World's Finest Comics #8
Winter 1942-1943
Brothers in Law!
This story feels like an old school FBI vs. organized crime movie. G-Man John O'Brien is in a gunfight on the docks with Little Nap Boyd (another Napoleon lookalike.... and I still don't know why we get these Napoleon-like villains), who kills O'Brien. O'Brien's sons Tim and Nick are both in law enforcement. One is a state trooper, and the other is a detective. They vow to bring Little Nap to justice as payback for what was done to their father. But the two brothers do not get along, and will not work together or even speak to each other. It's only the intervention of Batman and Robin that not only saves their lives from Little Nap, but helps teach them the value of cooperation so that they overcome their grudge and bring in their father's killer. Good story, and the tone somehow feels a little heavier than the typical gangster runaround we often see.
There was one panel that just made me crack up. Bloodthirsty Robin for the win.
Batman: Little Nap Boyd has been crime's general long enough! Time he was demoted!
Robin: Yippee! Dust off that electric chair! Here we come!
Retro Comics are Awesome
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andersonh1
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
Detective Comics #72
February 1943
License for Larceny
It's not just Bruce Wayne using a double identity in this story. His financier, J. Spencer Larson is in reality Larry the Judge, who takes over crime in Gotham for a time, and only crimes that he signs a license for can be carried out. Small time crooks come to Larry for permission, and he either signs a license for them to commit the crime, or gives them a different assignment. If they go against what he says, Larry's men rough them up, enforcing discipline. When Batman and Robin interfere once too often, he signs a license to kill both of them, the only time he's sanctioned murder. He sets up a trap and captures Batman and Robin. While taking them somewhere isolated to kill them, the car is pulled over by the police and the gangsters arrested, because Batman had managed to cover the license plate with his cape before being shoved inside, catching the attention of the police.
Batman #15
February-March 1943
Your Face is Your Fortune!
Elva Barr lives alone, gets up early, has her breakfast at a diner, and makes her way to work at a beauty salon. She spends her day working on hair and facials for ladies, chatting to them about their lives. "Elva Barr" is in reality the Catwoman, using her job to make facial casts of these rich women and learn secrets about their lives, in preparation to rob them. Catwoman is also involved in a beauty contest as part of her assumed role, and Bruce Wayne is one of the judges. He recognizes her as Catwoman, wondering if she's gone straight. She falls for Bruce Wayne rather hard, and later on when he attempt at robbing one of the women is interrupted by Batman, she mentions to him that if she thought she had a chance with Wayne, she'd give up crime. Batman lets her go, and then as Wayne starts wining and dining Catwoman, and even goes so far as to get engaged, much to Linda Page's annoyance. We haven't seen Linda for some time, and it seems as if the writers have as little use for her as they did for Julie Madison.
As you might guess, pretending to fall in love with Catwoman at the expense of Linda is likely to do nothing but make both women angry, and that's what happens. Linda visits the beauty shop, so Catwoman gets a mold of her facial features and disguises herself as Linda to determine Bruce's true intentions. The chump confesses to "Linda" that he's just leading Catwoman on, and that ends the whole scheme. Batman breaks up Catwoman's next scheme and finally arrests her, with Catwoman telling him that she tried to go straight, but it just didn't work out.
February 1943
License for Larceny
It's not just Bruce Wayne using a double identity in this story. His financier, J. Spencer Larson is in reality Larry the Judge, who takes over crime in Gotham for a time, and only crimes that he signs a license for can be carried out. Small time crooks come to Larry for permission, and he either signs a license for them to commit the crime, or gives them a different assignment. If they go against what he says, Larry's men rough them up, enforcing discipline. When Batman and Robin interfere once too often, he signs a license to kill both of them, the only time he's sanctioned murder. He sets up a trap and captures Batman and Robin. While taking them somewhere isolated to kill them, the car is pulled over by the police and the gangsters arrested, because Batman had managed to cover the license plate with his cape before being shoved inside, catching the attention of the police.
Batman #15
February-March 1943
Your Face is Your Fortune!
Elva Barr lives alone, gets up early, has her breakfast at a diner, and makes her way to work at a beauty salon. She spends her day working on hair and facials for ladies, chatting to them about their lives. "Elva Barr" is in reality the Catwoman, using her job to make facial casts of these rich women and learn secrets about their lives, in preparation to rob them. Catwoman is also involved in a beauty contest as part of her assumed role, and Bruce Wayne is one of the judges. He recognizes her as Catwoman, wondering if she's gone straight. She falls for Bruce Wayne rather hard, and later on when he attempt at robbing one of the women is interrupted by Batman, she mentions to him that if she thought she had a chance with Wayne, she'd give up crime. Batman lets her go, and then as Wayne starts wining and dining Catwoman, and even goes so far as to get engaged, much to Linda Page's annoyance. We haven't seen Linda for some time, and it seems as if the writers have as little use for her as they did for Julie Madison.
As you might guess, pretending to fall in love with Catwoman at the expense of Linda is likely to do nothing but make both women angry, and that's what happens. Linda visits the beauty shop, so Catwoman gets a mold of her facial features and disguises herself as Linda to determine Bruce's true intentions. The chump confesses to "Linda" that he's just leading Catwoman on, and that ends the whole scheme. Batman breaks up Catwoman's next scheme and finally arrests her, with Catwoman telling him that she tried to go straight, but it just didn't work out.
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
The Boy Who Wanted to Be Robin!
"No more low grade crooks for me! I'm hitting the high spots from now on... and using the Batman's methods against the law!"
Gangster "Knuckles" Conger hides in the shadows and watches Batman and Robin take his gang of thugs down in less than a minute. Pondering the implications, he finds it hard to believe that a man and a boy can so terrorize the Gotham underworld. Conger reflects on his athletic past and thinks that he could adopt Batman's methods with a little training, and then he hits on the idea of having a kid help him. He selects Bobby Deen, a homeless boy making a living shining shoes. He cons him into thinking he wants to fight crime like Batman, and the kid, who idolizes Robin, jumps at the chance. The two of them train in boxing and acrobatics and climbing and fencing and ju-jitsu. Conger starts his robberies, but tells the kid that it's fake jewelry and he's gathering the evidence, or that the banker is really a crook peddling counterfeits, or whatever. Of course it's only a matter of time before Bobby catches on, but just when he's starting to figure it out, he and Conger run into Batman and Robin on patrol. In the ensuing fight, Bobby turns against Knuckles and prevents Batman from being shot, long enough for Batman to take on Knuckles in a fight and beat him. And of course, Bruce Wayne helps Bobby by sending him to school, getting him off the streets.
There's an interesting concept underlying this story about a criminal adopting Batman's methods. He's reasonably effective too, if only he'd found a dishonest kid to help him.
The Two Futures
We're into full-on World War 2 propoganda here, and the splash page hammers it home with Nazi planes and tanks in the dump, with a golden, gleaming Gotham city on a hilltop. Batman and Robin head to a local university to consult with professor Ranier, the "world's greatest historian" according to Batman. They want to see what he predicts for the future if America doesn't win the war. And it's surprisingly grim stuff for a kid's adventure comic, with Nazi bombers destroying New York skyscrapers and winning the war. Nazi armies fill the city streets. Innocents are shot by Japanese firing squads, or hanged in public by Germans, who talk about the rich looting. Concentration camps are set up in America. A kid tries to sneak some food through the barbed wire to his mom and baby sibling and is caught, prompting Batman and Robin to enter the fray, since in this hypothetical future they're working as freedom fighters in occupied America. They're captured and locked away, but the boy they helped helps them in turn. They steal a truck and help as many prisoners escape as they can, but they're pursued by Nazis. Batman and Robin stay behind to delay the pursuit, but both are shot and re-captured, to be executed by firing squad the next day.
And of course both Batman and Robin insist this could never happen, while the history experts remind them that it's already happened in many European countries. But then they paint a picture of what could happen if America pulls together against the Nazis and Japanese and win the war, with a golden future for peace and democracy. Batman and Robin like this option much better, and when they leave they rush right down to buy war bonds, and promote salvage. As I said, pure propaganda, but given when the story was written and published, there was no guarantee that WW2 would be won by the Allies, so the fear of defeat was no doubt very real, given what was happening in Europe at the time. A story that's very much of it's day.
"No more low grade crooks for me! I'm hitting the high spots from now on... and using the Batman's methods against the law!"
Gangster "Knuckles" Conger hides in the shadows and watches Batman and Robin take his gang of thugs down in less than a minute. Pondering the implications, he finds it hard to believe that a man and a boy can so terrorize the Gotham underworld. Conger reflects on his athletic past and thinks that he could adopt Batman's methods with a little training, and then he hits on the idea of having a kid help him. He selects Bobby Deen, a homeless boy making a living shining shoes. He cons him into thinking he wants to fight crime like Batman, and the kid, who idolizes Robin, jumps at the chance. The two of them train in boxing and acrobatics and climbing and fencing and ju-jitsu. Conger starts his robberies, but tells the kid that it's fake jewelry and he's gathering the evidence, or that the banker is really a crook peddling counterfeits, or whatever. Of course it's only a matter of time before Bobby catches on, but just when he's starting to figure it out, he and Conger run into Batman and Robin on patrol. In the ensuing fight, Bobby turns against Knuckles and prevents Batman from being shot, long enough for Batman to take on Knuckles in a fight and beat him. And of course, Bruce Wayne helps Bobby by sending him to school, getting him off the streets.
There's an interesting concept underlying this story about a criminal adopting Batman's methods. He's reasonably effective too, if only he'd found a dishonest kid to help him.
