Man-Bat Pt. 8: Man-Bat #1

Beginning a bold new series featuring fantasy’s most bizarre hero – the macabre Man-Bat!

In the home of Kirk Langstrom, his wife, Francine, suddenly transforms into a She-Bat (?) and flies out the window. Someone in Gotham City has summoned her to kill a man…

Kirk takes the bat-gland serum so he can fly after her. When he encounters illusions that delay him, he realizes…

It’s got to be the doing of that creep – that Baron Tyme!

Several blocks north, Francine hears Baron Tyme telling her to kill the man on the street below her and she swoops down toward him. Her husband stops her in the nick of time, vowing…

Baron Tyme is going to suffer for this!

As the man, Professor Raymond Arthur, is just about to tell Kirk about his associate’s (Clement Tyme, professor of medieval history), Francine awakes and kills him.

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While Batman investigates Man-Bat’s whereabouts, the winged creature gets his wife home and delivers the antidote to return her to human form. But just then…

After the obligatory fight between two heroes, when they stop to actually talk to each other…

Batman offers to help Langstrom take down Baron Tyme, but Kirk exclaims:

Baron Tyme is mine. Ever since I first became Man-Bat, you’ve dominated my existence -- helping me – even curing me at the risk of my life! But not tonight. Skreee-eek! Tonight – the Man-Bat flies alone!

In Tyme’s “Star Chamber,” tentacles come out of the wall to grab Man-Bat and the villain gets to tell him his origin…

[ ]

Man-Bat emits a sub-sonic sound that drives Tyme crazy in with pain. In the confusion that follows, there’s fire and an explosion and Man-Bat flies away wondering if he killed him.

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Notes

"Clement Tyme?" Really?

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Yea for continuity! On p. 3, the story originally presented three years ago in Detective Comics #429 is clearly acknowledged:

Batman is also aware of this and reminds of us another plot point from Brave & the Bold #121. Wait a minute… it’s from Brave & the Bold #119. #121 featured the Metal Men, not Man-Bat. There may be no continuity errors here, but editor Gerry Conway got his back issues confused:

Since it’s the first issue, there’s no letter page. Instead, we get a one-page recap of Man-Bat’s previous seven appearances called, The Mystery of the Man-Bat. At the end, the editor provides a teaser:

Meanwhile, you’ll be seeing more of our hero, as scripted by a gentleman who wrote in to a similar letter column five years ago in praise of The Challenge of the Man-Bat – Martin Pasko. Marty’s letter commented that Man-Bat was the first reoccurring villain of the new Batman era, and editor Julie Schwartz replied with a plug for the second such villain – the Ten-Eyed Man – who will be featured in Marty’s first Man-Bat epic – on sale the second week of November!

Finally, because... well... Vincent Price. No reason needed:

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Title: Man-Bat

Issue #: 1

Cover Date: Dec.-Jan., 1975

On Sale Date: Sept. 4, 1975

Writer(s): Gerry Conway

Pencils: Steve Ditko

Inks: Allen Milgram

Editor: Gerry Conway