that both Cornelius Stirk and Two-Face both broke out on the same night. The security on the new Arkham might be worse than the old one! That makes ten high profile escapes since Jeremiah Arkham moved his prison into Mercey Mansion (and that’s not including the release of Mr. Freeze, who was deemed “sane” by a board of doctors). Jeez. Two-Face sets into motion a plan to kill off all of the criminals that escaped his justice while he was DA. Concurrently, Mayor-elect Grange visits Sarah Essen-Gordon, offering her a Special Liaison position with the GCPD. Sarah says she will think about it. Batman tracks Harvey to the circus and apprehends him.

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #47
It’s still the night of the Gotham mayoral election—(yes, there is a ton of time-compression here, but it’s just how it is.) Batman, having just re-jailed Two-Face, learns that Cornelius Stirk has also escaped from Arkham Asylum. The weary Batman begins tracking Stirk. There’s a mega-huge continuity error here as writer Alan Grant has Batman mention busting with Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Agent Orange within the past twenty-four hours. While the Two-Face reference is correct, Batman won’t yet deal with Poison Ivy and Allergent (not Agent Orange—Grant gets the character’s name incorrect, although Allergent is admittedly a rip-off of Agent Orange). Batman will face Poison Ivy and Allergent the day after the election (in the upcoming Detective Comics #693-694 by Chuck Dixon). This error is the result of bad editorial and lousy communication between story-architects Grant, Doug Moench, and Chuck Dixon. Clearly Grant was mistakenly led to believe that Detective Comics #693-694 would take place on the eve of the election along with the Moench’s “Two-Face” arc. Back to our synopsis. Stirk tries to kill mayor-elect Grange at Penguin’s party, but Bruce is present so switch into Bat-mode and bust the serial killer. Meanwhile, Sarah Essen-Gordon and Jim Gordon have a long overdue heart-to-heart and reconciliation. Sarah tells Jim about the mayor-elect’s job offer.

–NOTE: In a reference in Detective Comics #694 and Batman: Two-Face – Crime & Punishment. Despite having just been apprehended mere hours ago, Two-Face escapes custody (for the second time in less than one week and yet another new Arkham Asylum breakout!) and begins what will be a ten day rampage, which will overlap with the next couple of stories and culminate with Batman: Two-Face – Crime & Punishment a bit further down on our list.

–Detective Comics #693-694
It’s the morning after the Gotham Mayoral election. Marion Grange celebrates her victory with a public rally. Meanwhile, the villain known as Allergent debuts with the goal of killing all plant-life in Gotham. This plan really pisses-off Poison Ivy, who escapes from Arkham Asylum (yes, yet another new Arkham breakout) and goes after him. Eventually, Batman and Robin recapture Ivy while the mysterious Lock-Up captures Allergent. Also, Sarah Essen-Gordon steps down as Commissioner and takes a job as Marion Grange’s Special Liaison to the GCPD. (Sarah is basically a lieutenant again). In a shock to everyone, Jim doesn’t become Commissioner again as promised. Instead, outgoing Mayor Krol appoints his buddy Andrew Howe as the new Commissioner. Oh, the dirty politics of Gotham. Howe’s GCPD gets a lead on the whereabouts of the fugitive Two-Face, but they won’t be able to track him down, leaving the super-villain remaining at large in the city.

–Black Lightning Vol. 2 #13
Black Lightning has recently been falsely accused of a string of horrible serial killings in his hometown of Brick City. When the whole world has seemingly turned its back on Black Lightning, Batman shows up to let him know that he still has support from his friends. Inspired by the Dark Knight, Black Lightning exposes the true killer as wealthy asshole Adrian Wentworth, thus clearing his own name.

–Batman: The Vengeance of Bane II Part 2
When we last saw Bane three months ago, he had just begun a long stretch in solitary confinement in Blackgate. (Due to time-compression, a six month stint was reduced to three months.) Now that the solitary stretch is over, Bane is back among the regulars and he’s back in peak physical shape, but this time without the Venom addiction. First things first, he beats-up KGBeast as revenge for the trouncing Beast delivered to him before. Bane is then able to escape from prison with the help of Buzz Galvan, the Ratcatcher, and KGBeast (who now respects him). Next, Bane sets out to shut down the Venom pushers in Gotham. One of the main players? An ex-Major League slugger. MLB and steroids? No way! After a brief reunion with Batman (good stuff) Bane heads out of the country on a quest to find his father. This quest immediately continues in the Batman-less Bane of the Demon #1 Part 1, which starts now and overlaps with the next bunch of stories. We’ll pick up with Bane’s tale when we get to it a bit later, but for now, back to the life of Batman.

–Man-Bat Vol. 2 #1-3
Man-Bat (Kirk Langstrom) is accused of committing several murders and Rambo-cop Billy Pettit goes after him. Pettit shoots down Man-Bat who lands in the sewers and is nursed back to health by Killer Croc! Meanwhile, Kirk Langstrom’s wife, Dr. Francine Langstrom (née Lee), discovers the real killer is Steeljacket. We finally learn Steeljacket’s origins and the murderer is brought to justice. Oh, and last but not least, we see the first appearance of Kirk’s son, Aaron Langstrom, who is a little mutated bat-boy! NOTE: We must assume that after helping Man-Bat, Killer Croc exposes the fact that he has returned to Gotham from New Orleans and is subsequently captured and returned to Arkham Asylum because he is incarcerated there in the upcoming Hitman story-arc below.

–Spider-Man & Batman: Disordered Minds
This story serves as an in-canon prelude to the events that will soon follow in the upcoming DC vs Marvel Comics.^[2] Universe-0 (the main DCU) and Universe-616 (the main Marvel U) have somehow temporarily overlapped in a freak anomaly—for what appears to be no apparent reason. In this issue, due to the anomaly, Batman and Marvel’s Spider-Man (Peter Parker) act as if they have always lived in the same world (which is certainly not the case). Batman captures Joker and sends him back to Arkham Asylum. After a radical new biotechnology chip is implanted in Joker’s dome, he supposedly is cured of all insane impulses! The same procedure is done to Spidey villain Carnage, with seemingly similar results. However, the quick fix is too good to be true. Carnage and Joker wreak havoc until the Caped Crusader and the Amazing Web Slinger bring them to justice. After shaking hands, the heroes swing away into the night. But what is this omniversial anomaly that is causing the DC and Marvel Multiverses to merge? We don’t learn in this issue, but we’ll find out in DC vs Marvel (up next).

DC vs MARVEL
——————–DC vs Marvel Comics #1
——————–Marvel Comics vs DC #2
——————–DC vs Marvel Comics #3
——————–Marvel Comics vs DC #4
Yes, this arc is meant to be canon, and it must go just prior to Action Comics #719-720 (prior to Lois and Clark breaking up). Basically, two ancient cosmic siblings (similar to the Endless) that represent their respective parts of the omniverse become aware of each other. The anthropomorphic manifestation of the DC Multiverse (i.e. the multiverse that houses “Universe-0” as its primary universe) challenges the anthropomorphic manifestation of the Marvel Multiverse (i.e. the multiverse that houses “Universe-616” as its primary universe) to a duel between their respective superheroes. Thus, different characters from each universe begin randomly appearing where they shouldn’t in order to kick off the action. For instance, Bullseye appears in the Batcave, but Batman knocks him out. Shortly after that, Robin disappears and shows up on Earth-616 inside the X-Men‘s Westchester County, NY mansion. Likewise, the new Spider-Man (a clone of Peter Parker named Ben Reilly) appears in Gotham and J. Jonah Jameson takes over the Daily Planet. Batman also fights Venom. Eventually, eleven official battles are held, with six victories for Marvel and only five for DC. For anyone wondering about the Dynamic Duo’s contribution to the official battles, Batman kicks Captain America’s ass and Robin not only beats Jubilee, but he hooks up with her as well! However, in the end, the cosmic sibling-entities decide they want to destroy each other’s universes anyway. The Spectre and The Living Tribunal are able to save both universes by merging them into a mash-up universe known as the Amalgam Universe (designated “Universe-9602”). The Earth of the Amalgam Universe consists of combination characters from both DC and Marvel. For example, on Earth-9602 Batman and Wolverine merge to form Dark Claw. After the creation of the Amalgam U, the cosmic powered metahuman known as Access (who functions as the “cosmic monitor” for both the DCU and Marvel U) is able to restore the status quos for both worlds.

–Action Comics #719
After the Joker’s last encounter with Superman (in Action Comics #714), Lois had taken a toy Joker doll as a souvenir and put it on the mantel in her apartment. When she handles the toy in this issue she gets dosed with a deadly poison. Superman rushes to Gotham, grabs Batman, and they confront Joker in Arkham Asylum. Joker tells them that they must inject him (Joker) with the doll’s poison which will cause his toxic antibodies to turn his own blood into the antidote. The catch is that the Joker will die. Batman and Superman are unsure of what to do. In the end, they decide they can’t take even the Joker’s life, but luckily, it was all a ruse and the poison from the doll wasn’t even fatal. Lois is fine and the Joker gets the last laugh. Notably, in the Batman-less follow-up to this item (Action Comics #720), Lois and Clark break up (!), with Lois leaving Metropolis to take a foreign correspondent job.

–Robin Vol. 2 #26
One of Tim’s classmates dies in a school shooting. Robin and Spoiler go after the killer, but get trapped in a hail of gunfire until Batman saves them both.

