Batgirl index vol 1 (1967 - 1977)

VOLUME 1 1967 - 1977

COMICS INDEX

VOLUME 1 1967 - 1977

COMICS INDEX LEONIDAS FRAGIAS

The Arts & Charts Index to Batgirl The format and design of this book is based on George Olshevsky's Marvel Index series and Murray Ward's DC Index series. Their books have a beautiful layout which was an inspiration for me.

The Official Marvel Index is a series of comic books released by Marvel Comics which featured synopses of several Marvel series. The books were largely compiled by George Olshevsky and featured detailed information on each issue in a particular series, including writer and artist credits, characters who appeared in the issue, and a story synopsis.

The Official Marvel Index was preceded by the Marvel Comics Index (also compiled by Olshevsky) and distributed by Pacific Comics Distributors sporadically from 1976-1982. These books were magazinesized as opposed to comic-sized. The first Official Marvel Index titles were published in 1985, and produced regularly through August 1988.

A similar series of indices was published for DC Comics. The Official DC Index was released by Independent Comics Group (an imprint of Eclipse Comics) from 1985–1988. The books were edited by Murray Ward.

The data for this book is taken from various sources. I fill the gap of the missing data, since I have the complete collection of DC and Marvel comics from the 1930s to the present. Also I made some corrections, when the data is wrong.

The book series cover the silver age (from the mid-1950s to 1969) and the bronze age (from 1970 to 1986) of DC Comics. This is my favorite era, when it comes to comics. Many thanks to DarkMark, George Olshevsky, Murray Ward, Mark Waid and Mike Tiefenbacher among others.

Leonidas Fragias

THE BATGIRL COMICS INDEX Volume 1, 2018. Published by Arts & Charts.

Editor: Leonidas Fragias, Writers: Various. Batgirl is trademark of DC Comics Inc. All art and cover reproductions Š2018 DC Comics Inc.

Detective Comics #359

Detective Comics #363

January 1967 Cover Artist: Carmine Infantino / Murphy Anderson Story: “The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl” (16 pages) Writer: Gardner Fox Artist: Carmine Infantino Synopsis: Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, goes to a masquerade ball in a Batgirl costume of her own creation. But on the way there she notices Bruce Wayne being attacked by Killer Moth and his cronies, swings into action, and begins a crime-fighting career of her own.

Later, she aids Batman and Robin in bringing down the Moth.

May 1967 Cover Artist: Carmine Infantino / Murphy Anderson Story: “The True-False Face of Batman” (15 pages) Writer: Gardner Fox Artist: Carmine Infantino Synopsis: While tracking down a gang of museum thieves who signal their jobs through clues involving library books, Batman unmasks before Batgirl, but still conceals his identity.

Detective Comics #369 November 1967 Cover Artist: Gil Kane / Murphy Anderson Story: “Batgirl Breaks Up the Dynamic Duo” (14 pages) Writer: Gardner Fox Artist: Carmine Infantino Comment: This story continues in part in BATMAN #197.

Synopsis: Batman comes down with swamp fever, and Batgirl and Robin are forced to scoop him in crime-fighting for a week in order to keep him inactive long enough to recover.

Batman #197 December 1967 Cover Artist: Carmine Infantino / Mike Esposito Story: “Catwoman Sets Her Claws For Batman” (23 pages) Writer: Gardner Fox Artist: Frank Springer Synopsis: Catwoman, feeling herself threatened by Batgirl as a love interest for Batman, launches herself into a crime-fighting campaign and captures a number of crooks. But, when he refuses to take the marriage bait, she captures him, Robin, and Batgirl, to make him an offer she thinks he cannot refuse.

Detective Comics #371 January 1968 Cover Artist: Carmine Infantino / Murphy Anderson Story: “Batgirl’s Costume Cut-Ups” (16 pages) Writer: Gardner Fox Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Batgirl’s concern for her appearance leads to troubles during her and Batman’s and Robin’s encounters with the Sports Spoilers Gang.

Detective Comics #384 February 1969 Story: “Tall, Dark, Handsome, and Missing” (8 pages) Writer: Mike Friedrich Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Barbara Gordon goes looking for a mysterious but handsome patron of the library where she works and, as Batgirl, discovers he is a prisoner of gangsters.

