Detective Comics #621

Detective Comics #621 brings the "Rite of Passage" arc to its fiery conclusion with a cover by Norm Breyfogle that radiates genuine menace. Batman swoops through a scene framed by walls of flame, a large bat silhouetted against a full moon behind him, while a skeletal hand thrusts upward from below clutching a staff topped with a skull — an unsettling image that sets an appropriately dark tone for "Trial By Fire." The Grant/Breyfogle/Mitchell team was doing some of their most atmospheric work on this title in 1990, and this September issue is a vivid reminder of why.