Retro Comics are Awesome

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #104
October 1945

The Battle of the Billboards!
One of a trio of ex-cons led by "Fat" Frank inherits a billboard business from his uncle, and the three go into the blackmail business using the billboards to print incriminating facts about people, who will then pay to "buy advertising space". This keeps things technically legal, and Frank keeps threatening Batman because he's trespassing on private property. Whenever Frank complains to the police, they look the other way and claim they don't see Batman and Robin. In the end, Batman turns the tables on the crooks and purchases a billboard of his own, posting the names, faces, and criminal records of Frank and his gang for all to see, leading to them being run out of Gotham.

Probably the oddest part of the issue is seeing Batman held at gunpoint by Frank, shaking, supposedly afraid to die (and Robin is dismayed that he's gone "yellow"), but it's a trick as Batman uses his act to hide the fact that he's using the lighted sign to send an SOS, and the police arrive in time to prevent him from being shot.

Detective Comics #105
November 1945

The Batman Goes Broke!
I love the splash page for this issue, with Batman and Robin sitting by a dinged up Batmobile, both with torn and patched costumes, carrying whatever goods they have left tied up in a handkerchief on a stick. Things aren't quite that bad, but for the first time, we see Bruce Wayne lose all his money as someone makes off with over three million in a motor company he owns, and he is forced to liquidate all his assets in order to pay off the investors. As a result, he and Dick have to confront the fact that not only is their crime-fighting expensive, it's pretty much a full time job as well with all the research, exercise, training and detecting they put into it. Since Bruce will now have to work for a living, it looks like the end for Batman and Robin, but they are determined to bring in the Gurlin gang before they hang up the capes. They're reduced to doing various odd jobs and Alfred mows the grass to earn enough money to put gas in the Batmobile. And then it gets a flat tire and Batman ends up performing in a local carnival to earn enough money to get it repaired. They do ultimately catchin Gurlin and his gang, and the man who stole the three million is also caught, meaning Bruce and his company get their money back.

[andersonh1]

World's Finest Comics #19
Autumn 1945

The League for Larceny!
The Joker, having escaped from prison, approaches "The Velvet Kid", a criminal who has convinced the police that's he's gone straight. The Joker wants the Kid to start a anti-crime organization and give public speeches exhorting people to join, and while the meetings are going on, the Joker and his men will rob the houses of those at the meeting. Bruce Wayne himself is a victim of the Joker's plot, and arrives home to find every light in the house on, and Alfred tied to a chair. Batman gets involved in the case and ultimately works out that the Kid is in league with the Joker, and he puts a stop to the whole thing.

Batman #32
December 1945-January 1946

Rackety-Rax Racket!
The Joker has a hideout in an old house in Gotham, where he has stacks and stacks of money, gold, silver and jewels, but he wants more. He hits on the idea of basing his crimes on fraternity initiations after seeng college kids around town. The Joker's men capture Batman, and the Joker tells Robin that if he'll do some embarassing things in public, he'll let Batman live, because the Joker enjoys humiliating Batman more than the idea of killing him. Robin agrees, but all his actions are secretly designed to help the Joker commit crimes. Robin figures out the scheme and turns on the Joker, and only the timely arrival of Batman, who escaped from the Joker's hideout, saves his life. Afterward, Dick isn't sure he wants to go to college if fraternity hazing is a part of the experience.

Linda Page is referenced as Bruce buys her a birthday present. I don't think Linda's been seen or mentioned since the second Scarecrow story back in Detective Comics #73, March 1943, almost three years ago when this story was published. She started out as a character with so much potential, but she faded from the scene after a few appearances.I guess Bruce just has no time for romance with Batman taking all his time.

[andersonh1]

More Fun Comics #89
March 1943

The Birth of the Battling Bowmen
I spent years making my collection for the good of mankind... and then man comes and destroys it in seconds.

Like a number of other Golden Age DC characters, Green Arrow and Speedy don't get an origin right away. It's over a year before the writers give us the story of how these two got together and started fighting crime. Green Arrow's current origin has him falling off a yacht, being stranded on an island and becoming a master of the bow and arrow as he struggles to survive. The 1943 origin is quite different.