The Two Futures
We're into full-on World War 2 propoganda here, and the splash page hammers it home with Nazi planes and tanks in the dump, with a golden, gleaming Gotham city on a hilltop. Batman and Robin head to a local university to consult with professor Ranier, the "world's greatest historian" according to Batman. They want to see what he predicts for the future if America doesn't win the war. And it's surprisingly grim stuff for a kid's adventure comic, with Nazi bombers destroying New York skyscrapers and winning the war. Nazi armies fill the city streets. Innocents are shot by Japanese firing squads, or hanged in public by Germans, who talk about the rich looting. Concentration camps are set up in America. A kid tries to sneak some food through the barbed wire to his mom and baby sibling and is caught, prompting Batman and Robin to enter the fray, since in this hypothetical future they're working as freedom fighters in occupied America. They're captured and locked away, but the boy they helped helps them in turn. They steal a truck and help as many prisoners escape as they can, but they're pursued by Nazis. Batman and Robin stay behind to delay the pursuit, but both are shot and re-captured, to be executed by firing squad the next day.
And of course both Batman and Robin insist this could never happen, while the history experts remind them that it's already happened in many European countries. But then they paint a picture of what could happen if America pulls together against the Nazis and Japanese and win the war, with a golden future for peace and democracy. Batman and Robin like this option much better, and when they leave they rush right down to buy war bonds, and promote salvage. As I said, pure propaganda, but given when the story was written and published, there was no guarantee that WW2 would be won by the Allies, so the fear of defeat was no doubt very real, given what was happening in Europe at the time. A story that's very much of it's day.
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
I'm getting near the end of vol. 2. I'll have a few thoughts about the first five years of Batman as a whole when I get done. The Joker is overused, I'll say that right now.
Batman #13 concluded:
The Loneliest Men in the World
This is a Christmas themed story, in which Bruce and Dick decide to not just stay in and enjoy Christmas, but to go out and do something for the less fortunate. They suit up as Batman and Robin, and deck the Batplane out in wreaths, ribbons and runners so it looks like Santa's sleigh and go to visit Gordon, who has gangster Dirk Dagner in his office. Dagner is being let go because the case against him can't be proven. He overhears Batman's plans to help the three lonliest men in Gotham, and decides to take advantage of Batman's plans. When Batman and Robin go to give some Christmas cheer to doorman Ben Botts, Dagner's gang rob the rich party in the building where Botts works. A trick by Robin and an effort by Botts runs the crooks off, but they show up again at Batman's next destination: the home of Link Chesney, radio comedian. Dagner leaves Batman and Robin to die by strangulation when Chesney's strength gives out, while they head to the third location: the lighthouse home of Tom Wick. Dagner's gang plan to put the light out and then loot a supply ship when it hits the rocks. Batman and Robin escape, and put an end to Dagner's plans.
Detective Comics #73
March 1943
The Scarecrow Returns
You see I was after bat --- meaning you -- -all along! The vat was only to get you here -- with the brat! And as for calling me a rat -- you're going to drown like one! Ha, ha, ha!
After a strong debut story, this return by the Scarecrow is a little disappointing as he adopts the Joker's method of leaving clues to his crimes to taunt Batman. The idea of the Scarecrow operating by using fear is given lip-service, but not really used. Still, it's good to see the character again, and to see Linda Page as she drags Bruce into a hat shop. The Scarecrow comes to rob the shop, and Bruce pulls the old "hit the bad guys by pretending to be clumsy" act, but it's not very successful and the crooks get away. Scarecrow's next target is a charity wrestling match to raise war funds. Batman and Robin intervene, but the Scarecrow escapes by dropping the lighting gantry on them. They survive, and head to Scarecrow's next target, only to find that he's set a trap. He leaves them to die by drowning (why don't these guys just shoot Batman?). Batman manages to find a way out, as always, and finally stops the Scarecrow at Yat Sing's Chinese curio shop. I'll say this, the Scarecrow is a distinctive villain, with a good fear motif, but he's not used as well as he should have been in this story. Any gang boss, or the Joker for that matter, could have been substituted in this story and it wouldn't have changed much except some dialogue. Regardless, I enjoyed seeing the Scarecrow return, and look forward to future appearances.
Batman #13 concluded:
The Loneliest Men in the World
This is a Christmas themed story, in which Bruce and Dick decide to not just stay in and enjoy Christmas, but to go out and do something for the less fortunate. They suit up as Batman and Robin, and deck the Batplane out in wreaths, ribbons and runners so it looks like Santa's sleigh and go to visit Gordon, who has gangster Dirk Dagner in his office. Dagner is being let go because the case against him can't be proven. He overhears Batman's plans to help the three lonliest men in Gotham, and decides to take advantage of Batman's plans. When Batman and Robin go to give some Christmas cheer to doorman Ben Botts, Dagner's gang rob the rich party in the building where Botts works. A trick by Robin and an effort by Botts runs the crooks off, but they show up again at Batman's next destination: the home of Link Chesney, radio comedian. Dagner leaves Batman and Robin to die by strangulation when Chesney's strength gives out, while they head to the third location: the lighthouse home of Tom Wick. Dagner's gang plan to put the light out and then loot a supply ship when it hits the rocks. Batman and Robin escape, and put an end to Dagner's plans.
Detective Comics #73
March 1943
The Scarecrow Returns
You see I was after bat --- meaning you -- -all along! The vat was only to get you here -- with the brat! And as for calling me a rat -- you're going to drown like one! Ha, ha, ha!
After a strong debut story, this return by the Scarecrow is a little disappointing as he adopts the Joker's method of leaving clues to his crimes to taunt Batman. The idea of the Scarecrow operating by using fear is given lip-service, but not really used. Still, it's good to see the character again, and to see Linda Page as she drags Bruce into a hat shop. The Scarecrow comes to rob the shop, and Bruce pulls the old "hit the bad guys by pretending to be clumsy" act, but it's not very successful and the crooks get away. Scarecrow's next target is a charity wrestling match to raise war funds. Batman and Robin intervene, but the Scarecrow escapes by dropping the lighting gantry on them. They survive, and head to Scarecrow's next target, only to find that he's set a trap. He leaves them to die by drowning (why don't these guys just shoot Batman?). Batman manages to find a way out, as always, and finally stops the Scarecrow at Yat Sing's Chinese curio shop. I'll say this, the Scarecrow is a distinctive villain, with a good fear motif, but he's not used as well as he should have been in this story. Any gang boss, or the Joker for that matter, could have been substituted in this story and it wouldn't have changed much except some dialogue. Regardless, I enjoyed seeing the Scarecrow return, and look forward to future appearances.
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
Detective Comics #74
April 1943
Tweedledum and Tweedledee!
It's the first appearance of cousins Deever and Dumfree Tweed, a couple of very short and rotund crime bosses who enjoy cigars and the finer things in life, and who are so fat they can barely walk. Rather than take on Batman and Robin, they set traps and wait for the crime fighters to come to them, catching them in a couple of traps before Batman catches on to their methodology and uses their own methods against them. Bruce finds their house with the aid of a very loose-lipped clerk at the only fat man's clothing store in Gotham. These two are visually distinctive villains, and a nice addition to Batman's expanding list of grotesque enemies.
Bruce Wayne's pipe makes a single panel reappearance in this story.
World's Finest Comics #9
Spring 1943
Crime of the Month
Stop kicking, Bramwell! A famous writer like you ought to be used to pens!
The final story of volume 2 details the challenge by crime novelist Bramwell B. Bramwell to some of Gotham's crime bosses: to see who can commit the better crime. It's the "crime of the month" contest, and the crooks decide that the competition is worth their time. The spectacular crimes make the news, and Bruce figures out which gangs are behind them by the signature style of the crime boss. He begins surveillance, saves an armored car, and follows the one escaping gang member to Bramwell's castle in the countryside. Bramwell catches both Batman and Robin in death traps, but Batman escapes, frees Robin, and figures out where Bramwell will commit his crime because the author used a phrase that he had used in one of his novels, leading Batman to track him down to a movie theater and easily capture him.
April 1943
Tweedledum and Tweedledee!
It's the first appearance of cousins Deever and Dumfree Tweed, a couple of very short and rotund crime bosses who enjoy cigars and the finer things in life, and who are so fat they can barely walk. Rather than take on Batman and Robin, they set traps and wait for the crime fighters to come to them, catching them in a couple of traps before Batman catches on to their methodology and uses their own methods against them. Bruce finds their house with the aid of a very loose-lipped clerk at the only fat man's clothing store in Gotham. These two are visually distinctive villains, and a nice addition to Batman's expanding list of grotesque enemies.
Bruce Wayne's pipe makes a single panel reappearance in this story.
World's Finest Comics #9
Spring 1943
Crime of the Month
Stop kicking, Bramwell! A famous writer like you ought to be used to pens!
The final story of volume 2 details the challenge by crime novelist Bramwell B. Bramwell to some of Gotham's crime bosses: to see who can commit the better crime. It's the "crime of the month" contest, and the crooks decide that the competition is worth their time. The spectacular crimes make the news, and Bruce figures out which gangs are behind them by the signature style of the crime boss. He begins surveillance, saves an armored car, and follows the one escaping gang member to Bramwell's castle in the countryside. Bramwell catches both Batman and Robin in death traps, but Batman escapes, frees Robin, and figures out where Bramwell will commit his crime because the author used a phrase that he had used in one of his novels, leading Batman to track him down to a movie theater and easily capture him.