–Batman: Two-Face – Crime & Punishment 
Two-Face has been rampaging all across Gotham for ten days now and his schizophrenia is getting more and more pronounced. Harvey begins to blame his father for all of his problems. Good thing Christopher Dent is alive and well enough for Two-Face to hold his dad’s public execution live on national TV. Before Harvey can off his dear old dad, Batman bests a bunch of Two-Face’s henchmen and eventually busts the super-villain himself. As per reference in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #62, Batman encounters Two-Face’s goon Louse. (I’m sticking this reference here because we’ll meet Louse in a few months, learning that Batman definitely encounters him during a Two-Face story right around now. Why not this one, I say?) Harvey then battles his Two-Face alter-ego inside his own mind and tries to commit suicide, but Batman saves him. Harvey is finally able to suppress his evil half and enjoy a few moments of respite, although his sanity only lasts for a brief period of time.

–Batman: The Chalice^[3]
Batman captures the once-again escaped and once-again nutso Harvey Dent. (Since Batman literally just busted him, we should probably assume that Two-Face escaped from his prison transport. Either that, or Two-Face has escaped from new Arkham Asylum for the third time in less than three weeks!) The Dark Knight arrests Two-Face again, but the real story in The Chalice begins when mysterious benefactors entrust Bruce to protect the Holy Grail. Yes, THE Holy Grail. The first thing Bruce does with the Grail is test its power. He fills it with holy water and pours it into an open gunshot wound that he received during his altercation with Two-Face and voila! He is completely healed. This is an important event which, combined with his resurrection in a Lazarus Pit and Shondra Kinsolving’s mystical curing touch, serves to aid in the youthful and healthy preservation of Batman’s physical nature as time marches on. Azrael is the first to warn Bruce about the dangers of protecting the Grail, but the latter tells Jean-Paul not to worry. But Bruce does begin to worry when Ra’s al Ghul—guided by his personal antiquity librarian Shuram—comes a-knocking. Bruce learns that the Order of St. Dumas and the League of Assassins are at war. The Dark Detective and Ra’s al Ghul battle it out as they always epically do, nearly killing each other until Talia breaks-up the fight. Afterward, they go their separate ways. Meanwhile, Catwoman and Alfred team-up to defend Wayne Manor against the religious cultists known as the Merivingian Brotherhood. In the end, Bruce realizes the Grail is more trouble than it’s worth and gives it to Superman for safekeeping. The Chalice spans about a full week on our timeline.

–NOTE: In Batman: Bane of the Demon #1 Part 2 and Batman: Bane of the Demon #2. Batman is not in Batman: Bane of the Demon #1-3, but the events of this mini-series are vitally-important to our chronology, hence their inclusion on the timeline. The first 15 pages of issue #1 (i.e. Part 1) begin right after Bane leaves Gotham at the end of Vengeance of Bane II and, therefore, have already overlapped with the previous batch of stories on our chronology, having detailed Bane scouring the globe in search of his unknown father. Cut to now. In Singapore, Bane finds the Order of St. Dumas warring against the League of Assassins. (The Order of St. Dumas has been experimenting with a deadly virus and Ra’s al Ghul wishes to steal the plague from them.) After getting involved in the fight, Talia takes a liking to Bane and organizes a meeting between Bane and her father. Ra’s immediately respects Bane at first, but the latter quickly sours on the former. Surprisingly, Bane then begins a sexual relationship with Talia! At this point, Ra’s decides Bane is better as an asset rather than an antagonist and decides to keep him on the team. Towards the end of issue #2, Ra’s mentions jealously that the deadly plague that he seeks has already been released upon Gotham City. “Contagion” has already begun!

CONTAGION
——————–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #48
——————–Detective Comics #695
——————–Robin Vol. 2 #27
——————–Catwoman Vol. 2 #31
——————–Azrael #15
——————–Batman #529
——————–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #49
——————–Detective Comics #696
——————–The Batman Chronicles #4
——————–Catwoman Vol. 2 #32
——————–Azrael #16
——————–Robin Vol. 2 #28
The beginning of this tale slightly overlaps with the Batman-less Bane of the Demon #2. Thanks to the actions of Order of St. Dumas acolyte Daniel Maris, a deadly plague has stricken Gotham and it’s not pretty. Batman and Robin take stock over the city and formulate a plan of action as thousands contract the debilitating filovirus known as Ebola Gulf-A aka The Clench aka The Apocalypse Plague. Hundreds die in a very short amount of time. Soon after, it is revealed that there are three people that have supposedly survived Ebola Gulf-A. Since these three survivors are the possible key to finding a cure, Robin, Catwoman, Azrael, and the mercenary known as Tracker scour the globe in an attempt to find them. Unfortunately, it’s a wild goose chase as the survivors never really had the virus in the first place. A dejected Robin returns back to Gotham. (A flashback from Batman #561 shows Batman and Robin watching government officials in hazmat suits piling-up bodies in the streets. Likewise, a reference in The Batman Files tells us that Batman wears a Board of Health face mask to avoid catching the disease. He also keeps a face mask as a souvenir.) As riots break out across the panicking city, Batman meets Gotham’s number one metahuman assassin-for-hire “Hitman” Tommy Monaghan. (Tommy acquired the powers of X-ray vision and limited telepathic ability during the events of Bloodlines.) Batman “helps” the crude Tommy defeat a diseased monster man known as Thrax. During this escapade, Batman learns that Tommy is about to be offered a lucrative hit on Joker. Later, Robin helps Nightwing and Huntress deal with riots all over Gotham. Meanwhile, Batman sends the immune Poison Ivy into the epicenter of the disease to test a possible antidote. Of course, the antidote doesn’t work, Ivy goes rogue, and Batman and ex-commish Jim Gordon have to take her down. But just as Batman and Jim are bonding for the first time in ages, the riots get worse, the governor calls in the National Guard, and Tim contracts the virus! Who will save the day? Jean-Paul! Azrael learns that the Order of St. Dumas is responsible for the outbreak. Because of his history with the Order, Az has access to a cure. Following a surprise run-in with the returning Carlton LeHah, Azrael is able to deliver the cure to the authorities and end the deadly plague. Az also learns that the Order didn’t create the man-made virus. But where did it come from in the first place? We shall see a little further on down the road. Oh, due to the incompetence of both Commissioner Andy Howe and Mayor Armand Krol, the governor pushes up Marion Grange’s inauguration and instates her as the new mayor of Gotham! She immediately fires Howe and re-hires Jim Gordon as commish!

–Sovereign Seven #12
This item immediately follows Robin Vol. 2 #28, occurring a couple days after the end of “Contagion.” Despite having barely recovered from the Clench, Robin goes out on patrol, during which he gets shot. Thankfully, Robin is saved by fellow vigilante Cascade (member of the superhero team known as the Sovereign Seven) and the Sovereigns’ bankroller Violet Jones. Cascade and Violet (along with Sovereign member Reflex) nurse Robin back to health at the team’s HQ, known as Heaven’s Gate. Just as Robin meets Sovereign member Indigo and two reporters embedded with the Sovereigns, Neal Conan and Manoli Wetherell, super-villain Bosch aka Bosche (along with a bunch of monsters from Hell) infiltrate Heaven’s Gate, targeting Violet. (Bosch represents the Neron-affiliated group known as Dystopia.) Everyone in the HQ bands together to fend off Bosch and his monsters. Bosch then flees right into the waiting arms of Batman, who happens to be on the hunt to shut down Dystopia. Across town, another Sovereign called Network fights an assassin named Chimaera (Kim aka Kym). Chimaera defeats Network and imprints herself into Network’s mind, effectively infiltrating the Sovereigns as a spy on behalf of her partner Philip Gethrin, the unscrupulous head of tech company Genesys Inc. (Notably, Chimaera represents the international criminal cartel known as Shōgun.) Concurrently, in the small New England town of Crossroads, other Sovereign members Rampart and Cruiser work a connected missing child case alongside their comrades Sheriff Molly Savoy, Conal Savoy (Molly’s son), Mitch, Jack (Mitch’s pet wolf), and Pansy Smith (Violet’s sister).

–Batman: Black and White #3 Part 1
February—Bruce’s birthday. A crook commandeers a bus full of people, causing the vehicle to teeter precariously on the edge of a bridge. Batman saves everyone and busts the baddie. Meanwhile, Alfred leaves a cake out for Bruce’s birthday at Wayne Manor.

–The Joker: Devil’s Advocate^[4]
At the beginning of this week-long story Batman states that Joker has been loose for months. This is an impossibility since other comics have shown Joker in and out of Arkham Asylum all year long. At most, he’s been on the loose for weeks, not months. In Devil’s Advocate, Joker is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and actually goes to trial and is sentenced to death! For the first time in his life the Joker is going to real prison. Not only that, but he’s been fast-tracked to death row, with his execution set to occur in mere days. There are some great scenes of a shaven-headed Joker on death row that shouldn’t be missed in this memorable one-shot. The story also features a deep dive look at Joker’s new prison life, which includes the presence of Tommy Mangles, who makes a cool cameo! (Joker beats Mangles’ ass.) With Joker behind regular prison bars, Batman knows justice isn’t being served. As much as he hates to do it, Batman proves Joker’s innocence. Just before the electric chair switch is thrown, the governor calls. Joker’s life is saved at the very last second.

–Batman #530-532 (“THE DEADMAN CONNECTION”)
Talk about Indiana Jones. Batman teams-up with Deadman and the duo travels to Machu Picchu in Peru to stop international mercenary/terrorist Jackson Killeen from stealing an ancient Aztec treasure. This case involves resurrected mummies, Batman summoning a swarm of bats to his aid with a mystical flute given to him by a shaman, and various other ridiculous supernatural occurrences.