Detective Comics #385

Detective Comics #388

March 1969 Cover Artist: Neal Adams Story: “Hunt For the Helpless Hostage” (8 pages) Writer: Mike Friedrich Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Batgirl rescues Mark Hanner and then helps him rescue his sister from the hands of gangster Web Foote.

June 1969 Story: “Surprise! This’ll Kill You!” (10 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Barbara Gordon agrees to substitute for a stewardess at a costume ball in which she goes as Batgirl, but doesn’t know that the stewardess is a smuggler, or that her four confederates, dressed as Justice League members, intend to try and kill her.

Detective Comics #389

Detective Comics #392

July 1969 Story: “Batgirl’s Bag of Tricks” (9 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Batgirl battles free of the phony “Justice Leaguers” and manages to track down smuggler Darlene Dawson for a showdown.

October 1969 Story: “A Clue--Seven-Foot Tall” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Barbara Gordon meets and dates detective Jason Bard, who deduces that the perpetrator of a mugging-murder was seven feet tall, and a member of the city’s pro basketball team, at which point Batgirl lends Bard a hand.

Detective Comics #393 November 1969 Story: “Downfall of a Goliath” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Batgirl and Jason Bard attempt to trap Topper, a basketball star, for the secret syndicate ledger he has stashed in his locker, but their trap backfires.

Detective Comics #396 February 1970 Story: “The Orchid-Crusher” (9 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Batgirl goes on the trail of a killer of plain-Jane women by affecting an unglamourous appearance as Barbara Gordon.

Detective Comics #397 March 1970 Story: “The Hollow Man” (9 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Batgirl discovers that the killer of plain women is a “matinee idol” himself, who uses masks to disguise himself as ugly men.

Detective Comics #400 June 1970 Story: “A Burial For Batgirl” (8 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Barbara Gordon arrives at Hudson University to deliver some Edgar Allan Poe material for an exhibition, becomes involved as Batgirl in the case of a murdered professor, and gets kayoed and awakens bound within a cell which is being bricked up by her attacker.

Detective Comics #401 July 1970 Story: “Midnight Is the Dying Hour” (8 pages) Editor: Julius Schwartz Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Robin comes to Batgirl’s rescue and frees her from the uncompleted cell. Together, they take down the murderer, who has an insane Poe fixation.

Detective Comics #404 October 1970 Story: “Midnight Doom-Boy” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Jason Bard is framed for the murder of avant-garde film director Billy Warlock, and Batgirl learns that the real murderess is Veda, one of Warlock’s actresses. But she is paralyzed by a drug, and Veda prepares to encase her body in plaster and smother her.

Detective Comics #405 November 1970 Story: “The Living Statues” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Infra-Red breaks in to help save Batgirl from Veda’s plaster deathtrap, but the dead Billy Warlock may have the last word in the case.

Detective Comics #406 December 1970 Story: “The Explosive Circle” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: Trying to learn the involvement of an activist author with a bombed building, Batgirl finds herself trapped in a basement whose floor is laden with mines.

Detective Comics #407 January 1971 Story: “One of Our Landmarks Is Missing” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Gil Kane Synopsis: After Batgirl manages to deactivates the mines, she goes on the trail of Mal and his bombing gang, and finds them in cahoots with a profiteer.

Detective Comics #408 February 1971 Story: “The Phantom Bull-Fighter” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Barbara Gordon goes to Madrid, Spain to acquire a manuscript on bullfighting for the library, becomes a guest of Don Alvarado, and becomes involved in a bullfighting mystery when a bull is killed before it can fight in the ring.

Detective Comics #409

Detective Comics #410

March 1971 Story: “Night of the Sharp Horns” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Batgirl finds herself alone in a bullring, facing a bull loosed upon her by a mysterious matador.

April 1971 Story: “Battle of the Three M’s” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: A model’s injured leg leaves the fashion world in disarray. When the courtiers turn to crime, Batgirl intervenes, and finds herself in a clothes-cutting deathtrap.

Detective Comics #411 May 1971 Story: “Cut and Run” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Batgirl must free herself of the pattern cutter before it cuts her to pieces.

Detective Comics #412 June 1971 Story: “The Head-Splitters” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Batgirl battles a pair of wig-makers who extort money from their female victims by threatening to crush their heads with constricting wigs.

