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"Batman: Year One - Chapter Three: Black Dawn": Flaming piles of debris drop down on top of Batman as the Gotham City SWAT team firebombs the derelict apartment building. Flammable materials within his utility belt begin to explode. Batman finds an electrical

Quote1 Sgt. Essen informed me that Wayne's parents were murdered by a mugger when he was eight years old. That's enough motive, I suppose, to make a man dress like Dracula and assault criminals... Quote2
Lt. Gordon

Batman #406 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1987. It was published on December 16, 1986.

Synopsis for "Batman: Year One - Chapter Three: Black Dawn"

Flaming piles of debris drop down on top of Batman as the Gotham City SWAT team firebombs the derelict apartment building. Flammable materials within his utility belt begin to explode. Batman finds an electrical cover and uses it to mask his presence.

Batman 0397

Batman vs. the GCPD

A ground crew enters the building and begins sifting through the rubble. Batman lures them into a lower section of the building and traps them.

Before preparing his escape, Batman uses a remote device to signal a massive flock of bats from the Batcave. The swarm of bats descends on the area giving Batman a chance to use them for cover to mask his escape. Several police squad cars attempt to follow the bat swarm, one of which even drives off Gotham Pier. Dozens of bystanders (including Selina Kyle) are forced to get rabies vaccinations.

Catwoman 0144

Selina Kyle becomes Catwoman

Later, Jim Gordon consults with Sarah Essen over the Batman issue. Sarah suspects that the Batman may in fact be Bruce Wayne. Wayne has an alibi however, citing that he was skiing in Switzerland during the recent incident.

Gordon walks Essen home and the two share a romantic embrace. Jim instantly feels guilty knowing that his pregnant wife is home waiting for him.

In Gotham's East End, Selina Kyle decides to go into a different line of work. She punches out her pimp Stan and takes Holly with her. She fashions a costume for herself and becomes Catwoman for the first time.

Appearing in "Batman: Year One - Chapter Three: Black Dawn"

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Notes

  • This story is reprinted in the Batman: Year One trade paperback.
  • This issue is the earliest chronological appearance of Selina Kyle as Catwoman.

Trivia

  • In this issue, James Gordon starts feeling attracted to Sarah Essen and his relationship with his wife, Barbara, begins to crumble.
  • The idea of Batman using a sonar device to attract bats to his location was later used in the movie Batman Begins.
  • Gordon and Essen are shown at a diner named Hopper's in a panel framed and staged to homage the famous Nighthawks painting by Edward Hopper.
  • The tagline for this issue is:
They've got him CORNERED.
They've got him OUTNUMBERED
They've got him TRAPPED
They're in TROUBLE...
  • Two years before the release of this issue, the Philadelphia Police Department had similarly bombed a residential home with a helicopter, during the course of an armed standoff with a militant anarcho-primitivist group called MOVE. Wikipedia: 1985 MOVE bombing


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

Year One
Part 1: Batman #404 Part 2: Batman #405 Part 3: Batman #406 Part 4: Batman #407
The Man of Steel 1A
Post-Crisis Reboot
DC Rebirth Logo

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 19851986 maxiseries which completely reset the continuity of the entire DC Universe, all of DC's major characters and franchises needed to be updated to reflect the changes in the events of their lives. Multiple story arcs were put out to explain these rebooted versions of popular characters.

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