A Month of... Batman's Got a Gun, Day 10: Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Floor

Na na na na na na na na request night!

Well, not really! But after I punctually posted a plum panel earlier today for pal Joecab in our 366JJJ series, I couldn't resist continuing the theme by digging into the Bully Vast Underground Vault o' Comics to tug out of its Mylar sleeve Detective Comics #452 (and the following issue) by request of very faithful reader and frequent commenter Blam! the man who's a sound effect and a blogger (you oughta check out his aptly named "Blam's Blog," elsewhere on this very same internet!

Blam wrote:

Ooh... I betcha one of my first-ever comics is in here: Detective Comics #452, dated October 1975 — It's Yaktastic!

Cover of Detective Comics #452 (October 1975), pencils and inks by Ernie Chan, colors by Tatjana Wood
And it's Yakariffic!


No, no, no,...not a real yak (altho' I bet Batman's met one or two of them on his travels), but a criminal mastermind known as the Yak, who is, unlike his namesake, remarkably unhairy. Must be on of those ironic Gotham villain names like The Cluemaster or Thomas the Tank Engine (of Crime) or The Guy Who Never Gets Caught By Batman. A page or so into the book and Batman is already yakking it to the Sock — wait: strike that, reverse it — until the Yak orders his underling "get the gun!" Also ironically: that underling was not named Annie.


Panels from "Crackdown on the Crime Exchange" in Detective Comics #452 (October 1975), script by David Vern, pencils by Ernie Chan, inks by Mike Royer
Uh uh, that's a big no thank you on the guns, according to Batman, who probably could have deflected a bullet with his Kevlar cape or taken a shot without too much physical damage, the same Batman who is knocked out of the building by a water cooler. Now what will the Yak and his pals gather around on Monday mornings to discuss the plot twists of sex and the City now, huh?


In a later scene, the Yak, who works for a investigative unit-style of task force to help criminals, discusses sociology and urban crime theory with the Vice President of his organization, the aptly named Veep. Good heavens, Miss Louis-Dreyfuss...you're...not beautiful at all!


But is that Yak-tually our criminal cueball? Nope! It's of course The Batman!


..., concealing his spring-loaded cowl ears underneath a realistic looking rubber mask that Alfred made in the Batcave using the Mattel VAC-U-FORM!


(I had this dangerous electrical toy as a wee bullster and boy do I miss it.)

...and Batman is immediately caught on the next page. Good going, World's Greatest Detective! He, not unlike St. Peter not Parker denies that he's actually the Batman (conveniently forgetting, of course, that he has a Batman costume on — well, it's more complicated than that, but you get the gist), so the Veep challenges him to fire a gun to prove he's not Batman. Fire a gun. Into the floor. let me repeat those three words. Into...the. FLOOR.


Will Batman shoot an innocent floor? Tune in tomorrow, same 'Tec time, same 'Tec station, for the next issue and the answer! Persons of a nervous disposition, and linoleum flooring pieces, are advised not to watch.