Robbins, Novick and Giordano bring the Spook into the pages of Batman 252 (Oct. 73), after his first couple of appearances in Detective Comics earlier in the year.
The story begins as Batman and Commissioner Gordon discuss what they know about the Spook. Val Kaliban had been executed, but is still up and walking around. By this story, it is clear that the Spook is not a ghost, that he uses secret passages and high tech equipment to create the illusion that he can pass through walls.
The Spook appears to die in this story as well, but Batman does not believe that. And he’s right, the Spook is not in his grave. It appears that the Spook’s men knock Batman out and toss him in the empty grave, but we see, when Alfred comes to save him, that this is Jason Bard, a private eye who has been appearing in the pages of Detective Comics for the past few years. He was working as a decoy for Batman, who followed the Spook from the graveyard.
The climax is a bit odd, with Batman willingly sitting in an electric chair – though his actions are only to lull the Spook into a false sense of security. Batman’s cowl is insulated against electricity, so the chair has no effect on him.
The conclusion of the story details how the Spook had a double executed in his place years earlier, setting up his apparent death to add a supernatural cachet when he returned to “life” as the Spook.
The Spook returns in these pages in three years, but it’s four years before Jason Bard comes back, in the pages of Batman Family.
Robin’s last back-up story in Batman sees a comedian based on Danny Kaye come to Hudson University. Maggin, Dillin and Giordano even give a nod to Kaye on the splash page of the story, which is helpful, because otherwise I wouldn’t have known who the comedian was based on.
The comedian has decided to go back to university and get his degree, but deadly accidents keep happening. Robin determines that the man’s agent is behind this, trying to scare him off, so that he will resume his acting career.
At the end of the story, the Danny Kaye character raps a list of super-heroes – amazingly, including even Marvel characters. This must be based on some actual Danny Kaye routine, and I imagine if one knew the tune this was meant to go with it would be entertaining, instead of just being a long list. But the only Danny Kaye bit I know is the whole “the chalice from the palace has the potion with the poison and the flagon with the dragon has the brew that is true” but from The Court Jester, which is not connected to this at all.
Tagged: Alfred, Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Danny Kaye, DC Comics, Dick Dillin, Dick Giordano, Elliot S Maggin, Frank Robbins, Hudson University, Irv Novick, Jason Bard, Robin, Spook, Val Kaliban
Babblings about DC Comics 4 
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