Batman
Batman No. 213
July-August 1969
Cover: Alfred with Robin and Batman costumes for Bruce Wayne and Dick
Grayson; Batman and Robin vs. Red Hood; Robin and Batman; Batman and Robin
vs. Clayface II; Batman and Robin forced by crooks towards gallows (five
vignettes) // Bill Draut / Vince Colletta
Story: "The Origin of Robin" (12 pages)
Editor, Writer: E. Nelson Bridwell
Penciller: Ross Andru
Inker: Mike Esposito
Letterer:
Feature Characters: Batman (last chronological appearance in flashback
in Detective Comics #231; next chronological appearance in Red Hood flashback
in Untold Legend of the Batman #2)
Robin (full origin revealed in this story; last chronological appearance
on page 4, panel 4 of Robin story in Detective Comics #484; next chronological
appearance in Red Hood flashback in Untold Legend of the Batman #2)
Villains: George "Boss" Zucco (first and last chronological appearance;
probably dies shortly after this story), Blade (of Earth-One; first appearance
(?); dies in this story), George "Boss" Zucco's gang (first and last chronological
appearance to date for all)
Other Characters: John and Mary Grayson (last chronological appearance
for both on page 4, panel 4 of Robin story in Detective Comics #484; both
die in this story), Jack Haly (last chronological appearance on page 4,
panel 4 of Robin story in Detective Comics #484; next appears in Robin
story in Detective Comics #484)
A Gotham City judge (first and only appearance to date)
The Haly Circus (last chronological appearance on page 4, panel 4 of
Robin story in Detective Comics #484; next appear in Robin story in Detective
Comics #484)
Citizens of Newtown (first and only appearance for all to date)
Cameo appearance
Harvey Harris (in flashback)
Comments
This story is based on the Batman story in Detective Comics #38 and
tells the full story of Robin's origin on Earth-One for the first time.
It takes place isochronally with the flashbacks in issues #129 and 200,
Detective Comics #484, and Untold Legend of the Batman #2.
This story takes place chronologically between the Batman, Junior flashback
in the Batman story in Detective Comics #231 and the Red Hood flashback
in Untold Legend of the Batman #2.
Synopsis
Dick Grayson, a young boy, is part of the
Flying Graysons acrobatic troupe in the Haly Circus. He is horrified
to see his parents fall to their death one night when the ropes of their
trapeze break during a performance. Later, still grieving, Dick passes
by the office wagon of Jack Haly, the owner, and overhears hoods warning
Daly to pay up protection money or suffer more such "accidents".
Dick is about to run to the police and tell what he knows when a gloved
hand on his shoulder restrains him. The Batman tells Dick that if
he did so, "Boss" Zucco, who is the crooks' boss and secretly runs nearby
Newtown, would have Dick killed within the hour. Batman drives Dick
off in the Batmobile, intending to get him to a place of safety.
On the way he tells Dick that his parents were also killed by a criminal.
Dick insists on being given a chance to avenge John and Mary Grayson's
deaths, and finally breaks Batman down with his pleas. Batman takes
Dick to the Batcave, makes him swear to fight crime and corruption and
never to swerve from the path of righteousness, and then unmasks before
him, revealing himself as Bruce Wayne.
Since Bruce is a bachelor, a Gotham judge
denies him the right to adopt Dick, but allows him to become Dick's guardian.
Dick soon gets a crash course in physical combat and criminology from Bruce,
and wins the right to wear a costume himself. Bruce does not tell
him that he once wore a suit similar to the one he gives Dick, and that
he is passing along the name which detective Harvey Harris once gave him--"Robin."
Dick takes up the disguise of a newsboy in
Newtown and gets shaken down by "Boss" Zucco's thugs. Trailing them
to Zucco, he overhears the ganglord order the hoods to shake down small
businessmen for more protection money. With the information, Batman
is able to clobber the racketeers and tell them to have Zucco lay off,
or face his wrath. In days to come, Batman breaks up Zucco's gambling
rackets and smashes his strong-arm men. Finally, he sends Zucco a
live bat in a box, with a note to stay away from the half-completed Canin
Building. Baited, "Boss" Zucco orders his men to come with him to
the Canin Building and help him blow it up.
Robin meets them on the building skeleton
with his fighting prowess and a sling, fighting the hoods off smartly.
But, when Robin is caught at a disadvantage, Batman swings in to save him
and combat Zucco and his hoods. Batman dangles Blade, one of Zucco's
men, at the end of his Batrope and tells him that he will drop acid on
his rope if Blade does not sign a confession that he killed the Graysons.
Choosing the better part of discretion, Blade does so. But Zucco
pushes Blade to his death, knowing a dead man cannot back up a confession.
However, Robin has taken a picture of Zucco's deed with an infra-red camera,
and has evidence that will soon send Zucco to the electric chair.
They turn him over to the police.
After the trial, a new administration vows
to clean up political corruption. Bruce Wayne, learning that Dick
wants to continue his crimefighting career as Robin, allows that he'll
give him a chance. Dick Grayson is only too willing to take it.
FIRST REPRINTED STORY
"Here Comes Alfred" (from Batman #16)
SECOND REPRINTED STORY
"The Game of Death" (from Star-Spangled Comics #127)
THIRD REPRINTED STORY
"The Man Behind the Red Hood"
(from Detective Comics #186)
FOURTH REPRINTED STORY
"The Challenge of Clay-Face"
(from Detective Comics #298)
Comments
This issue is also numbered as Giant (formerly 80 Page Giant) #G-61
and is edited by E. Nelson Bridwell. The page count of the Giants
drops to 64 pages with this issue.
Batman No. 81
February 1954
Cover: Two-Face watching Batman and Robin tied to giant coin, being
flipped towards spikes //Win Mortimer
Story: “Two-Face Strikes Again” (10 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between flashback in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #251 / flashback (Crimesmith) in issue #101; see Comment)
Supporting Character: Commissioner James W. Gordon (of Earth-One; last
appearance in SUPERMAN #76; next appears in DETECTIVE COMICS #215)
Intro: Tarando, Charles Ford, John Fields Benson, “Chicago Al” Garver
(only appearance for all)
Villains: Two-Face (of Earth-One; Harvey Dent; first appearance; last
chronological appearance in flashback in issue #238; next appears in issue
#238), his gang, two safecrackers (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Since it is revealed in the Mr. and Mrs. Superman story in
SUPERMAN FAMILY #211 that Harvey Kent, the Two-Face of Earth-Two, has not
had his corrective plastic surgery undone, this story must be assumed to
take place on Earth-One.
Sometime after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to protect his secret identity from Lois Lane in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
#71, to fight the Heavy Weapons Gang in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #72, and
to battle the Fang in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #73.
The pre-chronology of Batman and Robin on Earth-One is as follows:
BATMAN #304 (2) fb: Birth of Bruce Wayne.
UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN #3 (fb): Bruce Wayne plays doctor
with Thomas Wayne.
WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #146 (fb): Dr. Thomas Ellison, baby-sitting
Bruce Wayne, teaches him Kryptonese.
DETECTIVE COMICS #235 (fb): While Bruce is still young, Dr. Thomas
Wayne goes to a costume party with his wife, costumed as a “Bat-Man”, and
first encounters gangster Lew Moxon, whom he captures. Moxon swears
vengeance on Wayne at his trial.
DC #481 (fb): Bruce Wayne learns of Xavier Simon from Thomas
Wayne.
BM #386 (fb): Bruce Wayne meets Roman Sionis.
BM #259 (fb): Bruce Wayne and Thomas Wayne meet the Shadow.
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #99 (fb): Bruce Wayne has a summer outing
with his parents.
DC #370 (fb): Bruce Wayne meets Bart Lambert.
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #184 (fb): On the Christmas before his parents
die, Bruce Wayne meets Amos Randolph.
DC #235 (fb): Lew Moxon, released from jail, tells Thomas Wayne
that he intends to have him killed (pg. 5, panels 5-6)
BM ANNUAL #9 (fb): Bruce Wayne interrupts a sculpting project
to go with his parents to the movies.
DC #265 (fb): Joe Chill murders Thomas and Martha Wayne (pg.
3, panels 1-2) NOTE: This takes place on November 25th. Bruce is
13 years old.
BATMAN #259 (fb)
DC #457 (fb): Minutes after his parents’ death, Bruce Wayne meets
Leslie Thompkins.
SUPERBOY #182 (fb): A day after his parents’ death, Bruce Wayne
returns to the site of their murder and sees Otis Higbee with “evidence”
of a zodiac killer.
BM #208 (fb): Two days after his parents’ death, Bruce comes
into the care of his uncle Philip and Philip’s housekeeper, Mrs. Chilton,
who is actually the mother of Joe and Max Chill.
BM #208 (fb): At his parents’ funeral, Bruce Wayne vows to dedicate
his life to fighting criminals and bringing their murderer to justice.
BM ANNUAL #9 (fb)
DC #235 (fb): Bruce repeats his oath before his parents’ portrait.
DC #265 (fb)
BM ANNUAL #9 (fb): Bruce smashes the sculpture he was working
on the night he went to the movies with his parents.
DC #235 (fb): Bruce begins training himself in athletics and
science.
DC #265 (fb)
ULOTB #1 (fb)
DC #226 (fb): Bruce Wayne becomes the first Robin to team up
with detective Harvey Harris.
WFC #84 (fb): In summer between his freshman and sophomore years
in high school, Bruce Wayne meets Superboy and tries to learn his secret
identity.
ADVENTURE COMICS #275: Bruce Wayne briefly returns to Smallville
in his sophomore year of high school, teams with Superboy as the Flying
Fox, learns of his future identity as Batman, and has the memory of it
erased.
SUPERBOY #182: Bruce encounters Superboy a third time during
his junior year of high school, teams with him as the Executioner, learns
the truth about the phony “zodiac killer”, and discards his third costumed
identity.
SUPERBOY SPECTACULAR #1: Bruce meets Superboy a fourth and final
time during a baseball game, after Superboy has blanked out his own knowledge
of Bruce’s future.
ULOTB #1 (fb): Bruce goes to college, meets Prof. Rexford, and
decides not to become a conventional detective.
BM #304 (fb): Bruce plays college football.
BM #96 (2) (fb): Bruce Wayne meets and makes a rival of
Joe Danton.
BM #188 (fb): Still at college, Bruce encounters Lenny Fiasco.
BM #165 (fb): Bruce Wayne encounters Patricia Powell at college.
BM #208 (fb): Bruce graduates college and is congratulated by
uncle Philip and Mrs. Chilton.
ULOTB #1 (fb): Bruce goes to his parents’ grave and confesses
he cannot become a policeman, but will find another way to fight crime.
BM #304 (fb): Bruce is counselled by Dr. Douglas Dundee, the
doctor who delivered him.
DC #235 (fb): Musing on how criminals are a superstitious, cowardly
lot, and seeking a disguise to strike terror into their hearts, Bruce Wayne
sees a bat fly in through an open window of Wayne Manor and is inspired
to become the Batman.
DC #265 (fb)
BM #200 (fb)
ULOTB #1 (fb)
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #37 (fb): Batman captures two
crooks on a rooftop
DC #265 (fb): After modifying his costume somewhat, Batman captures
the criminal who will later become the Clock.
DC #227 (fb): Batman meets impersonation and makeup artist Barrett
Kean, who teaches him the tricks of disguise.
DC #471 (mentioned): Batman has his first encounter with Dr.
Hugo Strange.
BM #108 (fb): Batman meets the infant who will become Batman
Jones.
DC #244 (fb): Batman meets Lee Collins, who designs the Batarang.
DC #234 (fb): Batman uses his Batplane for the first time to
save an old bi-plane.
DC #231 (fb): John Vance becomes Batman, Jr. for one adventure
to help Batman fight Birrel Binter.
DC #350 (fb): Batman meets the Monarch of Menace.
BM #129 (fb): Batman meets Dick Grayson, trains him to become
Robin, and teams with him to defeat “Boss” Zucco.
BM #200 (fb)
BM #213
ULOTB #2 (fb)
ULOTB #2 (fb): Batman and Robin meet the Red Hood, who later
becomes the Joker. BM #208 (fb): Batman and Robin meet Clayface I. (Julie
Madison is Bruce’s girlfriend during this adventure.)
(undepicted): Batman’s and Robin’s first encounter with the Joker.
DC #234 (fb): Batman visits Commissioner Gordon and gains his
approval and that of the Gotham police by solving a robbery at the Museum
of Time.
ULOTB #2 (fb)
DC #471 (mentioned): Batman battles Hugo Strange again.
BM #208 (fb): Batman and Robin first encounter the Cat, later
known as the Catwoman.
DC #227 (fb): Batman and Robin help find an escaped convict,
nab crooks, save a lion-tamer, and substitute for an ailing cop.
DC #234 (fb): Batman and Robin fight a giant robot, save two
people from a fire, capture undersea crooks, and capture a crook in a machine
shop.
BM #208 (fb): Batman helps Linda Page and her brother against
Mike Grogan.
BM #189 (fb): Batman and Robin first battle the Scarecrow.
BEST OF DC #10 (fb): Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot becomes
the Penguin.
BM #234 (fb): Batman and Robin have their first encounters with
Two-Face, who has his face repaired by plastic surgery.
(undepicted): Batman and Robin meet Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
BM #110 (fb): Alfred Pennyworth becomes Bruce Wayne’s butler
and discovers that he and Dick Grayson are Batman and Robin.
BM #133 (fb): Batman and Robin battle the Robber Baron.
(undepicted): Batman and Robin first battle the Cavalier.
BM #112 (mentioned): Batman and Robin meet Carter Nichols and
travel back to ancient Rome on their first time-trip.
(undepicted): Batman and Robin meet Joe Coyne and gain the giant
penny trophy for the Batcave.
DC #235 (fb): Batman finds Joe Chill, his parents’ murderer,
who is soon killed by other gangsters.
ULOTB #1 (fb)
DC #244 (fb) Batman and Robin catch counterfeiters, payroll bandits,
and Jay Garris.
DC #251 (fb): Batman and Robin save an electrician’s life.
BM #171 (fb): Batman and Robin first encounter the Riddler.
(undepicted): Batman meets the original Mad Hatter and Vicki
Vale.
DC #251 (fb): Batman and Robin foil crooks at a giant doll show,
endure a gauntlet of gangster’s tests, and stop crooks at a glass company.
DC #474 (fb): Batman and Robin meet Deadshot.
(undepicted): Batman and Robin learn the Joker’s origin.
(undepicted): Batman and Robin meet Killer Moth.
BM #316 (fb): Robin first battles Crazy-Quilt.
WFC #94 (fb): Batman and Robin first team up with Superman.
SUPERMAN #76: Batman and Superman learn each other’s secret identities
while pursuing John Smilter.
FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL #9 (mentioned): Batman and Robin fight the
first Firefly.
WFC #156 (fb): Batman, Robin, and Superman stop the Joker’s “bad
penny crimes”.
WFC #251 (fb): Batman and Robin fight the Gorilla Boss.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #41 (mentioned): Batman and Robin battle
the Wrecker. (After this adventure, the story depicted in this issue
takes place.)
Shortly after this story, the following adventures occur:
BM #101 (fb): Batman and Robin fight the Crimesmith.
WF #71: Batman and Robin help Superman safeguard his identity
from Lois Lane.
(Undepicted): Batman and Robin meet Sgt. Harvey Hainer.
WF #72: Batman, Robin, and Superman fight the Heavy Weapons Gang.
Synopsis: Harvey Dent’s plastic surgery is undone by a crook’s bomb
blast and he becomes Two-Face anew. As such, he returns to a life
of crime, and Batman and Robin attempt to capture him.
Detective Comics No. 213
November 1954
Cover: Batman and Robin trapped in mirror maze by Mirror-Man //Sheldon
Moldoff / Charles Paris
Story: “The Mysterious Mirror-Man” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
#72 / 73)
Intro: Weldon (only appearance)
Villains: The Mirror-Man (Floyd Ventris; first appearance; next appears
in BATMAN #157) and his gang (first and only appearance)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
tofight the Fang in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #73.
Synopsis: Floyd Ventris escapes from prison by using a mirror, and
becomes the Mirror-Man to use mirrors in crime. By the use of an X-ray
mirror, he discovers that Batman is secretly Bruce Wayne.
Detective Comics No. 215
January 1955
Cover: Batman, Gaucho, Legionary, and Musketeer //Sheldon Moldoff /
Charles Paris
Story: “The Batmen of All Nations” (10 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
#73 / 74)
Supporting Character: Commissioner James W. Gordon (of Earth-One;
last appearance in SUPERMAN #76; next appears in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
#75)
Intro: The Knight (Earl of Wordenshire), the Squire, the Musketeer,
the Legionary, the Gaucho, the Ranger (all next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #89)
Villains: Knots Cardine and his gang (first and only appearance for
all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to help an alien child in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #74, to battle the Purple
Mask Mob in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #75, and to engage in a contest between
Gotham City and Metropolis in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #76.
Synopsis: Batman invites a group of international heroes who imitate
his methods to Gotham City to learn from him first-hand, but seems to be
lacking in his attempts to nail mobster Knots Cardine.
Batman No. 92
June 1955
Cover: Batman, Robin, and Bat-Hound answering the Bat-Signal //Win
Mortimer
Story: “Ace, the Bat-Hound” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Stan Kaye
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
#76 / 77)
Intro: Bat-Hound (Ace; origin; next appears in issue #97)
Supporting Characters: Commissioner Gordon (between WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #76 / 77), Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth (first appearance; last
chronological appearance in flashback in issue #110; next appears in DETECTIVE
COMICS #225; middle names revealed in issue #104; last name revealed in
issue #216)
Intro: John Wilker (next appears in issue #97), Orvie and his mother
(only appearance for both)
Villains: Bert Bowers, a gang of counterfeiters (first and only appearance
for both)
Comment: Shortly after this story, Batman and Robin team up with Superman
to fight Professor Pender in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #77 and the Varrel Mob
in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #78.
Synopsis: Batman and Robin rescue an injured dog from a nearby stream.
While they are trying to find his owner, they are chagrined to find that
the dog runs after the Batmobile. They are forced to take him along, with
a black mask to cover a distinctive mark on his forehead. After the
dog helps them take down escaped con Bert Bowers, who calls him “Bat-Hound”,
the Dynamic Duo accept that as a working name for their new pet.
Bat-Hound helps Batman and Robin track down his owner, John Wilker, an
engraver held captive by counterfeiters. They learn that Bat-Hound’s
real name is Ace, and, after the case is closed, reunite him with Wilker.
Detective Comics No. 225
November 1955
Cover: Robin watching Bruce Wayne having his picture taken with other
“Batmen” //Win Mortimer
Story: “If I Were Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
#78 / 79)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #77), Alfred Pennyworth (last appearance in BATMAN #92)
Intro: Martin Mayne (Gotham Gazette editor), Jasper Smively, Rodney
Random (only appearance for all)
Villains: John Larrow and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team up with Superman
to meet Aladdin in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #79.
Synopsis: Three men take the place of Batman while the real Caped Crusader
is away, as part of an “If I Were Batman” contest run by the Gotham Gazette,
and gangsters attempting to break John Larrow out of jail intend to capitalize
on the occasion.