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus volumes 1-3
Batman is currently DC's most popular and best-selling character. He was my favorite for many years, though I have to admit that I'm just not all that enamoured of the "Bat-god", the man who is so smart and so well-prepared that he goes toe to toe with gods and wins. I like a more human, more fallible Batman who has to struggle to win, and who isn't so arrogant and aloof that I have to wonder how he has any friends at all. At the same time, I do have certain expectations about how the character should be portrayed, even with so many different characterizations over the years. But even my favorite versions of Batman are late-comers who bear little resemblance to the original character who first appeared in 1939.
One of the things I like best about these giant omnibus collections is that we get everything, the good and the bad, and we get it printed in chronological order. There is a ton of 1940s Batman in these three volumes, which include all the Batman stories from May 1939 through October 1944, with a fourth volume is due out in November that will take the series through mid 1946. Unlike the "Best of" or "75 Years" collections, I get to read everything, warts and all, and decide what I like and what I don't. I often find that I don't always agree with the consensus of fandom, and I might well like stories that the majority doesn't, or I might dislike a story that others consider a classic. And I never know when one of those "firsts" might appear, or when a little bit of characterization that defines a character to this day might first appear.
Bruce Wayne/Batman is surprisingly recognizable when he first appears. The character in the first half of that first year would fit right in with modern Batman in many ways, with maybe a few changes in tone. His propensity to kill people is unique, obviously, and that's quickly dropped. But he sneaks around in the dark, he's at odds with the police, he adopts various tools in his fight against crime that he still uses today, and he fights both common criminals and more over the top villains, along with supernatural creatures. His world is a mix of mundane and fantastic, which is something that won't disappear, but will change from Batman confronting supernatural creatures to Batman confronting supervillains. The series is finding its way, essentially, and I think the creators were responding to public feedback as the character became popular. In about a year Batman has gone from creature of the night in a black and gray costume to square-jawed, upstanding and honest vigilante (if that's not a contradiction in terms) with a kid sidekick, who will eventually work with the police and even become a public figure. That last thing is a bridge too far for me, but it doesn't detract from the stories as much as I thought it would.
There are a lot of changes in these early years. Batman goes from being solo to having a kid sidekick. He goes from being a vigilante to being an officer of the law. He starts out sneaking around in the dark and ends up riding with police and first responders in the daylight, and is even called in by the FBI. He starts out engaged and loses a fiance, only to pick up another girlfriend who then just sort of appears less and less and is apparently forgotten or dropped by the writers. Alfred appears in volume 3 and quickly becomes an integral part of the cast. Commissioner Gordon is a part of the series from day one, but is generally a very minor character. Batman starts out in a normal car, but eventually the Batmobile appears, and the Bat-gyro becomes a plane. The Batcave has not yet appeared, at least not by that name, but Bruce does have an underground tunnel from his house in the suburbs of Gotham to an old barn outside of town, and he has some underground areas that could be considered a proto-Batcave in volume 3. Anyone famliar with Batman can see many of the standard elements slowly being added, bit by bit.
Many of Batman's familiar cast of villains appear in these early years. I've griped about how often the Joker shows up. He has a great first appearance, and then really does get watered down and overused very quickly. Catwoman, by contrast, shows up just as early, but doesn't appear in the books nearly as often, so her return is always welcome. There are so few female villains in these stories that she's almost unique. The Penguin makes his first appearance in volume 2, and makes an impression right away. Hugo Strange, the Scarecrow and Two-Face all debut, and Two-Face is explicitly cured and written out of the series after his third appearance, while Strange appears to be killed off. As of the end of volume 3, he hasn't returned.
The tone of these stories is the biggest difference from modern comics. They're clearly aimed at a younger audience, probably pre-teen and teenagers, which is doubtless why the supernatural elements and the Batman's killing streak were removed early on, and why Robin was added to the cast. There is plenty of violence, with constant hand to hand fighting (sometimes teeth go flying!). Guns appear frequently, and police and civilians are shot on panel. It's never glorified, and criminals are often shown in jail, or being sent to the electric chair if they've murdered someone. "Crime doesn't pay" is a theme that is stressed heavily for a long time. This is pre-comics code, and yet a lot of the "respect for authority" that was mandated by the code is present. And with these stories being published during the height of World War 2, there's plenty of pro-America, pro-democracy themes, though nowhere near as much as I saw over in All-Star Comics. The war intrudes from time to time in Batman's world. Incidentally, I'm not sure if they ever say why Bruce Wayne wasn't drafted. Clark Kent messed up his vision test when he didn't realize he was using his x-ray vision to look through the wall and read the eye chart in the next room, and most of the Justice Society resigned from the JSA to enlist. But Bruce Wayne's absence from the ranks of the American military is never explained, as far as I can remember. At any rate, how much you would like these stories depends on how much you like old-fashioned heroics, adventure, and stalwart, square-jawed heroes. I enjoy this style of comics quite a bit.
The books themselves are 700-800 pages each, and you can tell that most of the restoration work was done some time ago. This material was restored for the Archives, so these books are reprints of previous reprints, albeit in a much better format. The Archives had seperate lines for Batman, Detective Comics and World's Finest, while the Chronicles and now the Omnibus books both combined all three series in chronological order. Sadly, this becomes apparent when reading a well-restored Batman issue with crisp linework, followed by a muddier Detective Comics issue, so the quality, while generally good, does vary. On the other hand, the amount of pages per book means that DC is reprinting the material much more quickly than they did before. Archives with 200 pages each every few years took a lot time to reach the point that the Omnibus has reached in just three volumes. The Chronicles only reached the stories covered partway through volume 3, and were on newsprint rather than glossy stock, so it's a bit like the upgrade from VHS to DVD in terms of better quality and more stories per volume. And the omnibus is oversized compared to the Archives and Chronicles, so while still not as large as the actual Golden Age comics, they are noticeably larger than the older reprints.
To wrap all of this up, how much you would like this material depends on how elastic your conception of Batman is. I like Christian Bale's Batman, but I also like Adam West. There are things I dislike about 1940s Batman, but by and large the character and the concept behind him are strong enough that he works anyway. I certainly like the larger format and amount of old comics in each of these volumes. So far I've found all three for around $45, while the cover price is $75, so I feel like it's been a bargain. At this point, I'm looking forward to volume 4, and I hope DC keeps these going for a long time. I'd like to see the silly sci-fi 50s Batman at some point, and see if it's as bad as some say. So far, the series has remained mostly urban crime, with gangsters and super-villains, and by and large it works well.
Batman is currently DC's most popular and best-selling character. He was my favorite for many years, though I have to admit that I'm just not all that enamoured of the "Bat-god", the man who is so smart and so well-prepared that he goes toe to toe with gods and wins. I like a more human, more fallible Batman who has to struggle to win, and who isn't so arrogant and aloof that I have to wonder how he has any friends at all. At the same time, I do have certain expectations about how the character should be portrayed, even with so many different characterizations over the years. But even my favorite versions of Batman are late-comers who bear little resemblance to the original character who first appeared in 1939.
One of the things I like best about these giant omnibus collections is that we get everything, the good and the bad, and we get it printed in chronological order. There is a ton of 1940s Batman in these three volumes, which include all the Batman stories from May 1939 through October 1944, with a fourth volume is due out in November that will take the series through mid 1946. Unlike the "Best of" or "75 Years" collections, I get to read everything, warts and all, and decide what I like and what I don't. I often find that I don't always agree with the consensus of fandom, and I might well like stories that the majority doesn't, or I might dislike a story that others consider a classic. And I never know when one of those "firsts" might appear, or when a little bit of characterization that defines a character to this day might first appear.
Bruce Wayne/Batman is surprisingly recognizable when he first appears. The character in the first half of that first year would fit right in with modern Batman in many ways, with maybe a few changes in tone. His propensity to kill people is unique, obviously, and that's quickly dropped. But he sneaks around in the dark, he's at odds with the police, he adopts various tools in his fight against crime that he still uses today, and he fights both common criminals and more over the top villains, along with supernatural creatures. His world is a mix of mundane and fantastic, which is something that won't disappear, but will change from Batman confronting supernatural creatures to Batman confronting supervillains. The series is finding its way, essentially, and I think the creators were responding to public feedback as the character became popular. In about a year Batman has gone from creature of the night in a black and gray costume to square-jawed, upstanding and honest vigilante (if that's not a contradiction in terms) with a kid sidekick, who will eventually work with the police and even become a public figure. That last thing is a bridge too far for me, but it doesn't detract from the stories as much as I thought it would.
There are a lot of changes in these early years. Batman goes from being solo to having a kid sidekick. He goes from being a vigilante to being an officer of the law. He starts out sneaking around in the dark and ends up riding with police and first responders in the daylight, and is even called in by the FBI. He starts out engaged and loses a fiance, only to pick up another girlfriend who then just sort of appears less and less and is apparently forgotten or dropped by the writers. Alfred appears in volume 3 and quickly becomes an integral part of the cast. Commissioner Gordon is a part of the series from day one, but is generally a very minor character. Batman starts out in a normal car, but eventually the Batmobile appears, and the Bat-gyro becomes a plane. The Batcave has not yet appeared, at least not by that name, but Bruce does have an underground tunnel from his house in the suburbs of Gotham to an old barn outside of town, and he has some underground areas that could be considered a proto-Batcave in volume 3. Anyone famliar with Batman can see many of the standard elements slowly being added, bit by bit.
