Bat-Countdown Continues!!

We are now only five days away from my buddy-Doug-provided screening of "The Dark Knight!" And to that effect....

In the meantime, see if you can figure out what is significant about this comic:

That is the cover to the first comic I have any recollection of owning, and most likely, there weren't many before it. It was on sale in September of 1976, which would put me at five and a half years of age when I plucked it off the newsstand.

One of the things that I vividly recall from back then was an exciting scene where Batman finds himself in a very un-Dark Knight-ish scene. Take a look at this:

Yes, that is famous Caped Crusader of Gotham City trapped in the middle of a buffalo stampede! Most of you never thought you would see the day; however, it was quite possibly my introduction to the comic adventures of this dread figure of the night!

Another thing about this book that fascinated me was the final page. I remember being so shocked by the ending and "dying" to find out what happened next! I still can picture myself searching desperately for the next issue at the newsstand we used to go to at the Carlisle Plaza. The comics were on the bottom shelf below all the magazines right at the front of the store. I was squatting down on the ground looking all over for #283. I guess I eventually found it, but I don't have great memories of it like I do this issue.

Anyway, here is the way this issue ended:

Can you even believe that??? They shot Batman, point blank, in the back of the head as he was piloting an airplane!! As if the bullet to the brain wasn't enough, they guarantee him a fiery crash as well!! Outrageous! I'm getting fired up over it now; imagine how I was as a five year old!!

So anyway, this is the issue I credit for kicking off my 32 year love affair with the greatest of all superheroes, Batman! So much action between two covers - I still love it! I would say that, from this point on, I was a "comic book fan." I would buy as many as I could get a hold of, but I wasn't yet a "comic book collector." I'll show you the book that caused THAT transformation tomorrow!

Oh, and in case you want to know how Batman survived the bullet to the back of the head, this is how he did it. Even though you can't see the outline of it in the drawing, he was wearing a really hard flight helmet under his cowl, so the bullet never even pierced his skin. I'm not sure why the killers didn't notice the lack of blood or the fact that their bullet was ricocheting all over the cabin, but at age five, I never really thought about it.

More tomorrow - same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!!!