This new arc opens with Bruce and Dick returning to the fishing trip that they had started at the beginning of the previous Mad Hatter arc; however they are once again interrupted by Alfred proclaiming that there is a “telephone call” in urgent need of answering. The millionaire and his ward quickly head into the study to answer the blinking red bat-phone. However it seems that the person on the other end is sleeping.
Rushing to the GCPD building, the dynamic duo finds Commissioner Gordon asleep at his desk. The caped crusaders quickly rouse the Commissioner who informs him of his original reason for calling them: Chief O’Hara is missing! The group is interrupted when they are informed that Gotham’s national armored car has been hijacked. Batman discovers a clue that reveals the villain behind the dastardly scheme – the Sandman!
We then cut to our villain who is quickly masterminding his next caper. Sandman and his crew put a guard to sleep as the villain uses his unique sand to manipulate the guard’s mind into revealing the information he needs.
Throughout the course of the night, Batman and Robin hit the streets in order to discover the Sandman’s location. However their informants have no information that they can reveal to the duo. The next morning finds the caped crusaders in a coffee shop feigning off sleep. It is here that the duo notices a sand storm over taking Gotham City; they realize too late that the Sandman has hijacked a fire truck and is spraying his sleeping sands throughout the streets. Batman and Robin race onto the streets, holding their breath, in an attempt to reach the Batmobile and their gas masks. However the duo is accosted by the Sandman’s henchman who forces them to breathe in the sleeping sand.
The chapter ends with the Sandman attempting to coerce some information out of the dynamic duo!
This chapter was pretty decent, nothing outstanding but nothing absolutely terrible. The Sandman is a villain I vaguely remember from the TV show, but isn’t one of the more memorable ones…so it is nice to see the writers utilizing these characters within the comic series. The plot of the story is simple and straight forward; however there are a couple plot holes that I have issues with. The first of which is Batman and Robin attempting to hold their breath to reach the batmobile…and yet they can still have a full conversation. Additionally seeing the ‘60s Batman interrogating thugs is kinds of odd to see….I know they are trying to merge the comic world with the ‘60s world, but this seemed noticeably different from the show that I remember.
The art was pretty good; however the likeness of the characters from the show is lost on several of them including Alfred and Gordon. I do like the dream state the Sandman puts his victims into…very trippy; I look forward to the next issue as he attempts to take control of the duo.
Batman '66 Chapter #13:
Reviewed by Ryan Blair