Many of Batman's familiar cast of villains appear in these early years. I've griped about how often the Joker shows up. He has a great first appearance, and then really does get watered down and overused very quickly. Catwoman, by contrast, shows up just as early, but doesn't appear in the books nearly as often, so her return is always welcome. There are so few female villains in these stories that she's almost unique. The Penguin makes his first appearance in volume 2, and makes an impression right away. Hugo Strange, the Scarecrow and Two-Face all debut, and Two-Face is explicitly cured and written out of the series after his third appearance, while Strange appears to be killed off. As of the end of volume 3, he hasn't returned.
The tone of these stories is the biggest difference from modern comics. They're clearly aimed at a younger audience, probably pre-teen and teenagers, which is doubtless why the supernatural elements and the Batman's killing streak were removed early on, and why Robin was added to the cast. There is plenty of violence, with constant hand to hand fighting (sometimes teeth go flying!). Guns appear frequently, and police and civilians are shot on panel. It's never glorified, and criminals are often shown in jail, or being sent to the electric chair if they've murdered someone. "Crime doesn't pay" is a theme that is stressed heavily for a long time. This is pre-comics code, and yet a lot of the "respect for authority" that was mandated by the code is present. And with these stories being published during the height of World War 2, there's plenty of pro-America, pro-democracy themes, though nowhere near as much as I saw over in All-Star Comics. The war intrudes from time to time in Batman's world. Incidentally, I'm not sure if they ever say why Bruce Wayne wasn't drafted. Clark Kent messed up his vision test when he didn't realize he was using his x-ray vision to look through the wall and read the eye chart in the next room, and most of the Justice Society resigned from the JSA to enlist. But Bruce Wayne's absence from the ranks of the American military is never explained, as far as I can remember. At any rate, how much you would like these stories depends on how much you like old-fashioned heroics, adventure, and stalwart, square-jawed heroes. I enjoy this style of comics quite a bit.
The books themselves are 700-800 pages each, and you can tell that most of the restoration work was done some time ago. This material was restored for the Archives, so these books are reprints of previous reprints, albeit in a much better format. The Archives had seperate lines for Batman, Detective Comics and World's Finest, while the Chronicles and now the Omnibus books both combined all three series in chronological order. Sadly, this becomes apparent when reading a well-restored Batman issue with crisp linework, followed by a muddier Detective Comics issue, so the quality, while generally good, does vary. On the other hand, the amount of pages per book means that DC is reprinting the material much more quickly than they did before. Archives with 200 pages each every few years took a lot time to reach the point that the Omnibus has reached in just three volumes. The Chronicles only reached the stories covered partway through volume 3, and were on newsprint rather than glossy stock, so it's a bit like the upgrade from VHS to DVD in terms of better quality and more stories per volume. And the omnibus is oversized compared to the Archives and Chronicles, so while still not as large as the actual Golden Age comics, they are noticeably larger than the older reprints.
To wrap all of this up, how much you would like this material depends on how elastic your conception of Batman is. I like Christian Bale's Batman, but I also like Adam West. There are things I dislike about 1940s Batman, but by and large the character and the concept behind him are strong enough that he works anyway. I certainly like the larger format and amount of old comics in each of these volumes. So far I've found all three for around $45, while the cover price is $75, so I feel like it's been a bargain. At this point, I'm looking forward to volume 4, and I hope DC keeps these going for a long time. I'd like to see the silly sci-fi 50s Batman at some point, and see if it's as bad as some say. So far, the series has remained mostly urban crime, with gangsters and super-villains, and by and large it works well.
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
Delving into other 1940s reprints, I enjoy the lesser known team from that era, the Seven Soldiers of Victory. They weren't nearly as successful as the Justice Society, and only lasted 14 quarterly issues, but I think the writing and art were often better than the stories in All-Star. And they have the distinction of having Green Arrow as a member, long before he joined the Justice League. None of the members had super-powers. It was an entire team of non-powered costumed adventurers, with the exception of the Shining Knight's magic armor and sword. This team appeared during Convergence in World's Finest, where they all got killed off.
Leading Comics followed the same format as All-Star, with the team appearing in the opening and closing chapters and individual characters starring in the middle chapters.
Leading Comics #3
Summer 1942
The Tyrants of Time
Famous conquerors from history are snatched out of time. Alexander the Great, Nero, Attilla the Hun, Genghis Khan and Napoleon are all brought to New York in 1942 by Dr. Doome (no relation, though it would be funny if there were!). Doome has invented a time machine, obviously, and he offers the five men a chance to rule the world in the future, if they'll help him steal what he needs to finish another machine that will send them into the future. The five men all like the idea and agree to help Doome. I like that all these historical conquerors are shown as intelligent and able to at least cope with the 20th century and to understand that they've traveled in time.
Meanwhile, on Wall Street, Oliver Queen and Roy Harper are testing a new short wave radio when the villains of history rob some of the brokers of their cash. When Roy tries to intervene, he's knocked down by Genghis Khan, and his radio is taken by the curious Mongol. A plane carries the five conquerors to Dr. Doome's lighthouse hideout, with Nero and Genghis Khan marveling at the miracle of flight. Deciding that this is too much for Green Arrow and Speedy to tackle alone, Oliver calls a meeting of the Seven Soldiers. The tale of tyrants having traveled through time is accepted readily by the group, with the Shining Knight noting that he comes from the past, so why couldn't they? Can't argue with that logic. And it's fortunate that Khan stole the radio, because he's left it on, and the plans come through loud and clear with each of the villains going to different places to steal different metals. Naturally, the Seven Soldiers split up to take them on.
1 - Defeat before Waterloo
The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy go after Napoleon near the Canadian border, where the Frenchman is after a shipment of gold. Napoleon isn't too happy with the disrespect the gangsters working for him are showing him, and he runs the theft like a military operation, with himself as the general. They blow up the tracks and cut the telegraph wires. The Kid takes on Napoleon and his men, but even with Stripesy's help, they are overpowered. Napoleon has them tied up and thrown into the river with a stone to weigh them down until they drown. Stripesy saves them both by managing to get their heads above water, where some nearby hoboes pull them out of the river. Using the Star Rocket Racer, the gangster's plane is brought down and the men captured, though Napoleon gets away, lost in the woods. When he finally gets out at the site of a carnival, he's mistaken for a madman, and rather than submit to the disrespectful treatment, he uses the device that Doome gave all five conquerors and returns to his own time.
Dr. Doome is watching PIckett's charge at Gettysburg when he sees Napoleon fly by, headed back to his own time. Amazed that he's failed, Doome figures Alexander can get the gold after he brings back the radium from Florida.
2 - The Radium Robots
Green Arrow and Speedy head to Florida to stop Alexander the Great from stealing radium, stored in the hidden Everglades workshop of Leo Starr, who has created robots powered by radium to fight America's wars instead of humans. But one robot, Oscar, has somehow developed a prankish sense of humor, something even Starr doesn't quite understand. But he has very little time to ponder it when he's killed in Alexander's attack. Oscar accepts orders from whoever he perceives as the "boss", so when Alexander demands the radium he brings it, only to drop it on his toe. Meanwhile Green Arrow and Speedy are captured and brought to the workshop by the other robots. As usual in these stories the status quo goes back and forth. At first GA and Speedy disable Alexander and the robots, but Alexander recovers and captures Speedy. With the help of Oscar, GA reverses the situation and Alexander runs into the swamp, dodging snakes and gators, only surviving because GA is killing the animals before they can kill Alexander. A robot appears to lead Alexander to safety, but it's Green Arrow in disguise, which amuses Oscar to no end. Alexander has had enough and returns to his own time, once again observed by Dr. Doome, who wonders if some organization is working against him....
One question: why does the reprint in the Archives keep giving Oliver Queen brown hair when he's blonde?
3 - The Man Who Told a Fish Story
The Shining Knight chases Genghis Khan to Alaska, where Khan is at the town of Jackpot, planning to steal platinum en route to Seattle. The Knight lands and gets involved with fisherman Bill Bates, who has bet his friends that he can catch a whale. If he doesn't, he's out a hundred dollars. Bates leads the Knight to the docks just as Genghis Khan and his men attack the guards and take the platinum, hiding inside a hollowed out iceberg. Puzzled by their disappearance, the Knight is able to find them. Their guns don't hurt him, but they toss him overboard, expecting his armor to weigh him down and drown him, but the Knight uses his sword to stab the iceberg, stop his fall, and climb out of the (presumably freezing) water. Does the magic armor keep him warm as well? The story breezes past this point, and the Knight ends up riding a whale and capturing Khan, while Bates is able to tow the dying whale back to port and win his bet. Just like the others, Genghis Khan returns to his own time. This time, Dr. Doome hears the news on the radio and hears of the presence of the Shining Knight, making him realize the Seven Soldiers are after him.
4 - The Spirit of Wild Bill Dickson
The Vigilante pursuies Atilla the Hun to the Black Hills of South Dakota and gets mixed up with old Wild Bill Dickson, a former old west sheriff now living as a hermit. This is a nice character touch, since an old man in the 1940s would have been alive during the heyday of the "old West". Dickson survives an encounter with Atilla, but is nearly lynched by the local townspeople, since a surviving guard who had been taking the tantalum out of the hills accuses him. In another great little character moment, Atilla sees Mount Rushmore and thinks the carvings of Washington and the others must be "the idols of the land". Despite an attempt to trap him, Vigilante survives and he and Billy Gunn capture Atilla and save Dickson's life, only for Atilla to retreat into the past like the others. Dr. Doome has only Nero to rely on now.