Batman No. 96
December 1955
Cover: Batman and Robin fighting fire //Curt Swan / Win Mortimer
Story: “His Majesty, King Batman” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger?
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff?
Inker: Charles Parrish
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #79)
Supporting Characters: Commissioner James W. Gordon (of Earth-One;
last appearance in DETECTIVE COMICS #225)
Intro: King Eric of Morania, Chancellor Zarits, Count Viras (only appearance
for all)
Villains: Mayne Malan and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: Batman switches places with the visiting king of a small
nation to help nab a gang of thieves after the king’s crown jewels.
Story: “Batman’s College Days” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger?
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Parrish
Feature Characters: Batman (also appears in flashback; see Comment
under BATMAN #81 for chronology; origin details revealed), Robin
Intro: Pete (in flashback), Hodges and three others (only appearance
for all)
Villain: Joe Danton (first appearance; dies in this story)
Synopsis: Bruce Wayne and four of his college classmates are guests
aboard the yacht of Joe Danton, a one-time rival of Bruce Wayne’s, who
reveals that he is about to die of a defective heart, but that he intends
to see all of them die with him.
Story: “The Third Alarm For Batman” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger?
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff?
Inker: Lew Schwartz
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in DETECTIVE
COMICS #226)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (next appears in DETECTIVE
COMICS #227)
Intro: Fire chief Waller (only appearance)
Villains: Mr. Dall and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: Batman and Robin agree to help publicize a fire-prevention
week in Gotham City while searching for a gang of smugglers.
Detective Comics No. 226
December 1955
Cover: Robin, Batman with original Robin suit, and young Bruce Wayne
as Robin I on movie screen //Win Mortimer?
Story: “When Batman Was Robin” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman (last appearance in BATMAN #96; also appears
in flashback as the first Robin; see Comment under BATMAN #81 for chronology;
origin details revealed in this story), Robin (last appearance in BATMAN
#96)
Supporting Character: Alfred Pennyworth
Intro: Harvey Harris (in flashback; dies before this story begins),
Van Marden, Bellew, Gerritt (all in flashback; only appearance for all)
Villains: Arthur Mellen and his gang, another crook (in flashback;
first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: When the late detective Harvey Harris has an old Robin costume
sent to the Wayne estate, the modern Robin first learns of how a teenaged
Bruce Wayne created the costume and identity of Robin to secretly become
the apprentice of Harris and learn the art of detection.
Detective Comics No. 227
January 1956
Cover: Batman and Robin observing Lens Vorden with Batman bust //Win
Mortimer
Story: “The Fifty Faces of Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman (also appears in flashback; see Chronology
for placement), Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #80)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in BATMAN
#96; also appears in flashback)
Intro: Barrett Kean, Jan Braley, John Harlan (last two in flashback;
only appearance for all)
Villains: Lens Vorden, Thayne, Borman, Big Hugo and his gang, other
gangsters, Kane Rogers (in flashback; first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to fight the Mole in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #80.
Synopsis: Batman teaches a class in makeup and disguise
artistry for his friend, Barrett Kean, who taught him the arts of imposture.
But a criminal photographer uses the opportunity to hatch a scheme to expose
Batman’s secret identity.
Batman No. 97
February 1956
Cover: Bat-Hound, Batman, and Robin in Batcave lab //Win Mortimer
Story: “The Joker Announces Danger” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #80)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon
Villains: The Joker (of Earth-One; first appearance; last chronological
appearance in flashback in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #156; next appears in
WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #88) and his gang (Pete named in this story), convicts
at Gotham City prison (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: The Joker watches Batman debut as guest announcer for an
anti-crime TV program and is inspired to a new crime motif: announcing
his crimes.
Story: “Doom On Channel 14" (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin
Intro: Hutton, governor of Gotham State, announcer of “You Can’t Beat
the Law” (only appearance for all)
Villains: Marty Kirk, Muggsy Burns, and their gang (first and only
appearance for all)
Synopsis: Batman and Robin are captured by crooks on the scene of a
TV program in which they are reenacting the Marty Kirk case.
Story: “The Return of the Bat-Hound” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in DETECTIVE COMICS
#228)
GS: Bat-Hound (between issues #92 / 103)
Supporting Character: John Smilter (last seen in issue #92), Commissioner
Gordon (next appears in DETECTIVE COMICS #229)
Intro: John Millen (only appearance)
Villains: A gang of thieves (first and only appearance)
Synopsis: A gang of crooks forces a dog trainer to use his animals
to help them commit crimes, but Batman and Robin even the odds by employing
Bat-Hound on their side.
Detective Comics No. 228
February 1956
Cover: Robin visiting Batman in prison //Win Mortimer
Story: “The Outlaw Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between BATMAN #97 / 98)
Villain: Spade Stinson (first and only appearance)
Batman No. 98
March 1956
Cover: Vicki Vale studying Batmobile photo; Batman on desert island;
Batman vs. futuristic crooks (three vignettes)//Win Mortimer
Story: “The Return of Mr. Future” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Arnold Drake
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in DETECTIVE
COMICS #228)
Supporting Character: Prof. Carter Nichols (last appearance in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #79)
Intro: Jules Verne (of Earth-One; first appearance; last chronological
appearance in THE ATOM #17; last chronological appearance)
Villains: Simak and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Comments: Simak’s name is taken from that of famous science fiction
writer Clifford Simak.
Jules Verne’s appearance in THE ATOM #17 takes place in 1888,
12 years before his meeting with Batman and Robin in this story.
Synopsis: After gangsters steal a deadly weapon designed by Jules Verne,
Batman and Robin are sent back in time by Carter Nichols to get a counter-weapon
from Verne himself.
Story: “The Desert Island Batman” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin
Intro: Thomas Thorpe, Homer Brandon, John Wiswell, Roy Long, and other
members of the Millionaires’ Club (only appearance for all)
Villains: Voss and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: Criminals force a shipful of millionaires, including Bruce
Wayne, ashore on a desert island, wreck their ship, and hold them for ransom,
but Batman and Robin rescue them.
Story: “Secret of the Batmobile” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (next appearance for both in DETECTIVE
COMICS #229)
Supporting Characters: Vicki Vale (of Earth-One; first appearance;
last chronological appearance in issue #110 (2); next appears in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #85), Ben (of Earth-One; Vicki’s editor; first appearance;
next appears in DETECTIVE COMICS #245)
Intro: John Blair (in flashback; only appearance)
Villains: The Racer, a gang of looters (first and only appearance for
all)
Synopsis: A thief called the Racer has been using a speedy car to outdistance
the Batmobile in every encounter, but Vicki Vale uncovers evidence that
Batman is using a phony Batmobile.
Detective Comics No. 229
March 1956
Cover: Mart Mathers and gang on water in inflatable raft while Batman
and Robin swim under them in diving gear //Win Mortimer
Story: “The 10,000 Secrets of Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#98; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #81)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (between BATMAN #97 / 99)
Intro: John Waller, Ross Randall, Morrell, Varnor, Birely (only appearance
for all)
Villains: Mart Mathers, John Creeden and his gang (first and only appearance
for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story, Batman and Robin team with Superman
to deal with Ka Thar in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #81.
Synopsis: Batman’s microfilmed crime-file is stolen during a TV crew’s
visit to the Batcave, and the Caped Crusader uses his regular electronic
crime-file to deduce the culprit.
Batman No. 99
April 1956
Cover: Batman, Robin, and the Phantom of the Bat-Cave //Win Mortimer
Story: “The Golden Eggs” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #81)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (between DETECTIVE COMICS
#229 / 230)
Villains: The Penguin (of Earth-One; Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot;
first appearance; last chronological appearance in BEST OF DC #10; next
appears in issue #155; name revealed in LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITION #C-39)
and his gang (Pete named in this story; first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: The Penguin frames a new series of crimes around the birds
that hatch from a cache of eggs in his hideout.
Story: “Batman--Frontier Marshal” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin
Supporting Character: Prof. Carter Nichols (next appears in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #82)
Intro: Bat Masterson (of Earth-One), Jack Farr, Seward Small (only
appearance for last two)
Villains: Pecos Pete, Harris Harper, Gila Bill (first and only appearance
for all)
Comment: Research for “real” historical characters on Earth-One is
not complete, thus Bat Masterson cannot yet be tracked.
Synopsis: A newspaper reporter finds an 1880 newspaper fragment with
a photo of Batman in the Old West, so Batman and Robin have Prof. Nichols
send them back to 1880 to uncover the solution to the mystery.
Story: “The Phantom of the Bat-Cave” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in DETECTIVE COMICS
#230)
Supporting Character: Alfred Pennyworth (last appearance in DETECTIVE
COMICS #228; next appears in issue #101)
Intro: The Society of Magicians (only appearance)
Cameo appearance: The Joker
Villains: Pardu and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: This story is presented as a case from Batman’s Casebook.
Though the Earth-Two Batman is given an honorary membership in
the Society of Magicians in DETECTIVE COMICS #207, that is not the same
organization as the Earth-One’s Magician’s Society which appears in this
story.
Synopsis: Batman and Robin notice trophies in the Bat-Cave disappearing
and being replaced by plastic top hats, and are blackmailed by Pardu, a
magician, for $10,000 for their secrets.
Detective Comics No. 230
April 1956
Cover: Mad Hatter about to unmask bound Batman and Robin //Win Mortimer
Story: “The Mad Hatter of Gotham City” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#99)
Intro: Brumer (only appearance)
Villains: The Mad Hatter (of Earth-One; Jervis Tetch; first appearance;
next appears in BATMAN #161) and his gang (first and only appearance)
Synopsis: The Mad Hatter seeks one crowning trophy for his collection
of famous headgear--Batman’s cowl.
Detective Comics No. 231
May 1956
Cover: Robin with picture of Batman and Batman, Jr. //Curt Swan / Stan
Kaye
Story: “Batman, Junior” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman (also appears in flashback; see Comment
under , Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #82)
Intro: Batman, Jr. (John Vance; only appearance)
Villains: Birrel Binter and his gang (first and only appearance for
all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
and the Three Musketeers in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #82.
Synopsis: Robin learns that Batman had a partner before him, Batman,
Jr., who, as John Vance, is helping them track down gangster Birrel Binter.
Batman No. 100
June 1956
Cover: Reproductions of covers of issues #1, 48, 47, 23, 61, and 25
Story: “Batmantown, U.S.A.” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #82)
Villains: Keene Wilder, Mr. Dane, Barsh and his gang (first and only
appearance for all)
Synopsis: The city of Plainview changes its name to Batmantown in an
effort to attract business. Batman and Robin arrive soon afterward
for a visit, but Batman worries that the new name will attract criminals
as well.
Story: “The Hunters of Gotham City” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin
Intro: John Barly (only appearance)
Villain: Ralph Kier (first and only appearance)
Synopsis: Batman and Robin deal with escaped animals from a zoo ship,
and discover one of the beasts is being used to smuggle diamonds.
Story: “The Great Batman Contest” (8 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in DETECTIVE COMICS
#232)
Intro: Jeff Keating (only appearance)
Villains: Stilts Morgan and his harbor pirates, a masked gang, a gang
of crooks (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: Batman holds a contest with a scholarship award to a high
school student who invents the most useful “bat-weapon”, and uses the finalists’
inventions while fighting crime.
Detective Comics No. 232
June 1956
Cover: Batman and movie cameraman watching Bart Davis (as Batman) slide
down tightrope //Curt Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “The Outlaw Who Played Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#100)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (between BATMAN #99 / 101)
Intro: Herb Denison, H. Wilson, Chief Beggs (only appearance for all)
Villain: Bart Davis and his gang (including Lefty and Beaver Gaff),
various crooks (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: This story reveals that at least three yearly Batman pictures
have been made by this time, one featuring an actor named Reed as Batman
(possibly Gregory Reed, who later became the official Earth-One movie Superman?),
and two featuring Jack Winters as Batman.
Synopsis: A gangster weasels his way into playing Batman in an upcoming
movie, and uses the equipment and training he gets from the real Caped
Crusader in perpetrating crimes.
Detective Comics No. 233
July 1956
Cover: Batwoman on Bat-Cycle and Batman and Robin in Batmobile //Sheldon
Moldoff
Story: “The Batwoman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Stan Kaye
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #83)
Intro: Batwoman (Kathy Kane; origin; next appears in BATMAN #105)
Villains: Hugo Vorn and his gang, various crooks (first and only appearance
for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to solve the Mother Goose Mystery in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #83.
Synopsis: Kathy Kane, an heiress and former circus aerialist, becomes
the Batwoman to aid Batman and Robin in their fight against crime, but
Batman fears that her success thus far has been due to luck.
BATMAN #101
August 1956
Cover: Batman throwing away his cape and cowl as Robin watches
Artist: Lew Schwartz (?)
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Vanished Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #83)
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in Detective Comics #232)
Villains
Pack Purdy, John Vair and other crooks (first and only appearance of
all to date)
The Crimesmith of Earth-one (in flashback; first and only appearance
to date; Earth-Two's Crimesmith appears in World's Finest Comics #68)
Other Characters
A WCA-TV television news commentator (first and only to date)
Citizens, firemen, and police of Gotham City.
Synopsis
Gothamites are startled to see a Batman-less Robin taking
care of crimes and emergencies on his own, and even more startled to see
the Batmobile and Batplane and Bat-signal redesigned into a
Robinmobile,Robinplane and Robin-signal, respectively. Tv newsmen
and newpaper writers begin asking the question, "Where is Batman?"
Gotham gangchief Pack Purdy and his lieutenant John Vair think they
know, because "Vair" has told Purdy that he pushed Batman into the sea.
Actually, such was Vair's mission, but he failed in it and
Batman, disguised as Vair, is now infiltrating Purdy's mob to get the
goods on the "Big Job" he is hiring out-of-town mobsters to help with.
Said job proves to be an underwater attempt to cut through the hull of
the docked ship Natonic and steal five million dollars from it. Batman
gets word to Robin in time for the police to net the would-be theives,
and joins Robin in nabbing Purdy and his closest aides. Then
the Caped Crusader makes his public
reappearance, with the operation a total success.
SECOND STORY
"The Six Strangest Sleuths"
Creidits:
Editor: Jack Schiff
Plotter,scripter: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (next appearance in Detective Comics #234)
Villains
Jay Jandron, Vern Shively and other crooks (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
Victor Voice, Scortini and his assistant, Leo the Mighty, The India
Rubberman, Carey, and Forbes (first and only appearance to date)
Citizens and police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson attend a benefit show for the Vaudeville
Relief Fund, featuring some of vaudeville's biggest stars. But the magic
show of Scortini is used, unintended by the magician, as a disruption during
which crooks rob the box office.
The thieves escape even though Batman and Robin appear, and the money
is divided up amoung the minions of gangster Jay Jandron.
To get the money back, the six vaudevillians--Scortini, quick-changeman
Elmo, strongman Leo the Mighty, tightrope walker Carey,
ventriloquist Victor Voice, and the India Rubberman, all go to work
as Batman's and Robin's assistants. They use their talents in various
helpful ways, for instance, when Leo grabs the bumper of a suspects car
and lifts it off the ground to prevent him from taking off-- and track
down one of the crooks, Vern Shively, stringing a mike with a mike with
the aid of rubberman and having the tighrope walker keep a watch outside
his third story window. Shively is shadowed and, after he leads them
to others in the gang, is nabbed by Leo and replaced by Forbes the quick-change
man. Forbes is found out, but Batman deduces their foes' destination,
a moored yacht which Leo begins hauling in, a handful at a time.
The heroes and their vaudville allies storm the boat, overwhelm Jandron
and his gang, and nab him and his croines in various inventive ways (such
as when the rubberman jumps out of a connecting tube to grab Jandron).
The money is recovered, and Batman gives the credit for the caper to his
six strange sleuths.
THIRD STORY
"The Great Bat-Cape Hunt"
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #234
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth(last seen in third story of issue #99; next
appears in Detective Comics #234
Guest Appearances
Clark Kent (Superman; last seen in World's Finest Comics # 83;
next appears in Superman #107)
Villians
Two unnamed thieves (first and only appearance to date for both)
Other Characters
Andre Prevot, J. G. and the cast and crew of the Circus Daredevils,
Henry Latham, Floyd Baker, a young girl, and a kitten named Dusty (first
and only appearance to date for all)
Comment
The Clark Kent figures in this story appears to have been
redrawn by another artist, perhaps Al Plastino.
Synopsis
While Alfred is helping them tidy up the Bat-Cave, Bruce
and Dick comment on a Batcape with a cowel that Alfred is holding, one
sent to Bruce Wayne by a man who was convinced Wayne was Batman
and has stitched in the cape's underside label with the message,
"BRUCE WAYNE IS BATMAN." The sender died soon afterward, and
Batman kept it as a trophy. The radio soon informs them that Hurricane
Hannah has struck Gotham, and when the two heroes change into Batman and
Robin to go help, Alfred hands Batman the cape with the identity label
by mistake. As luck would have it, it blows off Batman's head during
the hurricane (though his face is not seen) and he learns of the mixup
from Alfred after donning a spare cape and cowl. They begin
a search for the cape in desperation.
As the storm abates, people return to the streets.
One of them is France's greatest stuntman, Andre Prevot. Unable to
crash the
American stunt-scene, he inspired by the Bat-cape that blows his way.
He dons the cape and cowl to get attention, rides a motorcycle onto the
scene of a daredevil picture, and does such spectacular stunts that the
producers hire him on the spot. The story makes the radio and Batman
and Robin go too see Prevot, who
confesses that he did see the lable, but that he cannot read English.
However, the cape has blown from his windowsill to the street below.
It drapes itself across a No Parking sign, where it throws an eerie
shadow of Batman across an alley and stops two startled holdup men from
robbing a social worker's charity fund.
It passes through another pair of hands, and then is dragged by a dog
into the street where "down and outer" Floyd Baker finds it. A former
pilot who lost his nerve after craking up his plane, Baker wistfully dons
the cape and cowl. A little girl mistakes him for Batman and tearfuly
asks him to get her kitten off a third story ledge. Fighting down
his nervousness, Baker walkes the ledge, grabs the kitten, and walkes back
to the grateful child's window. Inspired, Baker decides that he will
never lose his nerve again, and resolves to get his piolt's job back.
He meets Batman on the street, thanks him for the help that he inadvertently
gave him, and hands over the cape to an anxious Batman--who discovers,
as Baker walkes off, that there is no writing on the label. At that point,
Clark Kent, secretly Superman, walks out of a nearby alley. He confesses
that he had come to Gotham to help fight the fires caused by Hurricane
Hannah, had come across the cape, and had burned its label's message off
with his X-ray vision. Batman gratefully thanks Clark and reclaims
his trophy cape, which has enriched the lives of three men. a little girl,
and a kitten.
Detective Comics No. 234
August 1956
Cover: Jay Caird using sonic projector to give Batman and Robin amnesia
//Sheldon Moldoff / Charles Paris
Story: “Batman and Robin’s Greatest Mystery” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris?
