Matthew Sunrich Presents... Detective Comics #412
Detective Comics #412
By Matthew Sunrich
In my recent post about Detective
Comics #408, I discussed how the Gothic elements found in Batman's earliest
Golden-Age stories had resurfaced at the beginning of the Bronze Age. This idea
is again exemplified in the chilling pages of Detective Comics #412, where two knights, one medieval and one modern,
do battle in "Legacy of Hate."
Bruce receives a telegram from Lord Elwood Wayne, a distant relative
who is on his deathbed. He requests Bruce's presence at Waynemoor Castle in
Northern England so that he can bequeath his inheritance, along with those of
his other remaining relatives, in person rather than by way of a will. Bruce
meets up with these other relatives on a rainy station platform: Wilhemina
Wayne, from South Africa, Rev. Emelyn Wayne, a missionary in Asia, and Jeremy
Wayne, from Australia.
A hearse shows up to take them to the castle, which, along with the
rainfall, effectively sets the mood for the story. The driver is appropriately
ghoulish, wearing a sinister expression and looking not unlike the Crypt Keeper
or some other horror-comic "host." As they approach the castle, he
suggests that Waynemoor is haunted and, further, that the impending death of
Lord Elwood is likely to awaken the vengeful ghost of the castle's first lord,
Harold, who died under mysterious circumstances and was never properly put to
rest.
They are welcomed by Asquith, the direct descendant of Lord Harold's
retainer, who leads them to Elwood's room, where he is being attended by his
doctor. Barely clinging to life, Elwood tells them that they are each entitled
to an equal share of the estate and that if any of them dies, the survivors
will divide that share. Further, if they all die, the estate will go to his
doctor. We've all seen this kind of set-up before, and we know, at least to
some extent, what to expect.
Or do we?
Everyone retires except for Bruce and Wilhemina, who decide to have a
drink. As Bruce decants the libations, Mina spots a frightening figure outside.
Clad in chain mail and a knight's helm, the phantom crusader is the very image
of Lord Harold. Bruce dissembles, insisting that he saw nothing, and takes Mina
to her room. After taking the time to calm her, he dons his costume to explore
the castle as Batman.
As he walks the battlements, he hears Mina scream. Swinging through her
window on his Batrope, he encounters the "ghost" they saw earlier.
When he smacks Batman in the face with his gauntleted hand, it's clear that he
is no specter. Batman ripostes with a punch to the gut, which is,
unfortunately, absorbed by the knight's breastplate, and then his foe butts him
in the torso with his helmet and escapes.
Mina, never having heard of Batman, is almost as unsettled by his
appearance as she was by the knight's. He explains that he wants to help her,
and she gratefully accepts. They notice a battleax imbedded in the headboard of
her bed, and Batman, having verified that "Harold," as he expected,
is not a ghost, tries to determine who might be inside the armor and why he or
she would want Mina dead. The obvious conclusion is that it's one of the other beneficiaries,
wishing to claim her share of the estate. He begins to mentally run through the
list of suspects but is interrupted by sounds of struggle in Jeremy's room.
The brawny Australian explains that "Harold" attempted to
murder him, but that Batman's arrival scared him off. The Dark Knight returns
to his room to make his bed appear slept in when he hears another scream from
Mina. Bursting through her window, he finds her in front of the door; she
claims that someone was trying to get in. Unbolting the door, Batman discovers
muddy footprints leading inside and back out.
Following the trail to the moor, he gets stuck in the mire as the
knight gallops out of the mists on a steed and thrusts his lance into Batman's
chest. Believing his pursuer dead, "Harold" turns to leave,
exclaiming, "Now—my vengeance truly begins." Batman recovers from the
blow, having used a tree branch to shield himself from the lance's point, and,
now realizing who the knight really is, heads for the armory.
As Batman enters the chamber, the knight swings a morning star at him,
but the Caped Crusader seizes him and throws him to the floor, knocking his
helmet off. The mad eyes of Asquith regard him as the voice of the Lord Harold
vibrates his vocal chords. He leads Batman to a hidden crypt, where Harold was
entombed, and the Dark Knight beholds the words of the murdered lord, written
on the wall, naming his killer: his jealous brother. Asquith claims that Harold's
soul can never rest as long as any of his brother's descendants live. As he
laments his failure to wipe out the remaining Waynes, Asquith is throttled by
Harold's spirit and dies.
The next day Batman learns that Asquith perished at the exact moment
that the life left Lord Elwood's body.
We hear a lot about curses and inherited evil and stuff like that,
about how the soul of an ancestor can use his or her descendants to seek
justice, and it's certainly an interesting concept. It is well established in
fiction that the primary reason behind hauntings is restless spirits, those who
were murdered or otherwise died in unpleasant circumstances. There is often
some sort of unresolved issue that must be addressed before the spirit can be
freed, and this is certainly the case in Detective
Comics #412.
Do our actions really have that kind of power? Murderers always believe
that they've gotten away with it, but have they really?
People commonly use murder as a means to get others out of their way
because they cannot see any other option. In Greek mythology, we find that
killing someone is the only way to truly remove him or her from the picture;
whenever someone chickens out and doesn't see it through, the victim always
comes back to fulfill the dreaded prophecy.
But we also find that those who are
wrongfully murdered refuse to keep quiet about it. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, for instance, the King's ghost
tells Hamlet that Claudius murdered him and demands vengeance. In "Legacy
of Hate," the restless spirit takes a more active role, possessing the
body of Asquith (if we can accept such an explanation), believing he can trust
no one else to avenge him. It is unclear at the end of the story whether or not
the curse is broken, leaving Batman to ponder the true nature of the "haunting."
Neal Adams provided an irresistible cover for this issue, appropriating
the story's splash page and giving it even greater dramatic flair. The art, by
Bob Brown and Dick Giordano, makes good use of both the castle's interior and
exterior to frame the story and create a sense of unsettling wonder by blurring
the lines between history and modern day.
As the plot summary can attest, writer Frank Robbins gave us another winner with this one. I'm sorry to say that it has not been reprinted at this point.
As the plot summary can attest, writer Frank Robbins gave us another winner with this one. I'm sorry to say that it has not been reprinted at this point.
Labels: Batman, comics, Detective Comics, Guest Blog, Matt Sunrich
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