–Batman: Black and White #1 Part 1
Batman does an autopsy on a Jane Doe murder victim, discovering her ID and the truth behind her murder, thus bringing justice to her case. This great Ted McKeever story was won an Eisner Award, and deservingly so! (Note that Batman: Black and White #2 Part 2 is a Bruce Timm story that takes place in the Batman the Animated Series universe, thus rendering it non-canon on our primary timeline.)

–Batman: Black and White #1 Part 3
Batman has a strange dream where he flies around like a real bat and then brutally busts some random criminals. Awakening with a start at Wayne Manor, Bruce is haunted by the fact that he can no longer tell the difference between his dreaming and waking state.

–FLASHBACK: From Batman: Black and White #1 Part 5. Batman busts a murderous trumpet player.

–REFERENCE: In Batman: Black and White #2 Part 3. Batman busts an unnamed criminal, putting him behind bars.

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #50-52
The new villain Narcosis debuts and doses Batman with a hallucinatory drug which makes him think he is battling an army of evil rogues all at once. Batman’s horrific vision includes a montage of nearly every Alan Grant original character from the past two or three years. Original Alan Grant characters? Joe Public, Wild, the Human Flea, Pagan, etc… Truly terrifying.

–Batman: Death of Innocents #1
This is DC’s public service announcement about landmines. After one of WayneTech’s employees is killed by a landmine in the civil war-ridden Eastern European country of Kravia, Batman travels there to search for the man’s missing daughter. After nearly sixty pages of intense battling with both the Kravian army and rebel militias, Batman locates the young girl. Batman then pauses to relax, feeling proud of his accomplishment. In that moment, little Sarah touches a landmine and is blown to kingdom come. Landmines suck.

–NOTE: In Batman: Bane of the Demon #3-4. Batman doesn’t appear in the main action of Bane of the Demon #3-4 (although Bane of the Demon #4 contains an epilogue featuring Batman that is a flash-forward to the opening of Detective Comics #700). Despite the lack of true Dark Knight appearances in the conclusion of this series, Bane of the Demon #3-4 is important in regard to the upcoming “Legacy” arc, acting as a prelude to it—hence our inclusion here as a Batman-less notation. Onto a synopsis. A couple weeks have passed since Bane joined forces with Ra’s al Ghul. The League of Assassins is still searching for the Clench virus. Having successfully gathered info from the Order of St. Dumas, the League beats on the Kobra Cult and gets one step closer to their goal. Bane learns more about Ra’s al Ghul’s history from Shuram, after which the villain murders Shuram. Meanwhile, in only a few short weeks, Talia has realized that she despises Bane, thinking of him as an animal. She regrets having ever gotten involved with him. Obviously. How could she even begin to compare him to her baby daddy? Speaking of Damian’s dad, Bane flips-out when Talia says she loves Batman. Ra’s ends his working relationship with Bane and imprisons him at the bottom of a flooding well. Bane escapes and kills dozens of Ra’s al Ghul’s men before sword-dueling the man himself. He’s no match for Ra’s with a blade, but before the fatal slice can be swung, Bane reveals that he knows where to find an ancient artifact that can reveal the secrets of the Clench. Ra’s is so impressed that he not only decides to let Bane survive, he also reinstates him into the League and even wishes for him to be Talia’s mate once again. Bane, Ra’s, and an annoyed Talia begin preparations to bring the chaos and death of the Clench to the entire world, with the ultimate goal of killing billions. Ra’s al Ghul’s “legacy” will soon be at hand, and we’ll get to that soon enough.

–NOTE: In Catwoman Vol. 2 #35. Ra’s al Ghul discovers the ancient artifact which can reveal the secrets of the Clench in the deserts of Sudan. The League of Assassins sets up camp and fortifies its surroundings. The villain known as The Collector forces Brother Umberto (formerly of the Order of St. Dumas) to travel to Sudan in search of the artifact as well. Umberto brings along Catwoman and Hellhound to aid him. (Notably, Hellhound was one of Catwoman’s original trainers.) All three end up being captured and imprisoned by Ra’s al Ghul.

–Detective Comics #697-699
Lock-Up kidnaps Two-Face from a prison transport and locks him up in a hidden location along with his other prisoners, Allergent and Charaxes, who have both been missing for weeks. Batman, Robin, Nightwing, and Commissioner Gordon arrest Lock-Up and learn that he is ex-police trainee Lyle Bolton. However, Bolton escapes jail, so the Bat-Family splits up and each hero goes after one of three possible targets that could be next on Lock-Up’s list. Robin, while in disguise as a juvenile delinquent for his part of the case, gets caught by Lock-Up and added to his group of prisoners. Batman and Nightwing are able to trace Robin’s location, save him, and then send the criminals to Arkham (which is probably less secure than Lock-Up’s fake prison, but oh well). We also learn that ex-mayor Armand Krol has been found dead as a result of the Clench virus. Hmmm. Very interesting. The Clench mystery continues.

–Robin Plus #1 (Robin Plus Impulse)
Late winter. Batman remotely guides Robin into a warehouse to investigate the theft of some outdated computer equipment by ex-KGB agent Piotr Vilk. While in the warehouse, newcomer Mystral cuts Robin’s Bat-rope before fleeing. Shortly thereafter, Batman sends Robin and Alfred to trail Vilk, who travels to a Virginia ski lodge. Under the guise of a skiing trip with Ariana Dzerchenko and Sebastian Ives, Tim and Alfred keep close tabs on Vilk. Coincidentally, Bart Allen (Impulse), Max Mercury, and Carol Bucklen are vacationing at the same lodge. Tim meets Bart for the first time and they hit it off quite well! Later that evening, Impulse helps Robin fight Vilk, during which Robin immediately pegs Impulse as Bart. Robin and Impulse (with Alfred guiding them remotely) spy on Vilk, who meets with George Deegan, leader of a violent militia group known as White Heat. Robin, Impulse, and Mystral—a secret agent working against White Heat—battle the villains, stopping their plot to launch nuclear warheads using the stolen computer tech.

–Robin Vol. 2 #31
The implication in this issue is that mere days have passed since “Contagion.” However, in order to accommodate the rest of the line outside of Robin’s singular worldview, a couple of weeks have passed since then (as reflected on our timeline above). Onto a synopsis. Robin teams-up with JSA alumnus Ted Grant aka Wildcat to stop the Speedboyz gang from robbing a car show. When he arrives back at the Batcave, Batman has learned about ex-Mayor Krol’s death as a result of the Clench and the Dark Knight fills Tim in on the grisly details.

LEGACY
——————–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #53
——————–Batman #533
——————–Detective Comics #700 / Batman: Bane of the Demon #4 Epilogue
——————–Catwoman Vol. 2 #36
——————–Robin Vol. 2 #32
——————–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #54
——————–Batman #534
——————–Detective Comics #701
——————–Robin Vol. 2 #33
——————–Detective Comics #702
We pick-up right where we left off in Robin Vol. 2 #31. Armand Krol died because Azrael’s cure for the Clench (Ebola Gulf-A) doesn’t really work. Az’s cure simply mutates the virus so that it lays dormant for an unspecified amount of time and then strikes again. This is terrible news for Tim because he has the virus in his system. I should mention that Lucius Fox asks Bruce why Madolyn Corbett keeps calling the office. What’s with all of the Madolyn Corbett stuff? Don’t worry, it will come up soon. Anyway, after Azrael debriefs him, Batman assigns Huntress as Gotham’s protector and then flies to Sudan with Nightwing and Robin in search for a cure. When the trio arrives in the Sudanese desert, they run smack dab into Ra’s al Ghul, Talia, and Bane. (This scene is also shown via flash-forward from Batman: Bane of the Demon #4 Epilogue.) We learn several important bits of info at the start of ‘tec #700. One, Ra’s now has control of an ancient artifact known as “The Wheel of Plagues,” which is a “table that configures the structure of viruses by scientifically deciphering the mysteries of recombinant genetics.” Two, Ra’s had originally created Ebola Gulf-A using only partial knowledge of “The Wheel” extracted from ancient texts. Three, the Order of St. Dumas had stolen the virus from Ra’s when they set it loose upon Gotham. Four, now that he has access to “The Wheel” Ra’s plans to create a more virulent strain of the plague which will essentially kill off 90% of the population to give Earth a new and clean ecological start. After these startling revelations, Ra’s sets his plans into motion. Meanwhile, Catwoman escapes from her Sudanese jail cell, beats up Hellhound, and gets revenge against the Collector. Twenty-four hours behind, Batman, Robin, and Nightwing zigzag across the globe in hot pursuit of Ra’s, stopping his men from releasing the outbreak in Paris, Edinburgh, and Calcutta. Both Henri Ducard and Lady Shiva make cameos to help Batman—in Paris and Calcutta, respectively! Back in Gotham, the team joins-up with Huntress and stops Ra’s al Ghul and Talia personally. Batman faces-off with Bane in the ultimate rematch of the year. Who wins? You guessed it. Batman finally gets revenge and knocks out Bane. Before fleeing the country, Ra’s witnesses Bane’s failure and deems him once again unworthy of Talia. Oracle uses the final digital copy of “The Wheel of Plagues” to decipher the cure for the Clench just before the files are lost forever in an explosion.

–Batman: Bane Part 1
The first part of this prestige-format story takes place literally right after Legacy ends. An unconscious Bane washes out to sea after being pummeled by Batman. As luck would have it, he floats right into a gigantic super-tanker complete with a nuclear reactor. Bane wakes up, climbs aboard, hijacks the massive ship, and meets up with some League of Assassins members who are still willing to serve him.