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between BATMAN #101 / 102)
Supporting Characters: Commissioner Gordon (between BATMAN #101 / 102),
Alfred Pennyworth (last appearance in BATMAN #101)
Intro: Melden (only appearance)
Villains: Jay Caird and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: Criminal scientist Jay Caird robs Batman and Robin of their
memories, and they must use their detective skills to learn who they really
are.
BATMAN #102
September 1956
Cover Credits
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The House of Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in Detective Comics #234)
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (between Detective Comics #234 and 235)
Villains
Mayne Mallock and an unnamed crook (first and only appearance to date
for both)
Other Characters
The mayor of Gotham City (last seen in ?; next appears in ?)
Adam Penfield (no actual appearance; name mentioned only; first appearance;
dies before this story opens)
Citizens and police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Wealthy philanthropist Adam Penfield
dies, and in his will is left a provision for his left gift: money
to be used to build a House of Batman, a headquarters in the center of
Gotham City to be used by Batman and Robin. The dynamic duo themselves
learn of the gift after it is constructed, and after they learn from a
crook they catch that safecracker Mayne Mallock is back in town.
The house is equipped with all manner of security devices, including a
rotating "bat" with TV-eyes on the roof of the house. Batman and
Robin use the House of Batman as their headquarters for a few days, during
which time Mayne Mallock cracks safes and eludes their every attempt to
catch him. They deduce that Mallock has some means of learning their
plans and patrol-routes, which he does, having designed the House of Batman
and using it currently as his hideout. When Mallock is discovered,
he uses the whirling bat-symbol and a mechanical butler to attack Batman
and Robin, but is netted by a pre-set trap of Batman's. Later, Batman
gives the House of batman to the city, which turns it into a Batman Law-Enforcement
Museum.
TEXT STORY
"The Big Dance" (1 page)
SECOND STORY
"The Batman From Babylon" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Whitney Ellsworth
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Character
Prof. Carter Nichols (last seen in World's Finest Comics #82; next
appears in issue #112)
Villians
Brand Barton (first and only appearance to date)
King Beladin and his evil Babylonians (first and only appearance for
to date)
Other Characters
Dr. Horace Halley (first and only appearance to date)
King Lanak, Mero, and their good Babylonians (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Comments
Dr. Horace Halley is named for Horace Holley, one of the major characters
in H. Rider Haggard's "She.”
Synopsis
Brand Bartor, a small-time crook, walks down Gotham
streets in broad daylight wearing a Batman costume. He is nabbed
and put on trial for it because, he says, he wants to test the validity
of the law ruling that no man may wear a Batman uniform in Gotham City
except Batman himself. His major weapon is a Babylonian walllpainting
excavated by Dr. Horace Halley, an archeologist, showing a Batman fighting
a guard in ancient Babylon. The court, condeding that Barton has
strong defense, cables Halley.
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, watching the trial, know that
the wall-painting is authentic, because Carter Nichols sent them back to
ancient Babylon recently-- but in their civilian identities. Revealing
the fact would betray their anonlmity.
Not long ago, Carter Nichols had dispatched Bruce and Dick to
investigate the mystery of a "King that never existed" 3,000 years ago
in Babylon. Once there, they discovered a citizen, Mero, revolting
against doing slave labor for the evil King Baladin. A usurper of
the righteous King Lanak's throne. Batman and Robin pitched
in to save Mero from the guards, and Batman was hailed as "Zorn," a statue-idol
that strongly resembled him. Mero offered Batman and Robin a hiding
place where he and other rebels met, in what Robin termed a "Babylonian
Bat-Cave!" Batman agrees to help Mero and his friends in their struggle,
and, outfitting a "Bat-Chariot" with a masked steed, arranges for the rebels
to show a "Bat-Sign" in front of the temple's rooftop watchfire whenever
they are needed.
After Batman and Robin save a merchant from being robbed--
which robbery the corrupt king's guard allowed-- the populance became convinced
that Zorn had come to life. The captain of the guards made an effort
to learn where the rebels' hideout was, bit Batman and Robin succeeded
in capturing him and learning from him the prison-place of King Lanak,
in the famed Babylonian Hanging Gardens. Batman, imitating a statue of
Zorn, was witness to Beladin's entreaty to Lanak that the latter publicly
acknowledge him as king. Batman responded by "coming to life," shocking
the false king and his guards, and leading Lanak away. With the aid
of an elephant inside a wooden "tank", Robin, Mero and the rebels breached
Beladin's defenses and deposed him, allowing Lanak to resume the throne.
Thus, Beladin's name was stricken from every monument, and the tyrant became
"the ruler who didnot exist". Following this, Batman and Robin returned
to the present as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.
To solve their present problem, Bruce anonyiously
cables Dr. Halley and tells him the correct location of the statue
of Zorn.
Once unearthed, the statue serves as proof to the court that the wall-hanging
depicted Zorn, not Batman, and Brand Bartor is convicted for the Batman
impersonation.
TEXT FEATURE
"Scotland Yard's Search For a Stone" (1 page)
THIRD STORY
"The Caveman at Large" (6 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Plotter, Scriter: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris?
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #235)
Villians
Carlin (First and only appearance to date)
Other Characters
Crew of Stone Age Man (first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
An actor named Carlin, playing a caveman named Goth
in a new picture called Stone Age Man, is hit in the head by a tusk of
a mechanical mammoth, develops amnesia, and thinks he actually is a
caveman. Carlin smashes past the crew, snarling in rage, and Batman
and Robin learn on their Batmobile radio of the matter and begin a search
for him. They manage to find Carlin, but he spears one of the Batmobile's
headlights, forcing them into a sharp turn that flips the car. Carlin
gets away and, by chance, finds his way into the Bat-Cave from an outside
entrance. When Bruce and Dick hear an alarm buzzer, they switch to
their Batman and Robin identities again, but are snared by Carlin's traps
in the Bat-Cave.
Their plight is complicated by the fact that Carlin has picked up a
club gimmicked by a murderer with an explosive charge in it's head, and
they have to keep him from striking anything with it. Eventually,
Carlin hits his head on a stalagmite while struggling with Batman.
He wakens in the Wayne Masion, not rembering anything during his Caveman
period, and is told that Bruce and Dick found him wandering on the road.
Thus,the location of the Bat-Cave remains a secret.
Detective Comics No. 235
Cover: Batman and Robin watching Dr. Thomas Wayne as first Batman fighting
Lew Moxon and crook on movie screen //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The First Batman” (10 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Feature Characters: Batman (origin revealed in this story), Robin (last
appearance of both in BATMAN #102; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
#84)
Supporting Characters: Dr. Thomas Wayne, Martha Wayne (both of Earth-One;
Batman’s parents; in flashback; first appearance; see Comment under BATMAN
#81 for chronology), Commissioner Gordon (between BATMAN #102 / 103)
Villains: Lew Moxon (first appearance; dies in this story), Joe Chill
(of Earth-One; first appearance; in flashback; dies in this story), Moxon’s
gang (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to capture Thad Linnis in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #84.
Synopsis: After seeing an old home movie of his father, Dr. Thomas
Wayne, in a Batman costume for a masquerade party, and learning from Dr.
Wayne’s diary that he was marked for death by gangster Lew Moxon, Batman
and Robin realize that Joe Chill was only a tool of Moxon’s and go after
the real murderer of Thomas Wayne, only to find he has no memory of Wayne
or Chill.
BATMAN #103
October 1956
Cover Credits
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Broken Batman Trophies"
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #84)
Villians
Two unnamed thieves, Lefty Reed, and River Pirates (first and only
apperance to date; all in flashback)
Other Characters
Stars and Staff of a local TV station (first and only appearance to
date for all)
Rajah Vishti, Judge Albert Hagen, and Captain Hobart of the Harbor
Police (first and only appearance to date for all)
Citizens of Gotham City
Comment
As Bruce Wayne is being interviewed on TV during Batman Day
ceremonies, a mike boom falls and accidentally cuts Bruce on the chin.
Later, as Batman, he is told that three gifts will be awarded him, and
the camera will zoom in for a closeup each time. Batman accepts the
awards for his past feats of derring-do, but he manages to drop and smash
or disfigure every trophy and, in the process, blur the closeup picture.
Everyone viewing and working on the show is preplixed at Batman's
clumsiness, which they think is brought on by nerves. However, when
they take a break and Batman is back in his dressing room, he confides
to Robin that he deliberately smashed the trophies to obscure the closeups.
The shots have revealed the cut on his chin, he explains, and he would
have been instantly connected with Bruce Wayne. When he appears again,
with his chin disguised by makeup, Batman apologizes for his clumsiness
but reveals it was done to protect a close friend's career, and assured
the donors that their trophies mean more now to him than if they were intact.
Indeed, they occupy an honored space henceforth in the Batcave's Trophy
room.
SECOND STORY
"The League of Ex-Convicts" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer; Arnold Drake
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Lew Schwartz (?)
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Suppporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (between Detective Comics #235 / 236)
Villians
Ralph Bellows, and his gang (first and only apperance for all to date)
Other Characters
Ed Stinson, Miss Williams, the crew of WWGC-TV, two fishermen, an unnamed
Bellows employee, Mrs. Carruthers, and Lucky Dennis, Harry Westen, and
an employee of the Graff Company.
Synopsis
Batman and Robin witness a live broadcast by Ed
Stinson, an ex-convict who has opened his own employment agency featuring
ex-cons as clients. Stinson explains that society's prejudice against
the former convict, plus the legal bars against him getting a civil service
job or even a chauffeur's liscence, makes it imperative for private industry
to give the reformed criminal an even break, escpecially those who have
acquired productive skills in prison. Batman and Robin are drawn
away by the Bat-Signal and are sent to the docks, where they fail to stop
a gang of thugs from stealing a large fishing net. In the days to
follow, Stinson places ex-convicts in many jobs, including one at Ralph
Bellow's company. But, not long after they are placed, each of the
employers reports burglaries and the ex-cons have dropped out of sight.
Realizing that one of the cons, "Lucky" Dennis, would hardly have pulled
a job on Friday the 13th with his superstitious nature Batman and Robin
track down the real culprit--Ralph Bellows, who has been embezzling from
his business and had attempted to pin the rap on his ex-con employee by
using a gang to kidnap him and the other ex-cons and commit robberies to
cover the scheme. The net, covered with paint, was used as a camouflgue
for their hideout. Batman and Robin defeat Bellows and his thugs
and free the ex-convicts, who return to their jobs with their names cleared.
THIRD STORY
"Bat-Hound, Movie Star" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris?
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both appear next in Detective Comics #236)
Supporting Character
Bat-Hound (last seen in issue #97; next appearance in Detective Comics
#254)
Villian
Baldy Gore (first and only appearance to date)
Other Characters
P.G., Percy Elwin, and other employees of a Hollywood movie studio
(first and only appearance of all to date)
Synopsis
With his owner John Wilker in Europe on vaction, his dog
Ace, in the keeping of Wilker's friend Bruce Wayne, is able to aid Batman
and Robin as Bat-Hound. He is instrumental in helping them nab bank
robber Baldy Gore, who swears vengeance upon his captors. Meanwhile,
newsreels featuring Bat-Hound in action with Batman and Robin have reached
the eyes of P.G., a Hollywood film producer, who induces Batman,
Robin and Bat-Hound to play themselves in a movie he produces and directs,
with a donation to charity as the incentive. Just before they begin,
Baldy Gore escapes prison, dons a wig, makes his way to Hollywood and gets
a job on the Batman movie as a prop man. Gore deliberately sabotages
the props to put Batman, Robin and Bat-Hound in real danger, but the heroes
and their dog manage to survive each peril. Bat-Hound's sense of
smell is thrown off by a cigar Gore puffs, but, when is separated from
his stogie, the Cowled Canine recognizes Gore's scent and his barks tip
off Batman and Robin. The duo give chase and capture Gore on the
science-fiction set and have him sent back to jail, after which the producer
asks them--in vain--to repeat the battle with Gore, since one of their
cameras broke down in filming it.
Detective Comics No. 236
October 1956
Cover: Batman and Robin in Bat-Tank //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The New-Model Batman” (10 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Stan Kaye
Feature Character: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#103)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in BATMAN
#103)
Intro: Jonas Leigh (only appearance)
Villain: Wallace Waley, various crooks (first and only appearance for
all)
Synopsis: Criminal inventor Wallace Whaley gets out of prison and begins
turning out inventions by which crooks can counter Batman’s equipment,
and one super-weapon he intends to use himself.
Detective Comics No. 237
November 1956
Cover: Robin watching Batman train three Robins //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “Search For a New Robin” (10 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller; Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #85)
Supporting Characters: Alfred Pennyworth (next appears in BATMAN #104),
Commissioner Gordon (next appears in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #85)
Intro: Willy and another boy (only appearance for both)
Villains: A gang of crooks (first and only appearance)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
aid Princess Varina in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #85.
Synopsis: After a Bruce Wayne dummy set up to preserve Batman’s secret
identity is “murdered”, the Batman is forced to assume a new identity separate
from the “deceased” Wayne and scout for a boy to play the new Robin.
BATMAN #104
December 1956
Cover Credits
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Man Who Knew Batman's Secret" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #85)
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in World's Finest Comics #85; next appears
in Detective Comics #238)
Alfred Pennyworth (two middle names, Thaddeus Crane, are revealed in
this story, makeing his full name Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth; last
seen in Detective Comics #237)
Villians
John Varden and his gang (first and only appearance of all to date)
Other Characters
Chairman of the World Camera Show, and the Preisdent of the Mammoth
Movie Company, and Laura Lee (first and only appearance of all to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City.
Synopsis
Batman and Robin nab a pair of John Varden's hoods using a bazooka
to loot a bank. The captured criminals refuse to rat on their elusive
boss, but let slip the fact that Varden plans a big operation soon.
To trap the gang leader, Batman and Robin hatch a plan. The next
day, Batman and Robin patrol the rooftops of
Gotham City in plain sight, draw a crowd of reporters, and attract
another comical figure who claims to be Thaddeus Crane, a detective from
upstate who has come to study Batman's and Robin's crimefighting methods.
Crane climbs to a roof top to interview the dynamic duo, and catches Batman
with his cowl off, in the process of changing to Bruce Wayne. Thaddeus
Crane announces to the reporters that he knows Batman's secret identity,
and Batman and Robin admit they will have to guard him to keep it secret.
Crane is hired by the chairman of a camera show featuring a huge camera
as an exhibit and a movie company president to guard the exhibits and his
bejeweled star Laura Lee, respectively. Though Varden's mob strikes
in both places, Batman and Robin thwart their efforts and make it seem
as if Thaddeus Crane has overcome the crooks. John Varden's mob eventually
cons Crane into their clutches, and he meets with the mobster, though he
steadfastly refuses to reveal Batman's identity. But Batman and Robin,
who have used Crane (with his permission) as bait for their trap, break
in and defeat Varden and his gang. Crane later announces he is leaving
Gotham, and disappears forever. But, in the Batcave, he unmaskes
before Batman and Robin as their butler, Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth.
SECOND STORY
"Robin's 50 Batman Partners" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth (next appearance in Detective Comics #239)
Villians
Sparkles Grady and his gang (first and only appearance to date for
all)
Citizens of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman breaks his ankle during a fracas with the Sparkles
Grady mob, and Robin has to take his place as representative at the Batman
Exposition. The Exposition, covered on TV, features fifty images
of Batman in various forms--as a colossal robot, a giant statue, a mechanical
figure on a great clock, and so forth. Grady, watching the program,
notes that Robin still holds the pouch of diamonds recovered from their
heist, and takes himself and his gang to the exposition after hours where
only they and Robin, who is taking photographs of the exhibits, are present.
Robin is outnumbered, and endangered when the gang chief orders the Batman-robot
to "get" him, but uses the many Batman exhibits (including the mechanical
clock figure, who smaches the robot with a stroke of his hammer) to even
the odds. Finally, exhausted, Robin tries out a mystery exhibit.
It proves to be a giant fireworks display forming a great head of Batman,
and its brilliance momentarily blinds the thugs. He nets Grady and
his gang with the cape from the giant Batman statue and summons the police
to haul them away. Later, at Wayne Manor, Bruce expresses regret
that he could not have helped Robin, but Robin replies that he was with
him all the time.
THIRD STORY
"The Creature From 20,000 Fathoms" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #239)
Villian
Devoe (first and only appearance to date )
Other Characters
Babonga (a saurian monster; first and only appearance to date)
Professor Briggs, Fergus, Sloan, and a Pacific island tribe and their
chief (first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
Batman and Robin, as honorary members of the 50
Fathoms Club, a group of underwater specialists, attend a meeting at which
deep-sea diver Devoe presents photos of Babonga, a giant saurian monster
which appears periodically at a Pacific island which Devoe visited.
The members vote unanamosly to put up the money to bring Babonga and exhibit
it, with all of them together (including Batman and Robin) in on the Babgonga
shows up as promised and the club members take aim with rifles loaded with
mercy bullets--except that a first shot goes awry and blasts a section
of ship's rail out, explosively. Batman, realizing their bullets
have been switched, has the hunting party hold their fire and repels the
beast with a brilliant flash from a camera. One of the party, he
says, wishes to kill Babonga rather than bring it back alive. Batman
foils an attempt upon on his own life and lures Babonga out of danger when
senses their gas bombs have been filled with poisonous acid instead, but
the culprit remains beyond his grasp. Then when the dynamic duo go
down in a bathysphere, their connecting chain to the ship is cut--as they
had expected. The pair go out in diving suites they had left in the
bathysphere and beard Bobanga in its lair, drugging it with paralyzer serum.
The two heroes surface with the evidence to condemn the guilty party--Babonga's
egg. Devoe, the malefactor, confesses that he had intended to kill
Bobanga so that the egg which he owned would the only living member of
its species, thus enabling him to make a fortune himself from the exhibitions.
Batman replies that he knew his identity after the assault, since the deep
grooves on his wrists, caused by his diving suit's sleeves, were a dead
giveaway. Bobanga is taken back alive for exhibition and study. Batman
remarks later that the egg will take a century to hatch, anyway, and when
it does, it will hatch in the trophy room of the Batcave.
Detective Comics No. 238
December 1956
Cover: Batman and Robin before three doors //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Doors That Hid Disaster” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Dave Wood
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#105)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (as a voice; last appearance
in BATMAN #104)
Villains: Checkmate (Jones; first appearance; dies in this story) and
his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Several old enemies of Batman, namely the Robot Master, the
Bowler, and Wheelo, are mentioned but make no appearances.
Synopsis: Checkmate, an enemy of Batman, is dying from radiation poisoning,
but leaves an elaborate deathtrap to his men for use against Batman and
Robin.
Detective Comics No. 239
January 1957
Cover: Batman, Robin, and Batman robot in Bat-Cave //Sheldon Moldoff
/ Charles Paris (wash drawing)
Story: “Batman’s Robot Twin” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #86)
Supporting Characters: Alfred Pennyworth (between BATMAN #104 / 105),
Commissioner Gordon (next appears in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #86)
Intro: Prof. Carden, a robot Batman (only appearance for both)
Villain: Dall and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to perform at the Gotham Police Show in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #86.
Synopsis: A gangster gains control of a robot twin of Batman equipped
with a simulation of the real Batman’s mind, including knowledge of his
secret identity.