5 - Fiddler's Farewell
The Crimson Avenger and Wing take on Nero out at sea as the Roman emperor tries to steal a shipment of uranium. The story opens following young Sammy Singer and his dog Scraps (whose barks are helpfully translated for the reader), who stow away on a ship for adventure, but find out that all they've earned is trouble and hard work for months until the ship hits port. There's a running gag where Nero plays his fiddle and all his flunkies tell him it's great music while secretly thinking about how bad it is. Crimson Avenger and Wing take on the Roman soldiers but are badly outmatched and left to die on the burning yacht that the Romans have plundered. While the captain and crew fight to save their ship, the Avenger and Wing pursue the Romans, only to be captured again. Sammy helps free them from rowing in the galley, and iwth the help of the rest of the galley slaves, the third time is the charm and they capture Nero. However Nero had nearly reached Dr. Doome's lighthouse hideout, which Crimson Avenger sees before Nero returns to his own time, so now the Seven Soldiers will know where to find him.
6 - The Tyrants of Time, conclusion
The Seven Soldiers head for the lighthouse, foil some death traps and confront Doome, who escapes into the past. The Soldiers rather rashly charge after him, while Speedy takes the time to grab one of the hand-held time travel wands that all the historical conquerors had used before following the group. They end up in the past at the battle of Troy, where Doome had been busy convincing Ulysses that they were a threat. However, Ulysses is impressed by the fighting prowess of the Seven Soldiers and after talking with them, decides that he believes them rather than Doome. Doome sneers that he came to Troy to trap the Soldiers and returns to the 1940s. And his plot would have worked if Speedy hadn't been smart enough to grab that time travel device. Doome is shocked to see the Soldiers return to his lab, and in desperation his uses his unfinished time machine, the one that he needed all the components the tyrants were stealing for him to complete, to travel into the future. The machine explodes, and no one is sure if Doome lived and made it to the future or not. But the threat is over, and the Shining Knight salutes his comrades.
Like so many stories of the 40s, it's inevitable that when one of these mad scientist types like Doome invent a miraculous invention, the first thing they do is turn to crime. Never mind exploring time for the sake of learning and exploration (though Doome is shown observing past events and enjoying them), science is there to exploit for power and wealth. That being said, in a crazy comic-booky way, picking successful military leaders and conquerors to help carry out his plan makes a certain level of sense, and showing the five tyrants as smart men who can grasp the situation they're in is a nice touch. The five individual chapters are typical runarounds of the day where the hero fails to capture the villains at first and then his fists ultimately solve the problem. A few details elevate some of the chapters for me, from the funny robot in the Green Arrow story, to the Shining Knight's jousting on the back of a whale, to Atilla's assumption that Mount Rushmore is an idol. And everyone is saved by the sidekick in the end, or Doome's trap would have worked. Not a bad issue for this non-powered team.
Leading Comics followed the same format as All-Star, with the team appearing in the opening and closing chapters and individual characters starring in the middle chapters.
Leading Comics #3
Summer 1942
The Tyrants of Time
Famous conquerors from history are snatched out of time. Alexander the Great, Nero, Attilla the Hun, Genghis Khan and Napoleon are all brought to New York in 1942 by Dr. Doome (no relation, though it would be funny if there were!). Doome has invented a time machine, obviously, and he offers the five men a chance to rule the world in the future, if they'll help him steal what he needs to finish another machine that will send them into the future. The five men all like the idea and agree to help Doome. I like that all these historical conquerors are shown as intelligent and able to at least cope with the 20th century and to understand that they've traveled in time.
Meanwhile, on Wall Street, Oliver Queen and Roy Harper are testing a new short wave radio when the villains of history rob some of the brokers of their cash. When Roy tries to intervene, he's knocked down by Genghis Khan, and his radio is taken by the curious Mongol. A plane carries the five conquerors to Dr. Doome's lighthouse hideout, with Nero and Genghis Khan marveling at the miracle of flight. Deciding that this is too much for Green Arrow and Speedy to tackle alone, Oliver calls a meeting of the Seven Soldiers. The tale of tyrants having traveled through time is accepted readily by the group, with the Shining Knight noting that he comes from the past, so why couldn't they? Can't argue with that logic. And it's fortunate that Khan stole the radio, because he's left it on, and the plans come through loud and clear with each of the villains going to different places to steal different metals. Naturally, the Seven Soldiers split up to take them on.
1 - Defeat before Waterloo
The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy go after Napoleon near the Canadian border, where the Frenchman is after a shipment of gold. Napoleon isn't too happy with the disrespect the gangsters working for him are showing him, and he runs the theft like a military operation, with himself as the general. They blow up the tracks and cut the telegraph wires. The Kid takes on Napoleon and his men, but even with Stripesy's help, they are overpowered. Napoleon has them tied up and thrown into the river with a stone to weigh them down until they drown. Stripesy saves them both by managing to get their heads above water, where some nearby hoboes pull them out of the river. Using the Star Rocket Racer, the gangster's plane is brought down and the men captured, though Napoleon gets away, lost in the woods. When he finally gets out at the site of a carnival, he's mistaken for a madman, and rather than submit to the disrespectful treatment, he uses the device that Doome gave all five conquerors and returns to his own time.
Dr. Doome is watching PIckett's charge at Gettysburg when he sees Napoleon fly by, headed back to his own time. Amazed that he's failed, Doome figures Alexander can get the gold after he brings back the radium from Florida.
2 - The Radium Robots
Green Arrow and Speedy head to Florida to stop Alexander the Great from stealing radium, stored in the hidden Everglades workshop of Leo Starr, who has created robots powered by radium to fight America's wars instead of humans. But one robot, Oscar, has somehow developed a prankish sense of humor, something even Starr doesn't quite understand. But he has very little time to ponder it when he's killed in Alexander's attack. Oscar accepts orders from whoever he perceives as the "boss", so when Alexander demands the radium he brings it, only to drop it on his toe. Meanwhile Green Arrow and Speedy are captured and brought to the workshop by the other robots. As usual in these stories the status quo goes back and forth. At first GA and Speedy disable Alexander and the robots, but Alexander recovers and captures Speedy. With the help of Oscar, GA reverses the situation and Alexander runs into the swamp, dodging snakes and gators, only surviving because GA is killing the animals before they can kill Alexander. A robot appears to lead Alexander to safety, but it's Green Arrow in disguise, which amuses Oscar to no end. Alexander has had enough and returns to his own time, once again observed by Dr. Doome, who wonders if some organization is working against him....
One question: why does the reprint in the Archives keep giving Oliver Queen brown hair when he's blonde?
3 - The Man Who Told a Fish Story
The Shining Knight chases Genghis Khan to Alaska, where Khan is at the town of Jackpot, planning to steal platinum en route to Seattle. The Knight lands and gets involved with fisherman Bill Bates, who has bet his friends that he can catch a whale. If he doesn't, he's out a hundred dollars. Bates leads the Knight to the docks just as Genghis Khan and his men attack the guards and take the platinum, hiding inside a hollowed out iceberg. Puzzled by their disappearance, the Knight is able to find them. Their guns don't hurt him, but they toss him overboard, expecting his armor to weigh him down and drown him, but the Knight uses his sword to stab the iceberg, stop his fall, and climb out of the (presumably freezing) water. Does the magic armor keep him warm as well? The story breezes past this point, and the Knight ends up riding a whale and capturing Khan, while Bates is able to tow the dying whale back to port and win his bet. Just like the others, Genghis Khan returns to his own time. This time, Dr. Doome hears the news on the radio and hears of the presence of the Shining Knight, making him realize the Seven Soldiers are after him.
4 - The Spirit of Wild Bill Dickson
The Vigilante pursuies Atilla the Hun to the Black Hills of South Dakota and gets mixed up with old Wild Bill Dickson, a former old west sheriff now living as a hermit. This is a nice character touch, since an old man in the 1940s would have been alive during the heyday of the "old West". Dickson survives an encounter with Atilla, but is nearly lynched by the local townspeople, since a surviving guard who had been taking the tantalum out of the hills accuses him. In another great little character moment, Atilla sees Mount Rushmore and thinks the carvings of Washington and the others must be "the idols of the land". Despite an attempt to trap him, Vigilante survives and he and Billy Gunn capture Atilla and save Dickson's life, only for Atilla to retreat into the past like the others. Dr. Doome has only Nero to rely on now.
5 - Fiddler's Farewell
The Crimson Avenger and Wing take on Nero out at sea as the Roman emperor tries to steal a shipment of uranium. The story opens following young Sammy Singer and his dog Scraps (whose barks are helpfully translated for the reader), who stow away on a ship for adventure, but find out that all they've earned is trouble and hard work for months until the ship hits port. There's a running gag where Nero plays his fiddle and all his flunkies tell him it's great music while secretly thinking about how bad it is. Crimson Avenger and Wing take on the Roman soldiers but are badly outmatched and left to die on the burning yacht that the Romans have plundered. While the captain and crew fight to save their ship, the Avenger and Wing pursue the Romans, only to be captured again. Sammy helps free them from rowing in the galley, and iwth the help of the rest of the galley slaves, the third time is the charm and they capture Nero. However Nero had nearly reached Dr. Doome's lighthouse hideout, which Crimson Avenger sees before Nero returns to his own time, so now the Seven Soldiers will know where to find him.
