Retro Comics are Awesome

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #50
April 1941

The Case of the Three Devils!
I think the main item of interest in this story is having three theives who are the equal of Batman and Robin when it comes to rooftop fighting and acrobatics. The Three Devils are former circus acrobats turned thieves, who specialize in high-rise robberies. Batman ultimately tracks them down through a fence, and while he and Robin are ultimately able to win the day, it's a tough fight.

Batman/Bruce Wayne's red car is referred to as the Batmobile for the first time.

Batman #5
Spring 1941

The Riddle of the Missing Card
The Joker returns for his fifth appearance, having survived the fall into the trap door and out into the bay. He is rescued by a gang of crooks named Queenie, Diamond Jack, and Clubsy. The Joker decides they could be a gang based on playing cards, and he decides to set up a gambling ship out beyond the three mile limit so the city can't touch them. Bruce travels to the ship as himself in order to investigate, and while there dances with Queenie, who falls for him pretty hard.

Bruce goes out on deck to smoke his cigarettes, and when he overhears a disguised Joker and his cohorts plotting a robbery based on what they've learned from the rich people who came to gamble. Bruce is thrown overboard and the Joker even takes a few shots at him, and he seems to be hit and drown, but of course he's still alive. He heads to the yacht that the Joker's gang is looting, and while Batman chases the Joker and ends up wrecking the Batmobile, the rest of the gang capture Robin and demand that Batman come to the ship, alone. Joker demands that Batman play cards with him for Robin's life, and when the Joker cheats and Batman is forced to fight for his life, the Joker double crosses the gang and sets the boat on fire, running out on them all. Batman and Robin track him to an old lighthouse, where Robin pushes him off the railing during a fight, so once again it appears that he's gone to his death at the end of the story.

The proper Batmobile makes its first appearance in this story as a dark blue car with a stylized bat face on the front and a single fin centered on the back. Queenie figures out that Bruce is Batman because Bruce had nicked his chin while shaving, and she noticed the same cut on Batman's face. She's shot by her cohort and dies as the story ends, thus preserving the secret of Bruce's identity.

[andersonh1]

As the Superman title had its page count reduced and the book went from four to three stories, Lois Lane got her own feature. Like Alfred's spotlight feature over in the main Batman title, Lois Lane's feature is only four pages, but Lois Lane: reporter is a lot better than Alfred: bumbling detective. Lois gets to investigate and interview and bag crooks all on her own, with no sign of Superman (though she does keep wishing he'd show up to rescue her). The stories do rely somewhat on contrivance and coincidence more often than they should, but they are limited to four pages, so there's not much time for plot development. I do like seeing a series from the 40s with a female lead that's about her professional life, and it certainly does Lois Lane good as a character. I'm not sure the Lois of 1938 could have supported her own feature, but she had grown a lot as a character in six years.

[andersonh1]

Batman #5 continued

Book of Enchantment
With four stories per issue, I'm sure Bill Finger and Bob Kane tried to put a variety of plots in every issue of Batman. That usually works well, but there are times when that approach doesn't work, and such is the case with "Book of Enchantment", another foray into the fantasy genre for Batman and Robin. It's way too much like "Land Behind the Light" from Detective Comics 44, down to an inventor having created a machine that allows the heroes to travel to a fantasy realm, only in this case it's not a bad dream of Dick Grayson's, but actually happens. Professor Anderson has invented a machine which will allow human beings to travel into the pages of a book as if the events of the book were real (go with it), and his daughter Enid is lost in Fairyland. He wants Batman and Robin to help rescue her. And so we get an adventure in which Batman and Robin meet Simple Simon, Humpty Dumpty ("you're heading for a fall" Robin warns him with a big grin), a fire breathing dragon (Batman tosses an explosive in his mouth and blows his head off), climb the beanstalk and meet the giant that Jack had to deal with (Batman beats him by throwing a giant fork into his eye and blinding him. Yikes.), and finally the black witch, who is holding Enid prisoner. They rescue her and just barely make it back to reality.

This is just a genre where Batman and Robin do not belong. I appreciate the attempt at breaking up the crime stories with something different, but I can't say I enjoyed this story very much. It would fit better with a more fantastic character, but with someone meant to be more down to Earth like Batman, it's a poor fit.