BATMAN #105
February 1957
Cover: Batman, Robin, and Batwoman vs. crooks from Trojan Horse
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Challenge Of Batwoman" (10 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #86)
Guest Star
Batwoman (last seen in Detective Comics #233; next appearance in World's
Finest Comics #90)
Villians
Curt Briggs and his gang (first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
Kathy Kane, still bound by her promise to Batman not to
assume her Batwoman identity to fight crime, does it nonetheless to go
to a costume party. At the same time, Batman and Robin are carrying
out an attack on the mob of a mysterious, masked gang boss who is attemping
to loot the mail car of a passing train. Batman twists his ankle
and is rendered helpless. The masked gangster, whose mask covers
the same area of his face as Batman's tries to escape on the train but
is choked by its smoke and falls off, hitting the ground so hard he gets
amnesia. As fate would have it, Batwoman is passing by on her cycle
and sees Robin chasing the gang-boss, who has instinctively discarded his
mask. When she catches up to them, she recognizes Briggs as a former
athlete and gym owner, and deduces incorrectly, because of the soot marks
on his lower face, that he is Batman. Robin, knowing that her seeing
the real Batman and Bruce Wayne both with a sprained ankle would lead her
to link the two identities, plays along with her. They go to Batwoman's
Batcavern, where she and Robin keeps the real Batman updated with his belt-radio.
Brigg's faulty memory causes him to tip them off to his gang's next robbery
attempt, at a museum. The threesome go there to combat the crooks,
but a second blow to the head return's Brigg's memory. The
pseudo-Batman plots to lure his two compatriots into a trap. Robin
reports him doing nothing more harmful that squeezing a rubber ball.
But, when they next encounter Brigg's gang, he turns on his "partners"
and helps his gang capture them. Then, another factor enters the
puzzle: the real Batman, appears apperently standing on a large statue,
ropes Briggs and gives the other two time to defeat the gang. Batman
explains that Briggs, a physical culture enthusiast, gave himself away
by squeezing the rubber ball, an isometric exercise. Kathy goes back
into retirement, and Batman explains to Robin later that he is able to
stand by strapping his lower leg to his thigh and standing on a dummy leg.
When Kathy meets the lamed Bruce later on she berates him for not being
heroic like Batman.
SECOND STORY
"The Second Boy Wonder" (6 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Plotter,scripter: France Herron
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker:
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in Detective Comics #239; next appears
in the second story of the next issuse)
Villian
Gorilla Hardy (first and only appearance to date)
Others Characters
Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman and Robin are returning from a battle with gangster
Gorilla Hardy and his men, during which Batman has to rescue a captive
and a bound Robin. In the Batcave, Batman changes into his Bruce
Wayne civilian identity, but when "Robin" removes his mask and reveals
a different face than that of Dick Grayson's. The "new Robin" claims
to be Fred Loyd, son of Olympic Decathlon champion Fred Loyd, trained by
his father to athletic perfection. He also claims that Robin, wounded
in his encounter with Hardy, stumbled onto his doorstep and asked him to
take his place to help Batman, giving him the Robin costume. The
Bat-Signal flashes outside and Batman is informed via radio that Gorilla
Hardy has escaped en route to prison and is hiding in an amusement park.
"Freddy" blackmails Batman into letting him come along or having his identity
revealed. The twosome nab Hardy in the house of mirrors, and
then return home, where Bruce and Alfred smilingly assure Fred that he
is a worthy replacement for Dick. Angrily, "Fred Loyd" removes his face
mask and is revealed as Robin. The two adults burst out laughing,
and reveal to the dismayed Dick that he gave himself away when he got out
of the Batmobile in a pitchdark Batcave --and went over and switched on
the light!
THIRD STORY
"The Mysterious Bat-Missle" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (next appearance for both in Detective Comics #240)
Guest Star
The Batman of the Future (first and only appearance to date)
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in World's Finest Comics # 86; next
appears in second story of next issuse.)
Villians
Gunner Tharp, and his gang, and assorted Gotham crooks (first and only
appearance to date for all)
Comments
The future of this particular Future Batman is undoutedly changed or
nonexistent as a result of the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Synopsis
Batman and Robin are flabbergasted by the sight of a black,
capsule-shaped missle with the Bat-insignia on its hull emerging from the
floor of the Batcave without leaving a hole behind it.
They discover that the missle, which has a two-man cockpit, can tunnel
through solid substances without distrubing said solids or being disturbed,
and moves to any destination pictured in the driver's thoughts. Batman
and his aide uses the "Bat-missle" to track down Gunner Tharp and his gang,
in hiding, and entrap the mobsters by disguising the "Bat-Missle" as the
Batmobile. Later a figure materializes in the Bat-cave beside the
strange craft. He proves to be the Batman of the Future, who dispatched
his future Batmobile to 1956 to help his role model, the original Batman.
He returns to his future world with the Future Batmobile, unable to return
for a second visit due to the lack of enough power-element. Batman
offers him thanks as he fades out, but he thanks Batman for giving him
the example to begin his own career.
Detective Comics No. 240
February 1957
Cover: Robin watching Batman given lie-detector test in court by Burt
Wever //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Outlaw Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (between BATMAN #105 / 106)
Intro: Ryan, Smitty, district attorney of Gotham City (only appearance
for all)
Villain: Burt Wever and his gang (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: Batman finds himself accused of accumulating stolen loot
from criminals he has captured, and appears to be unable to clear his name.
BATMAN #106
March 1957
Cover: Robin watching Batman paint portrait of his unmasked face
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer;
FIRST STORY
"Batman’s Secret Helper" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (last seen in Detective Comics #240)
Villians
Jim Varrel (first and only appearance to date)
Two unnamed thieves (in flashback; first and only appearance to for
both)
Jim Varrel's gang (in flashback; first and only appearance for all
to date)
An unnamed art thief (in flashback; first and only appearance to date)
Two unnamed holdup men (in flashback; first and only appearance to
date for both)
Other Characters
Fred Varrel (Jim Varrel's brother; first and only appearance to date)
James Wilkins and other employees of the Metropolis Bank, Bill Seton,
A mother and her baby, an announcer, Dr. Walter Thorne and other doctors
and a nurse at a Coast City hospital (first and only appearance for all
to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Comment
This story contains what may be the first mention of Coast
City, the future home of Green Lantern.
Synopsis
A new television program stars Batman relating stories
of people who have helped him in past cases, and presenting them for their
hour of recognition before the camera. He speaks of Jim Wilkins,
a locksmith, who followed his Morse code-tapped instructions through a
locked bank safe door to rescue him, Robin and a cashier; of Bill Seton,
an underwater welder who cut their Batmarine free of a trap; of a baby
whose cries of pain signalled to Batman that an art thief had stuck golden
statuettes in his baby carriage; and Dr. Walter Thorne, a surgeon who operated
to save Batman's life in a power blackout by the light of a lighthouse's
beam. Their most mysterious helper they intended to smoke out by
a ruse, the mystery man who helped them against Jim Varrel, a mobster still
on the loose. By the next show, Varrel is nabbed trying to "assassinate"
the mystery helper--who turns out to be a mannequin--and the real helper
reveals himself as Varrel's law-abiding brother, who has been hiding his
criminal sibling. Varrel agrees to reconsider his ways in prison.
SECOND STORY
"Storm Over Gotham City" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in third story of last issue; next appears
in Detective Comics #241)
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in third story of last issuse)
Villians
Keene Harder and his gang (first and only appearance to date for all)
Other Characters
Workers at the National Weather Bureau (first and only appearance for
all to date) Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
When a hurricane proves too powerful for even hunter planes
to chart, the National Weather Bureau has Commissioner Gordon request Batman
and Robin to do the job in their Batplane. The mighty craft is able
to do the job, charting it at a wind-speed of 102MPH, and then bring them
home safely. Keene Harner, a local mobster, is noted by Batman asking
questions at the local Weather Bureau office. But the heroes are
kept busy throughout the duration of the hurricane helping dock an ocean
liner, helping a worker secure a television mast, saving a wind-tossed
car and its driver, and standing guard over fallen power lines. Commissioner
Gordon's men are out in tanks, their cars proving to light for work in
the storm. But Harner and his men have stolen a tank and used it
to blast their way into the Gotham Branch Bank. Batman and Robin
intercept them in the act and open the front doors of the bank, releasing
gusts of wind that knock the armed crooks off their feet and make them
easy prey for the crusaders. He returns the stolen tank to Commissioner
Gordon with the thieves, and the storm blows out to sea soon after.
THIRD STORY
"The Puppet Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (next appearance for both in Detective Comics #241)
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth (next appearance in Detective Comics #241)
Villians
Guy Graney, Victor Vonn, and other Gotham crooks (first and only appearance
to date for all)
Other Characters
Members of the Gotham City Charity Circus, an art expert, and a painter
(first and only appearance for all to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
During a performance of the Gotham City Charity Circus,
Batman is forced by a strange compulsion to play a trumpet solo, make a
high dive into shallow water, and play lion-tamer to a cageful of big cats--all
skills he has never before exhibited. Moreover, after eack feat,
he is compelled to want to reveal his secret identity to the TV cameras
that cover the circus, but he fights the impulse back. His woes are
being caused by Gay Graney. a Gotham gangleader who has stolen a "mindray"
invented by a dead scientist. The "mindray" can be used to transmit
the thoughts of the wearer to anh person, and, if the wearer's will is
strong enough, force him to do his bidding. The men who influenced
Batman before--a turmpet player, a high diver, and a lion-tamer--were all
competing for Graney's $100,000 prize to be given to the one who makes
Batman reveal his secert identity. The next day, Batman is at the
Gotham Gallery, and a painter at Graney's hideout almost forces him to
paint a picture of his unmasked face--but Robin thrown a Batarang through
the canvas before it is completed, breaking the spell. The art expert
at the Gallery identifies the technique of the painting as that of Vincent
Vonn, an art forger. Batman and Robin capture Vonn and learn of the
plot of Graney's. Soon, Graney is visited by a newcomer who seems
to use the device to make Batman unmask on Tv. But the unmasked face
is not Bruce Wayne's, and Batman --who has disguised himself with makeup--soon
afterwards breaks into Graney's headquarters, captures Graney and his contestants,
and reveals that he has not shown his actual visage. Later, in the
Batcave, the lucky "contestant" proves to be Alfred.
Detective Comics No. 241
March 1957
Cover: Robin and red-costumed Batman in Bat-Cave with multi-colored
Batman uniforms //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Rainbow Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker:
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#106; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #87)
Supporting Characters: Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth (last
appearance of both in BATMAN #106)
Intro: Marion Marley (only apperance)
Villains: A gang of crooks (first and only appearance)
Commment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team up with Superman
and recount their battle with Elton Craig in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #87.
Synopsis: Dick Grayson sprains his arm while rescuing a little girl
from a car. Thus, Batman wears differently-colored uniforms during
his succeeding appearances to distract attention from Robin’s wounded arm.
BATMAN #107
April 1957
Cover: Batman and Owlman dropping to roof of crook’s truck
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Boy Who Adopted Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #87)
Villians
Slim Miller and his gang (first and only appearance to date for all)
Other Characters
Mrs. Benson and Danny Benson (her son; first and only appearance to
date for both)
Mrs. Ryan (first and only appearance to date)
Synopsis
Danny Benson's father is dead and his mother works
days, so, when he gets lonely--which is often--he goes and talks to another
father-figure, the statue of Batman in a Gotham Park. One day Batman
and Robin, taking a shortcut through the park to their Batmobile,overhear
Danny telling the statue about his wish for a bike so he could get a deivery
job. The next day Danny finds a very special bicycle beside the statue,
a black-painted job with Batwings streaming from the handlebars and a "Bat-signal"
headlight, with a tag reading "To Danny" looped about it. The next
time he comes to the statue, Danny tells it (and the real Batman and Robin,
hiding nearby) about a strange thing that happened to him lately.
He startled two men badly by shining the Bat-signal on a wall nearby them,
so that one dropped his black notebook. Danny picked it up the notebook
to hand it back to them, noting some strange markings in it. The
owner of the book grabbed it back and ducked into the nearby laundry with
his friend. Realizing something is afoot, Batman and Robin reveal
themselves to the astonished Danny, and get him to tell exactly where he
saw the men. Through detective work, Batman and Robin track down
the men and their boss, "reformed" ex-con Slim Miller, who is using his
button factory to produce counterfeit transportation tokens. Danny
helps in their detection, and, fittingly, Slim Miller's car, cutting through
Gotham's park, slides and crashes into the Batman statue.
Miller draws a gun on Batman, but Danny, at the scene, shines his Bat-signal
light in the crook's face and blinds him long enough for Batman to take
him out. A day later, Danny and his mother receive a reward check
for bringing in the mobsters, from the hands of a policeman who shyly asks
Mrs. Benson out to dinner. Some days later, Danny makes a last visit
to the Batman statue. His mother is getting married soon, he says,
and he won't have time to spend there with a real father to help him.
But he promises never to forget Batman. And the real Batman and Robin,
watching him go, promise not to forget him, either.
SECOND STORY
"Robin Falls In Love" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Villians
Ben Keefe and assorted crooks (first and only appearance of all to
date)
Other Characters
Vera Lovely, Paul Garvey, Roddy Dale, nd the cast of the "Ice Capers"
(first and only appearance for all to date)
Citizens of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman and Robin take in a rehearsal of the "Ice Capers"
show they will make an appearance for chairty in a week. While there,
Robin swings down and rescues Vera Lovely, a beautiful teen-aged skater,
from crashing into a ring of fire blown off-position by a fan. Vera
insists on rewarding Robin with a kiss, which a photographer takes a picture
of, and Robin begins to fall--hard--for Vera. Batman points out that
the photographer never took his lens cap off. The photographer, who had
earlier remarked that he wanted to see Vera's first-ever pair of skates,
had been told by her press agent Paul Garvey that they were in a bank vault
until they could be auctioned off at the preformance for charity.
Robin begins dating Vera, and begins cutting corners, on his crime-fighting
with Batman. But Garvey, intent on following his boss's orders for
a publicity romance, keeps Robin and Vera seperated by various ruses so
that she will be forced to go out with Roddy Dale, Miracle Pictures' latest
teenage idol. Both Robin and Vera, misunderstanding, are less than
happy.
The night of the performance, Robin brings himself and
Batman an hour early to watch Vera skate. Batman notes the phoney
photographer at the press box, finds out that none of the other press men
know him, and describes him on the phone to the police. By that means
he learns that the man is actually Ben Keefe, wanted on suspicion of heisting
$50,000 in jewels. The detective deduces that Keefe has hidden the jewels
in Vera's first pair of skates. Keefe, disguised as a skater, snatches
the skates away from their new owner after an auction and tries and escape
across the ice. But Robin stops him by bringing a sandbag down and
spilling it in his path, causing him to slip and fall. Afterward,
Robin and Vera get together, compare notes, and find out how they have
been gulled, and the P.R. man repents his error. But Robin confides
to Batman on the way home that he intends to keep his mind on crooks from
here on in, not girls.
THIRD STORY
"The Grown-Up Boy Wonder" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (becomes "Owlman" for a time in this story, but not
to be confused with the Crime Syndicate member introduced in Justice League
of America #29; next appearance for both in Detective Comics #242)
Villians
The Daredevils (three acrobatic criminals; first and only appearance
to date for all)
Frankie the Fence,and assorted Gotham crooks (first and only appearance
to date for all)
Other Characters
A truant officer and Robin's classmates (first and only appearance
to date for all)
Citizens of Gotham City
Comments
The costumes worn by the Daredevils in this story ironically resemble
the current costume worn by the Marvel Comics hero, Daredevil.
Synopsis
When Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson examine a box which Superman
found floating in outer space and left with them until he returned from
a current mission, Dick accidentally causes it to open and spew forth a
gas that ages him to a young adult. The two are unsure of what to
do in Superman's abscence, but the Bat-signal draws Batman away to a jewel
robbery in Gotham being committed by the Daredevils, ex-acrobats turned
to crime. Batman vetoes Dick coming along as a second Batman, saying
that he has a lot of mental growth to do yet. But Dick sneaks on
the "Owlman" costume that Bruce had stored away for a masquerade party,
grabs a lift on the back of the Batmobile, and hurries away with Batman
to the scene of the crime. Batman angrily thinks that he'd spank
Dick, if he wasn't so big; the Daredevils manage to make a getaway, and
Owlman, misgauging his weight, almost falls to his death when a flagpole
breaks in his hands. Batman, saving him, angrily berates him for
"acting like a kid--still rushing ahead without thinking!"
Dick begins to see the disadvantages of living
in an adult body, such as his sudden cut--off from all his young pals and
virtual isolation from the outside world. But, still confident he
can fight crime as a man, he becomes Owlman again, tracks the Daredevils
to a prominent fence's lair, and promptly knocks himself out by not ducking
under a low ceiling beam. The crooks unmask him, but cannot place
his adult face. Dick admits that he still has a lot of growing up
to do, and Batman allows that if he can admit that, he isn't a kid anymore.
Batman and Owlman go outside, tear into the three Daredevils, and bring
them down. Shortly after the crooks are carted off, Dick faints,
and awakens in the Batcave as a boy again, the effect of the gas being
temporary. The Daredevils, in jail, vow to find out who the Owlman
really was, not knowing they have a long wait ahead of them. And Dick Grayson
returns to school, eager to get back with his friends.
Detective Comics No. 242
April 1957
Cover: Batman, Robin, Brainy Walker, Trigger Turner, and Rackets Reed
in Bat-Cave //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Underworld Bat-Cave” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#107)
Supporting Characters: Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth
Cameo appearance: Ned Dove (as a bust; first and only appearance)
Villains: Brainy Walker, Trigger Turner, Rackets Reed (first and only
appearance for all)
Synopsis: Brainy Walker uses an elaborate treasure-hunt ruse to trick
Robin into revealing the location of the Bat-Cave, and intends to force
them out of their headquarters.
Detective Comics No. 243
May 1957
Cover: Robin on fire-extension ladder, talking to giant Batman //Sheldon
Moldoff
Story: “Batman the Giant” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #88)
Supporting Characters: Commissioner Gordon (next appears in BATMAN
#108), Alfred Pennyworth (next appears in issue #245)
Intro: Dr. Greggson (only appearance)
Villains: Jay Vanney, various crooks (first and only appearance for
all)
Comment: Shortly after this story, Batman and Robin team up with Superman
to battle Lex Luthor and the Joker in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #88.
Synopsis: Batman is turned into a thirty-foot giant by a scientist’s
Maximizer ray, and the Minimizer which can restore him to normal height
is stolen by a crook.
BATMAN #108
June 1957
Cover: Batman and Robin in Batmobile, Batman Jones on bicycle
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Big Batman Quiz" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #88)
Villians
Joe Harmon (first and only appearance to date)
The Fenton Brothers (in flashback; first and only appearance to date
for all)
Other Characters
Frank Davis (first appearance; dies in this story)
The crew of The Big Quiz (first and only appearance for all to date)
Walsh and a medical examiner (first and only appearance for both)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman appears on The Big Quiz program to verify the answers
given by super-contestants Frank Davis, who stands to win $125,000 from
correct responses to questions about Batman's career. Emcee Joe Harmon
feeds Davis some tough Batman questions, but the contestant answers them
all correctly. Finally, Harmon places Davis in an isolation booth with
a notepad and asks him the question, "What is Batman's Secret Identity?"