Green Arrow and Speedy round up a gang of crooks, and one of them mentions that he wishes the two of them had never got together. That leads Speedy to think back to just how that happened. Roy Harper, his father and their Indian servant Quoag (and possibly others) crashed on the "Lost Mesa" in the middle of nowhere. Everyone except Roy and Quoag die in the plane crash. They were trapped there, with no way to climb down and no way to call for help. Quoag teaches Roy to use the bow and arrow, and Roy becomes very skilled (so in this version, it's Roy that has to learn to use the bow to survive, not Oliver) and the two of them are on Lost Mesa for "years", according to the caption. One day a plane flies overhead, and it was Oliver that was responsible. He was responsible for the collection of Indian artifacts at the city museum, and was an expert in many of them, including the use of the bow and arrow. A bunch of gangsters break in one night to steal the collection because "it's worth a fortune". Oliver fights them off, but a gunshot too close to an old tapestry starts a fire, and the entire collection is lost, even though Oliver rounds up the gang.

Oliver is desperate, and apologizes to the curator, who is more concerned about him than the lost collection. "Go back to archeology for awhile" he suggests. Oliver is in despair, and thinks getting away is the best idea. The curator suggests Lost Mesa, but the suggestion is overheard. Some gangsters go to the Mesa, land, and capture Roy when he goes to greet the first new faces he's seen in years. Quoag helps Roy escape. When Roy sees Ollie, he attacks him, thinking he's another gangster. Both are captured, and the thugs demand to know where the "gold mine" is, but Ollie mocks them for thinking there was any literal gold mine here, when he was speaking metaphorically about the indian artifacts that could be found. Once again, Quoag helps them escape, and Ollie smears grass all over his clothes to try and camoflage himself in the forest, staining them green, Roy mocking him for being a "big lug" and a "city boy". They go for Roy and Quoag's bows, but Quoag is shot by the gangsters while trying to hold them off. Roy has lost his only friend in the world to murder. Taking refuge in a cave, Ollie and Roy find a hidden city of gold, and while Roy doesn't think "city boy" Ollie can shoot, Ollie proves him wrong. Comments by the thugs about their fighting show where they will get their superhero names as the crooks remark how "speedy" the kid is, and how Queen "shoots a mean green arrow". A gold statue falls on the crooks and crushes them to death, paying them back for Quoag's murder.

And that begins Green Arrow's fight against crime, because it's convinced him that evil men must be fought. The gold gives him his fortune, so he can afford his crime-fighting, and the bows and arrows are weapons that both he and Roy know well. The story ends with them reverently looking in the trophy case at their very first souvenir of their fight against crime: Quoag's bow and arrows. I thought this was a pretty strong origin story, and the character conflict between Roy and Oliver is something you don't often see in 1940s stories, but it makes sense. Everything is explained well, from the codenames to the choice of bows and arrows, to how Ollie got the money he needed to finance his crime fighting.

[andersonh1]

Batman #32 continued

Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder!
Thus far we've seen very few flashbacks in this series, but this entire story takes us back to Dick Grayson's origins as Robin. The story opens by showing his parents as they fall to their death, Boss Zucco's thugs threatening Haly, the owner of the circus, and Dick's first meeting with Batman, who stops him from going to the police. Dick trains with Bruce, takes on the Robin identity, and Boss Zucco is captured. And that's where this story really begins, as Bruce tells Dick that he only let him help this once to bring his parents' killer to justice, but Dick is determined to continue fighting Crime, so Bruce reluctantly agrees to train him futher and then give him a test to see if he can continue as Robin or not.

The test comes in the form of "Stick up"Sidney, a crook with droopy eyelids and a lisp. In a definite continuity error, the story depicts Batman as already working with Gordon, when he should have still been wanted by the police at that point in his history. He and Robin go after Sidney and when Robin gets caught during the fight, Batman surrenders rather than see Robin shot. Long story short, Robin has to figure out where Sidney's hideout is, get there somehow (he's too young to drive!) and rescue Batman, all of which he manages to do. The gang is captured, but Dick figures he messed up pretty badly and offers to turn in the costume, only for Bruce to praise him for more than making up for his mistakes. He's earned his spot as a crimefighter alongside Batman.