–REFERENCE: In the second feature to Aztek: The Ultimate Man #3. Wayne Enterprises steps into the world of book publishing, starting a new company called Wayne Faction, through which Bruce endorses and produces a disparaging biography (written by Jonathan Ryle) about early 20th century business tycoon Clarence Vane. (Note that this supplemental material/second feature to Aztek: The Ultimate Man #3 incorrectly refers to Bruce’s grandfather as “Anthony Thomas Wayne.” His grandfather’s actual name, as referenced in several other comics, is Patrick “Jack” Wayne.)

–Birds of Prey: Manhunt #2-3
Black Canary and Huntress team-up in an attempt to apprehend metahuman thief Archer Braun, with whom they have both previously been romantically involved. Catwoman also joins in the chase because Braun has swindled her. Oracle connects with Catwoman, who realizes that she was guided by her during the “Clench” ordeal. Based upon this history, Catwoman decides to trust her. Oracle is in constant contact with the three ladies as the “manhunt” escalates. It isn’t long before Batman and Robin join in the chase as well. When they do, this prompts Catwoman and Huntress to avoid being seen by them at all costs. Oracle eventually convinces Batman to turn the case completely over to her (without telling him who she is working with, knowing full-well Batman wouldn’t approve). Bats is a bit puzzled, but ultimately trusts Barbara and backs-off. The three ladies chase Braun all the way to Kazakhstan where they fight Lady Shiva and Braun dies in a fire.

–REFERENCE: In a flashback from Birds of Prey #42. Batman isn’t directly part of this item, but he would be monitoring it since he is secretly monitoring all of Oracle’s activities. Oracle recruits Power Girl to undertake a Birds of Prey mission in Qurac. The mission is a complete failure and causes what will be long-lasting bad blood between Oracle and Power Girl.

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #55
The mystery of Madolyn Corbett is finally revealed. Madolyn is a celebrity stalker that is obsessed with Bruce Wayne, so much so that she accosts him at home and begs him to marry her! Spurned, Madolyn runs off to her apartment and Bruce follows to make sure the unstable woman gets the help she needs. Before Bruce arrives, Madolyn calls 911 and falsely claims that Bruce is attacking her. Then Madolyn actually stabs herself to death! Bruce arrives just in time to see her commit suicide and just in time for the police to arrest him for murder! Bruce spends a night in jail, but is easily able to prove his innocence by morning. Dick wears the Bat-costume to patrol Gotham yet again while Bruce is being interrogated.

–REFERENCE: In Batman: Joker’s Apprentice #1. Late March—”Day 83″ of the Joker’s Apprentice narrative. Batman busts Scarecrow. As Scarecrow is being taken to court by Arkham Asylum officials, Joker causes a distraction that allows his “graduating” protégé Arthur Rankel to escape. Joker has prearranged for Rankel to use an abandoned film studio as a hideout. Rankel immediately moves in, taking a rat as a pet named Lassie.

–FLASHBACK: From Batman & Superman: World’s Finest #10 Part 1. Late March—the anniversary of Harrison Grey’s death. Note the continuity error of Superman being illustrated incorrectly, sans his long hair in this item. Superman flies to Gotham not only to meet with Batman to commemorate the death of Harrison Grey, but also to prevent Jimmy Olsen from shooting an annoying documentary about Batman. In Gotham, Batman tells Superman that there have been major metahuman breakouts at Stryker’s Island and Arkham Asylum. It’s not long before Metropolis’ villains show up in Gotham and begin attacking Arkham’s escapees. A “villain war” erupts immediately. Batman and Superman easily recapture Bloodsport and Deadshot. But across town, Jimmy gets caught in the middle of a battle pitting Joker, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze and Charaxes versus Hellgrammite, Anomaly, Riot, and Metallo. Toyman and Clayface are present too, but seemingly operate on their own agendas. Batman and Superman call in the reserves and intervene with Superboy, Supergirl, Steel, Robin, Nightwing, and Azrael. The heroes round-up all the villains. Meanwhile, across town, Jimmy films Lonnie Riven and Donnie Riven, who have captured Dr. Harrison Grey, who has been secretly alive for the past decade, but has had amnesia. Once Batman and Superman see the video footage, they rush in to rescue Dr. Grey at a warehouse on the waterfront. At the warehouse, Two-Face reveals himself to be the organizer of the “villain war,” which he deliberately set up to coincide with the anniversary of the “death” of Dr. Grey. Two-Face kills the Rivens before being taken into custody by the heroes. Superman flies-in Dr. Grey’s fiancée from ten years ago (Savannah Summers), reuniting Savannah with her long lost partner so they can begin to piece their life back together.

–Nightwing Vol. 2 #1-3
At the end of Legacy we learned that a bunch of corpses have been floating upriver from Gotham’s sister city of Blüdhaven. Batman sends Dick down to investigate. (The scene of Batman sending Nightwing on this mission is also shown via flashback from Nightwing Vol. 2 #8.) While there, Nightwing finds the source of all the murders: a gang-war between Black Mask’s gang and the Asian mob. Nightwing battles them all and also meets the insanely corrupt Blüdhaven Police force (which Dick will learn is almost completely in the pocket of Blockbuster). With this in mind, Dick begins looking for Blüdhaven apartments, finding a centrally located place run by superintendent/landlady Bridget Clancy. Nightwing won’t officially move yet, but he’s now ready when necessary. He notifies Batman and Robin that he will soon be moving to Blüdhaven.

–Batman: Bane Part 2
Bane and his crew take their stolen nuclear ship and sail it on a collision course to Gotham. In order for this destructive plan to work, Bane forces the ship’s first mate to schedule a re-fueling stop in Blüdhaven. In the short amount of time it will take to reach Gotham from Blüdhaven, the authorities won’t be able to react quickly enough to stop the boat. When Bane arrives in Blüdhaven he encounters Nightwing (who is already there on a separate case), but easily defeats and captures him. In Gotham, Bane has a bit more trouble with Batman and Robin as the Dynamic Duo is able to prevent catastrophe. Bane, however, escapes.

–Batman: Riddler – The Riddle Factory
The Riddler hijacks a public access signal and puts on a live pirate TV game-show in which he gets all Wizard of Gore and seemingly kills all of his contestants. At the conclusion of each show, he exposes some life-shattering dark secret that he has dug up on a random Gotham celebrity. In actuality, the Riddler isn’t killing anyone. It’s all a ruse and the traveling game show is a distraction while Nigma’s goons search for a hidden mob treasure lost since the 1920s. After several nights of game show brutality, the Riddler tries to expose a dark secret of Gotham celebrity Bruce Wayne in a grand finale, but he is unable to do so. Nada. Zip. Zlitch. Bruce has got nothing to hide. If the Riddler only knew.

–The Batman Chronicles #23 Part 2
This “Lost Tale of the Batman” fits right here because it features a version of the Batmobile that was being used around this time. In the short story, a burglar flees the crime scene only to run smack dab into the Batmobile. Even though the Batmobile is unoccupied, he freaks out and shoots at it, causing its sensors to activate. Autopilot kicks in and the car chases the burglar right into the waiting arms of the law.

–Aztek: The Ultimate Man #6-7 
In his first appearance since Devil’s Advocate a month ago, Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum (this is getting ridiculous, when are they going to get some security at Mercey Mansion?) and flees to the West Coast. After arriving in the town of Vanity, Oregon, Joker meets the city’s resident protector Aztek. Joker immediately causes all sorts of chaos for the rookie hero, and Batman comes to town to assist the “Ultimate Man” in recapturing the clown.

–Hitman #1-3 (“A RAGE IN ARKHAM”)
Garth Ennis at his best here—depraved and funny. Everyone’s favorite metahuman Gotham hitman Tommy Monaghan has just accepted the job of his life. He’s going to bust into Arkham Asylum and execute Joker. Batman, who has been aware of the Joker hit ever since Contagion, confronts Tommy—a meeting which ends with Tommy vomiting on the Dark Knight and then getting arrested. Yes, that’s right, Tommy blows chunks all over Batman! Moving on, Tommy easily escapes from the cops. The news of Tommy’s Arkham hit has gotten out on the street and when Tommy gets home, he has nine additional Arkham hit requests waiting for him, which he gladly accepts. Tommy breaks into Mercey Mansion and, in an amazing couple of panels, he strolls down the hallways of Arkham and nonchalantly kills eight inmates and shoots Mad Hatter in the kneecap. Upon arriving at Joker’s cell, he blasts him away, but the Joker lives! That’s because it isn’t really Joker. It’s the eight-armed, gun-toting monstrosity known as Mawzir, who has been sent from Hell to recruit Tommy to become the new Earthly killing agent for the demonic duo known as The Arkanonne. Did I mention these three demons (Mawzir and the Arkanonne twins) have swastikas carved into their foreheads? This story is amazing and it only gets better. Tommy turns down Mawzir’s offer and then runs into the real Joker and shoots him in the chest. Batman joins the fray and is able to patch up the bleeding Joker and save his life, while Tommy and Mawzir engage in a violent shootout. The ruckus disturbs Killer Croc, who is trying to watch Seinfeld, and he starts rampaging as well. Eventually, Tommy is able to take down Mawzir and put a magnum to the demon’s head. Tommy says he’ll let him survive if he simply says, “The Arkanonne suck.” Mawzir says it and then Tommy blows his head clean off anyway.

–Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #142-145 (“THE DEMON LAUGHS”)
Ra’s al Ghul appears for the first time since Legacy and he still wants to eliminate 90 to 95% of the world’s population. This time, he’s got an ace up his sleeve. Rather, he’s got a Joker up his sleeve. Talia and company break the Joker out of Arkham and ask him to succeed where Bane has previously failed. (Don’t worry, Talia doesn’t have sex with the Joker.) After looting a Quraci bio-weapons plant in the Indian Ocean, the League of Assassins has a brand new plague virus which is equivalent to the Clench. Batman, Alfred, and Henri Ducard go on a wild goose chase across the globe in search of the villains. When the Joker attempts to betray Ra’s al Ghul, Talia fills him full of lead. Batman arrives on the scene just in time to witness his bullet-riddled arch-enemy quickly bleeding to death. Batman and Alfred decide to save the Joker (for like the millionth time and second adventure in a row). Thus, they do the unthinkable; they put Joker into the Lazarus Pit! Joker emerges not only completely rejuvenated and healthy, but also completely timid, self-effacing, and 100% certifiably sane! Batman then stops Ra’s al Ghul (as usual) from killing everyone on the planet and even has (for like the millionth time) a sword fight with him. Once the initial effects of the Lazarus Pit wear off, Joker is back to his old evil self.

–The Batman Chronicles #6 Part 1
Ra’s al Ghul just won’t quit. This time Batman finds him in Istanbul, and as usual, Ra’s is attempting to gather information from a sacred text which will allow him to continue his quest to reduce the Earth’s population. Like usual, Batman foils his plans. We get a pretty cool flashback to 16th century Latin America where Ra’s al Ghul encounters fellow immortals Talon and Blackheart.

–The Batman Chronicles #6 Part 2
Batman isn’t in this part of Chronicles #6. Alfred and Tim read from a early 19th century journal that Bruce keeps in the trophy room. The journal tells of the secret history of the founding of Gotham City. Apparently the small outpost of Gotham began as an insane asylum run by murderers. And one of the founders? A distant relative of Bruce.^[5]

–Azrael #22
Jean-Paul quits being Azrael, but just when he thinks he’s gotten out, they drag him back in. The Order of St. Dumas is out to kill Jean-Paul and his friends Brian Bryan and Lilhy (a former member of the Order). Without any other options, Jean-Paul visits Batman and asks him to fight the Order on his behalf. Bruce says it isn’t his problem, but he is sympathetic. Instead of helping, Bruce has Harold construct Jean-Paul a new Azrael costume. Bruce also (as he always does with Jean-Paul) throws money at the situation, depositing a million dollars into Jean-Paul’s bank account.

–Batman #535
Years ago the US Government tortured and killed 22 men and 22 apes while conducting top secret eugenics experiments. The 23rd pairing escaped before the “scientific” procedures could finish. Now “The Ogre and The Ape” are back to seek revenge on the doctors which forever changed their lives. Batman, with Oracle’s guidance, is able to end the Ogre’s killing spree, but sympathetically allows him to walk free instead of turning him over to the police.

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #56-58 (“LEAVES OF GRASS”)
Here we go with an Alan Grant marijuana story which comes off like a lengthy anti-weed after-school special. The Floronic Man returns to Gotham and begins distributing his brand of super-weed, an intensely more powerful version of pot. Floro believes that once the world becomes addicted to his reefer, everyone will be in a calm state of ecstasy i.e. wars will end, crime will go down, etc… After getting his product on the street, Floro also breaks Poison Ivy out of Arkham in order to use her assistance, but Ivy has an agenda of her own. Batman eventually captures Floro and shuts down the drug’s production center, but Ivy escapes. This story takes about a week to wrap-up and Gordon explains to Batman that ever since Floro’s weed began selling in Gotham, crime statistics have dropped noticeably across the board! Batman shoots Gordon’s line of reasoning down in a heartbeat and we cut to Tim giving his fellow classmates a long lecture which ends with the line “and that’s why I’ll never do drugs!” This sure ain’t no Garth Ennis tale.

–REFERENCE: In Batman: The Hill #1 Part 1. Bruce begins regularly golfing at the fancy country club with racist business acquaintance Kingford. Bruce also begins getting haircuts at the club from a barber named Eliot.

–FLASHBACK: From the B&W second feature to Batman: Gotham Knights #47. Batman apprehends an escaped Riddler.

–NOTE: In Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #4-5. Earlier this year, Lex Luthor gained a new healthy body from Neron (as seen in Underworld Unleashed and Superman: Man of Tomorrow #3). Since that time, Lex Luthor has remained in hiding, deftly avoiding the authorities. While remaining out of the reach of the law, Lex now gets married (for the eighth time) to Contessa Erica Alexandra Del Portenza, current CEO of LexCorp. (His first seven marriages occurred before the debuts of both Batman and Superman.) Lex and the Contessa immediately go on a seafaring honeymoon aboard a luxury yacht.

THE FINAL NIGHT
——————–The Final Night #1
——————–Azrael #23
——————–The Final Night #2
——————–Batman #536
——————–The Final Night #3
——————–Detective Comics #703
——————–Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 4 #86
——————–Robin Vol. 2 #35 Part 1
——————–The Final Night #4
——————–Robin Vol. 2 #35 Part 2
——————–Batman #537-538
——————–Green Lantern Vol. 3 #81
Late April. When a mysterious gigantic Sun-Eater engulfs the sun and begins to devour it, the Earth goes dark and the end of days seems near. (Sun-Eaters, massive amorphous blobs that feed on stars whole, are the larval form of their species. Eventually, Sun-Eaters grow into regular-size humanoid forms in adulthood. The most notorious of the Sun-Eaters is none other than the villain Starbreaker!) Global temperatures plummet and the sun is on the verge of going supernova. Superman’s powers begin to rapidly diminish without the yellow light of the sun to recharge him. Fearing the worst, Superman calls a huge gathering of the superheroes to brief everyone. This meeting includes Batman, Flash, Kyle Rayner, Dusk (a one-shot character that is an expert on Sun-Eaters), Takion, Rampage (Dr. Kitty Faulkner), Captain Atom’s Extreme Justice, Martian Manhunter’s Justice League Task Force, Wonder Woman’s Justice League America, and the 30th century’s Earth-247 Legion of Super-Heroes (Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Ultra Boy, Gates, Spark, and Inferno). (Bear in mind, this is an alternate Legion than we’ve met before. This is the “Reboot” Legion from Earth-247.)^[6] Later, in the Batcave, Alfred and Bruce argue with one another. Specifically, Alfred lays a guilt-trip on Bruce regarding his laissez-faire approach to helping Azrael with his war against the Order of St. Dumas. Alfred convinces Bruce to travel in disguise with Jean-Paul just to make sure he reaches his European destination safely. After making sure Azrael is okay, Bruce immediately returns to Gotham to deal with the quickly escalating “Final Night” situation, leaving Jean-Paul, Nomoz, and Lilhy to deal with the Order. As weather patterns spiral out of control and panicked riots break out all over the planet (aren’t people used to this shit yet?), the superhero community buckles-down to maintain order. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor decides the best way to convince everyone that he isn’t a criminal is to help the world’s heroes find a way to save the planet. Thus, Lex ends his honeymoon and finally makes his return to the public eye, teaming up with the superheroes. (Lex will soon be cleared of virtually all criminal charges, but not because he’s playing babyface. He’ll be cleared by claiming that his “son” Lex Luthor II was responsible for all wrongdoings. In actuality, Lex was Lex II, but he’ll fool the world as he usually does.) At hour twenty-seven without sunlight, Superman and Batman travel to Paris to stop Vandal Savage from stealing a portrait of his ex-girlfriend, some chick named Mona Lisa, who once posed for a painting! At twenty-eight hours without sunlight, Man-Bat freaks out and heads north because he’s afraid he won’t be able to control his bloodlust and doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Five days without sunlight and the crime in Gotham is rising, but Batman, Robin, Spoiler, and Huntress are still in control. The Earth-247 Legion of Super-Heroes (including Apparition, Shvaughn Erin, and Ferro) assist in the assault on the Sun-Eater. Even with the aid of the Legion, with two hours left until the sun explodes, all hope seems lost until Hal Jordan returns! Great stuff here as Superman welcomes him with open arms, but Batman flips-out and can only think of Hal as the insane monster we last saw him as in Zero Hour. (There is a recapitulation of this Hal Jordan return scene in a flashback from DC Universe Legacies #9 Part 1.) In the end, Hal redeems himself and uses the power of Parallax to save the Earth, but at the cost of his own life. Superman praises Hal as a martyr saying, “I’ll always think Hal died a hero.” To which Batman replies coldly, “Too bad that isn’t how he always lived.” In the aftermath of “The Final Night,” Batman apprehends Man-Bat in Antarctica. Shortly thereafter, Hal Jordan is given an epic hero’s funeral. Funeral attendees include: Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Huntress, Metamorpho, Swamp Thing, Carol Ferris, the Question, Lobo, Phantom Stranger, John Constantine, Starman (Jack Knight), the Kalmaku family, multiple Green Lanterns (including Brik and Salaak aka Salakk), multiple members of the Superman-Family, multiple members of the Flash-Family (including Flash’s fiancée Linda Park), all three branches of the JL, and more. Batman isn’t happy about the love-fest for Hal, but he does begrudgingly say he forgives him in the end. Later, even though the sun is restored, Superman’s powers continue to diminish due to the lack of sunlight over the past week. Eventually, his powers disappear completely. NOTE: Don’t forget that Parallax is a separate parasitic entity that had a symbiotic relationship with Hal during this time. (Hal was indeed insane, but the alien inside of him helped bring out the demons.) PS. As referenced in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #1, right before his own death, Hal is able to use the power of Parallax to bring the original Green Arrow Oliver Queen back from the dead! However, Ollie is resurrected without his soul and will live as a mindless homeless man in an alley for years before anyone finds out he is alive.

