Man-Bat Pt. 16: Batman Family #15

Gotham City has been the proving-ground of the Batman, Robin, Batgirl — the “greats” of crime-fighting! But is also the home of a resourceful, battle-scarred Viet-Nam veteran whose only weapons in the war on crime are a cane and a razor-sharp intelligence — Jason Bard.

Man-Bat visits Captain Daniels to gather information about the shotgun sniper plaguing New York City.

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Meanwhile, private detective Jason Bard visits the Langstrom’s apartment for the third time. Francine lets him in to talk, but may soon regret it…

Mrs. Langstrom — you are the only connection I can find between the sniper’s victims — the common denominator!

After he’s told to leave, Bard waits on the roof for Man-Bat to return home. When he does, he sees Bard’s cane and mistakes him for the sniper. While they head towards a face-off:

Notes

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It’s very funny when Man-Bat finds the man on the roof that believes he is a pigeon-demon. He tells him instead that he’s the god of the bats! Then…

I really like the art by Michael Golden. Just look at the way he draws Man-Bat, often exploding outside the panel frame:

Meanwhile, the the Batmail Family letters column, two readers, Beth Montelone and Mike White “found the were-jaguar schtick a trifle hard to accept.” Writer Bob Rozakis explains…

The name [Uturuncu] was found in Julie’s [Schwartz] copy of Roget’s Thesaurus during the plotting session of the Man-Bat tale. The search for a definition ended with fellow-editor Murray Boltinoff’s unabridged dictionary, which gave us the authentic information utilized in the story.

There you go… once again proving that comics are educational!

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Title: Batman Family

Issue #: 15

Cover Date: Dec./Jan. 1977

On Sale Date: Sept. 29, 1977

Writer(s): Bob Rozakis

Artist: Michael Golden

Editor: Julius Schwartz