Batman Confidential #50 - Jan. 2011

Comics Weekend "The Case of the Vampire From Outer Space" by Marc Guggenheim, Jerry Bingham, Mark Farmer, and more.

As I mentioned in the previous Brightest Day post, thankfully Aquaman is not entirely absent from DC's books this week. Improbably, Classic Aquaman--and the rest of the original JLA--star in this issue of Batman Confidential, in a back-up feature that looks ripped from the early 1960s:

In Death Valley, California, a remote scientific outpost is the scene of some sort of horror, as one of the scientists desperately looks for a hiding place from some malevolent monster. Unfortunately for the scientist, his hiding place has not kept him safe.

Meanwhile, across the country, we...the Martian Manhunter attacking his fellow JLAers? Yes--with his arms around a struggling Wonder Woman, Mannhunter manages to fend off Aquaman who is there to help, but:

Ah-hah---this was merely a training mission for the newly-formed JLAers!

But all is not fun and games--via his power ring, Green Lantern gets a distress call from "the world's foremost scientist"...Lex Luthor?!?

This pre-Superman Lex Luthor gives the JLAers the lowdown about the Death Valley lab, and they're off to investigate. Once there, they see nothing but victims--people who look as though they've had the very lifeforce drained out of them!

The JLA decide to break into teams (of course) and look around. Manhunter and Wonder Woman find the most recent victim, who is able to tell them a little bit about a "vampire" before finally dying.

Meanwhile, the Flash and Aquaman do some discovering of their own:

The mysterious creature gets the drop on both of them, and the last we see of Aquaman is his startled face!

In another part of the facility, Green Lantern views some video diaries left behind, including info on the rampaging monster that the scientists unwittingly discovered.

All the JLAers meet up in the room holding the alien vampire's ship, where the creature emerges holding an unconscious Flash! They attack, but the monster is so powerful he can hold off Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman!

Inside the ship, Martian Manhunter searches for their missing teammate:

Manhunter relays Aquaman's plans via telepathy, which involves creating a vacuum over the creature, which sucks all the moisture out of the alien's body, held in place by Wonder Woman's lasso. Within moments, the alien collapses, and then Manhunter and Aquaman emerge:

Judging by that "next issue" blurb (another old-timey touch), there will be more of these Classic JLA adventures in the next couple issues of this series. Looks like I need to add Batman Confidential to my pull list!



(Special Thanks to F.O.A.M.ers Glenn Walker and Joe Slab for letting me know this story was in this book!)