Detective Comics #413 July 1971 Story: “Squeeze-Play” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Batgirl continues her fight to save a victim from Wanda’s and Vazly’s deadly wigs.

Detective Comics #414 August 1971 Story: “Invitation To Murder” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Barbara Gordon and Jason Bard receive invitations for a stage show but find the stage and audience empty, save for themselves, two actors, and an unseen gunman who is out to kill them.

Detective Comics #415 September 1971 Story: “Death Shares the Spotlight” (7 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Batgirl tracks the mystery shootist down to a Wild West show and learns the secret behind his crime.

Detective Comics #416 October 1971 Story: “The Deadly Go-Between” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: A cop is murdered and a phony Batgirl leads Commissioner Gordon into a trap while the real Batgirl tries to escape and warn him of it.

Detective Comics #417

Detective Comics #418

November 1971 Story: “A Bullet For Gordon” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Batgirl saves Commissioner Gordon from the deathtrap and then tracks down the real perpetrators of the cop-killing.

December 1971 Story: “The Kingpin Is Dead” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: While attending a gangster movie premiere, Barbara Gordon sees a “godfather” from the 1920's murdered outside the theater and gets on the case as Batgirl.

Detective Comics #419 January 1972 Story: “Long Live the Kingpin” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Batgirl discovers the real murderer of Floyd Marcus and exonerates his son.

Detective Comics #420 February 1972 Story: “Target For Manana” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Barbara Gordon and her father go to Mexico to try and nab a drug-smuggling ring at its source, but are both captured.

Detective Comics #421 March 1972 Story: “Up Against Three Walls” (9 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Batgirl is captured by Odds Lanyon’s men and forced to play a deadly game of Jai Alai with a live grenade.

Detective Comics #422 April 1972 Cover Artist: Neal Adams / Dick Giordano Story: “The Unmasking of Batgirl” (9 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: After having been conned by a supposedly-reformed crook who just wants to rob the Gotham Public Library of a first edition of Edgar Allan Poe, Barbara Gordon changes to Batgirl, nabs the thief, and then unmasks before her father. Commissioner Gordon is being touted as a congressional candidate, but Barbara tells him she wants to run for the seat herself.

Detective Comics #423 May 1972 Story: “Candidate For Danger” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Barbara Gordon begins her campaign for Congress on the Fusion Faction ticket, but Batgirl must learn who has robbed their treasury of funds needed for TV commercials.

Detective Comics #424 June 1972 Story: “Batgirl’s Last Case” (8 pages) Writer: Frank Robbins Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: As Barbara Gordon’s Congressional campaign comes down to the wire, a group of gangsters conspires to put her out of the running by murder.

Batman Family #1 September-October 1975 Cover Artist: Mike Grell Story: “The Invader From Hell” (18 pages) Writer: Elliot S! Maggin Artist: Mike Grell Synopsis: Batgirl and Robin must take action when the ghost of Benedict Arnold appears during a Bicentennial TV information taping to rehabilitate his soiled reputation, and attempt to capture Washington, D.C.

Batman Family #3 January-February 1976 Cover Artist: Ernie Chua Story: “Isle of a Thousand Thrills” (18 pages) Editor: Julius Schwartz Writer: Elliot S! Maggin Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: Batgirl and Robin, along with a number of other people, find themselves on an “Isle of a Thousand Thrills”, complete with dinosaurs, warriors from the future, and the Spanish Inquisition, which no one was expecting.

Batman Family #4 March-April 1976 Cover Artist: Ernie Chua Story: “Cage Me or Kill Me” (9 pages) Writer: Elliot S! Maggin Artist: Pablo Marcos Synopsis: Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon try to keep crime-syndicate assassin Diamond Lilly from killing former crook Tad Wolfe before he can receive a new face and identity.

Batman Family #5 May-June 1976 Cover Artist: Ernie Chan Story: “The Princess and the Vagabond” (18 pages) Writers: Elliot S! Maggin, Cary Bates Artist: Curt Swan Synopsis: Batgirl tries to protect a princess from MAZE, while Robin tries to do the same for a visiting poet from her kingdom.