Though Batman blocks off the camera's view, he is able to see that Davis
has written, "Batman is Bruce Wayne"--only seconds before he collapses
in the booth, and dies of poisoning. Robin notes that the notepad
which Davis wrote Batman's identity on is blank, and believes someone has
stolen the page with his real name. Supicion is thrown upon Garth,
a convict brought under guard to appear on a crime program, whose guard
was slugged during the quiz show; Batman encounters a man who appears to
be Garth, but his expert knowledge of the stuido layout makes Batman suspicious.
Later, as Harmon hands Batman the question envelope, Walsh, the owner of
the show, confirms that Davis was supposed to have been asked what the
contents of Batman's utility belt were, not what his secret identity was.
Ergo, the real murder switched the envelopes. Batman confirms that
the poison was a sort of harmless in liquid or solid form, but deadly as
a gas. Restaging the scene, Batman shoves Harmon into the isolation
booth. Harmon desperately tries to break out, hollering that he will
be poisoned. Batman tells him that he has had another light bulb
installed; the one Harmon had put in, on which he had painted the liquid
poison which became deadly as the bulbs heat evaporated it,has been removed.
Batman points out that Harmon gave himself away with makeup grease on the
envelope he handed Batman--makeup which he used to imitate Garth, who has
since been found trussed up in hiding. Harmon confesses that he had
tried to cut a deal with Davis for a 50% cut of the prize in return for
answers to the questions; Davis had refused and said that he would expose
Harmon after the show. Harmon pulls a gun, but Robin distracts him
by shattering the light bulb Harmon had poisoned, and Batman kayoes him.
Later, Batman reveals that the poison gas bleached out the writing on the
page with his secret identity, so all is well.
SECOND STORY
"Prisoners of The Bat-Cave" (6 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Villian
Len Paul (first and only appearance to date)
Other Characters
John Roddy (first and only appearance to date)
The Govenor of Gotham State
The District Attorney of Gotham City
Cameo Appearances
The Joker and Two-Face (as statues)
Diver Jones (as a masked diving suit only; no real appearance; first
and only appearance to date)
Synopsis
John Roddy, convicted of killing a man named Winters and
scheduled for the death house, pleads his innocence to Batman, who believes
him. Batman goes to the Governor and get a slight delay, only until
midnight of that night. At the district attorney's office, Batman
and Robin pick up two packages, one of evidence in the Roddy case and the
a special package adressed to Batman and Robin. By an electrical
mishap both are trapped in the Bat-Cave, and the package, actually a booby-trap,
bursts into flame and melts their radio transmitter and telephone; Batman
puts it out by lowering a hollow bust of Two-Face onto it. Determining
that the crime was committed by a man with a much longer thumb than Roddy,
the dynamic duo proceed to deduce exactly who the killer was, and discover
him to be Len Paul. Batman uses an insulated diving suit to help
him survive touching a powerful electric charge to the Bat-Cave's lock
mechanism, freeing them. Then they race to apprehend Len Paul and
save Roddy's life with only minutes to spare.
THRID STORY
"The Caper of Batman Jones" (10 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both appear next in Detective Comics #244)
Supproting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (between Detective Comics #243 and 244)
Villians
Several unnamed thieves (first and only appearance to date for all)
The Charity Circus thieves (in a flashback; first and only appearance
to date)
Other Characters
Batman Jones and his parents (first and only appearance for all to
date; see comment for issue #92, first story)
An unnamed millionaire and his butler (in flashback; first and only
appearance to date for all)
John Vantine (first and only appearance to date; no actural appearance
name mentioned only)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Comment
The flashback in this story probably takes place around 1951, as Batman
Jones is probably six or seven years old.
Synopsis
Years ago, near the genesis of his career, Batman used his Batmobile
to stop and out-of-control car, saving the family within. The grateful
father and mother named their newborn son Batman Jones in his honor.
Batman, in return, built a "Bat-Coop" crib for him and posed for reporters'
pictures with the family, holding the baby himself. Since Batman
never took rewards, offtimes the people he helped sent presents or money
to the Jones family in his stead. Batman Jones grew up with Batman
as his idol. Then, one night when the Bat-signal drew Batman and
Robin to police headquarters, they were witness to the arrival of young
Batman Jones, clad in a homemade uniform and riding a bike. Commissioner
Gordon asked Batman and Robin to help recover a silver statue stolen from
a millionaire's home. By threating to launch his own, investigation,
Batman Jones blackmailed the dynamic duo into taking him along, to keep
him out of mischef. The boy proves of use indeed when organizes a
game of hide-and-seek among a group of neighborhood boys, and uses their
talent and finding places to hide to uncover the stolen statue's hiding
place. Batman intercepts the thief as he returns for his booty.
Later, Batman and Robin take their protege to the Bat-Cave, claiming to
be taking him for a training session. In reality, they intend to
show him that crime-fighting is too difficult for him to master, and thus
discourge him. But Batman Jones proves quick-witted and agile enough
to pass their tests, and after they send him back home, the two heroes
admit they have to try another tack. On his own, Batman Jones deduces
that crooks will try to use the machine tools exhibited at a hobby show
to tunnel through a connecting wall into the bank next door. The
youth is there to see the crooks try their hand, but Batman and Robin are
also present and apprehend the thieves. However, Batman Jones has
discovered a stamp exhibit while at the show, and gets so engrossed with
it that he slacks off his Batman-isms in favor of stamp collecting.
Relived, Batman and Robin hit the road.
Detective Comics No. 244
June 1957
Cover: Batman and Robin with batarangs //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The 100 Batarangs of Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#108; both also appear in flashbacks; see Comment under BATMAN #81)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in BATMAN
#108)
Intro: Lee Collins, Elmer Mason (only appearance for both)
Villains: Bard (in flashback), Jay Garris and his gang, various crooks
(some in flashback; first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: A crook put in jail by Batman with a Batarang begins a plan
to use bomb batarangs against Batman when he is released.
Detective Comics No. 245
July 1957
Cover: Batman, Robin, Mysteryman, and Vicki Vale //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Dynamic Trio” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #89)
Supporting Characters: Commissioner Gordon (becomes Mysteryman for
this one story only; next appears in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #89), Vicki
Vale (last appearance in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #85; next appears in BATMAN
#111), Ben (last appearance in BATMAN #98; next appears in ?), Alfred Pennyworth
(last appearance in issue #243; next appears in BATMAN #110)
Intro: Mayor of Gotham City (only appearance)
Villains: Various crooks (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
and the Club of Heroes to learn the secret of Lightning-Man in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #89.
Synopsis: Batman and Robin join with a new costumed partner, Mysteryman,
to take down a ring of crook-smugglers in Gotham, and Vicki Vale vows to
discover their new partner’s identity.
BATMAN #109
August 1957
Cover Credits
Artists: Bob Kane and Lew Schwartz (?)
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"Three Crimes Against Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Bob Kane
Inker:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (last seen in World's Finest Comics #89)
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in World's Finest Comics #89)
Villian
Bagley and his gang (first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
A villian named Bagley, in his Dragon Fly craft, is able
to exert enough force with an electromagnet to steal metal objects by drawing
them through the air to his airborne plane. However, the only objects
that he steals are models or busts of Batman or his equipment. The
duo of Batman and Robin are unable to stop him making three related thefts,
including his pulling the Bat-signal right off the roof of Police headquarters.
However, Bagley has a method to his appearent maddness: he knows that such
thefts will draw Batman to his hollow statue in Gotham Park, which Batman
will "stand in" for, and the forwarned Bagley and his gang will be able
to capture and unmask him. Thus Bagley hopes to become king of Gotham's
underworld. However, when he sees Robin replacing the statue with
another Batman figure and carries out his plan, Bagley only unmaskes a
Batman robot. The real Batman, who has used his robot as a decoy,
descends with Robin into the crooks' lair and captures them. The
stolen Batman items are returned.
SECOND STORY
"Follow the Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Bob Kane
Inker: Lew Schwartz
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon
Villians
Waller and his gang (first and only appearance to date for all)
Other Characters
Prof. Henry Larabee and his students (first and only appearance for
all to date)
Synopsis
A Gotham mob trains Waller, one of its members, to impersonate
Batman in order to help them during a big job. The real Batman and
Robin, having recently finished a lecture at Professor Larabee's School
for Private Detectives, are lured by a phony radio alert into a trap, in
which the Batmobile is knocked off a hill road and Robin is thrown clear,
through neither the Batmobile nor the two heroes is seriously damaged.
Waller, the phoney Batman, is released from the truck which hit the Batmobile
to substitute for the real Batman. When police arrive, responding
to the fake call, the caped figure has them take Robin to the hospital
for a short period of observation, and, later, has them keep him there
for undisclosed reasons. Prof. Larabee and his students hear
of the accident, investigate the scene, and conclude that the real Batman
was dragged away and an impostor has taken his place. When they confront
the Batman-figure, they challenge him to do an acrobatic
feat, which he flubs. The detectives give chase, but the coweled
protagonist gives them the slip. He then goes to guard a radium shipment,
taking over from the reassured guards. But, when the mob breaks in,
the caped figure proves to both them and late-arrivals Larabee and
his detectives that he is the real Batman by mopping up the crooks himself.
Afterward, Batman explains that he overcame Waller after the accident and
took his impostor's place to nab the criminals during their next robbery
attempt. Larabee apologizes, admitting his detectives methods could
not discern when he was impersonating himself.
THIRD STORY
"The 1,001 Inventions Of Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Artist: Dick Sprang
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #247)
Supproting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (in flashback)
Villians
Curt Mathis and his gang (first only appearance for all to date)
Verne Hainey and his gang (in flashback; first and only appearance
to date for all)
A gang of jewel thieves (in flashback; first and only appearance to
date for all)
Other Characters
Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Using their Flying Eye spy-device, Batman and Robin are
able to pick up two crooks' conversation that reveals the thieves' boss
is planning a big heist using one of Batman's own inventions. The
two bring back the Flying Eye before it can be spotted, and begin to review
their collection of crime-fighting inventions, wondering which can be the
one which has been copied for crime use. Their jet-powered units,
which allow humans to fly for short distances, was used to grab pigeons
which jewel thieves had banded their loot to; their Sleuth Machine, a mobile
device which fastens a radar beam upon a given subject and follows it,
emitting a radio signal, was used to trail a mobster to his lair.
A detonator ray was once used to set off high explosives in a deserted
ship. But none of the devices have ever been close enough to
mobsters for them to discern their inner workings. However, Batman
recalls the Flying Eye's creation, when the used it to locate criminal
scientist Curt Mathis. Robin recalls that the tube of Mathis's X-ray
machine was warm when they arrived to take him in, and Batman deduces that
Mathis must have used it to take a picture of th inner workings of the
Flying Eye. Mathis proves to have made a Flying-Eye for himself,
but Batman and Robin, using their jet-units, are able to close upon the
Eye in mid-air, destory its sight-equipment, and force Mathis to bring
it back to his hideout for repairs, where they confront and capture him
and his mobsters. The duplicate Flying Eye and Mathis's X-ray film
of the real Eye are consfiscated and taken back to the Bat-Cave.
Detective Comics No. 246
August 1957
Cover: Batman and Robin vs. killer in suit of armor //Sheldon Moldoff
/ Charles Paris
Story: “Murder At Mystery Castle” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between BATMAN #109 / 110)
Intro: James Barham (dies in this story), John Gorley, Adam Barham
(only appearance for both)
Villains: Jay Sonderson, Robert Cray (first and only appearance for
both)
Synopsis: Batman and Robin investigate the crossbow murder of a gun
manufacturer in an ancient, imported castle.
BATMAN #110
September 1957
Cover: Batman walking through prison bars as hood and Robin watch
Artist: Curt Swan and Win Mortimer
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"Crime-Of-The-Month Club" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Dave Wood
Artist: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Features Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in Detective Comics #246)
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in second story of last issue; next
appears in third story of this issue)
Villians
The Joker (last seen in World's Finest Comics #88; next appears in
issue #123)
Blinkey Dean and other members of the Crime-of-the-Month club (first
and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Mr. and Mrs.Van Dirk (first and only apperance to date for both)
Citizens of Gotham City
Comments
This story takes place in late May and early June.
Synopsis
After barely stopping the theft of a $50,000 black orchid
at a flower show in may, Batman and Robin compare it to other odd recent
crimes in police files, such as a March 15th holdup by baloon at the Gotham
Gas Works or an April Fools Day heist at a fur warehouse by men wearing
strange masks. Batman begins to see the pattern: "March winds...April
Fools Day...and a flower theft in May!" The crimes, he deduces, are
linked to the months themselves, and he pegs the Joker as their perpetrator.
Indeed, the Joker has already organized a
Crime-Of-The-Month Club, in which he sells plans for "monthly" crimes to
members of the club by auction. To his latest client, Blinky Dean,
he sells a plot to rob the June wedding of the wealthy Van Dirks.
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, guessing the target, are invited and able
to stop Dean and a confederate, appearing, respectively, as bride and groom
on a giant wedding cake, from a stickup job on the hosts, as Batman and
Robin. During the fracas Dean drops his "Crime-Of-The-Month Club
card and Batman recovers it. They realize the Joker will attempt
to pull another June crime to make up for his loss, and, after a couple
of false starts, successfully capture the Joker and his clients trying
to rob a movie house showing th film, Jupiter's Bride. And Jupiter'
bride, as Batman explains to Robin, is none other than June.
SECOND STORY
"The Secret Of Batman's Butler" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Plotter,Scripter: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth (origin revealed in this story, in flashback; flashback
takes place between Alfred's flashback appearance in Untold Legend of the
Batman #2/ Detective Comics #501 and first Earth-One appearance in third
story of issue #92; see also issue #216; last appearance in Detective Comics
#245)
Vicki Vale (in flashback; first chronological appearance; next chronological
appearance in third story of issue #98)
Villians
A band of river pirates (in flashback; first and only appearance to
date for all) Dan Marly (no appearance; name only mentioned; first
and only appearance to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
While Batman and Robin are out on a mission, Alfred sits
down and begins composing an farewell letter. He writes to his employers
about how he began work for them, and how, shortly afterward, he was approached
by a man named Noyes, who tried to get information about Bruce Wayne from
him, even at the point of bribery. Alfred refused, and threatened
to call the police. Some months later, Alfred heard the voice of
Dick Grayson calling to from a secret passageway behind the grandfather
clock, and discovered his employers were realy Batman and Robin.
He tended a wounded Batman, who was glad to take him into his confidence.
He mentioned Noyes, but BAtman said to pay him no heed.
Alfred goes on to write of how he helped Batman and Robin
in varuous ways, many times protecting their secret identities from revelation.
But, recently, he saw Noyes himself in the Bat-Cave. Thus, he writes,
the secret has been disclosed somehow through Alfred's own blundering,
and he must now say goodbye as a result. Finishing his letter, Alfred
hits upon a plan to save Batman's secret, and dresses up as Batman when
Noyes returns to the Bat-Cave. Alfred reveals to Noyes that he is
actually the Caped Crusader, but Noyes removes a facial disguise, and is
disclosed as Bruce Wayne. Bruce explains that he had first worn the
"Noyes" disguise to test Alfred's loyalty, and the butler passed whith
flying colors. Recently he revived the Noyes disguise to help in
his search for Dan Marly. Alfred replies that he is relieved that
he can return to being a butler, and Batman counters that to he and Robin,
Alfred is the greatest gentleman's gentleman in the world.
THIRD STORY
"The Phantom Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Artist: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #247)
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth (next appearance in second story of next issue)
Commissioner Gordon (next appearance in Detective Comics #247; last
seen in first story of this issue)
Villians
The Len Landers Mob (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman and Robin's current problem is finding the Len
Landers Mob, which has committed three major thefts without hindrance.
In the industrial section of Gotham, they notice a huge fire at Gotham
Electronics Company. While saving a victum from flames, Batman is
subjected to a burst of uncanny radiation when an experimental machine
blows up. He discovers that the "Blast of electric force" has rendered
him immaterial, unable to touch or be touched by solid matter. Realizing
the secret must not get out or Gotham's criminal element would run wild,
Batman returns with Robin to the Bat-Cave, where they hook up a device
to send a powerful positive electric charge through him, to no avail.
Batman continues in his efforts, using his strange
condition to aid his work, as when he locates a man trapped in a cave-in
by walking through solid rock. Then he and Robin Landers's hideout
beneath a vacant mansion, but the crooks trap Robin--and, they believe,
him--behind steel bars. Batman walks through the bars and demonstrates
his inability to be hit, but Robin is still trapped, and he is unable his
aide. Batman returns to their place of imprisonment and fools their
guard into opening their cage door by having Robin walk into his body,
making it appear as though he has escaped; once free, Robin cages the crook
and he and Batman reach the Batmobile. Batman notes a thunderstorm
brewing outside and has them return to the Bat-Cave. Alfred is required
to fly a kite outdoors wired to the electrical device in the Bat-Cave.
When a bolt of lightning strikes the kite, its charge is conducted to the
machine, which releases a titanic bolt of force through Batman's body.
His solid nature is restored, and Batman is easily able to bring Len Landers
and his mob during a bank robbery. Afterwards, at the Bat-Cave, Batman
allows that he was getting pretty hungry in his unsolid state.
Detective Comics No. 247
September 1957
Cover: Robin watching Batman throw cape and cowl into Bat-Cave fire
//Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Man Who Ended Batman’s Career” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman (becomes Starman for a time in this story),
Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN #110; both next appear in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #90)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (between BATMAN #110 / 111)
Villains: Professor Milo (first appearance; next appears in BATMAN
#112), his gang, various crooks (first and only appearance for all)
Comments: The Starman identity Batman temporarily adopts in this story
is not to be confused with the Earth-Two Starman, the Starman who appears
in FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL #12, the Starman who premieres in ADVENTURE COMICS
#467, or the two post-Crisis Starmen.
Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
and Batwoman to fight Elton Craig in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #90.
Synopsis: Criminal scientist Professor Milo succeeds in giving Batman
a phobia about bats, causing him to adopt the costume and identity of Starman.
BATMAN #111
October 1957
Cover: Armored Batman and Robin swinging on chains // Bob Kane / Lew
Schwartz (?)
