Batman #395 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1986.
Synopsis for "The Film Freak"
A new criminal in town appears and creates chaos, recreating scenes and dialogues from old movies. The Gotham City Police Department are alerted of the criminal, but they are unable to stop him, drawing the attention of the media. Meanwhile, Catwoman uses the Bat-Signal to summon Batman and have a romantic moment at the rooftop of the GCPD Headquarters, but they are interrupted by Commissioner Gordon, who tells them about the new criminal.
By the time Batman and Catwoman arrive at the crime scene, Vicki Vale and Julia Pennyworth have arrived at the place and witness the confrontation of the heroes with the new criminal. Noticing his modus operandi, Julia comes up with the name of "Film Freak" for her next report. Batman and Catwoman are forced to let the Film Freak escape after he threatens to kill the police or reporters nearby.
In the meantime, Jason Todd is frustrated that he has to stay at home doing homework while Batman is out there, busting criminals with Catwoman. The next day, Jason reads the news in the newspaper and after learning the Film Freak's methods, he deduces who could be the best partner to capture this crook. At that precise moment, Harvey Bullock visits the now widow Mrs. Marsh and he hopes that someday they could go to the movies together. When Bullock returns home, the finds Robin waiting inside and after hearing the kid's proposition, they agree to become partners and capture the Film Freak.
The media coverage of the Film Freak's crimes allows the police and Batman to find people connected to the criminal, who identify him as Burt Weston, a failed actor and former Hollywood stuntman, who was supposedly killed a few years ago. With this information, Batman and Catwoman try to deduce Film Freak's next crime from a cryptic message he delivered to the police, but Bullock and Robin come up with the answer first. Seeing how the heroes discovered his plan, Film Freak changes his plans and focus on the woman who is exposing him in the media, Julia Pennyworth.
Shortly afterwards, Julia gets a note from the Film Freak with a mention to "Norman Bates", but neither her nor Vicki Vale realize the danger of such threat. Ignoring the danger, Julia goes on a journey to investigate Film Freak's origins and she drives for hours staying in a motel, where Film Freak has followed her to recreate the iconic scene from the Alfred Hitchcock movie, Psycho.
Appearing in "The Film Freak"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Film Freak (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Gotham City Police Department
- Jilian Marsh
- India Blue (First appearance)
- Al Jacobs (First appearance)
- Jenny (student)
- Jenny (Vicki Vale assistant)
- Joe Todd (In a photograph only)
- Trina Todd (In a photograph only)
Locations:
- Gotham City
- GCPD Headquarters
- Picture News
- Wayne Manor
- North Gotham Junior High
Items:
Notes
- The story continues in Detective Comics #562.
- This issue is set in the short period where the Batman of Earth-One (and all his supporting characters and villains) existed on the post-Crisis New Earth. This period ended when the effects of the Crisis "caught up" with Batman (et al.) in Batman #401.
- As a new character, Film Freak is considered to be a New Earth character from the start, even though he is interacting with the Earth-One Batman.
Trivia
- Among the many references to movies and TV shows, there is a mention to Burgess Meredith, the actor who planed Penguin in the Batman TV Show.
See Also