Mother...Father...Your lives were sacred, your murders profane. Your fate shaped my destiny...as your end charted my beginning. Your deaths were violent. Your resting place must remain inviolable. No further harm will come to you, I swear. So long as I shall live, you will be safe in death. No one will touch you. Nor will any of the dead be disturbed--not one more grave desecrated. This night, a monster falls.
- -- Batman
Appearing in "Boneyard Blues"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Undertaker (Only appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Martha Wayne (In picture only)
- Thomas Wayne (In picture only)
- Mr. Simon Zane (Single appearance)
- Mrs. Zane (Single appearance)
- The Spectre (Jim Corrigan) (Cameo)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Boneyard Blues"
A strange man is desecrating tombs and stealing the dead's bones while singing a to a blues melody. Several people complaint about the stealing of their relatives corpses. There was a couple who explained their case to Sgt. Bock and told him that the criminal had sent them a thank you note inside a box made of bones. Commissioner Gordon told Batman about this new criminal who called himself The Undertaker.
The Undertaker was at his hideout polishing the bones and talking to his father's skeleton in a clearly delusional way. Batman examined the bones box at the batcave and he realized that the box was made out of the bones of someone's hands. The earliest grave-robbings were from a cemetery where the city's homeless were buried, and Batman discovers that these funerals were conducted by a firm named Ostine and Son. This name brought back some memories in Bruce and he asked Alfred about his parents' funeral. Alfred told Bruce the same name that Gunt did.
Batman swore at his parent's grave that he would stop the man who was disrespecting the dead. Batman went to the funeral parlor's place and he discovered a book with a list of names and the skeleton of Ostine's father. Batman searched the building and found a strange room in the basement. The room was full of sculptures made of bones as a sanctuary from dead people's bones. The Undertaker attacked Batman believing that it was his father who came back to haunt him. Both of them struggled for a while, but in the end Batman knocked the man unconscious. Batman apologized to the death as he dragged the undertaker out of his sanctuary.
Three days later, Commissioner Gordon informed Batman that the undertaker died before the trial. He have choked with a splintered bone. At last the Undertaker would rest in peace.
Notes
- Editor Dennis O'Neil wrote in his mini essay From the Den referring to the Batman-Spectre stories to be featured in the upcoming character's titles. He clarified that it was not a inter-title crossover but rather two separate stories in each character's own titles. He recalled his promise of a crossover free titles for a year at least made in Detective Comics #702.
Trivia
- This is the first issue in which Vesper Fairchild is named. Her name can be seen in a billboard announcing her radio show.
- The Spectre appears in the last two panels as a prelude to the upcoming storyline featuring him.
See Also
- Write your own review of this comic!
- Discuss Batman Vol 1 539 on the forums
- Cover gallery for the Batman series
- Images from Batman Vol 1 539
