The Secret Comic Book Origins of the Nerds That Geek - Joel's Story: The Conclusion

Written by Joel T. Lewis

‘Batman: Shadow of the Bat’ #52 – ‘Nightmare on Gotham’ Part 3: ‘Safe as Milk’

In ‘Safe as Milk’ author Alan Grant managed to take a seemingly silly premise, a maniacal villain who at first glance looks like a man in a pig mask, (fans of Professor Pyg will forgive me) whose master plan is to lace milk with a hallucinogenic toxin, and turned it into something truly horrifying, disturbing, and ultimately iconic. More than anything, what this issue imparted to me as a youngster was the fine line Batman plays between the wacky and zany, and the sinister and disturbing. 

​To this day I can’t believe the villain introduced in this book has a total of only 5 appearances and all of those 5 occur within the ‘Shadow of the Bat’ series. The Tragedy of Narcosis echoes so poignantly in the alleys of my mind that it’s hard to believe that his tenure as a member of Batman’s rogue’s gallery was so short-lived. Beneath that strange sheet of a mask, a cowl that managed to be equal parts the draping of Cobra Commander and the skeletal outline of Black Mask, is a pretty sympathetic victim turned villain. Narcosis was a toddler taken in by social services after the arrest of his father and the hospitalization of his mother. Left alone in the kitchen he overturned a boiling pot of soup onto himself which in turn burned his face clean off. Ten years of failed skin grafts and a lifetime of waking nightmares later and you get Narcosis. Now look, a fear driven hallucinogen plot and a villain with a burned face aren’t exactly original concepts, especially within the Batman mythos (which probably why Narcosis faded into the background never to reappear) but the tragedy of this villain’s disfigurement hits harder than Two-Face’s ever did and the motivation for his nightmare gas plan is so much more personal than any of Scarecrow’s. 

Harvey Dent was an adult who was disfigured by Salvatore Maroni as a response to the overzealous efforts of Dent as district attorney. He was a man who knew the risks involved in taking on the Gotham underworld, and his accident, while tragic and traumatic, was a retaliation. Narcosis is the product of a childhood accident, a villain whose innocence was stripped from him by chance, born out of negligence rather than malice. As a kid myself reading this issue for the first time, those images of a tiny arm outstretched in hunger and a child’s mouth swallowed up by the roiling splash of scalding hot soup were imprinted in my mind. I felt like that could have been me. Reading it again after all these years I still feel like that could have been me. The cruelty of chance evident in this issue is staggering and the juxtaposition of the monstrous scarred adult that Narcosis became with the innocence of that hungry child reaching for his dinner hits me just as hard today as it did upon first reading. 

There is an interesting parallel in the way Batman dispatches Narcosis in this issue and the tragic birth of the Joker in ‘Killing Joke’. While the Joker leapt away from a pursuing Batman and was baptized in the chemical soup of an Ace Chemical vat, Batman kicks Narcosis through the thin metal railing of the catwalk above a toxin-laced vat of milk. You get the sense that Batman has no pity for the poor creature he’s doomed to intensified horrors for the rest of his life and the similarity between the Joker’s birth and what Batman does to Narcosis must have occurred to him. The horror on Narcosis’ face, the desperation of his scream of ‘Nnno!’ on the way down, and his gasping attempts to tread to the surface of the milk fueled nightmare of his own making are truly disturbing images that I’ve never forgotten. 

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This issue is also unique in that Batman and Robin rush off to the dairy as the first light of morning is breaking. The strangeness of Batman coming out during the day really never occurred to me, even to this day, though I do think of Batman as an agent of the night, I’ve never balked at the notion of the cape and cowl appearing during the day. This issue cemented in my mind from an early age that Batman is not confined by time, space, or context. Harvey Bullock will have to excuse me because for me, the Bat does fly by day. 

Dave Taylor’s art in this issue haunts me to this day. The detail, texture, and pain he conveyed in Narcosis’ face and the shape and contour of the villain under his veil is without peer as far as I’m concerned. There’s a sick beauty to the terror Taylor accomplished in this issue and his take on Bruce, Tim, and even Commissioner Gordon speak to his skill at capturing the essence of these iconic characters. The noir portrait on page 7 of Gordon, trench coat sent flapping in the wake of a grieving aunt’s limousine set against the pale morning silhouette of Gotham City in the distance is so powerful in its simplicity. 

​As I come to end of my secret comic book origin story, I must say it’s interesting to trace the lens through which I consume comics back to the issues that inspired me as a kid. These books served as the pillars of my comic book fandom and admittedly they’re pretty strange, but that’s half the fun! I hope you’ve enjoyed this series of articles! Until Next Time, Geek On!

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