Retro Comics are Awesome

[andersonh1]

World's Finest Comics #24
September-October 1946

The Case of the Valuable Orphans!
You did that on purpose! I'm through ignoring your nasty behavior. You're just a brat... - Bruce Wayne as he slaps Dick Grayson on the face.

Can it be? Bruce Wayne puts Dick Grayson into an orphanage? If you suspect a ploy, you're right of course. A boy was adopted from the same orphanage by a couple, who Bruce suspects are using the kids to case the homes of rich neighbors for burglary after finding a child's drawing of the home in which they've just stopped a robbery. Dick gets himself adopted, but his deliberately bad drawings are too poorly done to convince the parents/thieves, who work out that he's Robin and lock him in a safe to suffocate. A timely rescue by Batman and the appearance of both Batman and Robin helps convince the pair that they were wrong about Dick's secret ID, as the two are captured and their scheme ended. Just don't ask me how Bruce can possibly get his custody of Dick back again after the public display he put on....

[andersonh1]

So far I've read a few of these as the omnibi progress through Batman's history. I still don't know how time travel via hypnosis is supposed to work, but apparently Batman did a lot of time traveling in the late 40s and the 1950s.

Carter Nichols seems like a character that Grant Morrison would have brought back at some point.

http://nothingbutbatman.blogspot.com/20 ... -time.html

[andersonh1]

Talk about some unexpected books. Looks like DC is publishing the entirety of Detective Comics 1-26 in two volumes. I"d have expected more superhero lines from the era before this material. I'm likely to buy both.

Detective Comics Before Batman Omnibus

http://prhinternationalsales.com/book/? ... 1401290566

http://prhinternationalsales.com/book/? ... 1401290573

Detective Comics has always been synonymous with Batman. But there was a time before he made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27. Collected here for the first time are the stories of Detective Comics before the Dark Knight.

First published in 1937, Detective Comics served as the foundation for what would one day become the DC Universe we know today! A detective genre anthology series focusing on pulp fiction stories and characters long forgotten but now given life anew in this beautiful omnibus hardcover edition.

These stories have never been collected before and have been out of print for almost 80 years! Collecting issues #14-26 of the monumental series, Detective Comics: Before Batman Vol. 2 is a must have for collectors and new fans alike.

[andersonh1]

Just out of curiousity, I added up all the stories so far, and this is the 258th Batman story. We haven't even covered a decade yet. They were really churning them out back in the 40s.

Batman #37
October-November 1946

Calling Dr. Batman!
An attempted robbery at a hospital ends up with both a doctor and Batman shot. The doctor was just grazed, but Batman was hit in the knee, and he has Dick bring him back in his civilian identity, with nurse Noreen O'Day suspicious that Batman left with a gunshot wound to the knee and Bruce Wayne turns up with the same type of injury. Bruce laughs it off and after surgery, settles in to recover. But he can't make himself stay out of the action as a radium theft at the hospital and a call for help by Gordon prompts Bruce to cut off his cast, put on his costume, and join Robin in solving the case. In the end, the culprit is fellow employee Lou Darrell, and Batman escapes having Noreen discover his secret ID after she found his hospital room empty by managing to fake a different heartbeat than Bruce Wayne by remembering all his most dangerous moments (and that would be a LONG list).

Jerry Robinson's art elevates this story above the ones that surround it, without a doubt. I don't mind the less sophisticated artwork in some of these old stories, but I appreciate it when we get something more polished. The one good thing about all those four page Alfred stories was Robinson's art, and how that they're done, hopefully he'll turn up more often in the main series. The story juggles a secret ID dilemma, an injured Batman and more of Bruce and Dick in cvilian guise than we usually see to produce an above average installment of the series. I really enjoyed this one.

