There have been a lot of supervillains in comic history, far more than there have been heroes. But they can’t all be Darth Vader. Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Batman #226 awaits!

BATMAN #226

Writer:  Frank Robbins
Penciler: Irv Novick
Inker: Dick Giordano
Colorist: Uncredited
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Julius Schwartz
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: 15 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $45.00
Release Date: September 3, 1970

Previously in Batman: Most of the time, when a silly or inexplicable supervillain makes the scene, they just roll off the end of the pier, never to be seen again, save for the occasional cameo reference to remind us all of what happens when creators don’t quite get the formula right. Guys like The Hypno Hustler, The Weeper, Big Wheel, and others have come back and had big moments, and even the much-maligned Polka-Dot Man had a star turn as one of The Suicide Squad. So, when I heard that Marv Wolfman was so disgusted by a Bat-Villain that he specifically made sure that he could give him a painful death in the pages of Crisis On Infinite Earths, I had to ask, “How bad could he be?”

Meet Phillip “Three-Eye” Reardon, veteran of the conflict in Vietnam, extreme straight-arrow, and part-time night watchman at a warehouse full of valuable furs in a particularly horrible part of Gotham City. Sadly, for all his skill, he doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head, which leaves him open to being knocked out by a thrown brick. He comes to, vision blurred, just as The Batman arrives to take in the men who knocked him down. Mistaking the Caped Crusader for one of the criminals, Three-Eye Reardon charges, distracting the hero just long enough for the explosives wired to the vault to go off.

Both Three-Eye and Batman are wounded in the explosion, with Batman suffering double-vision and distortions, while Reardon is blinded. The last clear image that he remembers is the Dark Knight throwing a batarang, and so he believes that The Bat took his vision from him. The criminals befriend Reardon, eventually taking him to see the top neuro-ophthalmologist in the city, one Dr. Engstrom, who proposes radical treatment for Three-Eye’s destroyed retinas.

There’s… Uhh… There’s a lot wrong with that whole idea, not the least of which is the idea that optic nerves will transmit vision without any sort of apparatus to collect and focus light, but what’s even more distressing is the face of Engstrom in that final panel. Irv Novick and Dick Giordano work pretty well together, most of the time, but something about this issue just… doesn’t click. Maybe it’s that Batman’s cowl “ears” are a little bit floppy, or maybe it’s that the silliness of the Ten-Eyed Man gimmick got them down. I don’t know, but as the newly minted supervillain begins tracking the Dark Knight (poking fingers around corners and out of air vents), the wind all goes out of the visuals.

Reardon captures Batman, leading to a case of the blind beating the blind, as Batman (who has been cautioned to rest his eyes lest he, too, lose his vision) has to fight off a foe who is always giving him the finger. The story even features Ten-Eyed Man falling and catching himself, with the impact blinding five of his “eyes,” a bit of nonsense that undermines the whole idea. If his fingers are now as sensitive as normal eyes, he won’t be able to fist-fight, crack a safe, or perish forbid, type something. What was a dumb idea is thus transmogrified into a dumb idea that makes the villain useless.

And of course, the issue ends with a big cliffhanger, promising more of the unthinkable threat of the Ten-Eyed Man, making me wonder if writer Frank Robbins believed that he might be the proverbial Next Big Thing. He makes a return appearance a few issues later, dropping off the face of Earth-1 for six years, before returning to face-off (hand-off?) with Man-Bat in ’76. That story features him being disabled when he reflexively shields his eyes with his hands, blinding him a second time, after which he falls to his apparent death. The first appearance of the Ten-Eyed Man in Batman #226, though, ends up being silly, uninspired, and trying far too hard, winding up as a dull, melodramatic issue that nets only 1.5 out of 5 stars overall.

After that Man-Battle, the Ten-Eyed Man’s next appearance is in the final issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths almost ten years later, being graphically ripped apart on-panel by the Anti-Monitor’s shadow demons.

---

Dear Spoilerite,

At Major Spoilers, we strive to create original content that you find interesting and entertaining. Producing, writing, recording, editing, and researching requires significant resources. We pay writers, podcast hosts, and other staff members who work tirelessly to provide you with insights into the comic book, gaming, and pop culture industries. Help us keep MajorSpoilers.com strong. Become a Patron (and our superhero) today.

BATMAN #226

30%

30%

Bronze-Age Ludicrous

Sometimes, a premise is so screamingly ridiculous that, no matter what you do with it, the resulting story can't be anything more than goof-tastic.

• Writing

  2
• Art

  4
• Coloring

  3
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0