Bob Haney--International Man Of Mystery!

It's 1971, and the Phantom Stranger is helping Batman investigate an evil coven:

Yes, Batman has a "bag." Groovy, man.

Other shagadelic things in this issue:


Yes, Batman is bestest friends with some guy we've never heard of before. And he's godfather to the dude's kid. Not Bruce Wayne--Batman. No mention is made of how this came about, although it must have been intensely cool to have Batman in church on christening day...

And, surprisingly enough, they get along quite famously:

Aaawwwwww.

Ah, but all is not well. When fulfilling his godfatherly duties, Batman sees:


See, the widow is really part of an evil cult, and the godson is really an "evil godling" they worship, and they need to sacrifice Batman to bring the boy to full power. So, good job on the godfathering there, Caped Crusader.

And when Batman is languishing under a "hex":




Are you tripping yet??

Fortunately, the Phantom Stranger shows up to save Batman's hash...

...yes, that's the Stranger. He had to take on "spectral form" surrounded with a "psychic barrier" to protect himself from the coven's spells. Really.

Oh, yeah, later on, when Batman is about to be overwhelmed by cultists?




Yes, the Phantom Stranger pretended to be Lucifer taking Batman away to a properly "consecrated" death in order to rescue him. Of course, he could have just teleported batman away without all the theater, but that's the Phantom Stranger for you...

Folks, I am overcome with the sheer awesomeness of this story. I intended to pull only the first panel here, because Batman had a "bag"...but this issue was like eating popcorn, you just can't stop, with the whole godfather business sliding into Rosemary's Baby riffs and psychedelia and "spectral forms" and...

And i didn't even tell you about the part where Batman's evil godling godson Enoch had a secret hidden twin who was "all good" and Batman accidentally kidnapped the wrong child and the day was saved by Roger's ghost, and...

Seriously, this issue was tripping balls.

Bob Haney and Jim Aparo freak me out in The Brave And The Bold #98 (1971).