Batman Family #6

Batman Family #7

July-August 1976 Cover Artist: Ernie Chua Story: “Valley of the Copper Moon” (9 pages) Writer: Elliot S! Maggin Artist: Jose Delbo Synopsis: Congesswoman Barbara Gordon makes a trip to an Indian rodeo with other legislators, and discovers skulduggery and political corruption there as Batgirl.

September-October 1976 Cover Artist: Ernie Chua Story: “Thirteen Points To a Dead End” (17 pages) Writer: Elliot S! Maggin Artist: Curt Swan Synopsis: Batgirl and Robin are captured separately by the Sportsmaster and Huntress and forced to compete in ancient Roman-style games against one another so that the survivor may retrieve a giant ruby for them--or face their partner’s death.

Batman Family #9 January-February 1977 Cover Artist: Ernie Chua Story: “Startling Secret of the Devilish Daughters” (17 pages) Writer: Bob Rozakis Artist: Irv Novick Synopsis: Congresswoman Barbara Gordon’s award plaque from Hudson University is stolen, and to regain it, Batgirl and Robin must face the supposed “daughters” of several Batman villains, all of whom turn out to be the Joker’s Daughter.

Batman Family #10 March-April 1977 Cover Artist: Bob Brown Story: “Those Were the Bad Old Days” (17 pages) Writer: Bob Rozakis Artist: Bob Brown Synopsis: Batwoman comes out of retirement to aid Batgirl in battling the new villain team of the Cavalier and Killer Moth.

VOLUME 1 1967 - 1977

An Explanation of the Comics Index In this series, we examine every issue of every DC and Marvel comic book of the silver and the bronze age and also provide you with a color reproduction of the comic’s cover, a complete listing of the creative people involved in producing the comic, a summary of what happened in each adventure, and various other information.

All comics indexed in a series will run in serial order, beginning with the first issue or the earliest issue that features the series being indexed. Each of the index entries is as self-explanatory as possible. Some of the criteria we used to create an index entry are provided below.

Cover Credits It usually takes many people to produce a comic book cover, from conception and design through coloring and production, and it is impossible to credit them all. The Artist, responsible for the basic execution of the cover, does the lion’s share of the work. If more than one artist works on a cover, some usually pencil and the others usually ink.

Records of artists and letterers are sometimes unavailable, particularly for covers that appeared many years ago, so the identities of some cover artists and letterers are the best guesses that the indexers and DC’s and Marvel's current editors and art staff can make. Credits other than Artist or Artists and Letterer appear where known.

Story Information Story titles are given as they appear on the title pages, not as on the covers or in coming attractions. When a story lacks a title or title page (a rare occurrence), a note to this effect appears as a Comment.

Story credits are taken from the credits as published. As with cover credits, it is impossible to credit everybody who worked on a story, but whenever additional information is available, it appears in the Index. If the published credits in a story are incorrect, the Index corrects them wherever possible.

Chronology A time line for all of DC’s and Marvel's comics that allows proper chronological ordering of the appearances of every DC and Marvel character is far from complete. Nevertheless, some appearances are known to precede or follow others.

Whenever chronological information is known reliably but is not obvious from the continuity of the stories, it is noted in parentheses. “First appearance” accompanies a character’s listing when the comic is the earliest one in which the character appears. A first appearance is not necessarily a character’s chronologically earliest appearance, which might occur, for example, in an origin flashback first told many years later. As a general rule, in the case of feature characters who are members of a team but who also appear in their own features or comics, issue-by-issue chronological notations for these characters are made in the indexes to their own features, not in the index to the team feature. For instance, Superman’s chronology is noted in The Superman Index, not in The Justice League of America Index.

A casual reading of a few Plot Synopses will make it abundantly clear that a whole month does not usually pass for the characters in between monthly issues of a comic.

Many issues begin hours or even minutes after the previous month’s story. Consequently, a character who has had his own feature for ten years will not have aged ten years in the time it took for those comics to come out. As for trying to determine in what year a given adventure takes place, there’s no conclusive answer. Specific dates that appear in stories, as well as mention of current events and popular culture, depictions of contemporary fashions, and usage of contemporary slang, are all what is known as Topical References. These are specific details added by a writer or artist to a story to make it seem current at the time the story is being published. They are not necessarily indicators of when — what year or even what decade — a story took place.