On the same night where the previous chapter ended, we find Commissioner Gordon and his secretary at police headquarters looking down on the sleeping populace of Gotham City. They recap that the Sandman has taken control of an old fire truck (or is it a new fire truck since we’re in the ‘60s?) and is still spraying his sleeping sand everywhere. The Commissioner wonders what has become of the dynamic duo who has gone out on the streets to stop the Sandman.
Meanwhile we find the Sandman in his lair with an unconscious Batman and Robin, his assistant informs him that Batman is in a perfect state of suggestive sleep…and he doesn’t snore! Sandman begins his manipulation as he is after the secret entrance to the Batcave, because he wants to store all of Gotham’s stolen goods there.
Sandman’s assistant offers that he could discover Batman’s secret identity, but Sandman bellows that his identity doesn’t matter…he could be “a popular athlete, why would [he] care about such trivia? He only matters because he’s Batman.” Entering Batman’s dream state, he suggests to the Batman that he is out on patrol and that he is doing a fine job. He suggests to the Dark Knight that he is finished for the evening and needs to return home. As he floats down into the Batmobile with “Robin” Batman starts to recite his journey back to Wayne Manor.
Meanwhile the Sandman’s henchmen return with much stolen loot and begin to celebrate, but Sandman yells at them as he states that they have interrupted his suggestive state with Batman. Within the dream, Batman begins to notice something is amiss. He wonders why he is thinking aloud about getting to the Batcave’s entrance. Finally he deduces with “Robin” that he is in a dream and is being manipulated. Batman uncovers that Sandman is trying to find the secret entrance and he turns the tables on him. Realizing he is dreaming, Batman subconsciously tries to move his arm in the real world in order to activate his bat-alarm. The alarm goes off which rouses the dynamic duo from their slumber. They quickly take out the henchman, and with a quick stretch and yawn from Chief O’Hara the Sandman is accidentally knocked out.
Not a bad issue. I think that I don’t really recall too much from the ‘60s show about the Sandman and this could be why I’m not fully engaged within this story…to me Sandman wasn’t too memorable, unlike some other villains like Egghead or King Tut. The writing was pretty decent, although I find it interesting that Sandman doesn’t really care about Batman’s identity…wouldn’t every villain want to know that? Also the dream sequence was pretty interesting, but the way Batman solved what was going on seemed like a bit of a stretch. The action sequence at the end was very short, but I did giggle when Chief O’Hara accidentally knocked out Sandman when he yawned after waking up.
The art again was decent; the likeness of some characters was not like the show. But overall a good job well done, especially in the dream state.
I’m very interested to see the tie-in issue next week, since the main Sandman story is finished I wonder what tale they will tell next week. Will Batman and Robin finally get on that fishing trip they started five chapters ago?
Batman '66 Chapter #14:
Reviewed by Ryan Blair
