Comic Book: Batman #447 - 'When the Earth Dies! Chapter Three'

Another thing I've been doing recently is picking up boxes of comics on eBay. I was never really a comic book reader when I was a kid, and have got into it a little in recent years, partly for research on a superhero video game I worked on, but have only really picked up TPBs and focused on the Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Vertigo-type nexus until very recently.

Thus, these random short and long boxes I've grabbed over the past few weeks have included a few surprises (or, at least, surprises to me!), and I'll be featuring snippets here - starting with Batman Issue #447 from May 1990, titled 'When the Earth Dies! Chapter Three'.

    

As the synopsis explains: "The NKVDemon continues his murder spree, and before long there is only one name left on his list: President Gorbachev himself, who will be attacked on Earth Day."

This was just after the Berlin Wall fell and Communism was starting to disintegrate in Russia, so it's fascinating to see a Batman story set in Russia and featuring a Soviet government superhero who agonizes over West/East unification ("Now we permit that empire to flee us and rush toward the decadent West"). Oh, and it's an awesome Brian Bolland cover. See, superheroes can be relevant after all?