Batman #395 [Direct]
(May 1986)

DC, 1940 Series
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Price
0.75 USD; 0.95 CAD; 0.40 GBP
Pages
36
Indicia Frequency
monthly
On-sale Date
1986-01-21
Publisher's Age Guidelines
Approved by the Comics Code Authority
Indicia / Colophon Publisher
DC Comics Inc.
Brand
DC [bullet]
Printer
Printed in the U.S.A.
Editing
Len Wein (credited) (editor); Tom Condon (credited) (managing editor)

Issue Notes

On-sale date from DC Releases #24.
This issue has variants:

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents)

Batman / cover / 1 page (report information)

Pencils
Tom Mandrake (signed)
Inks
Tom Mandrake (signed)
Colors
Anthony Tollin

Genre
superhero
Characters
Batman [Bruce Wayne]; Film Freak [Burt Weston] (hand only)
Synopsis
The Film Freak holds a 44 magnum to Batman's head a la Clint Eastwood.
Keywords
gun-to-head; movies; parody or tribute references

Indexer Notes

Colors credit confirmed by Anthony Tollin.

The Film Freak (Table of Contents: 1)

Batman / comic story / 22 pages (report information)

Script
Doug Moench (credited)
Pencils
Tom Mandrake (credited)
Inks
Tom Mandrake (credited)
Colors
Adrienne Roy (credited)
Letters
John Workman (credited) (pages 1-2); John Costanza (credited) (pages 3-22)

Job Number
G-2909
First Line of Dialogue or Text
Cary Grant he is not. But an audacious cat burglar he is.
Genre
superhero
Characters
Batman [Bruce Wayne]; Catwoman [Selina Kyle]; Robin [Jason Todd]; Alfred Pennyworth; Julia Remarque; Vicki Vale; Police Commissioner James Gordon; Detective Sgt. Harvey Bullock; The Film Freak [Burt Weston]; Mrs. Marsh; India Blue (actress); Al Jacobs (failed actor); Paul Vasseria (film director); Frank (entertainment editor for Picture News)
Synopsis
Batman and Catwoman team up to track down The Film Freak, a one-time actor turned theatrically-themed thief, while Robin teams up with Harvey Bullock to do the same.
Reprints
Keywords
fame-is-fleeting; first appearance of recurring character(s); meta humor; movies; mystery; parody or tribute references

Indexer Notes

Story continues in Detective Comics #562. Story title from Ralf H. Kienzle.

First appearance of The Film Freak.

The character of Frank, Picture News entertainment editor, is visually based upon then-popular TV personality and film critic Gene Shalit, known for his distinctive, outsized handlebar moustache. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Shalit

META MOMENT:
To catch The Film Freak, Robin and Bullock stake-out the North Gotham Art Gallery where valuable movie memorabilia is to be sold at auction.

BULLOCK: "Sure wish I could go in there an' browse. I hear they got one o' Bogie's [Humphrey Bogart] hats an' a yellow brick from The Wizard O' OZ."

ROBIN: "And no doubt Burgess Meredith's pointy false nose." - referring to Meredith's portrayal of The Penguin on the Batman TV series (1966-1968).

Meanwhile... (Table of Contents: 2) (Expand) /

Meanwhile... / in-house column / 1 page (report information)

Bat-Signals (Table of Contents: 3)

Bat-Signals / letters page / 2 pages (report information)

Script
Robert Greenberger (credited as Bob Greenberger)
Pencils
Jim Aparo (Bat-Signals logo image of Batman)
Inks
Jim Aparo (Bat-Signals logo image of Batman)
Colors
?
Letters
typeset

Job Number
L-2267
Characters
Batman (logo)
Keywords
editorial feature; letters of comment

Indexer Notes

Letters of comment from David Seigler, Thomas Roynane, Brian D. Scott, Chad Cayler, Jeff Mitchell, Glen Hald, Juanita S. Wood, Carlos E. Torres Pizarro and Stan Johnston.

Editing
Related Scans
Series Information
Table of Contents
  1. 0. [no title indexed]
    Batman
  2. 1. The Film Freak
    Batman
  3. 2. Meanwhile...
    Meanwhile...
  4. 3. Bat-Signals
    Bat-Signals
This issue was modified by, among others
  • Steve Coates
  • Peter Croome
  • Matthew Head
  • Jerry Hillegas (R.I.P.)
  • Kelly Langston-Smith
  • Lou Mazzella
  • Fawzy Partridge
  • Matthew Peets
  • Tony R. Rose
  • Joe Torcivia
  • Marc Turnage
  • Jim Van Dore
  • Mike Wagner