We don't often get flashbacks, and we don't often get character drama based on Bruce or Dick, so a story like this is a nice change of pace. Seeing Dick unsure of himself and messing up pretty badly, only to apply what Batman's taught him and make up for his mistake is a pretty satisfying story. I could easily see Jason Todd or Tim Drake in a story like this.

In the Soup!
Alfred is all offended that Bruce and Dick think he only solves cases by getting lucky, so he's determined to prove them wrong. He's walking the neighbor's dog when he comes across a theft at "Sambell's" soup production with some thieves stealing soup. These crooks will steal anything! Alfred figures out that they must be from the rival soup company, and they can only sell the soup by switching the labels and passing the soup off as their own. He leads the police to the rival soup company and sure enough, he was right. Bruce and Dick refuse to believe he figured this out on his own, much to Alfred's continued chagrin. Hey, Alfred, you've accidentally solved how many cases now?

[andersonh1]

I'm nearly done with Batman volume 4, but I've been distracted by Green Arrow (it's hard to resist new books!), and I've been reading more than reviewing. Back to Batman, who is about to wrap up 1945.

Batman #32 concluded

All for One, One for All!
Being romantic is the hardest part of the job, but I can't let a friend down. - Bruce, disguised as D'Artagnan. Now we know why he broke up with Julie and is such a poor boyfriend for Linda.

Once again (and don't ask me how this is supposed to work), Bruce and Dick go time traveling thanks to hypnosis by Professor Carter Nichols. Or maybe they don't, maybe it's all in their imagination, considering that the three musketeers are fictional characters. In any case, Bruce and Dick end up in a swashbuckling adventure with D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers, and Bruce's knowledge of the book's plot serves him well as he fights to prevent D'Artagnan's lady friend Constance Bonacieux from being killed before she can help broker peace between England and France. Bruce and Dick get to ride horses, fight Richelieu's guards, play spy, swordfight and generally be romantic old heroes and help the Musketeers save the day before awakening back in the 20th century.

I'm never quite sure what to think of these time travel plots, but I have to admit they are generally a fun change of pace, and this one was a bit meta with Bruce and Dick commenting on the plot in which they're participating.

Detective Comics #106
December 1945

The Phantom of the Library!
The linework restoration on this story is somewhat poor, and it really stands out compared to the excellent work on the Batman issue preceding it. You can tell these stories were restored in different ways and from different sources, and that DC is still using previously restored artwork from the Archives. I'll look forward to newly restored material in future volumes, because if Green Arrow or Superman vol. 5 are any indication, modern digital restoration is much better than what was being done 15-20 years ago.

That's a lot of commentary on the art and not much on the story, but the plot is a pretty thin rip-off of the Phantom of the Opera. Todd Torrey, former librarian and killer, has been hiding out in hidden passages in the library for years, plotting revenge on the police who tried to arrest him, and now he's trying to kill them one by one. It doesn't take Batman long to figure this out, and a number of pages are taken up with a pursuit and fights with Torrey that span the various rooms in the library, before Torrey falls and hits his head and repents as he dies. It's not the most original or satisfying storyline, by any means.

Detective Comics #107
January 1946

The Mountain of the Moon!
Fake alchemist Scorpio cons bankers as a means of swindling them out of their money. There's not even an attempt at a mystery here, as Bruce knows just who this guy is and what he's up to from the 2nd panel of the story. Scorpio lives in an old castle outside of town, and Batman and Robin use his hold over banker George Byham to gain entry and investigate. Batman is tossed in the dungeon, but Robin is hypnotized into jumping from the tallest tower to his death, only to be saved when Batman uses his silken rope to lasso him (and how this doesn't pull Robin's leg out of it's socket, I'll never know). As an aside, we haven't seen Batman's Batarang or suction cups for many, many issues, but that silken rope is still in use, interestingly. From there it's just a question of getting the drop on Scorpio and his men and rounding them up. LIke last month's Phantom story, this isn't the most engaging storyline, with an uninspiring villain and unsympathetic victims. It is notable for pitting Batman against a costumed villain, something fairly rare in Batman's gangster-filled 1940s adventures.