6 - The Tyrants of Time, conclusion
The Seven Soldiers head for the lighthouse, foil some death traps and confront Doome, who escapes into the past. The Soldiers rather rashly charge after him, while Speedy takes the time to grab one of the hand-held time travel wands that all the historical conquerors had used before following the group. They end up in the past at the battle of Troy, where Doome had been busy convincing Ulysses that they were a threat. However, Ulysses is impressed by the fighting prowess of the Seven Soldiers and after talking with them, decides that he believes them rather than Doome. Doome sneers that he came to Troy to trap the Soldiers and returns to the 1940s. And his plot would have worked if Speedy hadn't been smart enough to grab that time travel device. Doome is shocked to see the Soldiers return to his lab, and in desperation his uses his unfinished time machine, the one that he needed all the components the tyrants were stealing for him to complete, to travel into the future. The machine explodes, and no one is sure if Doome lived and made it to the future or not. But the threat is over, and the Shining Knight salutes his comrades.
Like so many stories of the 40s, it's inevitable that when one of these mad scientist types like Doome invent a miraculous invention, the first thing they do is turn to crime. Never mind exploring time for the sake of learning and exploration (though Doome is shown observing past events and enjoying them), science is there to exploit for power and wealth. That being said, in a crazy comic-booky way, picking successful military leaders and conquerors to help carry out his plan makes a certain level of sense, and showing the five tyrants as smart men who can grasp the situation they're in is a nice touch. The five individual chapters are typical runarounds of the day where the hero fails to capture the villains at first and then his fists ultimately solve the problem. A few details elevate some of the chapters for me, from the funny robot in the Green Arrow story, to the Shining Knight's jousting on the back of a whale, to Atilla's assumption that Mount Rushmore is an idol. And everyone is saved by the sidekick in the end, or Doome's trap would have worked. Not a bad issue for this non-powered team.
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
Leading Comics #4
Fall 1942
The Sixth Sense
A robot ("Like the one they had at the World's Fair" one thug describes it) marches down the street and kidnaps five hoodlums, tossing them in the back of a van. The Shining Knight, flying around the city on Winged Victory, spots the strange kidnappings and trails the robot to a house by the waterfront, where he is knocked unconcious by the robot. The narration notes that he's hit in the jaw, so I guess that's an attempt to get around the fact that his armor should protect him from blows to the back of the head. When he awakens, he's tied hand and foot, and so are the five kidnapped crooks. A bearded man named Dr. Brett is threatened by an unseen individual into performing surgery on the men, with the result being that one of their senses is greatly amplified. One man can hear, to the point that a beetle on the floor sounds like horses hooves to him. One man can see the warehouse across the street, one can taste the dust in the air, etc. The person who has done this to them reveals himself as a paralyzed genius who speaks telepathically through the robot. He reveals thefts that he wants the sense-enhanced men to pull off, and reveals that he killed Dr. Brett for double-crossing him. He drops the still restrained Shining Knight into the water, expecting him to drown, but the Knight cuts his bonds with his sword and survives to call in the rest of the Seven Soldiers.
As always, the opening chapter sets up the plot, and it's in many ways a retread of the first three issues, with a hidden mastermind gathering five crooks to help him pull off his as yet unexplained plot, with one of the Seven Soldiers witnessing the crime and summoning the others. I don't know why this particular plot should be any more far-fetched than pulling conquerors from the past via time machine to use as flunkies, but "enhanced senses to aid in crimes" doesn't quite work as well for me, despite the fact that I like a few of the individual chapters and the twist ending quite a bit. This formula that's sustained the book for the first three issues is starting to get a little tired, and thankfully we'll start to see a greater variety of plots in the coming issues.
The Crime Concerto - The Crimson Avenger and Wing
Mickey Gordon (the only one of the five thugs with no nickname, so you know something's up with him) is supposed to steal a diamond from Alice Howard. She likes music, hence his enhanced hearing will allow him to appreciate her playing, or something. He hears her playing the piano through an open window, and the beauty of the melody combined with his sensitive hearing moves him to tears. Rather than being shocked and put out by a man listening to her through her window, Alice talks with Mickey and the two of them hit it off. She doesn't care that he's been to jail, believing he's decent deep down inside because he loves music. The two have fallen for each other pretty quick, and when the Crimson Avenger tracks Gordon down to the concert hall to stop the theft and punches him, Alice defends him. Mickey confesses all, that he was sent to steal the diamond, but he couldn't go through with it after meeting Alice. The next night, she decides to test him, and asks him to hold the diamond during the concert. When the other hirelings come to collect, Mickey turns against them and gets shot for his trouble. Despite the Crimson Avenger's attempts, the thugs get away with the diamond, but Alice doesn't care. She's just happy Mickey wasn't killed when the bullet hit him. Mickey wasn't even hurt that bad, and he insists on helping go after the Sixth Sense.
Don Quixote Rides Again - The Shining Knight
Eccentric retired explorer Don Coty likes to think and act like his hero Don Quixote, much to the amusement of his servants, who play along. Coty goes to see a magician, a "modern day Merlin" and accepts his invitation to a costume party. "Merlin" is really "Fingers", working his plan to steal Coty's jewel. At the costume party, the Shining Knight is in attendance. When the robbery begins, the Knight takes on Fingers' men, only to accidentally cut a wire and shock himself. Thinking him dead, Coty takes horse and chases the thieves, only to find that they've hidden in (where else) a windmill. The Knight recovers and gives chase as well, and he and Coty round up the gang. But they do not recover the stolen gem, which has been sent to the Sixth Sense by carrier pigeon. The Shining Knight knights Coty, granting the old man his fondest wish.
The Man Who Followed His Nose - The Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy
In a nice personal connection to the hero of this chapter, the gem that is to be stolen belongs to Sylvester Pemberton's father. "Bloodhound" was given enhanced smell to get a job in a perfume factory owned by John Pemberton, and while there, he sees Mrs. Pemberton wearing the emerald. He "accidentally" spills some perfume on her hand so he can find the gem again by smell. When they come to steal it, the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy fight them off, only for the crooks to get away when Mr. Pemberton appears in the middle of the fight and gets in the way. Sylvester's mom wonders why the Kid and Stripesy remind her so much of her son and his chauffer. Considering Dugan isn't wearing any sort of mask, this doesn't make either Mr. or Mrs. Pemberton appear all that smart. The Kid rushes home so he can answer the phone when his mom calls in some lame secret identity hijinx. Later, the family decide to head out to see on a yacht to keep the gem safe, but the crooks are wise to the plan and follow them. The Bloodhound has a fake gem ready, pulls a switch, and then escapes by sea-plane after it appears he and his gang have been beaten in a fight by the Kid and Stripesy. He delivers his gem personally to the Sixth Sense, who now has three of the five. Good thing the five historic conquerors from last issue can't see how they're being show up by some no-name crooks this time around.
The Man Who Was Afraid to Eat - The Vigilante
Someone is poisoning the food of former movie star Karl Dennison who refuses to call the police out of sheer vanity, not wanting the world to know that the formerly handsome star is now vastly overweight. It's all part of the plan to get Leo Palate (groan) and his super-sensitive taster in to see Dennison and get a job as his food taster in order to steal Dennison's diamond. Dennison hires him, and Palate comes right out and admits he's doing this because he wants to steal the diamond. While Dennison is thinking it over, Dennison's nephew shows up dressed as his hero, the Vigilante, and then the genuine Vigilante shows to capture the crooks, but Dennison sides with Palate because he wants to stay alive. But Palate decides to speed things up and uses Dennison's nephew to force him to give up the diamond, but the recovered Vigilante rounds up the gang. It'll all for nothing as the cook that the Sixth Sense had bribed to poison Dennison obtains the diamond and takes it to the Sixth Sense.
The Man With the Miracle Eyes - The Green Arrow
The final villain with his enhanced sight targets a carnival barker who owns the Garnet Diamond. Calling himself Eagle Eye, he gets a job with the circus reading things like a telephone book from across the parking lot. When Green Arrow and Speedy show up to capture him, the circus folk defend one of their own, until they learn that these two are famous crime-fighters, but by then Eagle Eye has vanished. He returns and unleashes the animals to cause chaos and damage, and the Circus owner is forced to sell the diamond to make enough money to pay for the damage, but a disguised Eagle Eye steals the "garnet" first. (The story can't decide if it's set in a carnival or a circus, and can't decide if the gem is a garnet or a diamond). He is captured but reveals that he's already sent the gem ahead to the Sixth Sense, who now has all five gems.
Chapter 7 - The Sixth Sense pays off the surviving hirelings by electrocuting them all to death. The Seven Soldiers and Mickey Gordon (with his advanced hearing) go to confront the Sixth Sense, only to discover that the paralyzed man is a mannequin, and the real Sixth Sense is the supposedly murdered Dr. Brett, disguised as the robot. The five gems are keys to open an idol that holds the "Lifestone", a mysterious gem that brings inanimate objects to life. Brett runs for it with the Seven Soldiers in pursuit, and after bringing a few statues to life to slow the soldiers down is cornered in the library and accidentally turns himself to stone. No one told him the stone works both ways. Vigilante decides the stone is too dangerous for anyone to possess and throws it in the river where it will be perfectly safe.... and by perfectly safe, I mean found by someone much more easily than it would be if it was put back in the idol again. Not too bright, Vig. Mickey Gordon becomes a famous composer, and the Seven Soldiers enjoy a concert, ready to face whatever comes next.