The Case of the Honest Crook!
This is what I want to read in a Batman story. I said in reviewing "Merchants of Misery" from Omnibus volume 3 that I really like seeing Batman step up and help the little guy being victimized by crooks, and we see that here. Batman catches a man named Joe Sands who has just robbed a convenience store, but the man only took six dollars. Batman gets the story out of him as the store owner arrives. Joe and his then-fiance Ann wanted to get married, but Ann thought it best to save up $1000 dollars first for emergencies and expenses. Joe agreed, and was putting money away from his job at a garage. One night, some gangsters come driving in and reveal that they just pulled a job, and if Joe will let them leave their car hidden in the garage overnight and keep his mouth shut, they'll pay him the $200. Joe agrees reluctantly, but after being dressed down by Ann for agreeing to take dishonest money, he turns the gangsters down, though he promises to keep quiet. They seem to agree, but return later and frame him as a drunk driver as payback for refusing the deal. Joe spends two years in prison, and all the money he'd saved goes as restitution and fines. He and Ann marry when gets out, but his prison record loses him job after job, and finally he's desperate, and Ann is sick, and he needs the money to pay for her prescription, leading to the robbery.

As you can imagine, Batman has a lot of compassion for Joe, and so does the store owner. Batman goes and tracks down the gangster from Joe's description, named Smiley Sikes. In the course of the investigation, during which Batman and Robin pursue seperate leads, Robin is ambushed by gangsters and nearly killed. When Batman finds him, he thinks he's dead at first. The panel with Batman holding him looks a lot like the panel where Batman is holding the dead Jason Todd from "A Death in the Family". Robin is alive, and the enraged Batman takes him to a surgeon, threatening the man to treat him right, or he'll make him pay. Batman then goes after Smiley's gang in a cold rage, beating the crooks savagely despite taking several bullets (the story mentions that he quit wearing his bulletproof vest because it hampered his freedom of movement) and obtaining a confession from Smiley. He takes Smiley and the written confession down to the police station, even freaking out the officers at the desk with his appearance, before finally collapsing when he reaches the surgeon, who takes the bullets out of him. The surgeon refuses to remove Batman or Robin's masks to learn their identity, saying it's better that way.

Things improve for Joe and Ann as Batman gives him some cash to get him by, and the shop keeper he had tried to rob realizes that he's a good guy and gives him a job, so the story ends on a high note. This is the kind of Batman story I really enjoy reading.

[andersonh1]

Batman #5 concluded

Crime Does not Pay!
Linda Page, the new love interest for Bruce Wayne, makes her first appearance in this story. Linda is a former member of society who decided that there were more important things to do in life than attend all the right parties, so she became a nurse. Bruce runs into her while scoping out a neighborhood, and puts on his best "lazy playboy" act, scolding her for her choice while secretly approving of it, while Linda scolds Bruce for having so much talent and wasting it. She's a character with a lot of potential, but I don't think she's ever used as well as she should have been.

The main story involves some bank robbers, and a member of the gang named Mike Grogan. Mike's younger brother Tommy idolizes his older brother, and wants to be just like him. That has led him to a life of crime, and he pays for it when he's shot in the shoulder during a holdup. Members of the gang kidnap Linda, forcing her to treat the injured boy's shoulder. She knows Mike, and lets him have it for leading his brother into a life of crime. When Batman comes to break up the gang, they're ready to head out, but Linda protests that Tommy can't be moved. Mike intends to stay with his younger brother, but the gang isn't having him stay to be caught and squeal to the police. Mike ends up shot, but Tommy crawls up to the roof, firing his gun to call the police. Mike dies, but not before making Tommy promise to get out of the life of crime. The story closes with Bruce and Linda having lunch, and all she can talk about is Batman.

This is an above-average story for the era. Linda is a good new character, and the human interest element among the crooks is a lot more satisfying than some elaborate crime or gimmick (though those plots certainly have their place).

World's Best Comics #1
Spring 1941

The Witch and the Manuscript of Doom!
I can't say I was all that impressed with this story. I know it predates Scooby Doo, but it feels like it could fit right into that series. Mystery writer Erik Dorne is murdered by a witch, and the hunt begins for the killer, with suspects introduced and given motivations, which Batman and Robin seperately investigate. Both of them fail in the stealth department since both are caught when they try to surreptitiously investigate their leads and have to run for it. In the end it's not Dorne's crazy aunt or his wife who wants a divorce so she can remarry who are the culprits, it's his own publisher, disguised as a witch. This is not one of Finger's better plots. At least Bruce pokes fun at the idea of a witch while talking to Gordon. About the only good thing I would say is that I appreciate Finger trying to put some variety into the various Batman plots so we don't get month after month of jewel thefts and bank robberies. Even with a misfire like this, the attempt at something different is appreciated.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #51
May 1941

The Case of the Mystery Carnival
I always enjoy seeing Bruce and Dick in their "civilian" life, enjoying a little downtime. Here they're visiting a carnival run by Bruce's friend, but when they run into him, the man acts like he doesn't know Bruce. That and the fact that Bruce spots some crooked activities going on cause him and Dick to return as Batman and Robin, where they find Bruce's friend Colonel Dawes imprisoned, and a gang of crooks impersonating him and the carnival workers so they can fleece all the customers.