World's Finest Comics #20
Winter 1946

King of Coins!
Mark Medalion, coin collector, is selling treasure maps in his Gotham curio shop. He's in a wheelchair and can't hunt for treasure himself, but has done half the work by doing all the research to find lost loot. He asks half the cut as his price for the maps. He not only attracts genuine treasure hunters, but crooks who are interested in the money. They trail men who buy the maps and then rob them of their findings. A friend of Bruce Wayne's is robbed, and when he relates the story to Bruce, of course Batman has to get involved.

As Batman learns, Medalion is actually Cronin, an escaped counterfeiter (who only pretended to be wheelchair bound), who used this scheme to dispose of stolen gold by melting it down and hiding it in locations where "buried treasure" was rumored to exist. Complicated money laundering, essentially. He tries to kill Batman and Robin by burning them to death in his gold foundry, which is a cruel and gruesome way to kill someone. Batman is able to get Robin free, and Robin stops Cronin from killing Batman. The two of them spend some time "treasure hunting" for the remaning missing gold to return it to the treasury. The ruthless villain and a few plot twists make this story a definite improvement on the last two.

[andersonh1]

Batman #33
February-March 1946

Crime on the Wing!
The best thing about this story is how some run of the mill gangsters get the better of the Penguin for awhile. Ralph the Rook and his gang, Mike and Willie, grouse about how they can't make a living as crooks with the Batman making it so hot for them. They're hanging out in the bar which crooks generally frequent when the Penguin walks in, and the three bet him that he can't leave his usual clues for the Batman and pull off crimes. Naturally the Penguin insists that he can, and they bet on it. But it's Ralph using the Penguin as a distraction so that Batman will go after him, while Ralph and his gang pull their own robberies. And it works for awhile, as Batman figures out the Penguin's clues to stop him, while Ralph and his gang pull off a couple of successful robberies. The Penguin overhears the gang gloating and decides to turn the tables on them, sending Batman their way while HE pulls off a crime, but Batman and Robin have divided their forces to go after both crooks, and both are captured. Once again, the Penguin's ego is his downfall.

The Looters!
The story of a boy, Dorry Leaf, who loses his parents in an earthquake, and who grows up to be a siesmologist is mixed with the story of the Looters, a criminal gang led by "The Jackal", who take advantage of natural disasters to rob and plunder in the aftermath. They figure to use Leaf's ability to detect and predict earthquakes to loot the evacuated west coast city before the big one hits. It's gangsters mixed with a disaster movie with Batman and Robin thrown in, and it all works fairly well. Batman follows the gang to the west coast, and the climax of the story is a fight in the streets as the earthquake hits early, leading to the Jackal dying as he falls in a crevice caused by the earthquake

[andersonh1]

Batman #33 concluded

No Adventures of Alfred this month. I can't say I miss it, honestly.

The Search for Santa Claus!
Another year, another Christmas story for Batman as he and Robin (I am not making this up) drive around the snowy Gotham streets in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, heading to three different Christmas parties. They get mixed up with three bitter old men. One man was wrongly sent to prison and his wife died before he got out. One was wrongly convicted of insanity so his nephews could steal his fortune. One is an old out of work actor. Batman passes them on the street and they can't believe he's playing Santa Claus any more than I can. He talks them into playing Santa for the three Christmas parties. But as you might imagine, the nephews who stole the second man's money try to track down their uncle, who they only know is playing Santa, and there's plenty of trouble at the various locations where the parties are being held before the situation is resolved and the three old men overcome some of their bitterness. The whole thing could be a bit cliched, but I enjoyed it in spite of that.

[Sparky Prime]

Not exactly 'retro', but these issues are about 17 years old...

Green Lantern #154-155
The issue starts with Terry Burg's boyfriend recounting how they'd been on their way home from a gay club when 3 thugs start chasing them, and brutally beat Terry, putting him into a coma. Kyle is beyond angry, and when he learns one of the thugs was arrested, he breaks into the prison and breaks his wrists to get him to tell him where the other two are. Kyle confronts them and beats them. In the next issue, Kyle asks Flash to use the cosmic treadmill to go back in time and prevent the attack from happening. Wally refuses however, telling Kyle he already knows they can't change history like that. Batman also joins the conversation, criticizing Kyle for attacking the thug in jail to find out where the other two where. Kyle retorts that's exactly what Batman would do, which Batman agrees, but it's not like Kyle.