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Gotham City Safari"(8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Bob Kane
Inker: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #90)
Villian
Alec Judson (first and only appearance to date)
Other Characters
Brad Jones, Will Tyler, and Markham (first and only appearance for
all to date)
Ed Yancey (first appearance; dies in this story)
Synopsis
Batman and Robin have been made members of the Safari
Club, a group of Gotham big-game hunters. Their host, Alec Judson,
takes them on a tour of his palatial country estate, subdivided into different
areas to simulate such locales as Africa, Mexico, and Malay, and each stocked
with appropriate wild animals. Then they begin their annual contest,
to see which of the hunters can be the first bag one of Judson's animals,
with a pith helmet-trophy the prize. However, the first victim turns
out to be a man--Ed Yancey. When a horseshoe watch fob is recovered
near the body, Jones identifies it as belonging to Yancey, the English
former member of their club. Judson relates how, on a sarafi in Africa,
an elephant stampede had begun and all of them were able to run for saftey
except Markham, who had twisted his ankle. They later had Markham
doctered and returned to health, but, says Judson, Markham swore revenge
upon them for not helping him to saftey. Batman and Robin begin their
search on the grounds for the killer. The dynamic duo must contend
with a charging rhino, a crocodile, and a lion net that eventually traps
Batman. A figure who appears to be Markham, after stepping out of
the way of a black panther to avoid bad luck, kayoes Robin and carries
him off. After escaping the with help on a lion, Batman tracks "Markham"
to a Mayan temple in "Mexico." There he finds Robin and Markham bound
and gagged. When released, Markham explains that they had seen Judson
impersonating him, and that he has been trussed up ever since coming to
America to ask Judson for a loan. Judson reappears and threatens
to shoot them to death, but Batman bluffs him, saying that he gave away
his imposture when he avoided a black panther; Englishmen consider it good
luck to cross the path of a black cat. Claiming to have loaded
Judson's gun with blanks, Batman tackles the startled thief and brings
him down. Judson confesses that he killed Yancey because the latter
had found he was operating an international crime-cartel, using his hunting
trips to make contacts. When Yancey blackmailed him, Judson hit upon
the idea of impersonating Markham and placing the blame on him for Yancey's
murder. Later, after Judson is jailed, Batman receives the Safari
Club trophy for bringing in his quarry--a human killer.
SECOND STORY
"The Other Bruce Wayne" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Bob Kane
Inker:
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in Detective Comics #247)
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in third story of last issue; next appears
in Detective Comics #249)
Villian
Varrel (first and only appearance to date; not to be confused with
the leader of the Varrel mob in World's Finest Comics #78)
Other Characters
Bruce N. Wayne (Thomas Wayne's cousin and Bruce Wayne's namesake; first
and only appearance to date)
Synopsis
Commissioner Gordon calls the Wayne Manor to summon Bruce
Wayne, not Batman, to headquaters. There Bruce finds an unexpected
newcomer, his father's cousin and his own namesake, Bruce N. Wayne.
Bruce N. is a detective from "out on the coast," and is one of the top
private investigators in the country. He and Bruce have never met
before, but a case has brought him to Gotham City. Besides meeting
Bruce, he wishes to consult Batman for help.
Bruce N. is dismayed that Bruce appears to be a social
butterfly, with no profession and seemingly no ambition. He resolves
to "make a man" of Bruce by training him to be a detective. Reluctantly,
Bruce comes along with Bruce N. as they set upon the track of Varrel, a
"scientific thief" who specializes in stealing new inventions. Batman
aids Bruce N. in an encounter with Varrel, but the thief escapes.
Later, when Commissioner Gordon calls Bruce N. and lets drop the
info that he has not yet told Batman of the Varrel case, the detective
begins to suspect his relative of being Batman. In a final encounter
with Varrel, Batman kayoes the thief, makes him up as Bruce Wayne, and
then lets Bruce N. see the both of them togather, throwing him off track.
After Varrel is jailed, Bruce N. says his goodbyes to Bruce, despairing
of ever teaching him to be a detective, and wondering how he could ever
have suspected him of being Batman.
THIRD STORY
"The Armored Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker:
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (next appearance for both in Detective Comics
#249)
Supporting Character
Vicki Vale (between Detective Comics #245 / 251)
Ben (last seen in Detective Comics #245;last appearance to date)
Commissioner Gordon (next appears in Detective Comics #249)
Villians
John Marrow and a trio of thieves (first and only appearance to date
for all)
Other Characters
Smith, and a member of the Gotham Scientific Foundation (first and
only appearance for both to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
After a man in a trenchcoat appears at the Gotham
City Hall of Fame and tells the assembled reporters to let Batman know
that Blair Graeme, is after him, Batman and Robin, who arrive shortly afterward,
are apparently thrown into a panic. Saying they face terrible danger,
they innediately leave and, when they reappear, are clad in suits of armor.
Batman and Robin are able to carry out their various tasks with the cumbersome
metal clothing on, using chains instead of ropes to swing on. But
Vicki Vale is determined to learn the secret of Blair Graeme, and learns
from a member of the Gotham Scientific Foundation that Batman has been
called in to help them solve a recent robbery, though not apparently by
Graeme. Finally, the reason for their armor becomes apparent when
they trap a trio of thieves who had stolen "atomic fuel" from the Foundation;
Batman and Robin have been wearing radiation-proof suits under it.
Gordon and Batman let Vicki know that they feared a panic if the news of
the radioactive material theft were leaked, and Vicki gets Batman to confess
that he was actually Blair Graeme to help set up the deception. She
informs him that if he were in real danger he would have kept clear of
crowds, which he did not, so she guessed he was faking it. Batman
replies that he will never laugh at her deductive abilites again.
Detective Comics No. 248
October 1957
Cover: Batman and Robin vs. criminal gondolier in Venice, Italy //Sheldon
Moldoff
Story: “Around the World In Eight Days” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#111)
Villains: Hans, Claus, and various other crooks (first and only appearance
for all)
Synopsis: To save a dying patient in need of a miracle drug, Batman
and Robin must literally trace a ring of criminal fences around the world.
Detective Comics No. 249
November 1957
Cover: Batwoman and Robin watching Bruce Wayne taken by Commissioner
Gordon and prison guard to execution //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Crime of Bruce Wayne” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Character: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #91)
GS: Batwoman (last appearance in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #90; next appears
in BATMAN #116)
Supporting Characters: Alfred Pennyworth (between BATMAN #111 / 112),
Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in BATMAN #111; next appears in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #91)
Villains: Squint Neely (first appearance; dies in this story), the
Collector and his gang, various convicts (first and only appearance for
all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to fight Rick Harben and Rohtul in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #91.
Synopsis: Bruce Wayne agrees to impersonate the Collector and go to
jail as part of Commissioner Gordon’s plot to capture the masked criminal.
But Wayne is framed for a guard’s death in the Big House, and Batwoman
and Robin must clear his name before he can be executed.
BATMAN #112
December 1957
Cover: Batman and Robin in armor, swinging on chains
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Signalman Of Crime" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger (?)
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker:
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #91)
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in World's Finest Comics #91;next appears
in third story of this issue)
Villians
The Signalman (Phil Cobb; first appearance; next appears in issue
#124)
Assorted Gotham crooks (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Phil Cobb, a criminal from a small town, comes to Gotham
with the idea of forming a gang and hitting the big time. But the
underworld is less that enthusiastic about teaming with a small-timer without
a reputation. Not long afterward, while Cobb treads the streets,
he sees the Bat-Signal in the night sky. Inspired by the sign, and
the reptation of the Joker and the Penguin, Cobb decides to become a costumed
criminal, the Signalman, and use signals and signs of all kinds as motifs
for his crimes. His first move, two months later, is to challenge
Batman to guess his first crime-site by sending him a broom with an atomic
symbol tied to it. Batman correctly deduces that he wishes to steal
a pure jad3e modes of the atomic submarine, Nautilus, at the Hobby Show,
since a raised broom on a sub's test run signifies a "clean sweep."
Batman also foils a theft of a star sapphire necklace at an observatory
(cued by a fir tree and the astological symbols for Earth and Mars), but,
in a third encounter, is trapped with Robin aboard a boat which the Signalman
has rigged to explode. Batman gains the attention of a passing craft
by signalling them with a party-flag waved from a window, and Robin and
he are freed in time to escape the explosion. Signalman, who has
stolen the Bat-Launch, beleives himself capable of outdistancing his slower
pursuit. But he fails to notice another signal--a bell buoy, which
would have warned him of the rocks he crashes the boat onto, Batman
handcuffs the Signalman and returns him to prison.
SECOND STORY
"Batman's Roman Holiday" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Artist: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Professor Carter Nichols (last seen in issue #102; nexr appears in
issue #115)
Villians
King Phorbus of Rhodes, his guards, and Thersus (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
Citizens of Ancient Rome
Comment
Since the ancient Romans in this story make numerous references to
Batman's prior trip to Rome, we must posit that Batman of Earth-One made
an unrecorded time-trip virtually identical to that experienced by
his Earth-Two counterpart in issue #24.
Synopsis
Professor Carter Nichols displays his greatest achievement,
the time-ray, to Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. With this ray, developed
from his time-hypnosis technique, he can send anybody--including himself,
this time--back to the past and return them automaticly in ten days, provided
he stands in the same spot he arrived at. He has the machine send
him to ancient Rome, where he previoulsly sent Bruce and Dick (who became
embroiled in a case there as Batman and Robin). But, when he does
not return in the appointed time, the two become Batman and Robin, set
the automatic controls, and depart for ancient Rome.
In Rome, they notice that Thersus, the arrogant ambassador
of Rhodes's tyrant King Phorbus, is wearing a wristwatch. Capturing
him after a short chariot chase, the two heroes shock him into blurting
out that he met "Nicholus," whom de deems a sorceror, days ago, and, upon
hearing he was from the future, kidnapped him and sent him to Rhodes to
design wepons for Phorbus. However, Roman police arrive, and Thersus
turns the tables by accusing Batman and Robin of banditry. In court,
Batman reveals himself as "Batmanus,"
and the judge gives him a chance to prove his legendary prowess in
the gladiatorial arena. Batman brings down a lion with a lasso, and
the Romans are convinced. But Thersus has escaped and returned to
Rhodes. The Romans dispatch Batman and Robin in a galley, but they
are met at Rhodes by warships and barely escape to the city.
The twosome find Nichols held at arrow-point in Phorbus's palace.
They bargin for freedom by offering to construct a weapon for the tryant.
But the "weapon" turns out to be a hot-air ballon which they use to escape,
and they return to Rome. Once there, citizens hail Batman as "the
Great Batmanus, who vistied Rome once before!" Batman alibis himself
with Nichols by reminding him he had been in Rome a few days ago.
The threesome return to the future, and Nichols swears off going into the
past himself again.
THIRD STORY
"Am I Really Batman?" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #250)
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in Detective Comics #249; next appearance
in issue #114)
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in first story of this issue; next appearance
in Detective Comics #250)
Villians
Professor Milo (last seen in Detective Comics #247; next apppearance
in issue #255; see Comment below)
Two unnamed thieves (first and only appearance to date for both)
Other Characters
A guard, a psychiatrist, and an inmate at a mental instution (first
and only appearance to date for all)
Police of Gotham City
Comments
Even though Professor Milo in this story appears physically different
from his earlier appearance in Detective Comics #247, Batman #255 identifies
him as the same man. Moreover, since he is depicted from Batman #255
with appearance from Detective Comics #247, his physical features in this
issue are a chronicler's error.
Synopsis
Batman awakens from deep sleep to find himself in a padded
cell. When he calls for a guard to let him out and tells him who
he is, the guard points to another inmate who fanices himself Napoleon.
Batman yells for them to call Robin to identify him, but a psychiatrist
comes and lets him see on television Batman and Robin receiving a medal
from the police department. Batman, convinced it is a plot, leaps
through a window to freedom. On the road home, he remebers catching
the renegade scientist, Professor Milo, but his memory is blank since then.
At the Wayne Mansion, Batman is met at the front door
by Alfred who fails to recognize him. He pushes past him to a gym
room, where he finds Dick Grayson working out, but the youth fails to recognize
him and has no idea what he is talking about when he mentions the Bat-Cave
or Robin. A man who appears to be Bruce Wayne comes down the stairs
to meet them. Batman unmasks and tells Dick that he is and imposter.
Dick turns to his mentor, who agrees that this must be the crazy Batman
imposter mentioned on the radio, and, since he resenbles Bruce Wayne, has
a delusion that Wayne is Batman's secret identity. When the two try
to restrain him, Batman fights past them and makes his way into the city,
taking cover. He is about to fall prey to ennui and depression when
a passing police car's siren shocks him into evasive action again.
He comes across a pair of thieves and nails them, only to see the Batmobile
come by and Robin and another Batman emerge. Unseen by them, Batman
stows away in the trunk and returns with them to the Bat-Cave. When
they arrive, he springs from the trunk and demands an explanation.
Robin says that, since 24 hours have passed, it's safe enough to give him
one. "Batman" unmasks, and is revealed as Alfred.
Robin tells Batman that Professor Milo had placed
Batman in a coma with a special gas that would cause a person to lose the
will to live, eventually making him die of starvation. Robin researching
the malady, found that if a patient so stricken could be given the will
to live and keep moving for 24 hours, he would recover. Thus,he,
Alfred and Commissioner Gordon concocted the ruse which has saved Batman
from death, though making him doubt him sanity for a shocking 24 hours.
Detective Comics No. 250
December 1957
Cover: John Stannar throwing car at Batman and Robin //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “Batman’s Super-Enemy” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#112)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in BATMAN
#112)
Intro: Sonny Simms (only appearance)
Villains: John Stannar and his gang (first and only appearance for
all)
Synopsis: A crook finds a spaceship from the planet Skar loaded with
three alien devices, and plans to use them all against Batman.
Detective Comics No. 251
January 1958
Cover: Vicki Vale, Brand Ballard (as alien), and Keener (disguised
as Batman-alien) outside flying saucer //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Alien Batman” (12 pages)
Ediror: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #92)
Supporting Characters: Vicki Vale (between BATMAN #111 /119), Commissioner
Gordon (next appears in BATMAN #113)
Villain: Brand Ballard and his gang (including Keener), Hatchet Marley
(of Earth-1; in flashback), various crooks (in flashback; first and only
appearance for all)
Comments: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin meet Skyboy in
WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #92.
One flashback, on page 9, depicts the Earth-One version of Hatchet
Marley, a gangster who appeared in “The Testing of Batman” (BATMAN #83).
Synopsis: Vicki Vale snaps a picture of Batman unmasked as an alien
near a spaceship, and further tests seem to confirm that Batman is a being
from another world.
BATMAN #113
Febuary 1958
Cover: Batman flying towards aliens
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Menace Of False Face" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (last seen in World's Finest Comics #92)
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in Detective Comics #251; next appears
in second story of next issue)
Villians
False Face, and his gang, including Pebbles; (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
Wembly Hepplewhite, Parker, P.S. Smithington, Arthur Crandall, and
Wally Weskit (last seen only as False Face's disguise; first and only appearance
to date for all)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
After a man impersonating uranium millionare P.S. Smithington
walks off with a "fortune" in gems from a Gotham jewelry story, Commissioner
Gordon calls in Batman and Robin and informs them that False Face, a criminal
master of disguise, is on the loose again. Since he always impersonates
a victim whom he detains, the dynamic duo head for a charity bash where
rock-and -roll singer Wally Weskit is supposed to play when they hear the
real Weskit is trapped in an elevator. False Face-as-Weskit and his
gang are stopped by Batman and Robin from stealing a huge barrel of chairty
funds, but not captured. Later, in his lair, False Face assures his
men that Batman will be finished after their next caper.
The next day, Batman and Robin find False Face impersonating
Big game hunter Arthur Crandall to receive and steal the Golden Tiger award
from the Explorers's Club. "Crandall" takes flight to the top floor
of the building, with Batman in pursuit, and lures him through a doorway,
where he plunges into a sixty-foot-deep empty metal specimen tank used
to train Navy divers. Confident that no one could survive the fall,
False Face descends to the bottom where he sees Batman's body. Later,
False Face's gang picks up "Crandall" carring the motionless form in the
Batman suit, but, when the latter is unmasked, he bears "Crandall's" features
also. Batman has switched places with False Face, and Robin arrives
to help take in the gang. Later, Batman explains that he clung to
the plastic cover that False Face had spread over the tank, braked his
fall, and descended to the tank bottom in the emergency ladder. He
then unmasks False Face, who proves to be "a nervous, frightened criminal."
SECOND STORY
"Batman Meets Fatman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Villians
The Red Mask Gang (first and only appearance to date for all)
Other Characters
A watchman, a boat owner, and two circus actors (first and only appearance
to date for all)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Fatman (first and only appearance)
Comments
For some reason, the Red Mask Gang's masks are colored blue or purple
in this story.
Synopsis
Fatman, a circus clown, wears a Batman costume over his
obese bulk, uses huge, clownish versions of Batman's equipment, and fills
his "utility belt" with such stuff as a sardine can, a bottle cap, and
a partially-chewed stich of chewing gum, all in his circus send-up of his
idol, Batman. While his show is playing in Gotham, Batman and Robin
are battling but failing to apprehend the Red Mask Gang. They stop
by the circus later to give an acrobatic demonstration and meet Fatman,
whom they graciously give a ride in the Batmobile. While doing so,
they receive a call on the radio informing them of a new Red Mask Gang
caper. This eventually leads Batman and Robin to a battle with the
gang aboard a sloop being towed through the streets on a parade.
The two heroes are kayoed by a swinging boom and imprisoned by the gang
in a stable. But Fatman, who has followed them, bursts in, makes
the gang laugh with his clumbsy "crime-fighting"routine, grabs up a blacksmith
hammer which proves too heavy for him, and sends it to smash the lock on
Batman and Robin's cage door. The two crime-fighters make short work
of the hoods, while Fatman block's their leader's escape with his huge
belly. Later, Batman congratulates Fatman, saying that the best way
to fight crooks is to outsmart them, and he proved to know plenty about
that. Fatman, practically walking on air, returns to the cheers of
the circus.
THIRD STORY
"Batman--The Superman Of Planet X" (10 Pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: France Herron
Artist: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman (next appears in Detective Comics #252)
Dick Grayson (does not appear as Robin in this story; next appears
in Detective Comics #252)
Villians
A band of alien invaders (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh (first and only appearance to date)
The people of Zur-En -Arrh (first and only appearance to date)
Comment
Robin only appears in one panel of this story, as Dick Grayson.
Synopsis
Bruce Wayne feels a strange compulsion to become Batman
without telling Dick Grayson, and go out on patrol in his Bat-Plane.
While in the air, he feel a strange sensation, and then finds himself in
another Bat-Cave facing a man clad in a Batman-type uniform of purple,
gold and red. The man, who calls himself the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh,
the planet they are both on, tells Batman that he has long admired his
exploits on Earth via powerful telescope and has modelled his crime-fighting
career on this planet after Batman. Having teleported Batman of Earth
there to help him, Batman of Zur-En-Arrh exhibits his own version of the
Batmobile, the Bat-Plane, and the Bat-Radia, the latter of which is a device
that disturbs the atmosphere by"electronic molecules" which can stall the
motors of jet-craft used by criminals.
When Batman of Earth asks why he has been brought
to Zur-En-Arrh, his host replies that they are in danger of alien invasion.
Then he demonstrates to Batman that his Earthian bodyu is almost invulnerable,
super-strong, and capable of flight, as is Superman's on Earth. As
the aliens attack, Earth's Batman leaps into action and uses his newfound
super-powers to repulse them. However, the aliens have the power
of invisibility, a trait Batman cannot counter, and so do their robot invasion
forces. All seems grim for the people of Zur-En-Arrh, until the planet's
native Batman discovers a way of using the Bat-Radia to counter the alien's
light-bending force and make them visible again. Thus unencumbered,
Batman of Earth is easily able to destroy the robots and force the alien
fleet away. Batman of Zur-En-Arrh gives his counterpart the Bat-Radia
as a keepsake, though it will not work in Earth's atmosphere. Then
Batman of Earth is teleported back to his Bat-Plane, where he wonders momentarily
if it has all been a dream, until he finds the Bat-Radia clutched in his
hand.