Detective Comics #52
June 1941

The Secret of the Jade Box
The story opens with yet another rich friend of Bruce Wayne, avid collector Mr. Potter. Potter buys a jade box from Achmed's curio shop. He invites his friend Bruce over to see his new find, but before Bruce arrives, Potter discovers a secret compartment in the box, but he is attacked and murdered, and whatever was in the compartment is stolen. Potter's butler and Bruce find the body, and this leads to Batman's involvement in the case. While looking for leads, he learns of a new protection racket in Chinatown, and this leads to an interview with Loo Chung, the current unofficial mayor of Chinatown, who also turns out to be the villain. The item in the box is a ring that once belonged to Genghis Khan, and the mayor had used it to assert his authority and benefit from it as a criminal.

One nice touch in this story is that Batman's deceased friend Wong is mentioned, and the people of Chinatown remember how Batman helped them before (back in Detective Comics 39, a year earlier). Indeed, the hero of the story is Wong's father, who reveals that Wong actually owned the ring of Genghis Khan, but was too honest a man to use it to his advantage. It was Wong's father who hid it in the jade box, until Loo Chung's men forced him to tell them where it was.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #53
July 1941

Viola Vane
This feels more like the type of human interest story that Superman would be involved in rather than Batman, so it's not the best fit for the character. Aspiring actress Viola Vane attempts suicide because she's a failure and has been lying to her parents for months, telling them she's a big success. Now they're coming for a visit and she can't face them. Batman saves her life and chides her for wanting to kill herself for such a silly reason. He decides to help and goes around town and convinces everyone to help her pull off what is essentially a deception, to make her parents believe Viola really is a success. The people of Gotham are happy to help, though some crooks try to steal some of the loaned furs and dresses, leading Batman and Robin to stop them. In the end, Viola does indeed become a star after impressing the director of a play in which she had been understudy for the departing lead actress.

I feel bad for the mom and died being lied to by everyone. That aside, the story is meant to prove that the people of Gotham are good-hearted. The story opens with Bruce Wayne having lunch with his friend Jim Daly, with Jim expressing the belief that Gotham does nothing but chew people up and spit them out. Bruce insists that it's full of good people, and Jim will learn that someday. The way they helped Viola Vane is meant to be proof of the helpful nature of the people of Gotham, and if nothing else it convinces Jim Daly that Bruce is right.

[andersonh1]

World's Finest Comics #2
Summer 1941

The Man Who Couldn't Remember
Gang warfare breaks out in Gotham between various gangsters from different parts of the city. Frustrated by lack of progress by the locals, the governor appoints a new firebrand district attorney, young William Kendrick, who starts arresting people and threatening the higher ranking gangsters.He's doing well, until he mentions that he has a "little black book" with names and evidence against the various gang leaders. If he wasn't a target before, he is now, and when Batman and Robin go to check on him, they find him shot, with rival gangs in his home. Kendrick dies, but not before revealing to Batman where his evidence book is hidden, albeit in a rather cryptic way, meaning Batman will have to go look for it. The one surviving witness has a head wound, so Batman takes him to Linda Page, who reveals that the man has amnesia.

The gangs and Batman and Robin head for Kendrick's country house, based on Kendrick's last words, to find the book. Batman takes the wounded man and Linda along, and uses the Batmobile to ram right through a roadblock set up by the gangsters. All parties end up at the house, where the hidden book is found, the gangsters are defeated, and the wounded man recovers his memory and turns out to be the leader of one of the gangs, and Kendrick's murderer. Linda accounts for herself well, and I have to say, is a great member of Batman's supporting cast. She benefits the series a lot more than Julie Madison did. Batman produces the infrared goggles last seen way back before Robin joined the cast, and freaks some of the gangsters out by convincing them he can see in the dark, and we even get a rare Batman in silhouette drawing, with only his white eyes visible. Good stuff.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #54
August 1941

Hook Morgan and his Harbor Pirates
"A gun! A very dangerous toy! Drop it before it goes off and scares you to death!" - Batman isn't too impressed by having a gun pointed at him.