[andersonh1]

Batman #37 continued
October-November 1946

Hollywood Hoax!
I'm never a big fan of these "movie studio" storylines. And it makes very little sense for Batman and Robin to appear as themselves in a movie, but that's what's going on here. Naturally, there's a criminal plot going on as a film called "Heart's Desire" is stolen with $50,000 demanded for its return. The switch and payoff is made, but it's an empty film can. Batman locates the real movie, and when he and Robin secretly watch it, it's terrible. The director, Loring, set the whole thing up to get $50,000 and get rid of a stinker of a movie that he made. The mystery wasn't hard to guess, and I don't like Batman as a public figure, but this is a fairly typical, run of the mill story for the era.

The Joker Follows Suit!
For the first time in a long time, I enjoyed a Joker story, as the Joker decides to play copycat and serve criminals the way Batman serves the law. So he sets up a Joker-signal, builds a Jokermobile and creates a Joker-gyro. When crooks need him, they flash the signal and he comes running... for a cut of the profits. When he captures Batman and Robin, he locks them in a cage and turns a high pressure fire hose on them as torture, but they escape and chase him down in his own car since he's stolen the Batmobile but doesn't know how to operate the boosted speed. A fistfight later, and it's all over with the Joker captured yet again.

All the stories in this issue were drawn by Jerry Robinson, and I'm a fan of his art, so visually this was a solid issue of Batman.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #116
October 1946

The Rescue of Robin Hood!
Green Arrow met Robin Hood, so why shouldn't Batman? Robin wants to go meet his namesake, Robin Hood, so it's off to see Professor Carter Nichols ("a noted student of the mysteries of the subconcious mind" according to this issue) who sends them to Sherwood Forest, where they instantly run into the Sheriff of Nottingham and stop him from "collecting taxes". They rescue Maid Marian, they meet Robin Hood, and of course they have to participate in the famous archery contest set up by the Sheriff to capture Robin Hood. He locks Robin Hood and Batman in prison, but Batman's bag of tricks in his utility belt allow him to escape. He contacts Robin via their belt radios, lets Robin Hood's men in the castle, and the Sheriff is dealt with. Batman informs Robin Hood that the Magna Carta will soon be signed (I guess some real history had to be included for educational value) and then Bruce and Dick return to the present. Professor Nichols finds it strange that no matter where he sends them in time, they always mutter about Batman and Robin...

Oddly, Robin Hood does not wear pants in this story. His long shirt comes down to about mid-thigh, and then he's bare-legged. Weird. Were they trying to explain why Robin has bare legs, or create some visual link?

Detective Comics #117
November 1946

Steeplejack's Showdown!
A World War 2 vet, Bob Skelly, has gone into the steeplejack business since the war ended. That's not a term I was entirely familiar with, but a steeplejack is "a craftsman who scales buildings, chimneys, and church steeples to carry out repairs or maintenance". So it's dangerous, high altitude work. A rash of burglaries have been ocurring because crooks are using the scaffolding at night when no one is working, and Batman is investigating. Two of the men Skelly hired turn out to be the culprits. When Batman tackles them, they get lucky and take him out, leaving him to die by falling. Robin and Bob, who has to struggle with his fear of dying, try to rescue him, but it's ultimately Bob who does so.

Right off the bat, I enjoy that this story spends a bit of time on Bob having what we would today call PTSD. Batman refers to it as "war fatigue" in this 1946 story. The issue isn't handled with a lot of depth (this is a comic for kids after all) but it is a realistic obstacle for Bob to struggle with. He calls himself a coward, but he proves to be nothing of the sort. I really enjoyed this story.

World's Finest Comics #25
November-December 1946

The Famous First Crimes!
The image of Batman and Robin on the splash page ends up on the spine of the omnibus. This story is built around "famous firsts" as an inventor recreates "first time" vehicles as publicity for his new invention, an "air-water-land" car. So we have the first balloon flight recreated, a working model of the Wright brothers' plane, etc. Someone is attempting to sabotage the inventor's efforts, and it turns out to be his old partner, not in on this latest invention. Batman and Robin take the principles of the air-water-land car and use them to improve the batplane so it can convert into a submarine and a hydroplane, which Robin uses to rescue Batman after some thugs try to drown him at sea. The batplane can also convert into a land vehicle. They prove the inventor's vehicle can work, and upgrade their own equipment in the process.