Detective Comics No. 252
February 1958
Cover: Batman and Robin in boat, menaced by Creature from the Green
Lagoon //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Creature From the Green Lagoon” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Dave Wood
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris?
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (between BATMAN #113 / 114)
Intro: Cory Blaine, Prof. Carter, Charles Devon
Villains: Tod Martin, Locto (a robot monster; only appearance for both)
Comment: This story is obviously inspired by the 1954 horror movie,
The Creature From the Black Lagoon.
Synopsis: Batman and Robin are called in to investigate a legendary
monster wreaking havoc on a movie crew on Skull Island.
BATMAN #114
March 1958
Cover: Bat-Ape holding flagpole for Batman and Robin
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Secret Of Mechanical City" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in Detective Comics #252)
Villians
Professor Dodge, Harry "Lightfingers" Hale, Jinxie, and an unnamed
thief (first and only appearance to date for all)
Other Characters
Crowds at Mechanical City
Synopsis
Batman and Robin, on the trail of a scientific
formula on microfilm stolen from Science Hall, case the laboratory of suspected
criminal Professor Dodge. They overhear Dodge telling his hoods that
Harry "Lightfingers" Hale has beaten them to the forumla, and a late arrival
telling Dodge that they have discovered Lightfingers's hideout. Lightfingers,
carrying the microfilm reel in a lead-lined briefcase, discovers he is
being pursued and heads for Mechanical City with Dodge and his hoods on
his heels and Batman and Robin trailing them.
Mechanical City proves to be a "vast, scientific
exhibit" full of futuristic marvels, entirely automated and staffed by
a group of robots, with over-robots controlling the operation from a central
hub that can look in on any part of the city through television camera.
Dodge and his men take over the control room and use its automated apparatus
to try and trap Lightfingers, though Batman and Robin intercept part of
his gang at large in Mechanical City. Dodge catches up with Lightfingers,
but he has stashed the briefcase elsewhere. Batman discovers its
hiding place when a huge sentry-robot goes berserk. Since lead interferes
with electrical impulses, he judges (correctly) that the briefcase is inside
the robot. Batman crawls inside the robot's back-plate, gains
control of the robot, and uses it to snatch Lightfingers, Dodge, and the
rest of the gang.
SECOND STORY
"The Mirage Maker" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in first story of last issue; next appears
in Detective comics #253)
Villains
The Mirage Maker and his gang (first and only appearance to date for
all)
Other Characters
The captain and crew of an ocean transport, and the citizens of a small
town (first and only appearance for all to date)
Citizens and police of Gotham City
Synopsis
The Mirage Maker, a new costumed criminal,
has devised a method of projecting hyper-realistic illusions in the air
by first filling the air with a packet of tiny filaments and then projecting
a "mirage film" onto the filaments. He is thus able to convince the
crew of an ocean transport to beach their ship for fear of running into
a collapsed bridge which does not exist, after which the Mirage Maker's
gang is able to cut into the hold of the ship with cutting torches and
steal gold bullion. Batman and Robin arrive in the Batmobile, try
to jump the "collapsed bridge", and fall into the river when they find
there isn't any bridge. However, Batman has detected a strange blip
on the Batmobile's radar screen when the mirage-device is in operation,
and, after dredging up the Batmobile, he uses it to help foil another robbery
by the Mirage Maker and his gang. The criminals try to halt pursuit
with the illusion of a passing train and a toppling building in Batman's
path, but close observation enables Batman to detect them as mirages.
Finally, Batman is able to stop the gang from escaping in a helicopter
by creating an illusion of the Batmobile's bat-head emblem on a low-lying
cloud with his searchlight, and the crooks are apprehended.
THIRD STORY
"The Bat-Ape" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker:
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #253)
Supporting Character
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in issue #112; next appears in issue #117)
Villains
Ralph Roder and the Vanning brothers (first and only appearance to
date for all)
Other Characters
Mogo (an ape; becomes a "Bat-Ape" for a brief time in this story; first
and only appearance to date)
Arthur Harris and other members of the Gotham City Charity Circus (first
and only appearance to date for all)
Citizens and police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman and Robin perform an acrobatic act
at the Gotham City Charity Circus, then make way for Mogo, the "educated
ape," his trainer Arthur Harris, and Harris's assistant Ralph Roder.
Just before he takes to the trapeze, Mogo stops to shake hands with Batman.
Then the ape goes into his act, but when he alights on a far trapeze platform,
he roars, goes berserk, and leaps down. His bizarre behavior ceases
when he touches ground. Soon, Batman and Robin discover that the
box office has been robbed, and that one of the thieves reportedly said
that the ape's ruckus was giving them a good chance for the robbery.
Harris is arrected on suspicion of theft, and Mogo is left with Roder.
Batman and Robin examine the platform and
find that it has been wired for electrical current, which maddened the
ape. They confer with Roder (after making him take Mogo from a cramped
cage and put him in a more comfortable environiment) and learn from him
that Harris always rigs his platforms himself. As Batman drives away,
Mogo manages to bend the bars of his cage and free himself, then follows
the Batmobile to the Batcave. He startes Batman, Robin, and Alfred,
but proves harmless to them, and imitates Batman by putting on a spare
cape and cowl.
The two heroes leave with Mogo to watch Roder,
whom they trail to a warehouse. Roder is seen talking with the Vanning
brothers, who are known criminals. Bat-Ape Mogo helps Batman and
Robin by manipulating a flagpole on which they can cross buildings, following
the crooks by scent, and helping them push the heavy metal globe atop the
Gotham Globe offices onto the crooks, cornering them. Roder confesses
that he planned the robbery with the Vannings, and the three bandits are
taken into custody. Harris is released, and announces to Batman that
he intends to set Mogo free in Africa as a reward.
Detective Comics No. 253
March 1958
Cover: Fox, Shark, and Vulture watching Batman and Robin in scuba gear
on monitor //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “The Fox, the Shark, and the Vulture” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Dave Wood
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#114; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #93)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (between BATMAN #114 / 115)
Villains: The Fox, the Shark, and the Vulture (the Terrible Trio; first
appearance for all; all next appear in issue #321)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to battle Victor Danning in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #93.
Synopsis: A new team of criminal scientists, the Fox, the Shark, and
the Vulture, use strange vehicles and devices in crimes they pull on land,
on the sea, and in the air, and defy Batman and Robin to stop them.
BATMAN #115
April 1958
Cover: Two giant cavemen examining Batman in bottle
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris (?)
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Million-Dollar Clues" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Lew Schwartz (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #93)
Villians
Stoney Briggs (first appearance; dies in this story)
Angles Nelson, Mike, and Burly Jones (first and only appearance for
all to date)
Synopsis
Stoney Briggs, a wanted gem thief, gives his last words
to Batman and Robin. The million dollars in jewels he has recently
stolen are hidden, and he has left four clues to their whereabouts, the
first being a flashlight. But, he warns, he has also sent the same
clues to his ex-partners, Angles Nelson, and Burly Jones. He dies,
and Batman shines the flashlight beam, finding it partially blocked with
the silouette of an ark. Since an ark is a house on the water, Batman
and Robin try for their second clue in a lighthouse. The beacon of
an abandoned flashlight tells them to "cross over to a place where thunder
and lightning are tied." After a brief encounter with Angles and
his hireling Mike, who, along with stowaway Burly, have seen the message,
Batman and Robin head for a railroad crossing used by eletric-powered trains.
Angles and Mike, beating them there by seconds, dig up 26 keys on a ring.
Batman and Robin battle the crooks, but Burly, emerging from hiding, shoves
a handcar at the heroes and all the crooks escape. The "26 keys"
clue lead all of them to a giant typewriter built for a business show and
stored in a warehouse. In its giant roller they find a message
revealing the jewels hidden in the "giant hand of Buddha." Angles
and Mike, confronting Batman, get beaten when the crimefighters use the
typewriter's keys and return mechanism to bowl over their opponets.
Since the only "giant Buddha" in town is the idol in the old temple at
Chinatown, Burly heads there and climbs the idol to reach the golden box
in its hand. But Batman, tipped off because the clue was too obvious,
stops Burly from touching the box. Swinging up, he notices wires
connected to the golden box, disconnects them, and discovers a pair of
dynamite sticks within the box as well as the jewels. Batman explains
that Stoney planned this deathtrap for him, since Stoney believed he would
overcome Angels and Burly. The heores recover the jewels and prepare
to take Burly to jail.
SECOND STORY
"Batman For Hire" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in Detective Comics #253; next appears
in Detective Comics #254)
Villians
The Phantom Bank Bandit (Jim Morley, a/k/a Jim Megan; first and only
appearance to date)
Paul, a saboteur, and two mobsters (first and only appearance for all
to date)
Cameo appearance
A "robber robot" (on a poster; resembles Dr. Hercules's robot from
issue #42 and may refer to an encounter with an Earth-One Dr. Hercules;
first and only appearance to date)
Two of Marty Fleer's gang (on a poster; from issue #94)
Other Characters
A secretary, a manufacturer, Mr. Gibson (first and only appearance
of all to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman calls a press conference and announces he is opening
the Batman Private Detective Agency, to amass money for Robin's college
education and his retirement fund. Commissioner Gordon reports
that Robin will take up the slack whenever Batman is out on one of his
paying cases, and the enterprise begins. Batman solves numerous crimes
and mysteries, including catching a saboteur at a factory and nabbing a
crook who stole the master print of a movie. But, when Jim Morley,
a businessman, receives what purports to be a threating call from an "ex-business
partner," Batman charges him $1,000 a day for bodyguard duties. A
shooting incident causes Batman to up his rate to $5,000 per day, in advance.
Morley goes to his garage, where he opens a seat cover in his car and withdraws
$5,000 in stolen money. Batman who has followed him, reveals to Morley
that he has just proven himself to be the notorious Phantom Bank Bandit,
and that his Detective Agency was part of a master plan to get the goods
on him. Morley flings the money in Batman's face and speeds off,
but Robin, waiting in a tree outside, leaps into the car, kayoes him, and
stops the car. Batman dissolves his detective agency and returns
to his non-profit crime-fighting career.
THIRD STORY
"Batman In The Bottle" (10 pages )
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #254)
Supporting Characters
Prof. Carter Nichols (last seen in issue #112; next appears in Adventure
Comics #253)
Villians
A race of giants (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Chief Tang and the Zotos (first and only appearance for all to date)
Synopsis
Prof. Carter Nichols send Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson
to the prehistoric past to discover the secret of the ancient Zoto civilization,
which left behind it a giant slingshot, a watch pole, and underground huts.
Once there, they change to Batman and Robin and are attacked by the Zotos,
but prove their friendly intentions by stopping them from going across
a faulty bridge. Chief Tang of the Zotos tells Batman and Robin how
they have been beset by a tribe of giant men over twenty feet in height,
who come on slave raids periodically in Zoto territory. The giant
sling is used in ineffectual attempts to repel them, and the Zotos fled
underground with a watch pole set up outside. To aid the Zotos, Batman
blows a giant glass bottle big enough to hold him, climbs inside, is put
in the nearby river, and floats downstream to the village of the giants.
While there, Batman claims to be a genie of the Zotos, sent to bedevil
the giants unless they leave the normal-sized humans in peace. He
backs up his claim with flash powder from his belt, amplified sound
from his belt-radio that causes an avalanche, a sun-reflecting mirror,
and, finally, and inflatable Batman dummy that seems to grow as large as
the giants themselves. A last attack on the giants with laughing
gas forces the titians to make peace with the Zotos, and pledge never to
harm them again, for fear the genie will be set loose. Batman's balloon-dummy
is placed over a wooden statue im the bottle to serve as a reminder to
the giants. Bruce and Dick return to the present with their descrition
of the Zoto civilization. Later, Dick asks Bruce what will
happen if the bottle with the Batman dummy is discovered, to which Bruce
replies that they'll think of something.
Detective Comics No. 254
April 1958
Cover: Batman, Robin, and Bat-Hound vs. crooks //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “One Ounce of Doom” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#115)
GS: Bat-Hound (between BATMAN #103 / 123)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in BATMAN
#115)
Villain: Prof. Di Pina (first and only appearance)
Detective Comics No. 255
May 1958
Cover: Batman and Robin vs. robot dinosaurs //Sheldon Moldoff
Story: “Doom In Dinosaur Hall” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller; Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #94)
Intro: Prof. Hale (dies in this story), Mario Nazzara, John Logan,
Albert Linke (only appearance for all)
Villain: Mr. X (Carl Danton; first and only appearance)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to fight Lex Luthor in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #94, which also reveals the
origin of the Superman / Batman / Robin team.
Synopsis: Batman and Robin investigate the murder of a museum curator
killed by a robot dinosaur in a prehistory exhibit.
BATMAN #116
June 1958
Cover Credits
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris (?)
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The City Of Ancient Heroes" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (last appearance for both in World's Finest Comics
#94)
Villains
The Gimmick Gang (including Duke, Stilts, and one other; first and
only appearance to date)
Other Characters
Citizens of Legend City (including impersonators of Circe, Ulysses,
Robin Hood, Phaeton, King Arthur, Siegfried, King Midas, the Sheriff of
Nottingham, and others; first and only appearance for all to date)
Synopsis
Batman and Robin, on the trail of the Gimmick Gang,
finds one book in the fireplace of one of their deserted hideouts and save
it from burning: History of Mythology and Legend. The illustrations
of Thor, Cyclops, and Pan are missing. From this Batman deduces they
have gone to Legend City, "where, once a year, people dress up like legendary
characters"--such as Robin Hood, Ulysses, or King Midas--"and hold
big celebration!" Once there, Batman and Robin go after the disguised
trio of crooks, have a brief encounter with them, and are stopped by "Thor's"
exploding hammer. When they catch up with the gang again, they are
paralysed at the sight of "Medusa," who has thrown a capsule of paralyzing
gas at them. The two heroes are laid within the belly of a phony
dragon "Fafnir," which is to be "slain" by "Siegfried" in a
parade. Batman manages to move enough to reach a flare capsule, making
the dragon appear to breathe fire. The manuver catches the attention
of "Siegfried", so that he investigates and frees Batman and Robin.
Later, "Zeus" robs "King Midas" of his gold with a "thunderbolt,"and the
Gimmick Gang takes off in a jet-proplelled Sun Chariot. Batman and
Robin follow on a mechanized "Pegasus", drop into the Chariot, and subdue
them. The evildoers are placed in the dungeons of the "Sheriff of
Nottingham," and Batman and Robin are feted at a Round Table banquet in
their honor.
SECOND STORY
"Batwoman's New Identity" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Lew Schwartz (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Guest Star
Batwoman (last seen in Detective Comics #249; next appears in issue
#119)
Villians
Al Talley, Dude Rogers, and the Funny Face Gang (first and only appearance
to date for all)
Other Characters
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
After foiling an attempted robbery of an armored car on
a ferry by the Funny Face Gang, Batman and Robin trail the last escaping
member of the gang to Al Talley's nightclub in Gotham. They notice
a suspicious looking blonde woman emerging from the club, trail her to
Kathy Kane's vincinity, and, finding she is not in, invite themselves into
her Bat-Cave through her secret entrance. There they discover the
blonde wig and make-up Kathy had used to pass as the blonde, and, finding
a photo she took of gangster Dude Rogers at Talley's club, discover the
place and time where she will next try to stop a Funny Face Gang caper.
The duo rescue Batwoman from the gang after she had taken a spill on her
motorcycle and capture another of the gang. She admits to her "third"
identity, as a house photographer in Talley's Club, but refuses to give
up. However, the captured gang member escapes the police car he was
being transported in, and confronts the disguised Batwoman at Talley's
club in front of Talley himself. Talley, convinced she is Batwoman
thanks to a camera strap burn left on Batwoman's neck, has her locked in
as office, but she signals Batman of her whereabouts by floating carbon
paper "bats" through a chimney. Batman and Robin break into the hideout
just before Talley would have wiped away her disguise and revealed Batwoman's
identity, and the three crime-fighters finish up the rest of the gang.
Batman still pleads with her to give up her career, as "crime-fighting
is too dangerous for a girl," but Batwoman vows to stay in the game.
THIRD STORY
"The Winged Bat-People" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman (next appears in Action Comics #241)
Robin (next appears in Detective Comics #257)
Villians
The Bat-People (first and only appearance for all to date)
Arko (first and only appearance to date)
Other Characters
A queen, her officer, and people of another dimension (first and only
appearance for all to date )
Comments
This story lacks the "Bob Kane" signature box.
Shortly after this story Batman helps Superman celebrate the anniversary
of his landing on Earth in Action Comics #241.
Synopsis
Batman and Robin, attempting to track a hurricane
in the Bat-Plane, attaine Mach 10 and are transported into another dimension.
There they are captured by the natives, who believe they are winged "Bat-People"
with whom they have been feuding. Batman proves his good intentions
by lassoing a squad of Bat-People invaders before the queen of his captors,
and by grounding the rest with a burst from his plane's afterburner.
Batman, Robin, the queen, and an officer of the court head for the Bat-People's
village in the Batplane the next day to parley for peace, but Arko, the
traitorous minister of the queen, has tipped them off and the winged people
attempt unsuccessfully to net the Bat-Plane. Arko has taken over
in their abscence, but Batman uses a catapult in he Bat-Plane to hurl him
over the city walls into the traitors' midst, followed by Robin.
The rebels are soon overcome, and Batman and Robin foil the Bat-people's
invasion by ingiting a vein of coal with the Batplane's afterbuner, creating
a permanent updraft that keeps the Bat-People at bay. The coal dust
ignited by the jet explodes, catapulting the dynamic duo back into their
own dimension. At home, Bruce Wayne feels the queen to be better
off thinking them dead, so that her officer will have a chance to marry
her.
Detective Comics No. 256
June 1958
Cover: Bera watching Batman, Robin, and Torans enslaved by alien //Sheldon
Moldoff / Charles Paris
Story: “The Captive Planet” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman (last appearance in ACTION COMICS #241),
Robin (last appearance in BATMAN #116)
Intro: Jim Rolfe, Harvey Baxter, Pete Cole, John Todd, Mary Todd, Beran,
Torans (only appearance for all)
Villains: Cafis and other alien criminals (first and only appearance
for all)
Synopsis: Batman and Robin are lured, along with several other people,
aboard a robot spaceship which takes them to the planet Tora, where the
ruler of that world seeks their aid in overthrowing an alien tyrant.
Detective Comics No. 257
July 1958
Cover: Robot lifting Batman as Robin watches from prison cell //Curt
Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “Batman’s Invincible Foe” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #95)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon
Intro: Chief Inspector Mahan (only appearance)
Villain: Karko (first and only appearance)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to battle aliens from Xlym in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #95.