Batman and Robin taking on harbor pirates, who steal from the Gotham docks and rob ships.When the pirates steal some valuable imported cloth, they escape the harbor patrol in the fog. When Bruce Wayne takes Linda Page on a date, and she's unable to purchase some cloth she had wanted because it was stolen, Bruce doesn't think a lot of it until he sees the same cloth in a shop window. He and Robin end up in conflict with Hook Morgan, a strong and ruthless man with a hook for a hand, and they have quite a bit of trouble shutting down him and his gang. Batman visibly suffers more injuries in this story, almost freezing to death in an industrial freezer and getting a bloody slash across his chest from Morgan's hook during their final fight. World War 2 has an effect on the storytelling as the harbor pirates attack a ship by sitting in a lifeboat and claiming their freighter was sunk by a torpedo. This is another strong "Batman vs. hardened criminals" story, and I think the character fits in this genre better than just about any other they've tried so far.

[andersonh1]

Batman #6
August-September 1941

Murder on Parole
This is a story that revolves around a mysterious crime boss who is able to get criminals out of prison early by having them paroled. As payment, he expects them to help him commit crimes, but Chuck Miller refuses, saying he's had enough of prison life and is going straight. The boss tries to have him killed, but Batman interrupts the execution out on the Gotham docks and learns Miller's story. He investigates, and in the end (to no one's surprise) it's the head of the parole board who is the mastermind behind the operation.

The Clock Maker
Bruce and some fellow stockholders go to visit an obscure clock maker's shop in Gotham where one of the men had found a great antique. A seemingly chance remark about "killing time" sends the clock maker, Elias Brock, into a rage, and the men quickly figure out that he's a little crazy. Just how crazy only becomes apparent when he starts trying to murder them one by one, using clocks delivered to their homes as weapons. It turns out that Atkins, one of the stockholders, had deliberately triggered the clock maker in order to kill off other stockholders and gain a controlling share. But he ends up dead at Brock's hand, and Batman and Robin are forced to confront Brock in the Gotham clock tower to prevent an explosion that will do a lot of damage to the surrounding area.

The Secret of the Iron Jungle
Linda Page tells Bruce about her father Tom's problems out in the Page Oil Fields, where junior partner Graham Masters is trying to force Tom out so Graham can run the oil company and get rich. And he's not above using criminal methods to do it. Bruce heads to Texas to help Linda's father out of his troubles, and despite some problems with both Linda and her dad being kidnapped, ultimately manages to do so just before Page Oil strikes a huge gusher, rescuing the company from its financial troubles.

As a supporting character, it's nice to see Linda's family and history explored. The "iron jungle" of the title is an area with abandoned, rusty oil derricks and capped wells, where Tom Page is imprisoned. Normally I'm not a huge fan of Batman leaving Gotham for other environments, but there's a solid personal reason for him to do so here, given that Linda's father is in trouble.

[andersonh1]

Batman #6 concluded

Suicide Beat
I'm finding that one of the types of Batman story I enjoy the most is one where Batman steps in and helps "the little guy", or someone who has the odds stacked against him and cannot win without help. Here that man is Jimmy Kelly, rookie Gotham policeman, whose father was murdered, shot down in cold blood while walking the "suicide beat". On that side of town, the residents hate the police, and the area is run by Alderman Skigg and gangster Fancy Dan. Skigg buys the favor of his voters, and colludes with Fancy Dan on crimes within the district. Commissioner Gordon knows all about it, but nothing can be proven. Batman determines to help keep Kelly alive, and bring down the corrupt alderman, and he is ultimately able to do just that while Jimmy Kelly is able to win over the residents after he saves the life of a little girl and helps Batman take down Fancy Dan.

Detective Comics #55
September 1941

The Brain Burglar!
A goofy title hides a pretty good story of sabotage and espionage as (unnamed) Nazis attempt to hamper the industry of the United States. We're still a few months away from the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, so the US is not officially in WW2, but references have been creeping into the stories. They'll be more overt in the coming years. The 'brain burglars" title refers to enemy operatives who have had an operation that forces them to become violent when triggered, after which they'll attack people and smash machinery. The story ends with a fight on a zeppelin, high over the city, and in a rare return to his old ways, Batman sends the enemy commanders falling to their deaths, putting an end to their operations.

Meanwhile, Linda Page is becoming annoyingly too much like Lois Lane. "Why can't you be more like the Batman?" she asks Bruce, berating him for his uselessness. At least he's not playing the wimp like Clark Kent. He just carries on with his devil may care playboy act and shrugs it all off. I like Linda as a character, but does every superhero's love interest have to resort to being enamoured of the costumed hero while criticizing his alter ego?