–Superman: The Wedding Album #1 
Lois Lane returns to Metropolis, having been gone ever since breaking up with Clark Kent a few months ago. Seeing that they are made for one another, Clark (still de-powered due to the effects of “The Final Night”) and Lois decide to get back together. And rather than wait a second longer, Clark and Lois finally get married! Bruce wishes them the best of luck. Much of the issue depicts the wedding (like an actual wedding ceremony) from beginning to end in detail. It’s really sappy and happy and nothing bad happens. No bad guys have the stones to crash this wedding.

–Batman: Gordon’s Law #1-4
Commissioner Gordon deals with rampant corruption within the GCPD (which had only gotten worse during his recent absence) and rogue federal agents in this crime story. “This is a police affair,” says Gordon, and he forces Batman to wait in the wings, a move that nearly costs Gordon his life.

–Nightwing Vol. 2 #5
Nightwing is back in Blüdhaven dealing with Blockbuster’s goons, most notably Lady Vic. We start to see the beginnings of Dick’s official life in Blüdhaven around now. He has an apartment there now, but he’s still technically in a transition period between Gotham and Blüdhaven. (Eventually, once Nightwing settles, he will become the official protector of Blüdhaven.) After Nightwing chases Lady Vic out of Blüdhaven, she travels to Gotham. In her alter ego of socialite Lady Elaine Marsh-Morton, she seduces J. Devlin Davenport, who introduces her to Bruce.

–REFERENCE: In Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne. May 9. Bruce, via Alfred, sends a flower arrangement to Dick to commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of the Flying Graysons.

–NOTE: In Superman: The Man of Steel #64. Thanks to Metron, Superman gets his powers back! (He had been without them since “The Final Night.”)^[7]

–Total Justice #1-3
Batman and Robin bust a super-villain named Iggy. A day later, a lone Parademon—who has gained autonomy and a sense of self and calls himself Mike—attacks Tim and his dad while they are yachting in the Caribbean. When Mike kidnaps Jack Drake, Robin puts out an alert signal, which is received by all three branches of the JLA. (Notably, Amazing Man and The Wonder Twins—Zan and Jayna—have joined Captain Atom’s Extreme Justice branch!) Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and Green Lantern go to a nearby cloaked island to help Robin, but Mike goes into an underground lair. The metapowered heroes realize their super-abilities are nullified thanks to the island’s cloaking device. Thus, Blue Beetle and Gypsy arrive with gaudy silver “Fractal Armor” for all the heroes to wear (as per the request of the toy makers associated with the production of this mini-series). The heroes fight Mike and deal with holographic illusions created by an Apokoliptian machine. Batman eventually confronts Mike, who reveals his backstory: Long ago, Darkseid stationed a troop of Parademons on the island. Over time, some of the Parademons began to develop personalities and the ability to speak, notably Mike, who became the group’s leader. Just as Mike finishes his story, Darkseid himself arrives, looking to retrieve his lost squadron. The heroes defeat the Parademons before a bored Darkseid returns to Apokolips. Afterward, Batman secretly escorts Mike back to his underground lair on the island and gives him a functional satellite TV and internet to keep him occupied, warning him never to leave again.

–The Batman Chronicles #7 Part 1
Superman and Batman investigate a cold death-row case in order to save someone’s life at the eleventh hour. Their investigations tell a tale that neither one expected. In the end, the duo is able to get the inmate’s case appealed, but she dies before the news can reach her executioners. Batman doesn’t appear in The Batman Chronicles #7 Part 2, but it overlaps with the first part and features Dick and Donna Troy meeting up to have a long chat about life, love, and whatever. Batman only appears via flashback in The Batman Chronicles #7 Part 3, in which Tim and Connor Hawke (the new Green Arrow) reminisce about their mentors in action. The flashback in this part shows a Batman/Ollie Queen team-up from roughly two years ago.

–JLA Incarnations #6 Part 2
Captain Atom’s “extreme” JL team invades Bialya in order to end Queen Bee II‘s dictatorial reign of terror. (Queen Bee II is the sister of the now deceased previous leader of Bialya, Queen Bee I.) However, Atom’s invasion isn’t sanctioned by the US Government. The UN, wanting to distance itself from the political mess, withdraws funding and support for all of the Justice League branches, thus officially dissolving the entire League (and all League branches). On TV, a panel consisting of Lex Luthor, Amanda Waller, Maxwell Lord, and Ralph Dibny discuss the ostensible collapse of the superhero community. In the wake of the dissolution of the League(s), Batman meets Superman and they vow to be a part of the next version of the JLA, promising to make it the best version of the team yet. NOTE: Superman should have his long hair look in this issue, but he doesn’t. Chalk it up to an artistic error.

–Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare #1-3
Dr. Destiny joins forces with the evil Know Man. With the recent abolishment of the Justice League there isn’t anyone strong enough to confront the villains, so DC’s “Big Guns” (having worked together well during the recent “Final Night” conflict), join forces to stop them. Batman fights side-by-side with Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, GL Kyle Rayner, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman. These collective superheroes don’t officially call themselves a team yet, but this adventure sets the tone for our very next story. PS. This story obviously doesn’t take place in midsummer. The title is simply a Shakespeare pun.

–JLA Secret Files and Origins #1 Part 1
The same heroes from A Midsummer’s Nightmare prevent a Star Conqueror (a gigantic green member of Starro’s parasitic alien race) from taking over Flash’s hometown of Blue Valley, Nebraska. Batman saves everyone’s ass by rescuing Flash, who had been mind-controlled and was leading an army of zombified humans. The Spectre, after initially disapproving of the team’s intervention in Blue Valley, designates them as the new Justice League of America! (Following this case, the JLA keeps a mini-Starro as a trophy—as referenced in JLA #22.)

–REFERENCE: In JLA Secret Files and Origins #2 Part 2. The new JLA poses for a photo, which gets developed, framed, and added to the trophy room.

–JLA #1-4 (“NEW WORLD ORDER”)
As the old Justice League is cleaning their stuff out of the JLA Satellite, a strange alien craft lands on Earth. The Hyperclan has arrived! These all-star superheroes from a galaxy far, far away have come to clean up Earth and take over as the brand new meta-powered protectors of the world. Superman is skeptical, as well he should be. In a short amount of time, the Hyperclan wins over the hearts of the planet and crime is down significantly as each alien Hyperclan warrior acts as judge, jury, and executioner. It’s not long before Batman realizes the truth. The Hyperclan is comprised of evil White Martians that have been successful thus far in their quest to slowly take over Earth! The “Big Guns” that assembled in Midsummer’s Nightmare meet once again and join forces to defeat the White Martians. Unfortunately, in the process, the JLA Satellite is ruined and Metamorpho is killed. (As referenced in JLA Secret Files and Origins #2 Part 2, the JLA keeps a large globe from the Hyperclan’s fortress as a trophy. The JLA also collects all of its old trophies, which were undamaged but blown out into space when the Hyperclan destroyed the satellite. As also referenced in JLA Secret Files and Origins #2 Part 2, the JLA decides, as a general mandate, that they will keep much of what they do in the future a secret from the general public—for the public’s own safety. The JLA also meets with several national governments across the globe, who specifically request keeping as many JLA cases top secret so as not to cause widespread panic among the various citizenries.) In the following weeks, a gigantic fortress known as the Watchtower will quickly be constructed on the Moon. It will house the new JLA headquarters. The JLA is officially back and there’s no question that this is one of the strongest lineups ever. Classic Grant Morrison stuff. If you want to see a truly badass Batman, Morrison’s JLA version of the Dark Knight is second to none. (Note that a canonical flashbacks from the second feature to 52 #8 and the Rebirth Era’s Flash Vol. 5 #47 both show the “Big Guns” JLA lineup posing.)

–NOTE: In Dr. StrangeFate #1. The Amalgam Universe (created at the conclusion of the DC vs Marvel Comics story-arc) is destroyed. The only survivor of the cataclysm is Dr. StrangeFate (a mash-up of Dr. Fate, Dr. Strange, and Professor X). StrangeFate is able to hide himself deep within the psyche of Dr. Strange on Earth-616.

–DC/Marvel: All Access #3-4
The follow-up to DC vs Marvel Comics and the destruction of the Amalgam Universe. When several Marvel characters accidentally breach into the DCU, Access is on the case. He recruits Jubilee and together they visit Robin in Gotham. Robin and Jubilee team-up to defeat Two-Face, while Batman defeats Scorpion. Afterward, Robin and Jubilee smooch a bit and Tim feels bad about cheating on Ariana. Access can’t figure out what is going on with the random inter-dimensional breakdown, but Batman volunteers to accompany him back to Earth-616’s New York City to investigate. In NYC-616, Batman and Access accost Dr. Strange. Then the X-Men show up and Batman successfully holds his own in a fight against the entire team! As the sheer manpower of the X-Men eventually begins to overtake the Dark Knight, the JLA bursts onto the scene ready for action. As the X-Men battle the JLA, Dr. StrangeFate makes his dramatic return and begins merging characters together in an attempt to recreate his lost universe. The individual X-Men merge with the individual members of the JLA to form a mash-up “X-League.” For instance, Batman merges with Jubilee to become a Batgirl-type character. In the end, Dr. StrangeFate is able to recreate the original Amalgam Universe as it was, but Dr. Strange is able to contain the entire Amalgam Universe (including StrangeFate) in a tiny pocket-sized sphere, which he will hold onto for safe-keeping. The “X-League” is un-merged and the JLA returns to Earth-0.

