§ September 3rd, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

I was flipping through some ’70s Archie comics at the store the other day, and…well, we’re all used to seeing Chuck Clayton, one of the (apparently) three African-Americans that live in Riverdale, look like this (bottom of page). So it came as a bit of a shock to see Chuck in this earlier incarnation, as taken from Laugh #219 (June 1975):


Also, I had thought Chuck was a more recent addition to the Archie cast. Well, okay, relatively speaking, he was, since most of the cast appeared in the ’40s, but I thought Chuck was an ’80s creation. Learn something new every day, I guess…now if only I could learn something useful!


As long as I have the scanner up ‘n’ running…

So in the current happenings in the DC universe, everyone’s up in arms about some members of the JLA wiping the memories of not only the bad guys, but of Batman as well, to cover up what they’ve been up to.

Here are a couple panels from Action Comics #770 (October ’00), the end of the “Emperor Joker” storyline. The set-up (SPOILERS ahead): the Joker had managed to obtain Mr. Mxyzptlk’s powers and, among other things, used that power to horribly torture his arch-nemesis Batman. After everything was put right, Batman still had the memories of his suffering, and was frozen into inaction by them. Superman argues with the Spectre to heal Batman, but the Spectre says he can’t erase these memories, that they must be taken and placed in another person:


(Yeah, that’s Batman…I know, I know.)

Superman doesn’t like the idea, but the world needs its Batman:


So Batman’s mind is wiped of the memories of torture, and they’re dumped into the Joker, all with Superman’s approval. Later, when Superman takes Batman to check on the Joker, Batman suspects Superman is hiding something, but Supes denies it.

So Batman’s seemingly no stranger to having his memory erased. The circumstances are slightly different (JLA covering their actions, versus Superman trying to restore Batman’s sanity), but with the same result: people messing with Batman’s brain, then covering up about it. Just thought that was interesting.

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