WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Generations: Fractured" in Detective Comics #1027, by Dan Jurgens, Kevin Nowlan, Hi-Fi and Andworld Design, on sale now.
No location in the DC Universe does Halloween quite as effectively as Gotham City. In the anniversary special for Detective Comics, even the city's criminals are getting into the spirit of the season. On Halloween night, Batman discovers a museum founded by his parents is being broken into. He crashes the heist only to find himself face-to-face with the classic Universal Movie Monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man and the Mummy. Helming this monstrous gang prowling through Gotham is a familiar foe to the Dark Knight: Julian Day, better known as Calendar Man.
In keeping with the ghoulish holiday and his gang's overall motif, Calendar Man has dressed up as the Phantom of the Opera as he leads his goons to destroy the museum's priceless artifacts. True to twisted form, the supervillain's heist is to ensure that the various treasures from yesteryear do not live past their shelf date, feeling that they have overstayed their welcome in history. As the museum's legacy incredibly personal to Bruce Wayne, the Caped Crusader takes on the assembled monsters directly to prevent any more historical losses.
The Universal Monsters have a surprisingly extensive history in the DCU, though under a different moniker to avoid potential legal issues. While Bob Kane and Edmond Hamilton had introduced the DCU's incarnation of Frankenstein as early as 1948's Detective Comics #135, the hulking monster would join with his fellow Universal-inspired counterparts to form the villainous team the Monster League of Evil in 1974's Superman #276 by Eliot S. Maggin and Curt Swan -- albeit from a parallel Earth. The idea of the monsters working together would be revisited in 1980's Weird War Tales #93, by J.M. DeMatteis, Pat Broderick and Jon Celarado, as the Creature Commandos, with variations of the monsters fighting for the Allied Powers during World War II. This approach would be modernized at the start of the New 52, with Frankenstein leading a clandestine strike team of monsters known as S.H.A.D.E.
Fortunately for Batman, the Calendar Man's gang aren't actual supernatural creatures but just his typical goons wearing Halloween costumes. As the fight breaks out on the museum floor, Batman is seen knocking the fangs out of Dracula before turning his attention to the rest of the gang, with the Frankenstein nearly getting the drop of the Dark Knight, still boasting an impressive amount of strength despite not being one of the undead. Batman is able to overcome his monstrously clad opponents and focus his attention on Calendar Man who ups the ante by setting the museum ablaze, starting with a portrait of Thomas and Martha Wayne.
While the Gotham City Monsters, Agents of S.H.A.D.E. or Creature Commandos continue to fight as the good guys, Calendar Man's Halloween plot is still a fun reminder that supernatural characters inspired by the Universal Movie Monsters still roam the DCU. Having taken on threats like Dracula and Frankenstein directly, even the Calendar Man's most convincing disguises for his gang aren't enough to fool the Dark Knight as he thwarts their attempts to destroy history, one historical relic at a time. And if Frankenstein and his counterparts ever learn about the villain's holiday-themed masquerade, the Calendar Man may incur more than just the wrath of the Caped Crusader.