–JLA 80-Page Giant #1 Part 5
It has been nearly two weeks since the formation of the new JLA. Their new Watchtower headquarters, built on the surface of the Moon, is just about operational. While finishing construction touches are made on the Watchtower, the team issues a globally-televised press meeting, much to the chagrin of the DCU’s super-villain community. Afterward, J’onn disguises himself as Brain Wave and organizes a huge entrapment sting operation, inviting a bunch of bad guys to join together as a supposed new Secret Society of Super-Villains. “Brain Wave” gets thirty suckers to buy his bogus crime syndicate by convincing them that there are many other members waiting in the wings in other cities for a coordinated attack against the JLA. When the thirty dupes—including Cheshire, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, The Prankster, Monocle, and several of Batman’s rogues—are assembled, J’onn marches them into the waiting arms of the JLA.

–NOTE: In Superman Vol. 2 #123. Superman unexpectedly changes into a blue electromagnetic energy being and dons his new cape-less “electric” containment-suit costume. Welcome Superman Blue!

–REFERENCE: In Batman: Poison Ivy. May. Bruce attends the Cannes Film Festival, meeting up with his friend Christopher DeJardin. A countess invites both Bruce and DeJardin to an afterparty, but Bruce declines the invitation. Bruce later hears that DeJardin has hooked up with the countess.

–Superboy/Robin: World’s Finest Three #2
With Bruce away on official Wayne Enterprises business for the weekend, Robin is on his own. Robin meets Superboy for the first time! Unfortunately, the Boy of Steel gets seduced by the pheromones of the deadly Poison Ivy. Dick grabs Alfred and Batman’s Kryptonite ring and chases Superboy and Ivy to Hawaii. There, Ivy pits Superboy against Robin. Eventually, Superboy shakes off Ivy’s spell and teams-up with the Boy Wonder to defeat both Poison Ivy and Metallo. Back in Gotham, Batman returns and congratulates Robin and Alfred on a job well done.

–REFERENCE: In Infinite Crisis #1 Part 1. Batman secretly installs his own black box recording system aboard the still-under-construction Watchtower Moon-base.

–NOTE: In Robin Vol. 2 #36. For the first time in two years, Tim’s father Jack is fully rehabilitated and able to walk again (!), thanks mostly to physiotherapist Dana Winters, who will eventually marry Jack and become Tim’s stepmom.

–The Power of Shazam! #22^[8]
Batman travels to Fawcett City and teams-up with Captain Marvel to defeat the villain Lady M.

–JLA Secret Files and Origins #1 Part 2
The new JLA meets the new electrically-powered blue Superman, who says they should test his new powers to make sure he is still worthy of being on the team. Superman runs through a gamut of testing, which Batman doesn’t even bother to help administer, citing remotely, “Of course he’s in. He’s Superman.”

–REFERENCE: In JLA Secret Files and Origins #1 Part 3. Aquaman watches live footage of Batman busting an escaped Joker on a Watchtower monitor.

–JLA/WildCATs “Crime Machine”
The JLA meets the ultimate superhero team from Wildstorm’s Earth-50, the WildCATs (Grifter, Majestic, Maul, Void, and Zealot). Together, the two teams prevent Epoch aka The Lord of Time from destroying the multiverse.

–Detective Comics #704
This is a one-shot story about the loser criminal Al Gabone, who attempts reform but just can’t catch a break.

–second feature to Batman: Gotham Knights #37 (Batman: Black & White)
In this B&W back-up, Scarecrow and his henchmen steal a bio-weapon from STAR Labs and combine it with his patented Fear Gas. Unfortunately, the combo leaks out of its canister and penetrates the minds of both the bad guys and Batman alike. Batman is able to shake off the effects of the drug and send Scarecrow back to Arkham.

–Batman: Blackgate #1
Batman hears a tip that something big is going down at Blackgate Penitentiary, so he dons a fat-suit and goes undercover as the “man who can get anything on the inside” baby-killer known as Shoppie. Once on the inside, Batman unravels a complicated plan masterminded by the former Cluemaster, Arthur Brown. Brown has been long planning on escaping Blackgate with Titus Samuel Czonka (aka Czonk), Firefly, Ratcatcher, Dragoncat, Actuary, and a few other buddies. After a prison riot and cameos from every Blackgate inmate from Gunhawk to the Trigger Twins to Steeljacket, Brown and company make it outside the prison walls where they meet up with the returning Cap’n Fear (!), who has been hired by Brown to taxi-boat them off the island. Fear quickly realizes Batman is on the case and high tails it outta there. No one passes “Go.” No one collects $200. They all end up straight back in jail (except for a few lucky ones who actually manage to get away).

–Detective Comics #705-707
During the events of “The Final Night,” Riddler paid off an Arkham orderly to break his wrist so that he could be transferred to Mercy General Hospital. Now, Riddler easily escapes from the hospital while his lovely henchwomen Query and Echo bust Arthur Brown (Cluemaster) out of his parole hearing at the courthouse. For those wondering, Query and Echo have been around since Bat Year Two, but they never really develop into fully-fleshed out characters until now. Anyway, Riddler straps remote controlled bombs to the Cluemaster’s chest and forces Batman and Robin to haul him all around town solving a bunch of riddles. If they fail to solve the puzzles, the Cluemaster will explode. Think Die Hard With a Vengeance. With Oracle’s help (and Brown’s) the Dynamic Duo are able to discover the Riddler’s secret location and stop him.

–The Batman Chronicles #9 Part 3
Poison Ivy creates a plant-gerbil hybrid and gives it to an Arkham guard who then gives it to his daughter to have as a pet. Yeah, the logic of some dude giving his six-year-old daughter a present from a deadly killer known as Poison Ivy is completely inane, but whatever. The gerbil thing multiplies like a Tribble overnight and by morning thousands of the creatures are swarming all over town. Batman visits Ivy at Arkham where she reveals she caused all the chaos because she missed him. In exchange for a kiss on the cheek, Ivy turns all the critters into strawberries. Crisis averted.

–Batman: The Hill #1 Part 1
Batman and the GCPD chase international jewel thieves into the Black Gotham ghetto known as The Hill. In the ensuing chaos, a fourteen-year-old local gangbanger is killed by police gunfire, inciting the neighborhood. Tensions in the Black community rise and protests erupt outside of police headquarters, much to the chagrin of Commissioner Gordon. At the boy’s funeral, Batman (in disguise) meets the untouchable criminal Demitrius Korlee, who runs the Hill Gang with an iron fist. Batman busts one of Korlee’s drug dealers, Bobby Z, prompting Korlee to bail the latter out only to silence him with a quick death.

–REFERENCE: In Resurrection Man #7. Batman learns about Resurrection Man (Mitch Shelley), a metahuman hero that can supposedly reanimate himself after death. Curious, Batman begins logging each reported sighting of Resurrection Man into a database. The Dark Knight won’t actually meet him for a few months.

–Batman Plus #1
Cheshire has just detonated nuclear bombs in Qurac, virtually destroying the entire nation. In retaliation, Quraci nationals, led by KGBeast, kidnap her. Who could possibly care enough to risk life and limb to save a woman who literally just nuked an entire country? Arsenal, of course! Why? Because Cheshire is the mother of his child. You may know him better as former Teen Titan, Speedy (Roy Harper)! Anyway, Roy travels to Blüdhaven and asks Dick to ask Batman to help him out. Batman and Arsenal team-up and travel to Zurich, where Arsenal takes out the Beast, while Batman converses with Cheshire, which adds another layer to the case. Unknown to Roy, his very young daughter Lian Harper had been kidnapped by the Beast as well, and Cheshire was being blackmailed for a ton of cash. Lian, being held back in the States, is saved by Nightwing. Any book by Devin Grayson usually makes for a good read, and this one’s no exception, especially if you are into some amazing Roy banter.

–REFERENCE: In Batman: The Hill #1. A week has passed since the first part of Batman: The Hill. Batman steals maps detailing the Hill neighborhood from the Hall of Records. The Dark Knight begins building a fake Batcave within the boundaries of the Hill as part of an elaborate ruse to nab crime boss Demitrius Korlee.

–FLASHBACK: From Nightwing Vol. 2 #75. Dick tells Batman that he is permanently moving to Blüdhaven. Batman is sad to see him leave, but Dick assures him it is for the best.

–Batman: Phantom Stranger
Common criminals seek the mystic secrets of the 10-thousand-year-old Lemurian civilization. The Phantom Stranger shows up and asks for Batman’s assistance after an ancient Lemurian power-ring is stolen from a tomb. At the conclusion of the story, Batman and the Stranger are able to stop the criminals. Jon Konik (remember him from way back in ‘tec #614?) dons the power-ring and we learn the mystic secret of the Lemurians: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Shit, that’s the Golden Rule. Words to live by.

–Batman: Black and White #2 Part 2
Summer. Batman hears about an eleven-year-old felon involved in a drive-by shooting. He studies up on the boy, learning that he’s part of a gang led by a drug pusher named BD. Three days later, a bunch of pre-adolescent gangbangers silence their partner-in-crime, killing the eleven-year-old in cold blood. Batman takes down the bunch of murderous kids before turning his attention to bringing down BD and his adult crew as well.

–Batman: Black and White #2 Part 3
One of Batman’s prior busts breaks out of prison and sets a trap for Batman as revenge. The fugitive kills a family in an alley, leaving it as bait. Sure enough, Batman takes the bait, which leads to multiple bullet wounds. Batman gets dumped into the sewers, left for dead. Thankfully, Batman is wearing body armor. He recovers and presumably busts his would-be assassin.

