This was not one of the better story arcs Grant and Breyfogle gave us (IMO). Taking Batman out of Gotham is always a risky proposition.

There are a couple of collected editions coming out November 4 that come from this era.

Robin Reborn Vol 1: This trade collects the first two Robin mini series and Batman 455-457.

Birds of Prey Vol 1: This trade collects the various one shots and mini series that came before the regular Birds of Prey series started.

Detective Comics #628



"Hearts"
writer: Marv Wolfman
pencils: Jim Aparo
inks: Mike DeCarlo
letters: John Costanza
colors: Adrienne Roy
asst. editor: Kelly Puckett
editor: Denny O'Neil
Batman created by Bob Kane

grade: C+

Due to popular lack of demand, the return of Abattoir. Wolfman is really trying to sell us on this creation of his, but it works no better here than it did the first time around, introducing a largely nonsensical plot, the logic of which even gets violated at the end (for most of the story, he's so carefully trying to obtain uninjured hearts but then plans to obtain thousands of them by blowing up a bridge while a train is on it by the close). Heck, it would have at least made sense to follow-up on the psychological damage Abattoir did to Vicki Vale during their previous encounter (Detective #625), but she isn't even mentioned in this issue.

However, what does work about this story is Wolfman's return to emphasizing and establishing Post-Crisis Batman continuity. A year ago, back in Batman #443, Wolfman was the first to really consciously put forth an effort to build a Post-Crisis continuity for Batman after three years of massive editorial inconsistencies. In that story, he acknowledged the events and impact of past stories long forgotten, resurrected some Pre-Crisis details, and generally filled Bruce Wayne's world with just that -- details which had been sorely lacking prior to that point.

Here in this issue, he does much of the same, actually showing the aftermath of the massively disruptive Penguin Affair from a year earlier, the police still cleaning up the mess and the Penguin's skyscraper hideout still being examined as a crime scene



and Arkham Asylum still working to step up its security based on Batman's recommendations during that storyline.

It's refreshing to see this kind of attention given to continuity from time to time. It lends a stronger sense that these events actually happened; that these aren't disposable tales to be forgotten about a month after reading them. If Wolfman is still imagining them, the reader is encouraged to as well.

In fact, another minor detail resurrected from that story is the nature of Batman's "eyes". For years, it was debatable whether Batman actually had some sort of white screen over his eye holes or whether that was dramatic embellishment on the part of the artist, but it was during that same Penguin Affair when Norm Breyfogle ended the controversy with this cover:



And though I still doubt Batman's wisdom in using breakable glass over the most vulnerable part of his body, it's nice to see The Penguin remind us of the fact that the Batman really does appear to have those white eyes in this story.



And yet, Wolfman's contributions to Batman continuity run a lot deeper than these minor details here. For the first time since that same Batman #443, we've got Lucius Fox back in the mix, as well as our first proof that Wayne Enterprises has the same distinct exterior it did in the Pre-Crisis continuity -- big tree in the middle and everything:



We also get Batman using the Pre-Crisis Bat Copter:



And, most important of all, we get a deep revision to Bruce's character, far more in line with his Pre-Crisis counterpart and absolutely contradicting everything we saw during Starlin's run and, especially, in Wolfman's own Lonely Place of Dying storyline:



The old Batman is back, at least for the moment.

One could even argue that what Wolfman has succeeded in doing here is bringing the franchise back to where it was in the 1970s, free of the jarring revisions made to Batman's persona by Frank Miller and, with the heavily revised Jason Todd now long dead and Tim Drake largely being kept out of the picture, there's really nothing left in continuity to indicate otherwise. This easily could have been a Bronze Age Batman story, and I see that as a plus.


Of course, the one significant piece of continuity that's been left forgotten that came out of The Penguin Affair: what the heck ever happened to Harold the hunchback? He moved into the Batcave in Batman #458, and hasn't been seen since the issue immediately after.


Back to the main plot of this story, which is so forgettable it almost isn't worth discussing, the ending was certainly the most awkward part, in which the whole thing just sort of drops out with an abrupt final panel:




It really does feel like the main plot was just filler so that Wolfman could work in old continuity and details.



Minor Details:

Tim Drake references/appearances: Not since Batman #457

Harold references/appearances: Not since Batman #459



plot synopsis in one sentence:

Abattoir has worked out a system with the janitors at Arkham where they help him escape each night so that he call kill 2,000 birds, 4,000 cows, and 6,000 humans in order to use their hearts to get some kind of ancient power which really serves more as a MacGuffin than anything else, but Batman eventually stops him, and, in the process, Detective Hanrahan (previously a hard as nails female cop) wines about whether or not she should leave Gotham because it's too gross for her.

I have this and I must have read it but I don't remember it at all. This period of Detective has its ups and downs. Those Penguin stories you referenced are among my favorite Penguin tales. But Detective was kind of mediocre in the post-Crisis era.

On the other hand, there were also some stories so bad that they were hysterical and painful at the same time, in a way that you don't see on a regular basis outside of the Silver Age.

The story about the psychopathic librarian is still more than a year away.

But the assassin known as Two Tone will be upon us in only two issues!

Oh, I definitely count Two Tone as a treat!

Is it wrong that I'm now excited for this?