Cover: Neal Adams

Batman #226

Nov 1970 · DC · 0.15 USD

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About this Issue

Batman #226 holds a specific, verifiable place in DC history as the first appearance of Philip 'Three-Eye' Reardon, the Ten-Eyed Man — a Vietnam War veteran whose optic nerves were surgically rerouted to his fingertips after a warehouse explosion left him permanently blind. Though the character never graduated to the upper tier of Batman's rogues' gallery, his debut lands squarely at the hinge moment between the Silver and Bronze Ages: editor Julius Schwartz was actively steering the Batman titles toward a darker, more grounded tone, and the issue reflects that transitional tension — a gimmick-driven villain concept wrapped in the kind of gritty, real-world backstory (combat injury, blue-collar work, medical desperation) that defined the era. The cover by Neal Adams, who was simultaneously reshaping Batman's visual identity across both the Batman and Detective Comics titles, remains the most celebrated element of the issue and has driven its repeated inclusion in high-profile Adams reprint collections. The character's modest publication history — a handful of Pre-Crisis appearances, a cameo death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and multiple modern reimaginings in The New 52, DC Rebirth, and Detective Comics (2024) — makes this debut issue the root of a surprisingly durable, if perpetually second-tier, piece of Batman mythology.

Contains 2 stories

The Man with Ten Eyes!

22 pp · Superhero

Ten-Eyed Man ["Ten-Eye" Reardon] (introduction, villain)Batman [Bruce Wayne]Alfred PennyworthDr. Engstrom

The Case of the Gigantic Gamble!

3.67 pp · Detective-Mystery

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $32

CGC 9.8 · 5 in census $2,816

CGC 9.6 · 8 in census $743

CGC 9.4 · 16 in census $448

CGC 9.2 · 20 in census $338

CGC 9.0 · 19 in census $251

CGC 8.5 · 28 in census $165

Show all 17 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 20 in census $165*

CGC 7.5 · 13 in census $165*

CGC 7.0 · 10 in census $127

CGC 6.5 · 9 in census $127*

CGC 6.0 · 11 in census $111

CGC 5.5 · 6 in census $99*

CGC 5.0 · 6 in census $93*

CGC 4.5 · 2 in census $76

CGC 4.0 · 2 in census $76*

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $67*

CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $59*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

FN $42.75 FN $44 FN/VF $47 FN $60 FN $69.87 FN $76 VF $91 CGC 7 $149.99

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History

The creative credits were confirmed directly from Julius Schwartz's editorial records held by DC Comics: writer Frank Robbins scripted the story 'The Man with Ten Eyes,' Irv Novick handled interior pencils, Dick Giordano inked the story pages, and Neal Adams provided the cover. This division — Adams on covers, the Novick/Giordano team on interiors — was a common production arrangement for the Batman title during this period, with Adams's cover work lending a prestige aesthetic to issues whose interiors were by a capable but separate team. The issue went on sale September 3, 1970, with a November 1970 cover date, as documented in U.S. Copyright Office filings and confirmed by a house advertisement in Action Comics #394. The back half of the book reprinted 'The Case of the Gigantic Gamble!' from Gang Busters #37/3 (December 1953–January 1954), a then-standard DC practice of padding page counts with Golden Age material.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Ten-Eyed Man (Philip 'Three-Eye' Reardon), created by writer Frank Robbins and penciler Irv Novick, with inks by Dick Giordano — confirmed by DC Comics' own editorial records via the Grand Comics Database.
Cover art by Neal Adams; this was one of approximately 30 Batman issues for which Adams provided covers during his landmark early-Bronze Age run on the title.
The lead story is titled 'The Man with Ten Eyes' (22 pages); Philip Reardon is a Vietnam War veteran and former U.S. Special Forces soldier blinded in a warehouse explosion when he and Batman both stumble onto a robbery in progress.
Reardon's sight is restored through experimental surgery by an underworld physician named Dr. Engstrom, who reconnects Reardon's optic nerves to the sensory cells in his fingertips — giving him ten independent 'eyes' and 360-degree vision.
Also appearing in the issue: Alfred Pennyworth (in his first appearance since Detective Comics #401) and the debut-and-only appearance of Dr. Engstrom himself.
The issue ends on a cliffhanger; Reardon's story was resolved in Batman #231 (1971), and the character had a further Pre-Crisis appearance in Man-Bat #2 (1976) before being killed by the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (1986).
The Ten-Eyed Man was adapted for animation in Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes), appeared in Teen Titans Go!, and received a major comics revival in Detective Comics #1086 (June 2024) with a redesigned, more menacing portrayal.
The issue has been reprinted at least eight times, including in Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 (DC, 2004/2013), the Batman by Neal Adams Omnibus (DC, 2016), and Showcase Presents: Batman Vol. 5 (DC, 2012).