As I noted at the beginning, the formula this series has followed for four issues now is becoming stale, and honestly a bit hard to sustain, given the convoluted plots in this story. Four stories with a mastermind hiring exactly five crooks to carry out five overly complicated plots is only going to work for so long to keep reader interest, and there's only so many variations on this same theme. Some of the individual chapters worked pretty well despite themselves, with Mickey Gordon's story being my favorite. It's nice to see a crook redeem themselves occasionally in these old comics. The payoff was pretty good too, with the ending feeling more like a proper comic-book supervillain plot after five chapters of gangsters and jewel thefts. Dr. Brett even wants to use the Lifestone to take over the world, so he's a proper mad scientist/would-be world conqueror.
The formula has worn thin, but the ending was pretty strong. Leading Comics 5 varies the formula slightly and then issue 6 goes off in a completely different direction, so I guess the writers got tired of doing the same thing every quarter as well.
Fall 1942
The Sixth Sense
A robot ("Like the one they had at the World's Fair" one thug describes it) marches down the street and kidnaps five hoodlums, tossing them in the back of a van. The Shining Knight, flying around the city on Winged Victory, spots the strange kidnappings and trails the robot to a house by the waterfront, where he is knocked unconcious by the robot. The narration notes that he's hit in the jaw, so I guess that's an attempt to get around the fact that his armor should protect him from blows to the back of the head. When he awakens, he's tied hand and foot, and so are the five kidnapped crooks. A bearded man named Dr. Brett is threatened by an unseen individual into performing surgery on the men, with the result being that one of their senses is greatly amplified. One man can hear, to the point that a beetle on the floor sounds like horses hooves to him. One man can see the warehouse across the street, one can taste the dust in the air, etc. The person who has done this to them reveals himself as a paralyzed genius who speaks telepathically through the robot. He reveals thefts that he wants the sense-enhanced men to pull off, and reveals that he killed Dr. Brett for double-crossing him. He drops the still restrained Shining Knight into the water, expecting him to drown, but the Knight cuts his bonds with his sword and survives to call in the rest of the Seven Soldiers.
As always, the opening chapter sets up the plot, and it's in many ways a retread of the first three issues, with a hidden mastermind gathering five crooks to help him pull off his as yet unexplained plot, with one of the Seven Soldiers witnessing the crime and summoning the others. I don't know why this particular plot should be any more far-fetched than pulling conquerors from the past via time machine to use as flunkies, but "enhanced senses to aid in crimes" doesn't quite work as well for me, despite the fact that I like a few of the individual chapters and the twist ending quite a bit. This formula that's sustained the book for the first three issues is starting to get a little tired, and thankfully we'll start to see a greater variety of plots in the coming issues.
The Crime Concerto - The Crimson Avenger and Wing
Mickey Gordon (the only one of the five thugs with no nickname, so you know something's up with him) is supposed to steal a diamond from Alice Howard. She likes music, hence his enhanced hearing will allow him to appreciate her playing, or something. He hears her playing the piano through an open window, and the beauty of the melody combined with his sensitive hearing moves him to tears. Rather than being shocked and put out by a man listening to her through her window, Alice talks with Mickey and the two of them hit it off. She doesn't care that he's been to jail, believing he's decent deep down inside because he loves music. The two have fallen for each other pretty quick, and when the Crimson Avenger tracks Gordon down to the concert hall to stop the theft and punches him, Alice defends him. Mickey confesses all, that he was sent to steal the diamond, but he couldn't go through with it after meeting Alice. The next night, she decides to test him, and asks him to hold the diamond during the concert. When the other hirelings come to collect, Mickey turns against them and gets shot for his trouble. Despite the Crimson Avenger's attempts, the thugs get away with the diamond, but Alice doesn't care. She's just happy Mickey wasn't killed when the bullet hit him. Mickey wasn't even hurt that bad, and he insists on helping go after the Sixth Sense.
Don Quixote Rides Again - The Shining Knight
Eccentric retired explorer Don Coty likes to think and act like his hero Don Quixote, much to the amusement of his servants, who play along. Coty goes to see a magician, a "modern day Merlin" and accepts his invitation to a costume party. "Merlin" is really "Fingers", working his plan to steal Coty's jewel. At the costume party, the Shining Knight is in attendance. When the robbery begins, the Knight takes on Fingers' men, only to accidentally cut a wire and shock himself. Thinking him dead, Coty takes horse and chases the thieves, only to find that they've hidden in (where else) a windmill. The Knight recovers and gives chase as well, and he and Coty round up the gang. But they do not recover the stolen gem, which has been sent to the Sixth Sense by carrier pigeon. The Shining Knight knights Coty, granting the old man his fondest wish.
The Man Who Followed His Nose - The Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy
In a nice personal connection to the hero of this chapter, the gem that is to be stolen belongs to Sylvester Pemberton's father. "Bloodhound" was given enhanced smell to get a job in a perfume factory owned by John Pemberton, and while there, he sees Mrs. Pemberton wearing the emerald. He "accidentally" spills some perfume on her hand so he can find the gem again by smell. When they come to steal it, the Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy fight them off, only for the crooks to get away when Mr. Pemberton appears in the middle of the fight and gets in the way. Sylvester's mom wonders why the Kid and Stripesy remind her so much of her son and his chauffer. Considering Dugan isn't wearing any sort of mask, this doesn't make either Mr. or Mrs. Pemberton appear all that smart. The Kid rushes home so he can answer the phone when his mom calls in some lame secret identity hijinx. Later, the family decide to head out to see on a yacht to keep the gem safe, but the crooks are wise to the plan and follow them. The Bloodhound has a fake gem ready, pulls a switch, and then escapes by sea-plane after it appears he and his gang have been beaten in a fight by the Kid and Stripesy. He delivers his gem personally to the Sixth Sense, who now has three of the five. Good thing the five historic conquerors from last issue can't see how they're being show up by some no-name crooks this time around.
The Man Who Was Afraid to Eat - The Vigilante
Someone is poisoning the food of former movie star Karl Dennison who refuses to call the police out of sheer vanity, not wanting the world to know that the formerly handsome star is now vastly overweight. It's all part of the plan to get Leo Palate (groan) and his super-sensitive taster in to see Dennison and get a job as his food taster in order to steal Dennison's diamond. Dennison hires him, and Palate comes right out and admits he's doing this because he wants to steal the diamond. While Dennison is thinking it over, Dennison's nephew shows up dressed as his hero, the Vigilante, and then the genuine Vigilante shows to capture the crooks, but Dennison sides with Palate because he wants to stay alive. But Palate decides to speed things up and uses Dennison's nephew to force him to give up the diamond, but the recovered Vigilante rounds up the gang. It'll all for nothing as the cook that the Sixth Sense had bribed to poison Dennison obtains the diamond and takes it to the Sixth Sense.
The Man With the Miracle Eyes - The Green Arrow
The final villain with his enhanced sight targets a carnival barker who owns the Garnet Diamond. Calling himself Eagle Eye, he gets a job with the circus reading things like a telephone book from across the parking lot. When Green Arrow and Speedy show up to capture him, the circus folk defend one of their own, until they learn that these two are famous crime-fighters, but by then Eagle Eye has vanished. He returns and unleashes the animals to cause chaos and damage, and the Circus owner is forced to sell the diamond to make enough money to pay for the damage, but a disguised Eagle Eye steals the "garnet" first. (The story can't decide if it's set in a carnival or a circus, and can't decide if the gem is a garnet or a diamond). He is captured but reveals that he's already sent the gem ahead to the Sixth Sense, who now has all five gems.
Chapter 7 - The Sixth Sense pays off the surviving hirelings by electrocuting them all to death. The Seven Soldiers and Mickey Gordon (with his advanced hearing) go to confront the Sixth Sense, only to discover that the paralyzed man is a mannequin, and the real Sixth Sense is the supposedly murdered Dr. Brett, disguised as the robot. The five gems are keys to open an idol that holds the "Lifestone", a mysterious gem that brings inanimate objects to life. Brett runs for it with the Seven Soldiers in pursuit, and after bringing a few statues to life to slow the soldiers down is cornered in the library and accidentally turns himself to stone. No one told him the stone works both ways. Vigilante decides the stone is too dangerous for anyone to possess and throws it in the river where it will be perfectly safe.... and by perfectly safe, I mean found by someone much more easily than it would be if it was put back in the idol again. Not too bright, Vig. Mickey Gordon becomes a famous composer, and the Seven Soldiers enjoy a concert, ready to face whatever comes next.
As I noted at the beginning, the formula this series has followed for four issues now is becoming stale, and honestly a bit hard to sustain, given the convoluted plots in this story. Four stories with a mastermind hiring exactly five crooks to carry out five overly complicated plots is only going to work for so long to keep reader interest, and there's only so many variations on this same theme. Some of the individual chapters worked pretty well despite themselves, with Mickey Gordon's story being my favorite. It's nice to see a crook redeem themselves occasionally in these old comics. The payoff was pretty good too, with the ending feeling more like a proper comic-book supervillain plot after five chapters of gangsters and jewel thefts. Dr. Brett even wants to use the Lifestone to take over the world, so he's a proper mad scientist/would-be world conqueror.
The formula has worn thin, but the ending was pretty strong. Leading Comics 5 varies the formula slightly and then issue 6 goes off in a completely different direction, so I guess the writers got tired of doing the same thing every quarter as well.
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
Superman #2 Continued
Superman Champions Universal Peace!