–Batman: Black and White #2 Part 4
Commissioner Gordon asks Batman to look into a series of unsolved gangland murders. Batman takes the case and begins his investigation, quickly discovering that a tricky mob-linked concrete worker is responsible for all the hits. Batman makes an easy bust. (Note that Batman: Black and White #2 Part 5 is a Neil Gaiman/Simon Bisley meta-story about actors playing the roles of Batman and Joker. As such, it is non-canon.)

–Batman #539
Peter Ostine is a grave-robber that makes sculptures out of human bones. After he gets arrested, he chokes on a chicken bone and dies. Sweet irony.

–Batman: Black and White #3 Part 2
When a psychiatrist learns that a woman he is treating is having recurring nightmares about Batman, he does some digging and learns that she has a repressed childhood memory of being kidnapped by a bad guy and then rescued by Batman. Seeing that a ruined doll is a key fixture in her nightmares (and was also a central part of the kidnapping), the doctor reaches out to Batman (presumably via the police) and gets him to help out. While the woman sleeps, Batman visits her and gives her a doll. Now that’s therapy.

–Batman: Black and White #4 Part 2
Batman investigates the laboratory of a super-scientist, discovering that he’s kidnapped a bunch of people and turned them into hideous monsters in a giant vat. Caught, the scientist shoots at Batman, accidentally releasing all the creatures. They drag the scientist to his death while escaping into Gotham Bay. Out tale ends with Batman saying, “It’s going to be a long night.” We can guess that Batman catches some of these monsters, but this might give a nice origin to some of the unexplained strange creatures we’ll see in the DCU moving forward. (Note that Batman: Black and White #4 Part 3 is an Eisner Award-winning story by Archie Goodwin and Gary Gianni. It is, however, non-canon—an imaginary story featuring a Golden Age-styled Batman in the 1940s.)

–Batman: Black and White #4 Part 4
Batman gets shot in the chest by a bad guy, after which he has a series of intense near-death hallucinations.

–Batman: Black and White #4 Part 5
Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo does Batman! Batman aids Commissioner Gordon and the GCPD in tracking down a serial killer with multiple personalities. As Batman confronts the killer, the latter hulks up and escapes. Later, at Wayne Manor, Bruce contemplates whether or not his dual identity could lead to multiple personality disorder for himself down the road. When the serial killer is trapped by police but refuses to give in quietly, a bare-chested Batman confronts the killer one-one-one to bring him to justice. No longer acting as Bruce or Batman, our hero has donned his “third mask” in order to take down his schizophrenic foe.

–Batman: The Hill #1 Part 2
Two weeks have passed since the first part of The Hill. After a fancy gala (attended as Bruce), Batman sets into motion an elaborate plan that involves a ton of subterfuge and espionage tactics. The Dark Knight then feeds Demitrius Korlee disinformation and, a few days later, lures him to a fake Batcave within the boundaries of the Hill neighborhood. Korlee, thinking he has exposed a huge secret of the Bat, lets his guard down, allowing Batman to get the jump on him and bring him to justice. Afterward, Batman reflects on the case with Gordon and then with Alfred.

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1. ^[1]COLLIN COLSHER: Bruce turns 40-years-old in February 2003. But before moving on, I have something important to say! In the comics, around this publishing time period, Tim is said to be in 10th grade and roughly 14-years-old. However, due to retcons, he should actually only be in junior high and only 12-years-old. As usual, here are the first six months of the year to start. January through June are particularly compressed, containing a lot of material. This is almost literally a catalogue of every single day of Batman’s life for six months.↩
2. ^[2]COLLIN COLSHER / ELLIOT: Spider-Man & Batman: Disordered Minds is indeed canon because it is referenced in the upcoming Spider-Man/Batman team-up number two, which is in turn mentioned in the definitively canon Ultimate Access storyline, which is coming up soon as well. Notably, in DC vs Marvel Comics #1, when Spider-Man materializes in Gotham, Joker recognizes him from a previous encounter. This would indicate that Disordered Minds occurs before DC vs Marvel Comics, which makes sense since the former was published five months prior to the latter.↩
3. ^[3]COLLIN COLSHER / AVINOAM YAGUR / SAM GROOVER / ODI: Chuck Dixon wrote The Chalice after he penning Bane of the Demon #1-4 (and contributing to “Contagion” and “Legacy”). While The Chalice definitively goes before “Legacy” and Bane of the Demon #3, it is hard to place with more specificity beyond that. However, in The Chalice, Batman is very cold towards Azrael, which suggests it happens before “Contagion.” Furthermore, there is only a relatively short amount of in-story time between “Contagion” and “Legacy,” and little room for The Chalice to fit into that gap—again, hinting at it going prior to “Contagion.” Because Bane isn’t mentioned in The Chalice, it also seems to go prior to Bane’s partnership with Ra’s al Ghul i.e. prior to Bane of the Demon #1 Part 2.

   The one thing that really complicates the process of placing The Chalice before “Contagion” and Bane of the Demon #1 Part 2 is the tale’s brief Jim Gordon cameo. The implication is that Gordon is commissioner, but this cannot be the case if our tale is pre-“Contagion” (in which Gordon is reinstated). However, in The Chalice, Gordon is never specifically referred to as commissioner. He does refer to himself as a cop, but he’d always refer to himself that way no matter what. And while Batman and Gordon do meet in an office complete with a note-board and crime-files, it’s not made entirely clear that they are at police HQ. (This probably isn’t Gordon’s home, but maybe he is still keeping an office at police HQ or he is renting out office space? There are various fanwank possibilities. Or worse comes to worse, we can ignore this single page as a continuity error or simply ignore its setting.) It’s vague, but it seems as though Dixon’s intention was always to have The Chalice act as a prequel to Bane of the Demon and “Contagion.” Therefore, it makes sense to place The Chalice here while noting that, in it, Gordon is not commissioner.↩

4. ^[4]COLLIN COLSHER: Joker: Devil’s Advocate features a reinstated Commissioner Jim Gordon, hence its placement here. Additionally, Devil’s Advocate is the last time we’ll see Joker on our timeline until “Day 83” of Joker’s Apprentice in Late March. Notably, Joker will lose all his hair in Devil’s Advocate, but by the time he gets to “Day 83” of Joker’s Apprentice, roughly a month-and-a-half from now, his full head of hair will be back. We should also note that Devil’s Advocate starts immediately after the Batman-less “Day 46” of Joker’s Apprentice, which occurs roughly on February 19. (This is the last place we see Joker with a full head of hair prior to Devil’s Advocate.) But ultimately, the hair stuff is nitpicking. Editorial probably never bothered to tell any other artists to account for Joker’s depilated dome. If artists don’t show Joker growing his hair out after having had it shaved off, we can easily fanwank that he wears a toupee. After all, Mark Waid has him wear a toupee after shaving his head bald in a later continuity!↩
5. ^[5]COLLIN COLSHER: The third and final part of The Batman Chronicles #6 details some of Bruce’s training in Chicago a few years before becoming Batman.↩
6. ^[6]COLLIN COLSHER: What is the deal with this new Legion? It’s very confusing, there’s no doubt about it, but I’ll try to break it down in layman’s terms. Originally, there was only one Earth-0 Legion of Super-Heroes. In 1991, a cloned version of Legion (the “Batch SW6” Legion) appeared—and were subsequently killed in 1994. In that same year of 1994, Zero Hour rebooted the Earth-0 Legion entirely, creating brand new version of the Legion that was basically a mash-up of the SW6 and original versions. (This Legion was nicknamed the “Reboot Legion.”) In 2004’s Teen Titans/Legion Special #1, a separate Legion was created for the Earth-Prime timeline. (This Legion was nicknamed the “Threeboot Legion” because it was the third legit version of the team, not including the SW6 clones.) However, in 2006, Infinite Crisis retconned Legion history in a very specific way. The post-Zero Hour Earth-0 Legion became a wholly separate Legion from an alternate timeline, specifically from Earth-247. This meant the original Earth-0 Legion, the one that existed prior to Zero Hour, was re-instated. (This is another big example of Zero Hour being completely neutered in terms of its narrative retcon effect.) As such, there are three primary Legions: the Earth-0 Legion aka the original pre-Zero Hour Legion, the Earth-247 Legion aka the post-Zero Hour Legion aka the “Reboot Legion,” and the Earth-Prime Legion aka the “Threeboot Legion.” Our chronology already reflects the retcons mentioned above.↩
7. ^[7]TROY DOLINER / COLLIN COLSHER: Superman gets his powers back in the Batman-less Superman: The Man of Steel #64. Notably, Perry White also suffers an emergency and goes to the hospital in that very same issue. For Superman’s chronology, the also-Batman-less Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #7 is supposed to (according to cover “triangle number” order) directly follow Superman: The Man of Steel #64. However, in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #7, Maxima mentions the dissolution of the Extreme Justice team. Plus, Perry White is out and about, fully healthy. This not only implies a gap between the aforementioned issues, but it also means that Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #7 must unequivocally go after JLA Incarnations #6 Part 2, which occurs about a week from now. This doesn’t have too much bearing upon our Batman chronology, but it does help us properly synch up with Superman’s chronology.↩
8. ^[8]TROY DOLINER: The Power of Shazam! #22 goes prior to JLA Secret Files and Origins #1 Part 2 in order to jibe with Supergirl’s chronology. Supergirl’s appearances around this era go in the following order—The Power of Shazam! #22-23, then Supergirl Plus #1 (aka Supergirl Plus the Power of Shazam!), then Supergirl Vol. 4 #9, then JLA Secret Files and Origins #1 Part 2, then JLA/WildCATs, then eventually JLA #5 Part 1—thus dictating the order for Batman-related titles as well.↩