Batman #227

Batman #227 (On Sale: October 20, 1970), has a cover by Neal Adams. in a bit of the gothic genre that DC was trying out at the time. The looming wash figure of Batman in the background is an homage to the cover of Detective Comics #31 by Bob Kane.

We start with Batman in  "The Demon of Gothos Mansion" by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. Alfred receives a letter from his niece Daphne, saying she is teaching the children of Gothos Mansion but thinks there is something strange. Batman decides to investigate and once he arrives, he is attacked by some men, but easily defeats them. In Daphne's room, she tells him she has discovered the children were Dwarves and she is forced to wear ancient clothes. On the wall there is a portrait of a girl who looks exactly like Daphne. When Batman steps outside the room into a hallway, he falls through a trapdoor into a net.

The Elder Heathrow and his men bind Batman's hands and he is placed on a stone with a noose round his neck. In about a quarter of an hour it will drop into the cellar and Batman will be hanged. He tells Batman that as Daphne was born at precisely midnight on October 31st he will sacrifice her to summon the demon Ballk, which his family has waited six generations to do. He claims an ancestor of his did so also and the spirit of the sacrifice walks these halls. When he is left to die, Batman escapes using a torch to burn through the rope. Once outside, he sees a girl he mistakes for Daphne but she says she is not her. She leads him to the coven in an old chapel and he finds himself loving her.

Inside the chapel, Daphne is bound and gagged, standing on the altar while the coven chants. She is forced down and the Elder prepares to slay her with a pitchfork. However Batman enters and puts an end to the sacrificial ceremony. As the coven attacks, he throws the Elder to them and they run out. The Elder dies and Batman deduces that his heart couldn't take it. Batman unties Daphne, telling her to go to the mansion as he goes out to meet the girl that guided him, but she says in besting the coven he has freed her and disappears into the night. Finally, Batman finds the image of the girl similar to Daphe fixed to a tree. Reprinted in Batman from the 30s to the 70s HC (1972), Limited Collectors' Edition C-59 (1978) and Showcase Presents: Batman Vol. 5 TPB (2012).

We end with Robin in  "Help Me --- I Think I'm Dead" by Mike Friedrich, Irv Novick and Mike Esposito. While working a college help line, Dick Grayson receives an emergency call from photographer Phil Real. Dick rushes to the nearby riverside where he saves Phil's life as Robin. However, he finds that the river is badly polluted. Dick joins the campaign of Professor Stuart who is running for Congress on a platform of cleaning up the environment including the river.

The ICM Corporation is angry that Stuart is receiving backing from Hudson University students. They hire arsonists to torch the professor's office. Robin tries to stop them, but he is too late. Then a photograph surfaces showing Stuart taking a payoff. This story is continued next issue. Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB (2008) and Showcase Presents: Batman Vol. 5 TPB (2012).

Edited by Julius Schwartz.