The days of “Pow, Zap, and Wham!” of the 1960s and well as the
sci-fi silliness of the 1950s was gone starting in January of 1970.
The Dark Knight was back!
JANUARY: Batman returned to his dark roots and back to being a “Creature of the Night” starting with
DETECTIVE COMICS#395 under the helm of writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams. This issue’s story, “The Secret of the Waiting Graves,” is a classic Batman tale and would set the tone for the dark and serious that we’ve known for the last 45 years.
JUNE: Kirk Langstrom becomes Man-Bat in
DETECTIVE COMICS #400. Over the years, Man-Bat would sometimes be a foe and sometime and ally of The Dark Knight.
NOVEMBER: “The Bat-Squad” appeared for the first time in
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #92.
NOVEMBER: The Ten-Eyed Man made his debut in
BATMAN #226.
NOVEMBER: The League of Assassins appears for the first time in a Batman comic book in
DETECTIVE COMICS #405.
DECEMBER: Writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams reimagine a classic Batman story, “Batman Versus the Vampire” from
DETECTIVE COMICS #31 (1940), in
BATMAN #227. The story, titled “The Demon of Gothos Mansion.”
