There's a message in this issue's subplot. Don't you underestimate Jim Gordon. He's one tough Hombre. As his career, his marriage and faith in Batman come falling down, he still gets the better of a pretty big guy with little trouble. It's pretty impressive. This issue started the era of glossy paged comics, and when you add that up it sure added weight to our collections. It also brought in the final era of comic prices being under $2 apiece.
The issue is pretty good. The Mayor assigning Gordon's wife to Commissioner just to rile him up was a clever turn. The new Black Spider is a big change from the last, who at least felt he was a crusader for justice. This one's just a hit man. And the irony is Batman ended up having to save an old enemy who was his target. This was a pretty good story. I never awas the biggest fan of Jones' work, but he did some good and eerie work in this one. more