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"Mimsy Were the Borogoves": When Doctor Kirk Langstrom, the scientist sometimes known as "Man-Bat," is kidnapped, and a mysterious clue is left behind at his house, The Batman already knows he will not have an easy night ahead of him.

Quote1 You are trying to understand madness with logic. This is not unlike searching for darkness with a torch. Quote2
The Mad Hatter

Detective Comics #787 is an issue of the series Detective Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 2003. It was published on October 1, 2003.

Synopsis for "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"

When Doctor Kirk Langstrom, the scientist sometimes known as "Man-Bat," is kidnapped, and a mysterious clue is left behind at his house, The Batman already knows he will not have an easy night ahead of him. The clue is a cryptic Lewis Carroll quote, and Batman visits Arkham Asylum to locate Jervis Tetch, "The Mad Hatter," who has apparently escaped, and kidnapped his most recent social worker as well, "Jeffrey Yorkes." When Batman does find him, the Hatter has already injected his social worker with a cocktail version of one of Langstrom's serums. Instead of only Man-Bat DNA, it also contains the DNA of both Killer Croc, and Solomon Grundy; transforming Yorkes into a terrible dragon-like hybrid, perfectly fitting the bill to play Lewis Carroll's "The Jabberwock," and wreak havoc upon Gotham City for the Hatter's amusement. After rescuing Langstrom and returning to the cave for the Man-Bat antidote, Batman is able to revert Yorkes to his original form and save him before he plummets to his death. As the Hatter is being dragged away, Yorkes insists that he not be dealt with harshly this time, no matter how bad his actions seemed; he believes that the Hatter had actually been trying to help him. Prior to his experience, he had been unable to even comprehend Tetch, let alone understand how he got that way, despite his best efforts. After spending a night as an uncontrollable fictional beast, he had gained insight into how the Hatter's mind worked, and was now better suited to help him become a normal person again.

Appearing in "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"

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Synopsis for "The Dogcatcher: Part III"

A Dogcatcher, a nice man who everybody hates because of his job, deals with occupational prejudice, and the fear that there's a very large possibility one of the dogs he's supposed to put to sleep belongs to The Joker.

Appearing in "The Dogcatcher: Part III"

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  • Dogcatcher

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Notes

Trivia

  • The clue The Mad Hatter leaves behind for Batman is the question "Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?" written backwards on a sheet of paper. The riddle, from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," is famous for not having an answer. However, believing the clue to be from The Riddler, the GCPD has several people work on answers to the riddle, and they come up with the following:
    • Because they're both covered in inky quills.
    • Because Poe wrote on Both.
    • And because One is a Rest for Pens, and the other is a Pest for Wrens.
Detective Harvey Bullock admits himself to not understanding the last one.
  • This same riddle was the centerpoint of "The Riddle" (backup story in Batman: Gotham Knights Vol 1 6), when the Riddler attempted to learn Lewis Carroll's actual answer to the riddle.
  • The title of the story, and many lines within, are taken directly from Lewis Carroll's famous poem, "Jabberwocky". The full poem can be found here.


See Also

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