There's not enough water in that stream to wash the guilt from anyone who presumes to take the life of another--! 
- — Batman
Batman #237 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1971.
Synopsis for "Night of the Reaper!"
Reaper attacks Robin
On Halloween, the annual Rutland, Vermont Halloween parade is taking place and Dick Grayson has decided to attend with some of his college friends. While in the parade, Dick and his friends notice some crooks attacking a man dressed as Robin and they try to help the young man without success. When the crooks have dispersed, Dick decides to follow them as Robin and he follows their trail to a barren space where he finds a the corpse of a man in a Batman costume. At that moment, Robin is attacked by the dark figure of the Reaper and he is forced to flee until he falls down to a nearby river and and is knocked unconscious.
Batman, who has tracked fugitive Nazi war criminal Kurt Schloss to the Rutland Halloween parade, finds Robin and takes him to the house of parade organizer Tom Fagan. In Fagan's place, Robin is checked by Batman's friend, Doctor Benjamin Gruener, a Jewish German survivor of the Nazi holocaust.
Meanwhile, Dick's friends are looking for him when they come across the Reaper again and when Batman learns of this second attack, he starts investigating the case more closely. His clues lead him to find that other ex-Nazis have been searching for Kurt Schloss because he had claimed some hidden Nazi treasure that they believed belonged to all of them. Those Nazis had killed the man in the Batman costume and tried to kill the Robin, thinking they may be the real things. Batman stops them for good, but not before they are able to kill Schloss.
Afterwards, Robin believes that the case is solved, but Batman reminds him that the Reaper is still on the loose and Batman starts looking for the killer by himself. When they finally meet, Batman has deduced the Reaper's identity as Dr. Gruener, who sought revenge on Schloss. Unfortunately, Gruener has lost himself in his Reaper's personality and he attacks Batman before fleeing the scene. The Reaper tries to make his escape through a nearby dam, but he is stopped by the presence of Dick Grayson's friend Alan. When Reaper gets ready to strike and kill the youngster, he sees Alan's Star of David amulet and Gruener becomes horrified with his actions. Unaware that he was walking on the edge of the dam, Gruener stumbles with his robe and falls downwards to his ultimate death and Batman is unable to save the man.
Appearing in "Night of the Reaper!"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Nazis
- Hans (Single appearance)
- The Reaper (First appearance) (Apparent Death)
Other Characters:
- Tom Fagan (First appearance)
- Col. Kurt Schloss (Dies)
- Alan and two other friends of Dick Grayson (based on Alan Weiss, Gerry Conway and Bernie Wrightson)
- Dennis O'Neil [1]
Locations:
- Gotham City
- Vermont
- Rutland (First appearance)
- Rutland (First appearance)
Synopsis for "The Screaming House"
This story is reprinted from Detective Comics #37.
While driving around near Gotham City, Batman hears screams coming from an old abandoned house and decides to go take a look. Inside the house, a man named Joey is being tortured by thugs. Batman knocks out some thugs but then Joey betrays him and knocks out Batman, and then kills the rest of the thugs.
When Batman awakes, he follows Joey to man called Turg, and confronts him along with his gang. Batman discovers that Turg and his gang are planning to destroy an incoming vessel, as they are spies for another country and Joey was a U.S. espionage agent. After a good deal of waterfront chasing and fighting, Batman prevents the thugs from destroying the ship and defeats the gang. Batman then finds clues that lead him to the leader of the gang, Count Grutt, who is actually Elias Turg. Batman battles Turg once more, with swords, and the criminal ends up fatally impaled on his own blade.
Appearing in "The Screaming House"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Count Grutt (Elias Turg) (Single appearance; dies)
- Carl (Single appearance)
- Al (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Joey, Federal agent (Single appearance; dies)
Locations:
- Gotham City
- Wayne Manor
- Grutt's Mansion
- Waterfront
Items:
- Utility Belt
- infra-red goggles
Vehicles:
Notes
- "Night of the Reaper!" is reprinted in Batman in the Seventies and Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol 3.
- Story based on ideas by Bernie Wrightson and Harlan Ellison, per Denny O'Neil's recounting in the letters section.
Trivia
Rutland Parade
- People at the Rutland Halloween Parade are dressed as Batman (there are several Batmen, including Tom Fagan; one Batman is killed by the Nazis), Batgirl, Man-Bat, Hawkman, Captain Marvel, Superman, Aquaman, Solomon Grundy, Robin (attacked by the Nazis), Cain and Abel from DC Comics and Spider-Man, Thor, Invisible Girl, Doctor Doom, Captain America, Havok and Quicksilver from Marvel Comics; also two figures in shadow could be the Phantom Stranger and Green Lantern (Alan Scott).
- The party-goer dressed as Spider-Man refers to himself as "Webslinger Lad". This could be an indication that the Marvel Comics published on Earth-One differ in some details from the ones we know.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Robin Recommended Reading
- Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying
- Batman: Dark Victory
- "Batman: Year Three"
- Batman and Robin (Volume 1)
- Batman and Robin (Volume 2)
- Batman & Robin Eternal
- New Teen Titans (Volume 1)
- Robin: A Hero Reborn
- Robin II: The Joker's Wild!
- Robin III: Cry of the Huntress
- Robin (Volume 2)
- Robin (Volume 3)
- Robin: Son of Batman
- Robin: Year One
- Robins (Volume 1)
- Teen Titans (Volume 3)
- We Are Robin
- Young Justice (Volume 1)
- Young Justice (Volume 2)
- Halloween Recommended Reading
Links and References
- ↑ For confirmation, see BATMAN #237: The Greatest Halloween Comic Book Ever