Batman vs MDMA

In 1988, DC Comics released a Batman issue of the Detective Comics series where the primary villain is a young man who is given ecstasy and then goes on a killing rampage. The secondary villain is the ecstasy dealer / pusher who gives the young man the drug. This comic represents some of the absurdist "Just Say No" propaganda common in the late 1980's and is an amusing piece of War on Drugs memorobilia. This comic also represents an interesting piece of history because it came somewhat after the first crest of media frenzy about MDMA. By 1988, the "designer drug" hysteria had been mostly drowned out by the "Crack Epidemic" scare. When Ecstasy fear mongering was reinvented in 1998-1999, the previous wave of anti-ecstasy media was all but forgotten.

The story in Batman 594, written by Alan Grant and John Wagner, is very thin and the artistry of the book, drawn by Norm Breyfogle and colored by Adrienne Roy, is of middle quality. Included here are several pages from the comic to give a flavor for the depth with which the issue is addressed and the standard drug-scare cliche plot. The story itself isn't specific to ecstasy and any "Evil Drug" could easily be inserted in place of the term "Ecstasy" and the story would make just as much sense (if not more). The storyline is all the more absurd since Ecstasy is known to be one of the psychedelic-class drugs least likely to precipitate severe traumatic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or lasting psychosis.

[Thanks Jim!]