Sal AMENDOLA / Dick GIORDANO; Detective Comics #439, page 9

Picking a favorite Batman story is next to impossible for me, so many of them having left a lasting impression.

That said, “Night of the Stalker” (Detective Comics #439, Feb.Mar. 1974) would be a strong contender. It features absolutely brilliant artwork by Sal Amendola who took an idea from Neal Adams and from it produced a fully penciled story. It was fully “plotted” too with help from brother Vin Amendola. With Dick Giordano inking and Steve Englehart recruited to script it, together they produced a truly memorable Batman classic nominated in 1974 in the category of “Best Individual Story (dramatic)” by the Academy of Comic Book Arts; included in the volume, “Batman: Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told”; and recently “remade” by Darwyn Cooke as “Déjà Vu” in his issue of SOLO.

I was ten when I first read “Night of the Stalker” fresh off the stands. I read it again last night for the umpty-umpth time and I still tear up when I get to the ending.

Having a page out of this story is a dream come true and I have three people to thank for it: first off, Chris Short, who kindly alerted the comicart-l to the 2005 Society of Illustrators annual original art auction; Terry Brown at the SI who ran the auction; and last but not least Society of Illustrators member Sal Amendola who generously contributed this page to benefit their scholarship fund.