Classic Comics: DETECTIVE COMICS #439 (1973)

DETECTIVE COMICS #439 featured The Batman in the story titled “Night of the Stalker.”

Right before the sun rises in Gotham, Batman witnesses a crime very close to home. A robber shoots and kills a woman in front of her young, now orphaned, son. Even worse, Batman is unable to prevent the robber and his partners from getting away.

Nonetheless, Batman uses two of his greatest weapons – his detective skills and fear – to one by one track down each person involved and lead them to their death. No, The Batman does not kill them as each is a victim of their cowardice – the real cause of their undoing.

“Night of the Stalker” from DETECTIVE COMICS #439 was written by Steve Englehart, penciled by Sal Amendola, inked by Dick Giordano, and edited by Archie Goodwin. It went on sale for 50 cents on November 29, 1973, and has a cover date of February/March 1974.

“Night of the Stalker” from DETECTIVE COMICS #327 made Michael Uslan’s list of the most important Batman comic book stories from 1939 to 1979. The story can be found reprinted in Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, Vol. 1. – Bill “Jett” Ramey