A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 30: Spread the word around / The rat is leaving town

Panels from Happy Birthday Gnatrat one-shot (1986); script, pencils, inks, and letters by Mark Martin
Based, of course, on this.


Panels from "The Legend of the Batman — Who He Is and How He Came to Be!" in Batman (1940 series) #1 (Spring 1940); script by Bill Finger, pencils and inks by Bob Kane, background inks and letters by Sheldon Moldoff
Which takes us full circle. So we bid farewell to lonely, terrified, tragically scarred Bruce Wayne, and tell him "See ya next year, Bruce!" Hope you'll join us then! Oh wait...there is no hope...in Crime Alley! BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!

Next month: pancakes are up!

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 29: Wouldja believe this is the only Crime Alley sequence I could find in a MAD parody?

Panels from "Battyman, Begone!" in MAD #255 (July 2005); script by Desmond Devlin, art by Tom Richmond

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 28: She did the Monster Mash

Panels from "Shikla's Catchjing Up" in Deadpool (2013 series) #45/250 (June 2015); script by Mike Drucker, pencils and inks by J.J. Kirby, colors by Veronica Gandini, letters by Joe Sabino

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 27: There Is No Hope at Haley's Circus

Let us never forget that June 27, the day after the anniversary of the death of Bruce Wayne's parents on June 26, is the anniversary of the death of Dick Grayson's parents. (See: There Is No Hope at Haley's Circus 2013 and There Is No Hope at Haley's Circus 2014.) And it occurs to me I've never actually shown you good folks the original Death O' the Flying Graysons. It's from, natch, Detective Comics #38, but the panels I'm showing you here are from a slightly recolored reprint in Secret Origins #7. Mainly because I can't get the plastic clamshell open on my copy of 'Tec #38. It's more difficult with hooves.


Panels from "Robin the Boy Wonder" in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940); script by Bill Finger, pencils by Bob Kane, inks and letters by Jerry Robinson; as reprinted in Secret Origins (1973 series) #7 (October-November 1974)
Here's another early version, this time by Dick Sprang, my very favorite Golden Age Batman artist:


Panels from "Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder!" in Batman #32 (December 1945-January 1946); script by Don Cameron, pencils and inks by Dick Sprang, letters by Pat Gordon (?)
And what would a triptych of acrobat-smashin' action be without this retelling of the same scene from my favorite Batman miniseries of all, The Untold Legend of the Batman? Answer: it would be incomplete.


Panels from The Untold Legend of the Batman #2 (August 1980); script by Len Wein, pencils, inks, and letters by Jim Aparo; colors by Glynis Wein/
Dick Grayson, Agent No. 37 of the mysterious organization known as Spyral* — and hey, why isn't he known as Agent No. 38? — has just politely informed me to stop showing you scenes of his parents' death, so let's wrap it up for 2016. Next year: The All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder version! (You're welcome, Mike Sterling!)

* Suspicious Piñatas Yellow and Red Are Laminated

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 26: Batman Tortoise All a Lesson

Tonight: June 26, 10:48 PM, Gotham Summer Time, Bruce Wayne's father and mother were brutally murdered in Crime Alley by a criminal who may or may not have been Joe Chill, depending on the version of the story.

So on the anniversary of his parents' death, how does Bruce spend his night?

Hangin' out with an adolescent evolved samurai terrapin.


Cover of Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 (May 2016); pencils and inks by Freddie E. Williams II, colors by Jeremy Colwell
Yep: even in the middle of a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman takes time to show Raphael his tragic origin story. That was actually pretty nice of Bruce, since, as we all know, Raphael is cool but crude.


Panels from Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 (May 2016); script by James Tynion IV, pencils and inks by Freddie E. Williams II, colors by Jeremy Colwell, letters by Tom Napolitano
And hey, remember when I told you to pay attention to Alfred's previous cryptic remarks about the Intimidator suit? It's on June 26 that Batman finally gets a chance to finally take the bedsheet off of it and wear it into battle!


Panels from Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5 (June 2016); script by James Tynion IV, pencils and inks by Freddie E. Williams II, colors by Jeremy Colwell, letters by Tom Napolitano
The Intimidator suit, which of course makes Batman look like, yes, a giant turtle.