[andersonh1]

Batman #38
December 1946 - January 1947

Peril in Greece!
We get another "time travel via hypnosis" storyline as Bruce and Dick decide they would like to see the first Olympic games in Greece, so it's off to Carter Nichols for a trip to ancient Greece. Bruce, as always, does not believe in avoiding interference in history, and the moment trouble is brewing, he and Dick switch to their costumes and get involved in a Persian plot to pit the Greeks against the Spartans so they can move in and conquer both. Batman rescues some captured Greek wrestlers and is made an honorary citizen, and naturally has to participate in the games himself. When they return to the present, Professor Nichols asks them if they saw the games, and they have brought back victor's wreaths as proof.

I know I comment on this frequently, but I still can't quite figure out how this time travel is supposed to work. Sometimes there are hints that it's all in Bruce and Dick's mind, but then they bring something physical back from the past in this story, so I guess it's just best not to question the "how" and just go with it. And these time travel stories are very far afield from Batman's usual urban crime environment, so they shouldn't work very well, but I find that I enjoy them anyway. Maybe I'm so used to Batman working with the Justice League and out of his element in modern comics that these old adventures dont' seem all that out of place.

The Carbon Copy Crimes!
This is an out and out sequel to "The Case of the Prophetic Pictures" from Detective Comics #42, August 1940, a series of events that Bruce characterizes as "our first big case" when reviewing the events with Dick. In that story, painter Pierre Antal painted portraits of the rich in Gotham, and then the paintings would be found defaced in some way, with the victim dying in exactly the same way as was portrayed in the defaced portraits. It's happening again, exactly as it did six years ago, and Batman decides to try the same trick to capture the killer: use a dummy of himself and then hit the killer from behind when he enters the room to commit the murder. But the killer anticipated this and captures Batman and Robin. He's a crazed psychologist who wants to prove his theory that "criminologists are successful only because of a lucky beginning". He was trying to reproduce the circumstances of Batman's first big case and make it end in failure, hoping to cause a loss of nerve and end Batman's career. Yeah, the guy is crazy, and so is the ending of this story. Batman and Robin had pre-recorded a radio program, and they unmask in front of the psychologist and claim they just played along with Batman to help crack the case, offering the radio program as proof. The crazed psychologist decides that he's failed, and commits suicide.

Having a sequel to a six year old story and a reminder of the more horror-tinged storytelling of early Batman is great, and it does disprove the idea that Golden Age DC had no continuity. On the other hand, this certainly was not Batman and Robin's first big case. The first Joker story from Batman #1 is their first case together after Robin's origin. Maybe the "Prophetic Pictures" was meant to be the first one to put them in the public eye? The passage of time is acknowledged in an odd way. Batman notes that the case took place six years earlier in 1940, but Robin has not aged at all in that time, so is this an early example of "comic book time"? Despite these issues, I liked the story and appreciate that it's a genuine sequel.

[andersonh1]

Batman #38 concluded

The Penguin on Parole!
The Penguin is captured and returned to prison, where for some reason he's allowed to work in the prison workshop. He's building a flame thrower umbrella when the warden walks in. The warden is examining the umbrella and sets it off accidentally while looking at the Penguin, and when he sees the fire, he thinks it must be an electrical fire. The Penguin saves them both with an umbrella that acts like a parachute, and just like that, the Penguin is a hero. He gets paroled, with a catch: his parole officer is Batman, who assures the Penguin that no one will be happier than him if the Penguin goes straight.

And here's the twist: for once, the Penguin actually appears genuine in his desire to leave crime behind. He enjoys being thought of as a hero, throws out his old gang when they approach him, and starts looking for suitable employment. He's unhappy with all the payment offers, being used to having much more money, but the last straw is when he decides to take in a movie. He misses the feature, but watches a cartoon about "Peter Penguin", who goes through a series is mishaps which the crowd finds hilarious, but which the Penguin finds horrible. Worse yet, people see him after the cartoon becomes a hit, and laugh at him. You can see where this is going of course. It was the Penguin's pride that made him go straight when he enjoyed being praised as a hero, and it's his pride that gets the best of him now. "People respected me when I was a crook!" he angrily tells Batman.

