Amongst my collection of some 30 boxes of comic books, I have one long box of precious comics that I won’t sell.  Now, at long last, I reveal…what is inside…THE KEEPER BOX!

Detective Comics #526

Writer	Gerry Conway
Artist	Don Newton
Inker	Alfredo Alcala
Colorist	Adrienne Roy
Letterer	Ben Oda
Cover Artist	Don Newton, Dick Giordano
Editor	Len Wein

In this special anniversary issue marking Batman’s 500th appearance in Detective since issue #27 (and yes, that’s right, #526 is the right number, not #527… though that’s one of those “when is the real millennium?” puzzlers that reveals you as a math nerd).  After building up in Batman #359 with the origin of Killer Croc and his claim as the new king of Gotham’s underworld who will finally kill the Batman, this story opens with a gathering of many of Batman’s arch-foes.

This two-page shot knocked my socks off back when I was 13.  Even back then, I realized that these gatherings of Batman super-villains were uncommon.  These days, I know, it’s pretty much nothing to see so many villains together.  Still… what a shot!

This is also a great look at how much turnover there is in Batman’s rogue’s gallery. Gentleman Ghost isn’t even considered a Bat-villain anymore. The Mad Hatter is still in his “mind-controlling hats” characterization.  Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, the Cavalier and The Spook aren’t relegated to the dregs yet.  This issue also features The Getaway Genius (who?) and the Signalman (ugh, a horrible name, costume and concept!).   The Signalman hides inside the Bat-Signal to surprise Batman.  He should be surprised, given how ridiculously hot a searchlight that size would get.

Captain Stingaree (another who?) gets killed in this issue.  Well, technically, he’s frozen.  I guess it’s possible that he just got thawed out, which would explain his later turning up alive as the Cavalier’s gay lover.

Mr. Freeze is in his dorky fishbowl costume.  Say what you will about the Super-Powers toy line revamp, but at least it introduced the idea of a more exoskeletal costume which is how he has been portrayed ever since.

Talia and Catwoman are also in this story.  Both are aware of Batman’s secret identity and both love him too much to take part in the villains’ plans.

Talia gets away because Two-Face flips his coin and it tells him that he must let Talia go.  I want you to remember this for a later article, because it seems as though Two-Face has changed a great deal in the way he’s portrayed.

Speaking of that…check out Killer Croc!

Killer Croc used to be a gang-leader in his own right.  He wasn’t some 8-foot gator-monster with a tail who ate people! He was just a southern black kid who was cursed with a skin condition that made it look like he had scales, and he had sharpened his teeth himself in order to be more intimidating.  I used to like Killer Croc.

I love this moment toward the end where Robin is confronting Joker, and Joker walks backward straight into Croc’s mightiest roundhouse punch.  It seems to shut down the brain activity very quickly.

Batgirl is in this issue, too. Here’s one reason this issue is pivotal: Batgirl reveals that she has known who Batman and Robin are for a while.

The other reason it’s pivotal?  Oh, because Dick Grayson turns to some old aerialist friends from the circus and enlists their aid in going after Killer Croc.  Croc discovers the spies and feeds them to the alligators at the zoo.  Why should that matter?

They’re The Flying Todds.   The parents of Jason Todd, who was just introduced.  In this issue, Jason is wandering around Wayne Manor, sees the door behind the grandfather clock and sneaks into the Batcave.  He dresses up in a red and green costume of Dick’s that he finds in a trunk, and when the Batmobile returns to the cave he hides in the trunk, holding his finger in the lock to allow him to escape when Batman goes to confront Croc.

I know, I know, in this day and age where the car is computerized with anti-theft measures, and the cave has intruder alerts, Jason’s low-tech break-in comes off as highly unlikely.

In the end, Batman and Robin must contend with the poor orphaned child, and guess who wants to adopt him?  No, not Bruce.  Dick!

With all that has been done to Jason Todd in the last five years, taking him from a disobedient brat and turning him into a crime boss or a deranged Batman or whatever, you may be hard pressed to read this story today without bringing along all of that baggage.  But from 1983-1986, Jason Todd wasn’t any of that.  He was a bright, cheerful kid who made a great Robin.

The problem was, the fanboys complained about him.  Another orphan from a family of aerialists, and he’s just like the old playful Robin that Dick Grayson was?  Pooey!  And so, after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, they did a story called “Did Robin Die Tonight?” where Batman fires Dick Grayson and then takes in a street urchin with a huge chip on his shoulder.  That Jason Todd I never liked.

I leave you with one last thing: a reminder of how much clothing women wore in the 1980s.  Remember, this story has both sexy Talia and the alluring Catwoman in it.  And here they are in their civilian IDs.

Trust me, I was in high school  This is how girls used to dress!  Long sleeves, with buttons up to their neck all buttoned.  If you don’t believe me, look at 1983 episodes of Cheers or Newhart!  Of course, today’s young women dress wayyyyy too skanky, but there has to be some kind of happy medium, right?  Ah, well…

If you’ve never read this story, you should do your best to get a hold of a copy.  But you can’t buy mine…it’s in my Keeper Box!