Back in 1987, the ink of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One was still fresh in the pages of the core Batman title, and the grim and gritification of his Dark Knight Returns miniseries was only a year old at this point. However, over in Detective Comics, Mike W. Barr and Alan Davis were up to something completely different. Hence issues like this goofy one and done capper, uh, *caper* versus the mustachioed Mad Hatter.
Our tale begins at Gotham State Prison (apparently this hatter wasn't mad enough for Arkham Asylum..) Where Jervis Tetch, aka The Mad Hatter is given parole, a nice bland grey suit and a conspicuous lack of headwear. According to the warden, hats have"unfortunate...connotations" for him. Apparently without a hat on his head, this Tetch is just a meek, fumbling weirdo. Incidentally, in canon this version of Tech is said to be the "imposter" Mad Hatter, while the better-known, mind-controlling version is the "real" one. Apart from the character's name, there's nary a single Wonderland reference in the entire issue. This Hatter is all hats, all the time.
He's met at the gate by a police cruiser, which has apparently been hijacked by Batman and Robin, and the heroes try to convince him to finally reform his dastardly ways. Robin probably thought he was being clever and whimsical by wearing a police hat in the cruiser, but naturally the Hatter fixates on it, and tunes out their pleas. They drop him off by a newsstand in Gotham where he immediately buys a newspaper, folds it into a doofy looking tricorn, plops it on his head and immediately turns evil again. That was fast.
One impressive title splash page later, we're in the office of Commissioner Gordon. In a particularly Adam West-ian scene, Batman chastises Robin for dismissing a hatbox clue left there by telling him "A thorough inspection of all evidence...that's the first rule of crime detection", where there is a message clearly written inside the empty hatbox. Silly Robin.
Next, at the Liar's Club, which I assume is just the Gotham City equivalent of a Friar's Club, Hatter and his henchmen are robbing the joint. Why? Because later on, Batman deduces that another meaning of "liar" is someone who "talks through his hat". Yep. Get ready for more of those delights. Bats comes to the assumption that he's committing crimes symbolically related to hats! Also for some reason, in this story Hatter and his henchmen are dressed in a vaguely western fashion which I don't quite get. Though his (undersized, IMO) top hat still sports the famous 10/6 card in it's brim. I do enjoy his use of gimmicky headwear as weapons though (a fireman's hat that shoots fire, a gas mask that emits fumes). Having been tipped off by Gordon's men, Batman and Robin arrive and the hat puns fly, I counted no less than seven in this issue. For the record, Jason Todd (pre-crowbar, 900 number, resurrection and Red Hood) was Robin these days and he's pretty much a happy-go-lucky Dick Grayson clone here, having a fine old time with Alfred and Bruce, who actually calls him "Jay" through out.
Hatter's next robbery is at the Gotham Sports Arena during a hockey game (Because HAT TRICK HAHAHAHA), and there's a great, campy silver age set piece that takes place on an enormous pool table with Batman knocking over the henchmen with pool balls (keep in mind, this is the late 80's, not mid 60's. Glorious.)
Batman has had enough of this silliness, since Hatter keeps getting away, and decides to bait him. Cue Batman putting on his flippant, foppish socialite Bruce Wayne persona and calling the media to say he's "throwing his hat in the ring" (ugh) for city council. He goes so far as to tell the society pages "he's got the most SCRUMPTIOUS news!" which is a bit much, but you do you, Bruce. At his pre-election party, Bruce and Gordon act oddly catty to each other. Though Bruce *is* acting like kind of a dick. Sure enough, Hatter and his goons crash the party with remote control flying buzzsaw straw hats, natch. When Bruce and Jason change outfits and turn the tides, Hatter exits to the roof to escape in a giant flying top hat, which Bats brings down using said flying buzzsaw hats. Hatter draws a gun on Batman which goes off as Bats socks him one. Once he has Hatter subdued, he notices Jason has been hit by the errant bullet. TO BE CONTINUED!
Overall, this issue seemed straight out of a 1966 episode of Batman, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and so unlike what else was going on in many comics at the time. Even going back to using the red headed, mustached version of Hatter recalls the look of actor David Wayne (no relation to Bruce, hee-yuck!) who played him on the series. I have a few more of the 80's Barr/Davis issues and may visit them as well at some point (Theirs is pretty much my favorite versions of Joker). Until next time, catch you by the spinner rack!
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