And that settles it. The Penguin returns to crime, runs a few jobs with his men, but is ultimately captured by Batman and returned to prison, where the warden expressed regret that the Penguin couldn't stay on the straight and narrow. And the last straw? Peter Penguin is playing in the prison theater, meaning all the inmates are now laughing at the Penguin. I almost felt sorry for the guy after all this. It's another good story built around characterization, in this case the Penguin's vanity, and even though we all know his good turn is temporary, the writer manages to make me sympathize with his plight.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #118
December 1946

The Royal Flush Crimes!
At this point whenever we get another Joker story, odds are there's really nothing new to do with the character. I do like the way the artist for this story draws the Joker, and the fact that he's referred to as a "chronic jailbreaker", which is certainly true. A game of poker inspires the Joker to go on a crime spree based on a Royal Flush. It's a typical Joker runaround with puns and props and lots of fistfights. As I've said before, the character must have sold books because he appears so often during this time.

Detective Comics #119
January 1947

The Case of the Famous Foes!
There is no Arkham Asylum at this point in Batman's history, and the villains we typically think of as crazy in some way (Joker, Scarecrow, etc.) just go to prison. But this first story of 1947 gives Batman some opponents who escape from a "sanitorium", only these are one and done guys who think they're George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln, duped into a crime spree by an escaped convict who got a job as a guard and claims to be the Marquis de Lafayette. It's all an excuse to let Batman and Robin tangle with facsimiles of famous historical figures. Batman figures out that they're not just men in disguise, but they actually believe they are the famous historical figures, and he plays off their patriotism just as the crook did to end the scheme and send them all back to the asylum. The story is an excuse for the writer to throw a few well known (but not always accurate) traits for each character such as Franklin flying a kite in a thunderstorm or Washington being unable to lie, or Lincoln's Gettysburg address. It's a fun little story, and setting it in Washington DC adds a little "real world" background to the proceedings that isn't normally present.

[andersonh1]

World's Finest Comics #26
January-February 1947

His Highness, Prince Robin!
I think this is the second time Dick Grayson has been an exact double for royalty. The first was back in Batman #19 where he impersonated the prince of Atlantis. Here, Prince Stefan of Valonia impersonates Robin, after Robin goes to warn him about a plot against his life while he's visiting America. The prince wears a ring with knockout gas for personal defense, which he uses on Robin before switching clothes and going to join Batman for "a night of adventure". So Dick gets to be the prince for a day and ends up captured by thugs, while Batman can't seem to figure out that "Robin" isn't the real deal, despite the fact that the kid has no athletic skill, no fighting ability, and speaks in a very formal manner. In the end, Batman and the ersatz Robin end up in the same place as Dick Grayson since they're trying to find and rescue the "prince", and the crooks are caught and the situation resolved. Batman figures out the real Robin because "no one else could make those corny puns" but the genuine article.

Batman #39
February-March 1947

The Frightened People!
Gangster Roger Ryall has a phobia about cats. They really freak him out. A visit to a psychiatrist leads Ryall to formulate a scheme where he learns the names and phobias of wealthy men and women in Gotham from the psychiatrist's records, and then he and his gang play on their fears to extort money. As comic book plots go, it's not a bad scheme and it works for a while, until the gang targets a man who has a fear of heights by taking him up on a lighthouse. The man loses his mind and jumps to his death, he's so afraid. The psychiatrist figures out what happened and alerts Commissioner Gordon, who calls in Batman, and the scheme is broken up when Ryall targets a man whose phobia had actually been cured, but who had agreed to help Batman set a trap. Ryall dies of a heart attack when he tries to get away, brought on by a room full of stuffed lions and tigers, a victim of his own phobia. Batman notes grimly that Ryall brought it on himself and it's justice because of the earlier death of the man who jumped from the lighthouse. I'm reminded of the line from Batman's very first story when the villain dies: "A fitting end for his kind." That old dark Batman is mostly gone, but every now and then there's still a glimpse of him.