Clark is assigned to interview professor Adolphus Runyan, who has invented a new weapon. Clark discovers that it's a new kind of gas, potent enough that gas masks can't protect the wearer, which Runyan demonstrates by killing a cute little monkey in a gas mask! As a shocked Clark is conducting the interview, a group of thugs come in, threaten Runyan, and chase Clark out. He listens in, hears them give Runyan 24 hours to turn over his formula, and then follows the crooks back to their hideout. Returning to the newspaper, he types up his story, planning to return and keep an eye on Runyan, but a phone call comes in saying that Runyan has been murdered. The angry Clark goes home, changes to Superman, and follows the crooks to see them boarding a plane to Europe to sell the formula to weapons broker Lubane.
Superman rides the plane across the ocean, then breaks through the hull demanding the formula. Bartow, the head of the gang, leaves the plane to crash and parachutes out, with Superman jumping out after him, leaving the other two crooks to go down with the plane! They survive and meet with one side of the country's civil war, telling them about Superman, who has of course survived the fall. An explosion knocks Superman unconcious (which just goes to show how much lower his power level is at this point. Golden Age Superman certainly wouldn't survive a nuclear explosion) and Bartow gloats as Superman is put in front of a firing squad. The bullets appear to kill him, but as the squad is walking away, Superman mocks them, telling them to try again. After letting them shoot him for a few minutes, he gets tired of watching them waste ammo and goes off to start destroying weapons factories in this small European country. He then finds Bartow has given the gas formula to Lubane and left for America, having been paid. Lubane threatens to break the sample gas cannister is Superman gets too close. He actually does it, and as he dies horribly from the gas, all he can do is scream "why won't you die?" at the unaffected Superman, who rather than save him, answers "the gas doesn't affect my physical structure."
To wrap things up, Superman forces the two sides to negotiate peace by threatening to collapse the building they're meeting in if they don't work things out and end the war. He then telegraphs back to George Taylor, Daily Star, Metropolis NY, telling him that Runyan's murderers are flying into Metropolis, where they can be arrested. Clark testifies at the trial and the men are sentenced to die by electric chair, after which Clark destroys Runyan's gas formula, which he had taken from Lubane. This is a story packed with plot, and full of early Superman awesomeness. He stops a war, ends a deadly weapon threat, and mocks a firing squad for being unable to kill him.
Superman and the Skyscrapers
Construction workers are dying in accidents as they try to build a skyscraper, and Clark decides to investigate as Superman. He sees a night watchman sabotage one of the steel beams so it will break, but a little silent intimidation by Superman causes the watchman to fall victim to his own trap. Superman prevents him from falling to his death, but the man's heart can't stand the strain, and he gives the name of his employer as Butch Grogan before expiring. Superman goes to find Grogan, and bringing him back to where the dead man is, confronts him and gets the name of his boss, contractor Nat Grayson. Grogan is shot by a policeman while refusing orders to stop, and Superman confronts Grayson, threatening him with great bodily harm if he doesn't call the police and confess, which Grayson does promptly.
While not as good as the previous story, it's still fun to watch Superman just forego subtlety and intimidate his way up through the chain of criminals until he reaches the top. In a single night he ends the construction sabotage scheme quite easily.
Superman Champions Universal Peace!
Clark is assigned to interview professor Adolphus Runyan, who has invented a new weapon. Clark discovers that it's a new kind of gas, potent enough that gas masks can't protect the wearer, which Runyan demonstrates by killing a cute little monkey in a gas mask! As a shocked Clark is conducting the interview, a group of thugs come in, threaten Runyan, and chase Clark out. He listens in, hears them give Runyan 24 hours to turn over his formula, and then follows the crooks back to their hideout. Returning to the newspaper, he types up his story, planning to return and keep an eye on Runyan, but a phone call comes in saying that Runyan has been murdered. The angry Clark goes home, changes to Superman, and follows the crooks to see them boarding a plane to Europe to sell the formula to weapons broker Lubane.
Superman rides the plane across the ocean, then breaks through the hull demanding the formula. Bartow, the head of the gang, leaves the plane to crash and parachutes out, with Superman jumping out after him, leaving the other two crooks to go down with the plane! They survive and meet with one side of the country's civil war, telling them about Superman, who has of course survived the fall. An explosion knocks Superman unconcious (which just goes to show how much lower his power level is at this point. Golden Age Superman certainly wouldn't survive a nuclear explosion) and Bartow gloats as Superman is put in front of a firing squad. The bullets appear to kill him, but as the squad is walking away, Superman mocks them, telling them to try again. After letting them shoot him for a few minutes, he gets tired of watching them waste ammo and goes off to start destroying weapons factories in this small European country. He then finds Bartow has given the gas formula to Lubane and left for America, having been paid. Lubane threatens to break the sample gas cannister is Superman gets too close. He actually does it, and as he dies horribly from the gas, all he can do is scream "why won't you die?" at the unaffected Superman, who rather than save him, answers "the gas doesn't affect my physical structure."
To wrap things up, Superman forces the two sides to negotiate peace by threatening to collapse the building they're meeting in if they don't work things out and end the war. He then telegraphs back to George Taylor, Daily Star, Metropolis NY, telling him that Runyan's murderers are flying into Metropolis, where they can be arrested. Clark testifies at the trial and the men are sentenced to die by electric chair, after which Clark destroys Runyan's gas formula, which he had taken from Lubane. This is a story packed with plot, and full of early Superman awesomeness. He stops a war, ends a deadly weapon threat, and mocks a firing squad for being unable to kill him.
Superman and the Skyscrapers
Construction workers are dying in accidents as they try to build a skyscraper, and Clark decides to investigate as Superman. He sees a night watchman sabotage one of the steel beams so it will break, but a little silent intimidation by Superman causes the watchman to fall victim to his own trap. Superman prevents him from falling to his death, but the man's heart can't stand the strain, and he gives the name of his employer as Butch Grogan before expiring. Superman goes to find Grogan, and bringing him back to where the dead man is, confronts him and gets the name of his boss, contractor Nat Grayson. Grogan is shot by a policeman while refusing orders to stop, and Superman confronts Grayson, threatening him with great bodily harm if he doesn't call the police and confess, which Grayson does promptly.
While not as good as the previous story, it's still fun to watch Superman just forego subtlety and intimidate his way up through the chain of criminals until he reaches the top. In a single night he ends the construction sabotage scheme quite easily.
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andersonh1
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Re: Retro Comics are Awesome
Action Comics #17
October 1939
The Return of the Ultra-Humanite
The opening sequence of this story shows Clark Kent being sent to cover attempts to rescue the ship Clarion, burning offshore during a bad storm. A dozen Coast Guard die attempting to reach the boat, and then Superman goes into action. He still can't fly in these early stories, so he swims out to the boat and climbs on board, working overtime to control the crowd and put out the fire. He then tows the ship to shore. It's a great extended action sequence to open the story. When Clark returns later to cover the investigation for the Daily Star, it's clear that the Clarion was sabotaged.
Clark goes to confront the head of the shipping line, and after a little discussion, the owner admits that they've had several threats, and a demand for a $5 million dollar payoff to end the sabotage. At that moment, the blackmailers call in, so Clark listens in on the other line and recognizes the voice as Ultra, "the mad scientist who seeks domination of the Earth". Clark is kidnapped by Ultra's men as he leaves the office and threatened with his life before being tossed from the car. Changing to Superman, he catches the car and cows the thugs, before going to confront the Humanite, who has accellerated his ransom plans. He threatens Superman with a gun that supposedly shoots a solvent that will harm even Superman, but the Humanite vanishes when Superman tries to grab him. He was a projected image. Ultra has escaped, but his men are rounded up and his protection scheme finished.
Ultra is pretty much an early version of Lex Luthor, in my opinion. It's good to see Superman pitted against someone more substantial and capable than a common thug, and though I like the early social justice stories the best, these Ultra Humanite stories are probably my second favorite at this point. The opening sequence is really strong, showing Superman at his best. He's not yet so powerful that saving the boat is easy for him, but there's little doubt that he'll succeed, even though he has to work hard to rescue it. He should have jumped in faster and saved those dozen Coast Guard though.
October 1939
The Return of the Ultra-Humanite
The opening sequence of this story shows Clark Kent being sent to cover attempts to rescue the ship Clarion, burning offshore during a bad storm. A dozen Coast Guard die attempting to reach the boat, and then Superman goes into action. He still can't fly in these early stories, so he swims out to the boat and climbs on board, working overtime to control the crowd and put out the fire. He then tows the ship to shore. It's a great extended action sequence to open the story. When Clark returns later to cover the investigation for the Daily Star, it's clear that the Clarion was sabotaged.
Clark goes to confront the head of the shipping line, and after a little discussion, the owner admits that they've had several threats, and a demand for a $5 million dollar payoff to end the sabotage. At that moment, the blackmailers call in, so Clark listens in on the other line and recognizes the voice as Ultra, "the mad scientist who seeks domination of the Earth". Clark is kidnapped by Ultra's men as he leaves the office and threatened with his life before being tossed from the car. Changing to Superman, he catches the car and cows the thugs, before going to confront the Humanite, who has accellerated his ransom plans. He threatens Superman with a gun that supposedly shoots a solvent that will harm even Superman, but the Humanite vanishes when Superman tries to grab him. He was a projected image. Ultra has escaped, but his men are rounded up and his protection scheme finished.
Ultra is pretty much an early version of Lex Luthor, in my opinion. It's good to see Superman pitted against someone more substantial and capable than a common thug, and though I like the early social justice stories the best, these Ultra Humanite stories are probably my second favorite at this point. The opening sequence is really strong, showing Superman at his best. He's not yet so powerful that saving the boat is easy for him, but there's little doubt that he'll succeed, even though he has to work hard to rescue it. He should have jumped in faster and saved those dozen Coast Guard though.