Nostalgia Week: Batman #446

We are kicking off Nostalgia Week with the comic book which may be at the very root of my current level of geekdom. Batman #446 was published in April of 1990 and it was my very first Batman comic. Assuming that I came into possession of this comic the month it was printed, I would have been six years old when I first read this issue. And that would explain why I didn't understand a God damn thing that happens in it. Lenin is on the cover for Christ's sake! All I knew was that Batman was awesome, he gets beat up a lot in this issue and that made me sad.

So the story, which I definitely had zero grasp of back then, revolves around the NKVDemon wanting to kill off ten Russian officials he blames for the failure of the Soviet Union. When this issue opens, Batman is on the look out for the Demon at a Russian and American hockey game. Although the script seems to think that it is a soccer game for some reason. Anyway, the Demon wants to kill some guy in the audience but Batman can't figure where the attack will come from since the Demon is a master of disguise. Batman decides to check out the locker room to see if anything is amiss there. He finds nothing. Nothing that is, except a corpse stuffed into the shower drain!

That is fucking gruesome. And it is only the first of several images from this issue that have been burned into my head since I was kid. I probably have not read this issue for at least ten years and upon reading it tonight I found the images in my head to be exactly what was printed on the page. Talk about making an impression.

Back to the story. Turns out the Demon is on the ice in the goalie's uniform. When Batman finally gets out of the locker room, the Demon is already sending exploding hockey pucks into the stands. Batman prevents the Demon from assassinating his target but as the killer makes a break for it, the Demon goes totally batshit and starts shooting random people. While wearing a hockey uniform.

I don't think I would have seen any Friday the 13th movies at the point in time, but I probably knew who Jason was and that he had the habit of killing people. This is probably why I always remembered the hockey player in this comic to be so damn scary. I didn't remember what he was doing, killing innocent people in the street, but I knew he was downright evil.

Batman chases after the Demon, finally cornering him on a train. The Demon decides to stop being the creepy hockey player killing people in the streets to instead be the creepy hockey player who holds a knife to a poor old woman's throat.
Instead of risking the woman's life, Batman agrees to let the Demon go, but instead of leaping from the train in some awesome but safe way, Batman instead just jumps out. The results must have made little Rob want to cry.

But don't worry, Batman is rescued by Russian cops and taken to a hospital. Of course they keep his mask on in respect of his privacy. Totally makes sense to me. Batman is shown recovering in the hospital for about a page before he is back in action. This is one of the few elements that clearly was warped in my memory because I'd always remembered Batman being in the hospital for a long time and that his life was in serious danger. Turns out that he only had some scratches and after chilling out for a while was ready for action.

Which brings us to another part of the story that I grossly misinterpreted as a child. On the next page we find Bruce Wayne talking to the obligatory Russian guide/love interest. He comes up with some bullshit about Batman landing on him while he was waiting for a train. The whole while Bruce is covering his chest with bandages (which actually looks like only masking tape). His friend helps him put on his shirt and he grimaces in pain. At least now know it is pain. Before I was under the impression that Bruce was angry and was about to smack a bitch.

Now that I think of it, I'm sticking to my initial reading of this panel. Bruce is fucking pissed.

Batman and his Russian cop buddy are able to deduct where and when the Demon will attack next and set up an elaborate sting operation. It's a little too involved to explain in this review, but let's just say it involves Batman dressing up like a former Soviet official and then ripping off the disguise once the Demon makes his move. I'm not sure how Batman is able to hide his cowl underneath his old dude make-up (or hide the four inch points sticking out the top of his head) and I'm sure that I was even more confused when I was six years old.

Batman chases after the Demon, who gets an opportunity to change into his standard supervillain outfit, which is pretty cool. Batman chases the the Demon unto the scaffolding about the huge political function where the assassination was to take place. Batman and the Demon go at it, bound together by one of Batman's ropes. The Demon is able to get in some good blows, opening up Batman's wounds and successuly shocking baby Rob.

As if that was not enough, the Demon is able to get a hold of what appears to be a paint scrapping tool and thus faciliate an image that will be forever burned into my memory.

That is fucking brutal.

The issue ends with the Demon kicking Batman off the scaffolding and then cutting the line that Batman was hanging from. The final panel shows Batman's beaten body falling to the ground, a typical cliffhanger. Only, for six-year-old me, there was a very serious threat. I was really, honestly scared that Batman would die as I saw no possible way for him to escape death. I never was able to read the issue that follows and it haunted me for years without resolution. I still haven't read the next part of the story, and while I know that Batman does not die, I would still love to know how he manages to escape fate and beat the Demon's ass.

I may not have understood much of this surprisingly ultraviolent comic as a kid, but I'm sure it was instrumental in cementing Batman my all-time favorite fictional character. And I'm probably the total geek I am today because of my love for this issue.

Up next on Nostalgia Week: "Holy shit, that's a lot of Batmans!"