Batman #242 p 13

GRAIL ALERT! GRAIL ALERT!

I did a double-take seeing this page on Albert Moy's site. It was a cool Batman page, but why did it resonate so much with me? Then as I examined the image more closely, I realized this page was part of the classic intro of Ras Al Ghul in Batman and also a piece of my childhood.

You see, as a kiddo I pored over the first reprint collection of this story in the giant-sized DC Limited Collector's Edition C-51. It's a fantastic story written by Denny O'Neil and penciled largely by the great Neal Adams, including the dramatic cover of a despairing Batman over Robin in a cave (see photo here).

However, this page burns in my memory because reading this as a kid, I couldn't believe the second panel where Batman would leave his foe, Lo Ling, to die. Then I was thrilled the Batman had left the rooftop to save ling from the window below and ensure the classic one-on-one knife battle in the next issue. Ling would lose and this would seal his cooperation with the Batman to defeat the evil Ras.

Novick is one of the unsung Batman artists, his work is so clean and simple here. It also helps he's inked by the great Giordano, one of the best Batman inkers of all time.

There's a little water damage on the back of the page, hard to tell if it was done 40 plus years ago in production or at a later time. It doesn't matter really because I've gotten another page of my childhood.