Batman #225

Batman #225 (On Sale: July 16, 1970) has cover by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano.

This issue begins with our cover-story "Wanted for Murder-One, the Batman"  by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano.
TV talk-show host Jonah Jory hates Batman and verbally attacks him while Commissioner Gordon is a guest on his show. Later that night, Jory is shot to death at the Gotham Athletic Club. A witness sees Batman outside the window and our hero is charged with murder.

The evidence is entirely circumstantial, but that never stopped Gotham's finest from pointing guns Batman's way. Of course, Commissioner Gordon is egged into doing it by Arthur Reeves of Gotham's Public Works Department. This was a weasel of a character created by Denny to be the voice of no reason whatsoever in Gotham. He was always too over the top for my tastes.

Anyway, Batman goes undercover to find the real killer and eventually deduces that Jory arranged his own death and had Batman blamed. Why he did this is never clearly established, but it did make for a nice Adams cover. Reprinted in Best of DC #30 and Showcase Presents: Batman Vol. 5 TPB.

The back-up story is "Shutdown on York Street!" by Mike Friedrich, Irv Novick and Mike Esposito. In it Alex Saddows, son of Mystery Analyst Art Saddows, accidentally kills a drag-racing rival in what looks like a revenge strike. Batman gets on the case to find Alex and determines that a jealous young man had tinkered with Alex's brakes. Reprinted in Showcase Presents:Batman Vol. 5 TPB.

Edited by Julie Schwartz.