What does it mean that the Russian spy agent/chief was reading Batman #189, the first Silver Age appearance of Scarecrow, during one of his key scenes in A Dandy in Aspic? Perhaps he was projecting the notion that one must master one’s fear to be a spy, especially a double agent?
Or a postmodern audience could hold his act of book ownership as a criticism of the communist system as a whole. This spy, had he survived and kept that book in near-mint condition, would have a book worth several hundred dollars at least, whereas in his home country, it would hold no such value and thus he would have not reason to bag and board this important publication.
Or, looking at the comic text as part of the story’s reality, the fact that Scarecrow uses a submarine (??) to attempt his heist presages the slew of Cold War submarine films to come, from Ice Station Zebra (same year) to The Hunt for Red October (which single-handedly ended the Cold War).