Kyle ends up in space destroying some asteroids to blow off some steam when Hal appears (currently the Specter). Kyle admits he's angry with himself for giving up his Ion powers so quickly. With that, he would have been able to prevent his friend from being attacked or even go back and undo it. Hal points out however it's that kind of thinking that drove him over the edge as Parallax and that Kyle did the right thing by giving up those powers by restoring the Central Battery. He tells him good news is waiting for him and teleports him back to Earth where Kyle learn Terry is awake. Later, while talking with Jade, Kyle explains he feels there is too much hate on Earth and the two decide to leave Earth for a while, and leaves a GL ring behind for John to become a Green Lantern again.

--
I really miss these down to Earth, real world type stories in Green Lantern. We really don't see a supporting cast of characters much, if at all. Terry Burg from what I've read online would go on to recover and become an activist, even getting offered a GL ring himself... And that's the last we saw of him. Since Rebirth, he hasn't appeared or even been mentioned.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #108
February 1946

The Goat of Gotham City!
Ed Gregory is sworn in as a Gotham City policeman, and his character and heroism help him quickly rise through the ranks. At one point he's saved from death by Batman after he's been shot, and Batman rushes him to the hospital. He's promoted to detective third-grade, and promises to mary his girlfriend Kitty when he reaches detective first-grade. Gregory uses forensic evidence from a bullet found near the scene of a night watchmen's murder to convict Torch Clearly, who is sent to the electric chair. Torch insists to the end that he's innocent, and a note that Ed finds while cleaning up Torch's gang makes him think Torch might have been telling the truth. Ed Gregory's confidence is badly shaken because he believes he sent an innocent man to the chair.

The latest crime-wave is Gotham is a series of jewel robberies, committed by men who use an auto-gyro to get away, and it's up to Batman and Robin, using the newly renovated Batplane, to catch them. This is one of the few stories to explicitly depict the Batplane having a retractable autogyro blade itself, explaining how it can hover. Batman brings the men in, and one of them, who used to be in Torch Cleary's gang, is forced by Batman to admit to Ed that he made up that note just to get back at the detective. Cleary was guilty of murder after all. Ed has his confidence in himself restored, and he and Kitty get married, while Gordon gives him another promotion.

Detective Comics #109
March 1946

The House that Jokes Built!
I honestly don't mind the Joker showing up when it's not every month, and after that weird stretch where he's in almost every issue for six months, the writers cut back on his appearances. In any case, the story starts out with the Joker using fairly simple gags to rob the rich, but it quickly turns into a kidnapping and hostage story as he grabs Robin when Batman tries to stop him, and gets word to Batman through the newspaper ads about where he can find him. Batman has to go to one location, where he dodges a death trap and finds a note giving him another location to go to, where the same thing happens. (I love how the Joker writes "ha ha ha" at the end of his notes.)

He finally enters the Joker's house at 13 Coffin Street, dodges a few more death traps in sight of the Joker, and is finally captured by a steel trap that closes on him as he walks through the door to the room Robin is in. In a rather sadistic move, the Joker, who has Robin tied up in a sack and hanging by a rope from the ceiling, proposes to hang Batman and use Robin as the weight to pull the noose tight, while the Joker stands there and watches the whole thing. It's a near thing, but Robin manages to get an arm free and trip the switch on the trap, freeing Batman, who can then punch out the Joker. Long before "The Killing Joke", we get an ending where the Joker laughs at falling for one of his own gags, and Batman and Robin laugh with him.

[andersonh1]

I really miss these down to Earth, real world type stories in Green Lantern. We really don't see a supporting cast of characters much, if at all. Terry Burg from what I've read online would go on to recover and become an activist, even getting offered a GL ring himself... And that's the last we saw of him. Since Rebirth, he hasn't appeared or even been mentioned.

It's a rare thing when any of the Green Lanterns (except Simon and Jessica I guess) get an Earth-based, real world issue based storyline these days. I"m sure the pendulum will swing away from "all outer space, all the time" and back in that direction at some point though.


