TITLE: Detective Comics issue #726
YEAR: October 1998
COMPANY: DC Comics
By Chuck Dixon and Brian Stelfreeze
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Gloria Vasquez
Separator: Android Images
Associate Editor: Darren Vincenzo
Editor: Scott Peterson
Batman created by Bob Kane
An earthquake left Gotham City in shambles, millions dead and leaving Bruce Wayne feeling guilty.
Bruce was a man who always wanted to protect the city, took on criminals, risked his life nearly daily but he and his fellow partners and super-heroes have done a great job trying to eliminate the crime in the city as much as they can.
Unfortunately, there is not much Batman can do with stopping an earthquake.
In Detective Comics issue #726, Batman must fight against the clock to save a young girl left to die…and the only man that can help him find her…The Joker?
I’m not sure if you can call this issue “filler” as it is another issue featuring the Joker but a “Detective Comics” issue that I felt was underwhelming.
While chaos is happening in the city, a deceased gangster does his last evil deed and that is to kill a young girl by putting her in a car trunk and letting her drown in the ocean.
As Batman has only several hours to rescue her, the one person who may know where the girl is, happens to be the gangsters nextdoor cell mate, the Joker.
It appears that while they were not in the same cell, the two would communicate strictly by Morse code and Joker gave him the idea to pull this murder off.
While the issue shows how dangerous the Joker is, even when he doesn’t have to say a word, it’s another issue with Batman trying to get to the bottom of things and both men showing why they are two opposites and why they are forever enemies.
While issues with the Joker tend to be fascinating, this issue alone was OK. It seemed more of a filler for the “Aftershock” stories of trying to create other stories than doom and gloom from the catastrophic earthquake.
Again it was an OK issue, but one of the weaker Batman/Joker stories from the ’90s that I’ve read.