DC Database
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
DC Database
DC Database
127,497
pages
in: Carmine Infantino/Executive Editor, Neal Adams/Cover Artist, Dick Giordano/Cover Artist,
and 18 more

Batman Vol 1 224

Sign in to edit

"Carnival of the Cursed": Investigating the murder of a jazz musician in New Orleans, Batman encounters the powerful Moloch and his gang, who are seeking the victim's trumpet for a hidden map to a gold mine. After Batman's first encounter against the beastly Moloc

Batman #224 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1970. It was published on June 4, 1970.

Synopsis for "Carnival of the Cursed"

Investigating the murder of a jazz musician in New Orleans, Batman encounters the powerful Moloch and his gang, who are seeking the victim's trumpet for a hidden map to a gold mine. After Batman's first encounter against the beastly Moloch, he starts following the clues left by the thugs and he realizes that Moloch's gang has kidnapped one of the late musician's friends.

In order to rescue the elder friend, Batman tracks down the criminals to a steam boat in the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, this was a well prepared trap and Batman falls helplessly. Using his physical skills, Batman manages to break free and he rescues the kidnapped man, who informs Batman that he had already told the villains about the trumpet that was buried with its owner.

Batman rushes to the graveyard, where in fact Moloch and his right hand thug have retrieved the trumpet. Batman manages to defeat the henchman easily, but Moloch takes off with the trumpet in his possession. Batman follows the monster to the Mardi Grass parade, where the beastly human is taken for another participant with a strange disguise. Unable to break out of the crowd, Moloch is forced to confront Batman and he is ultimately defeated. Sadly, the trumpet is destroyed in the struggle and with it, the information about the mine map is gone as well.

Appearing in "Carnival of the Cursed"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Maxwell Dill (Single appearance)

Antagonists:

  • Rufus Macob aka Moloch (Single appearance)
    • Harry (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Charles "Blind Buddy" (Single appearance; dies)
  • Bat
  • Fredricks (Single appearance)

Locations:

Notes

  • This story was the first Batman story written by Dennis O'Neil. It was written as an assignment for Julius Schwartz in the late 60s, but the style did not fit the camp style of that decade. For this reason it was delayed until this publication date.

Trivia

  • After Julius Schwartz had prompted readers to find new names for the title of the letter column, a reader called Peter C. Phillips suggested the name "Bat-Signals" and his suggestion was printed in this issue's letter page. While originally ignored, this would become the chosen title seven years later, starting with Batman #293; although the name was credited to a David Karoll, who also created the design for the new title.


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More DC Database