World's Finest Comics #21
March-April 1946

Crime's Cameraman!
Dick Grayson is really into his new hobby of photography, and he's trying to get into a prestigious Gotham photographer's club by snapping that perfect picture. The club appreciates his efforts but it's not quite good enough, and they assign him the task of snapping a photo of Batman and Robin in action. This presents an immediate dilemma for Dick, since he has to photograph himself. And of course, as the story progresses it turns out that there's a criminal connection to the photography club as one of the members is using his camera and club connection to snap pictures which his gang can use to case various places they plan to rob. Batman and Robin set a trap to catch the gang, and Robin takes the opportunity to set up his camera in the planned trap location so he can get a shot of himself in action, thus earning his place in the club.

Wasn't photographing himself in action as Spider-Man a typical way for young Peter Parker to earn a living at the paper he worked for? There's nothing new in comics, is there? I kid, and I do think that a glimpse of Dick Grayson's personal life beyond being Robin is welcome and elevates the story, though given the writing style of the day, it's likely the hobby will never show up again. It exists to service the plot.

Batman #34
April-May 1946

The Marathon of Menace!
This is a low-key, enjoyable story about a cross-country race sponsored by Marty Steele, a racer who is getting a bit too old to continue his daredevil ways. Steele isn't happy about this, but he takes the suggestion to sponsor a race rather than enter it. The story presents various competitors in this Gotham to San Fransisco race who are important to the plot, and as you might guess, drama ensues when these characters meet and interact along the way. The most interesting competitor is Roy Damon, a blind scientist who has a sonar-like device he feels will help the blind, and he wants to win the race for their benefit. Batman and Robin tag along to test the speed of the upgraded Batplane and Batboat, and they're present when trouble happens at various points along the route, which the $250,000 prize ensures will happen. Among the many incidents are a fight on top of Mount Rushmore, and Robin delivering fuel to an airplane that's rapidly running out by climbing a cable fired from the Batboat to the plane with the fuel on his back. The story is a series of action set pieces, and entertains well on that level. In the end, Damon does win the race, with Steele finishing too, having entered incognito in order to prove that he's still got it.

Ally Babble and the Four Tea Leaves!
My least favorite Batman supporting character of all time returns. Instead of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, we get Ally Babble and the Four Tea Leaves, as non-stop talker Ally Babble goes to a fortune teller to have his fortune read in tea leaves. He takes each leaf, puts them in an envelope and tosses them into the wind to see where they'll go to reveal his fortune. This guy is too dumb to live, something several characters in the story note. Batman and Robin keep him alive, and of course, find some crooks to catch along the way. I hope we've seen the last of this guy, but who can say? He doesn't appear again in volume 4.

Tired Tracks!
The clueless Alfred is practicing his observation of tire tracks, when he runs across a car with a distinctive tread. The car does indeed belong to crooks, who rough up Alfred and head on their way. He borrows (steals) a bicycle right in front of the owner to follow the crooks, then wonders who the police are after when he hears the sirens. As you might imagine, once again Alfred accidentally prevents a crime right as the police arrive, and he's not about to admit that to Bruce and Dick.

The Master vs. the Pupil!
My favorite story of the issue sees Dick Grayson getting a little overconfident in Bruce's eyes, so Bruce proposes a contest. Instead of hunting crooks, Bruce will play criminal and Dick will hunt him down. The plan is that Bruce will disguise himself and buy a diamond, and then Dick will track him down as if he's a real crook. Bruce figures that he trained Dick and knows exactly how he thinks, and he acts accordingly, leaving a clue or two and then switching his disguise. But Dick knows Bruce better than Bruce realizes, and as Robin he works out that Bruce switched disguises and successfully tracks him to an old shabby motel. After calling a truce to catch some real crooks, the story ends with Robin having to escape from a cage, which he does by dodging several non-lethal traps, but then Batman tells him there's one more way out of the cage that he overlooked. After wracking his brains to figure it out, it turns out that Bruce left the door unlocked, so Dick admits he does have more to learn. I always enjoy these more character-based stories, and both Bruce and Dick underestimate the other at various points in the story, meaning both lose a bit, and both score some victories.