Panels from Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 (July 2016); script by James Tynion IV, pencils and inks by Freddie E. Williams II, colors by Jeremy Colwell, letters by Tom Napolitano
So, always remember that on one of the anniversaries of the Waynes' death, Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a team-up and it was pretty good. (Seriously, I really liked this series, especially when Shredder and Ra's al-Ghul turned all the Arkham Asylum inmates into anthropomorphic animals. I kids you not.)

In conclusion, heartwarming family scene. Awwwwwww.


Tomorrow! (Yes, tomorrow!) The terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad family death that occurred on the night after the anniversary of Bruce's parents dying! Swing by, won't you?

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 25: Well, that all worked out well in the end!

Panels from Superman Annual (1960 series) #11 (1985); script by Alan Moore; pencils, inks, and letters by Dave Gibbons; colors by Tom Ziuko

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 24: And on that day, Batman had the idea of building a giant statue of his parents

Panels from The Brave and the Bold #190 (September 1982); script by Mike W. Barr, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Sal Trapani, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Milt Snapinn

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 23: Batman gets pretty distracted by his dream sequence

Panels from Batman: Bride of the Demon graphic novel (1990); script by Mike W. Barr, pencils and inks by Tom Grindberg, colors by Eva Grindberg, letters by Gaspar Saladino

Today in Comics History, June 23: Only three more shopping days until Crime Alleymas

from Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (DC/IDW, June 2016), script by James Tynion IV, pencils and inks by Freddie Williams II, colors by Jeremy Colwell, letters by Tom Napolitano

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 22: Batman needs a montage

Panels from Detective Comics #471 (August 1977); script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Marshall Rogers, inks by Terry Austin, colors by Jerry Serpe, letters by John Workman

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 21: Bruce's Parents Are Killed by The Crisis '76

Panels from The Legion (2001 series) #29 (March 2004); script by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, pencils by Chris Batista, inks by Chip Wallace and Robin Riggs, colors by Sno Cone, letters by Rob Leigh

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 20: Batman is haunted from beyond the grave by his beard

Panels from Batman Annual (2012 series) #4 (November 2015); script by James Tynion IV, pencils and inks by Roge Antonio, colors by Dave McCaig, letters by Steve Wands

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 19: The night Joe Chill ran in spirals

Panels from Batman Adventures (2003 series) #17 (October 2004); script by Ty Templeton, pencils by Rick Burchett, inks by Terry Beatty, colors by Heroic Age, letters by Pat Brosseau

Today in Comics History, June 19: Only seven more shopping days until Crime Alleymas

from Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (DC, February 2016), script by James Tynion IV, pencils and inks by Freddie Williams II, colors by Jeremy Colwell, letters by Tom Napolitano
Hey, what's this Intimidator suit that is being referenced oh-so-casually in the middle panel? Could it possibly be a hybrid Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle armored suit, by any chance?

Eh, probably not.

(Stay tuned!)

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 18: This isn't a contest, Bruce

Panels from Detective Comics #621 (September 1990); script by Alan Grant, layouts by Norm Breyfogle, finishes by Steve Mitchell, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Todd Klein

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 17: A Flashback Within a Flashback

Panel from Nightwing (2011 series) #30 (July 2014); script by Tim Seeley and Tom King, pencils and inks by Javier Garron, letters by Jeromy Cox, letters by Carlos M. Mangual

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 16: In her satin pants / Shooting Batman's parents

Panels from The Brave and the Bold #158 (January 1980); script by Gerry Conway; pencils, inks, and letters by Jim Aparo; colors by Jerry Serpe

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 15: Maybe Batman shouldn't have put all those pearls in his mouth before he went swimming

Panels from Detective Comics #701 (September 1996); script by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Graham Nolan, inks by Scott Hanna, colors by Gloria Vasquez, color separations by Android Images, letters by John Costanza

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 14: Why, that Batman fella was all just a bad dream

Panels from Batman #591 (July 2001); script by Ed Brubaker, pencils by Scott McDaniel, inks by Karl Story, colors by Roberta Tewes, color separations by Wildstorm FX, letters by John Costanza

A Month of... There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 13: Batman Begins to Begin Beginning

Panels from Batman Begins: The Official Movie Adaptation one-shot (June 2005); script by Scott Beatty, pencils by Kilian Plunkett, inks by Serge Lapointe, colors by José Villarrubia, letters by Jared K. Fletcher