Title: Detective Comics
Issue: 490
Date: May,1980
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Denny O'Neil, Mike W. Barr, Bob Rozakis, Jack C. Harris, Martin Pasko
Artist: Don Newton, Dan Adkins, John Calnan, Joe Giella, George Tuska, Bob Smith, Alex Saviuk, Pat Broderick, Frank McLaughlin
Colorist: Adrienne Roy, Gene D'Angelo, Tatjana Wood, Bob LeRose
Letterer: Ben Oda, Todd Klein, Milt Snapinn
Editor: Paul Levitz
The main story here has the Batman caught in the middle of a battle between Ras Al Ghul and the Sensei for the control and the purpose of the League of Assassins. The Batman races to stop a manmade natural disaster set up by the Sensei from taking out a gathering of world religious leaders, and he has more problems dealing with Commissioner Gordon's security forces than he does with the actual assassins. The Batman is having a pretty bad day by the time this one is over, although he does get a bit of reprieve by the end in the arms of Talia Al Ghul.
There are also four backup stories. A ballet-themed Batgirl story is a pretty straightforward mystery as Barbara tries to unravel the grudges in a family dance troupe that have led to attempted murder.
Robin, in college-student mode, takes on a crime that feels significantly below his paygrade as he tracks down the (obvious) suspect in a scheme to sell exam answers to cheating students. The fun part of this is his interactions with current girlfriend (and honest nursing student) Jennifer.
There's a short "Tale of Gotham City" piece that turns out to be rather cozy after opening with a voiceover that feels a bit victim-blamey. It redeemed itself reasonably well in the end.
And finally, a Black Lightning story with the hero saving a teenaged boy from some Voodoo practitioners, complete with the expected stereotypes for that sort of thing, and a cliffhanger ending that teases a possible new beginning for Black Lightning.
The opening story did a good job of keeping the tension high, while the Robin and Batgirl stories were both decent short-form adventures. Black Lightning seemed to be going for a reboot, and did a reasonable job of setting that up.
Rating: 5.5/10