Synopsis: Batman and Robin face Karko, an alien thief from the 26th
Century who steals objects from Batman’s time to sell them at great profit
as antiques in his own era.
BATMAN #117
August 1958
Cover: Eddie Marrow and Garr vs. Batman and Robin //Curt Swan / Win
Mortimer
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Mystery Of The Batman Bus" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Bob Kane
Inker: Charles Paris (?)
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (last appearance for both in World's Finest Comics
#95)
Villians
Bennet Carson and the Red Gloves Gang (first and only appearance to
date for all)
The Harbor Pirates (in flashback; first appearance possiably Earth-One
counterparts to Hook Morgan's harbor pirates in Detective Comics #54; next
appear in issue #119)
Two-Gun Fowley (in flashback; no appearance; name only mentioned; first
and only appearance to date)
Cameo Appearance
The Joker (in flashback)
Other Characters
Citizens of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman and Robin fail to capture the Red Gloves Gang on
a dock as the criminals shove a man they were assaulting into their path.
The man, Bennet Carson, is the head of the new citizens' investigating
commitee probing into the Red Gloves Gang itself, and, when he revives,
he claims to have amnesia. All he can remember, he says, is that
he was on the Batman Sightseeing Bus and it stopped somewhere important.
To try and jog his memory, Batman and Robin board the Batman Bus with him,
as the vehical makes a tour of the sites of some of Batman's and Robin's
most famous battles. Though the Red Gloves Gang attempts to kidnap
Carson on another stop, nothing seems to restore his memory. Finally,
when the tour bus stops at the Antique Fair Grounds, where antiqe means
of transportation on land, sea and air are stored and near which the Red
Gloves Gang pulled a $100,000 bank heist, Carson appears to regain his
memory. He grabs a gun and forces Batman and Robin, bound tightly,
into the gondola of a balloon. Carson reveals that he was never amnesiac,
that he was really the head of the Red Gloves Gang, and that the gang wanted
him for his holding out half of their $100,000, with which he hoped to
relocate to Mexcio. The villian sets the balloon aloft, but Batman
uses one of the sandbag hooks on the ring of the gondola to pry loose
his ropes andbrings the balloon safely back to Earth. Shortly afterward,
he and Robin nab the Red Gloves Gang and Carson, and use the Batman Bus
to take them to prison.
SECOND STORY
"Bruce Wayne--Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Bob Kane
Inker: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in issue #114; next appearance in issue
#120)
Villians
Eddie Luden, Joey, and an unnamed crook (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
Upton, Wilson, Masters, Connors, and Kenton (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Synopsis
Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Alfred are suprised, to
say the least, when they discover someone has sent them a Batman costume
one morning. But a note with it explains it is from a charity club
committee to be worn at a masquerade ball tonight, and, since Wayne has
often been suspected of being Batman, they decided to make the costume
"joke." Bruce Wayne takes along his real Batman gear in case of emergency.
Once there, he discovers all his fellow members wear costumes designed
to lampoon their personalities (for instance, a handsome man wears a Frankenstein
mask, and a dour fellow is made up as a clown). When they begin bidding
for charity on antique auction items, the proceeding are halted by gangster
Eddie Luden and his two hoods, out to rob the wealthy club members.
Batman, stymied for a second as to how to stop the theft and yet not give
away his identity by acting like a professional crime-fighter, hits
on the tactics of seeming to bumble into actions that happen to block the
crooks. When Luden threatens Upton, their host, with a gun, Batman
goes ahead and knocks it away with his Batarang, knowing a human life is
on the line. But Robin and Alfred have come along, the latter in
a spare Batman outfit, and help him create a ruse that convinces the club
members, seeing two Batmen together, that Wayne is not really Batman.
THIRD STORY
"Manhunt In Outer Space" (10 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Arnold Drake (?)
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Inker: Charles Paris (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (next appearance for both in Detective Comics #258)
Villians
Eddie Marrow and Garr (first and only appearance for both to date)
Other Character
Chief Inspector Tutian (first and only appearance to date)
Comments
Garr is erroneously called Tark on the cover. Also, Robin's boots
are miscolored red on the cover.
Synopsis
While Batman and Robin are pursuing Eddie
Marrow, a thief, the and their Batrope are frozen in mid-air by the ray
of Garr, an alien thief who has landed on Earth. He offers Marrow
a chance to become his partner and teach him about the new planet he has
landed on. Just as Marrow accepts, Garr's shipboard alarm sounds,
signifying the approach of interstellar police. He and Marrow take
off in his space ship before Chief Inspector Tutian of the Universal Police
Corps lands and thaws Batman and Robin with his neutralizer ray.
Comparing notes, Tutian and Batman realize what has happened, and the alien
lawman offers Batman the chance to team with him, which he and Robin take.
Tutian's "space scanner" shows them the thieves have gone to Planetiod
X, a "remote and unexplored asteriod" with an Earth-like atmosphere.
Once there, Batman, Robin and Tutian begin a deadly game of catch-as-catch-can
with Garr and Marrow, being bombed with giant fruit, encountering a giant
lizard, and battling a giant sea beast. Finally, Batman and Robin
don jet-skates in order to cut through a forest and surprise the two criminal
as they are entering their rocket. Garr is unable to draw a bead
upon them with his ray-gun before being kayoed by Robin, while Batman racks
up Marrow. Tutian returns the Earthmen to their own planet, while
taking off with Garr for his interplanetary prison.
Detective Comics No. 258
August 1958
Cover: Batman lifted by robot as Robin watches from prison cell //Curt
Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “Prisoners of the Giant Robots” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both between BATMAN #117 / 118)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (next appears in BATMAN #118)
Villains: Bartok, Gus, another crook (first and only appearance for
all), Robot Thor and other robots (first appearance for all; all destroyed
in this story)
Synopsis: Batman and Robin tackle a gang that uses giant robots to
commit crimes.
BATMAN #118
September 1958
Cover: Robin speaking to Batman in water tank
Artists: Curt Swan and Win Mortimer
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Battle Of Police Island" (10 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger?
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in Detective Comics #258)
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in Detective Comics #258)
Villians
Gavin, Gee-Gee, Moore, Dalton, and Archie (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
Two atomic scientists, Gotham state prison guards, two watchmen, and
a policeman (first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
When four convicts escape Gotham State Prison, Batman
and Robin are called in to help investigate. They follow the convicts'
trail and discover two scientists locked up in a nearby government atomic
plant. Freed, the scientists tell the two heroes that the convicts
who locked them up--Gavin, Gee-Gee, Moore, and Dalton--stole a truck containing
radioactive specimens. The greater danger is that Gavin, having hid
inside the specimens' container, has not only become radioactive himself,
but will transfer radiation to anyone he comes in contact with if he is
not treated within two or three hours. After discovering the abandoned
truck, Batman and Robin trail their quarry to Police Island, the site of
next week's Police World Fair. On the island, after freeing two captive
watchmen and sending them for help, the dynamic duo tell Gavin of his condition,
to no avail. Batman manages to trap Dalton and Moore within a model
prison. Later, they disarm Gee-Gee and Gavin with a magnetic device
that draws their guns away. Finally, using the air blast from a hydroplane's
propellor and remote-control riot hoses, the heroes force Gavin and Gee-Gee
into the basement cell of another model prison. Commissinor Gordon
lands shortly after with a doctor to treat Gavin, and Batman comments upon
the irony of the convicts' breaking prison just to land in another prison.
SECOND STORY
"The Man Who Couldn't Be Tried Twice" (6 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Ray Burnley
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (next appears in World's Finest Comics #97)
Villians
James Lee and David Dial (first and only appearance for both to date)
Other Characters
Wyler (in flashback; first appearance; dies in this story)
The District Attorney of Gotham City (first and only appearance to
date)
A judge, a lawyer, Willy Keyes, a jury, and a BSA newscaster (first
and only appearance for all to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
James Lee, a circus acrobat, is standing trial for the
crime of murdering his ex-partner, Wyler. Lee had been discovered
by Willy Keyes, a clown, and a policeman in Wyler's trailer, fallen amidst
Wyler's many paintings which he had done as a hobby; Lee clutched both
the murder gun and Wyler, but claimed innocence, saying he had heard a
struggle, come in, and picked up the gun. Paraffin tests indicate
that Wyler had fired a gun. But Batman takes the stand, testifies
that Wyler had called him in fear for his life and begged for protection
in return for important information. Moreover, he reveals having
seen Lee fire a pistol at a carnival shootin range some time before the
killing. Finally, he demonstrates that if Wyler and Lee--who was
recently dumped from their double-act when Wyler went solo--had struggled,
then Lee's hat would have fallen off and been trampled, but it was in perfect
condition.
The jury pronounces Lee not guilty. Lee, laughing
wildy at the verdict, publicly reveals to Batman and the court that he
did kill Wyler and fired the carnival gun as a paraffin test alibi.
And, since Lee cannot be tried twice for the same crime, he must now go
free. In days to come, the public and even Commissioner Gordon criticize
Batman for slipping. But Batman himself feels his instincts were
right, and, returning to the scene, find a painting of Wyler's with a "Minus
Q" painted on the bottom. Since a telephone dial has no "Q", Batman
realizes the real murder must be circus owner David Dial. He captures
Dial minutes later, and at police headquarters the circus owner confesses
he had been smuggling wanted crooks out of various states and had been
found out by Wyler. Lee was bribed for his false testimony.
Commissioner Gordon tells Batman that Lee will be picked up and tried on
conspiracy charges, and shakes Batman's hand.
THIRD STORY
"The Merman Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #259)
Villians
Carl Smarte, Vince Kenton, and other crooks (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
Citizens of Gotham City
Synopsis
Batman and Robin, searching the wharves for a clue to
the dilemma of missing criminals, almost nab a gangster Vince Kenton, but
only clip a piece off a calling card he holds with a Batarang. Batman
climbs a tall flagpole to try and spot the fleeing felons, but is thrown
into the bay when a lighting bolt strikes both him and the flagpole.
Robin, unable to find him after diving, is convinced Batman has died, until
he hears morse code coming over his belt radio. Obeying the strange
orders he receives, Robin has a truck pull Batman out of the bay in a water-filled
tank. It transpires that the eletrical charge and the chemicals in
his utility belt combined to change Batman into a human "fish," able to
extract oxygen from water but not from air. Communicating with via
a voice amplifier, he vows to go ahead with his work.
Batman wears a water-filled helmet to enable him
to work on dry land, and, using the torn card as a clue, traces Kenton
to the offices of Carl Smarte, head of the Marine Construction Corporation.
The heroes give battle, but Smarte figures out the use of the water-filled
helmet and smashes it, leaving Batman gasping in the air. As the
crooks escape, Robin saves Batman by holding a match close to the ceiling
and activating the sprinkler system. In a new helmet, Batman
checks out a hunch and finds the crooks' new lair below the floor of an
aquarium. In the midst of the fight, Batman keels over and breaks
his helmet. Amazingly, he gets back up and finishes off the criminals.
Later, Batman explains to Robin that he felt the change wearing off and
he pretended to faint in order to throw the crooks a curve. They
prepare to haul in their catch to Commissioner Gordon.
Detective Comics No. 259
September 1958
Cover: Calendar Man vs. Batman and Robin //Curt Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “The Challenge of the Calendar Man” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#118; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #96)
Villains: The Calendar Man (Julian Day; first appearance; name revealed
in WHO’S WHO #4; next appears in BATMAN #312) and his gang (first and only
appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to help aliens from Planet X in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #96.
Synopsis: Batman and Robin meet a new foe, the Calendar Man, who promises
to frame crimes around the motif of the five seasons of the year--whatever
the fifth season may be.
BATMAN #119
October 1958
Cover: Old, bearded Batman seeing new Batman and Robin team
Artists Curt Swan and Win Mortimer
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Arch-Rivals of Gotham City: (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: sheldon Moldoff (?)
Inker: Lew Schwartz (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #96)
Guest Star
Batwoman (between issues #116 / 125)
Supporting Character
Vicki Vale (between Detective Comics #251 / 309)
Villians
Joe and other convicts (first and only appearance for all to date)
The Harbor Pirates (possibly the gang seen in flashback in issue #117;
last appearance to date)
Nick Danton, Moose Malloy, and other gangsters (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
Judges and contestants of the Woman of the Year contest (first and
only appearance for all to date)
Comment
The gangster Moose Mallory was named after a character in Raymond Chandler's
Philip Marlowe novel, Farwell, My Lovely.
Synopsis
Vicki Vale, and Batwoman are tied for first place
in Gotham's annual Woman of the Year contest, with the winner getting a
date with Batman. The judges give each a six-hour period in which
to gather futher achievements, with the winner to be thus decided.
Batman goes to quell a prison break, hindered by Vicki Vale taking pictures
in the yard (though she gets splendid action shots). Then Batman
is tipped off by Robin that Batwoman is donning scuba gear to check out
a lead on the Harbor Pirates; he dons similar gear and follows, helping
rescue her, even though she takes in two of the gang on her own.
The judges declare the contest still tied. Both women see a gangster
from Moose Malloy's mob outside the building; both women independently
decide to follow him; both get captured by the gang; and Batman, trying
to save both of them, gets overpowered by Malloy and his men. The
women join forces, mistakenly grabbing each other's equipment, but manage
to use it to best advantage and break up Moose's assault. Batman,
recovered, helps bring down the crooks. Later, the judges call it
even, and both women share the same date with Batman.
SECOND STORY
"The Secret Of Batman Island" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Vilians
The Boss, Petie, and other diamond thieves (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
A.K. Barnaby (first and only appearance to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Cameo Appearances
The Catwoman of Earth-One (in a photo; first appearance; first actual
appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70)
The Joker, The Penguin, Fatman, The Shark, and False Face (as photos,
statues, or masks)
Synopsis
A.K. Barnaby, one of the richest "men in the world,"
has built a museum dedicated to his heroes, Batman and Robin, on the isle
he calls Batman Island. Barnaby happens to be on the scene when Batman
and Robin battle a gang of diamond thieves in Gotham City and films it
with his hand-held camera for posterity. Two members of the gang,
keeping watch, notice Barnaby's action and prepare to take action of their
own. Batman and Robin bring in part of the gang, but the evidence
of their theft--the diamonds--have disappeared and their conviction seems
impossible without the evidence.
The remaining gang members trail Barnaby to Batman Island,
where he discovers them on a television monitor. Barnaby activates
his own Bat-Signal, drawing Batman and Robin to the island. A battle
between the dynamic duo and the thieves ensues, amidst the memorabilia
of Batman's career collected by Barnaby. Batman fakes his death a
second time around in False Face's tank-trap, even when one of the crooks
is duped into riddling his empty cowl with bullets, and manages to save
Robin and corral the gang minuets later. When the film is shown,
it reveals the hoods in the robbery dropping the diamonds into a open tank-truck,
and, as the boss of the gang explains when he bursts into the scene with
drawn gun, it also proves that the truck company has been collaborating
with the gang. Barnaby saves the day by switching off the projector,
plunging the room into darkness, and drawing the boss's fire towards a
Batman statue. The real Batman kayoes the gang-boss, and, later,
suggests that Barnaby remember his part in the caper by making a statue
of himself. Smiling, Barnaby allows as how he might just do that.
THIRD STORY
"Rip Van Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman (next appears in Detective Comics #260)
Robin (next appears in Adventure Comics #253)
Villian
Al Hackett (no actual appearance; name only mentioned; first and only
appearance to date)
Cameo Appearances
Batman II (Dick Grayson) and Robin II, a gang of crooks, and the citizens
of future Gotham City (first and only appearance for all to date;all are
hallucinations in Batman's dream)
Comment
Though the dream-characters play larger roles in this story
than cameo appearances, they are indexed as such because of their illusiory
nature.
The Batman II and Robin II of this story are not
to be confused with the Batman II and Robin II of Alfred's writings, which
begin in issue #131.
Shortly after this story Robin teams with Superboy to fight Groff and
Lex Luthor in Adventure Comics #253.
Synopsis
Batman and Robin split up to try and
discover which of two places gangster Al Hackett may be hiding. Batman
investigates Hackett's moutain lodge, which contains a greenhouse.
The exotic plants of the green house exude an aroma which makes Batman
reel out of the building, fall head-over-heels down the slope of a hill,
and lie asleep at the edge of a pond. Batman appears to awake, and
, looking at his reflection in the pond, finds he has grown a long white
beard and become old, a modern Rip Van Winkle.
Batman hikes into Gotham City, finding it a metropolis
of the future, with a brand-new Batman and Robin team he views chasing
and catching a pair of crooks. He recognizes the new Batman as Dick
Grayson, now grown up. But, when he tries to talk to Batman II, Batman
is passed off as a senile old man with a Batman-complex. The old
Caped Crusader hobbles to Wayne Manor, now a deserted ruin with a Bat-Cave
filled with debris. Commissioner Gordon long since retired and moved
away. Batman wanders through Gotham Park, past his statue, feeling
as useful as a fifth wheel.
However, when hearing crooks' voices from the nearby planetarium,
Batman investigates and finds the new Batman and Robin team tied up by
criminals. He attempts to take on the thugs, but his muscles are
weak from age and disuse. The hoods tied him up and leave him beside
the new heroes, who thank him for tryint. Batman, declaring the game
not up yet, smashes the lens of his utility belt's microscope and uses
it to saw through his ropes, fools some returning hoods into fleeing by
projecting the image of a moon scorpion on the wall, and releases BatmanII
and Robin II, who are now reassured they have the original Batman back
at last. The trio attack and capture the hoods, but, afterward, Batman
faints away. He revives back in the present, with a young Robin shaking
him awake; his reflection is still that of a young man. Robin relates
how he captured Hackett and came there to find his mentor unconscious.
Batman deduces that one of the plants in the greenhouse was a rare breed
from the Amazon, whose fumes can give humans hallucinations. Relieved to
find himself young and strong, Batman races Robin back to the Batmobile.
Detective Comics No. 260
October 1958
Cover: Robin and aliens watching Batman and Jovian box in bubble //Curt
Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “The Mystery of the Space Olympics” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman (last appearance in BATMAN #119; next appears
in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #97), Robin (last appearance in ADVENTURE COMICS
#253; next appears in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #97)
Intro: Xeo, Tog (two Venusians; only appearance for both)
Villains: Plutonians (first appearance?)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to fight the Condor Gang in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #97.
Synopsis: Batman is drafted as a contestant in an Olympics games in
space, but is soon accused of cheating by the Plutonians—and the charges
appear to be true.
Detective Comics No. 261
November 1958
Cover: Batman and Robin vs. Dr. X and Dr. Double X //Curt Swan / Stan
Kaye
Story: “The Amazing Dr. Double X” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Dave Wood
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #97; both next appear in BATMAN #120)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #97; next appears in BATMAN #120)
Villains: Dr. X (Dr. Simon Ecks; real name revealed in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #?), Dr. Double X (first appearance for both; both next appear in
issue #316)
Synopsis: Dr. X, a costumed villain, separates an energy double with
incredible powers from his body, dubs it Double X, and uses it to fight
Batman and Robin.
BATMAN #120
December 1958
Cover: Batman (with broken leg) and Robin in Whirly-Bats,
Artist: Win Mortimer
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Curse Of
The Bat-Ring" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in Detective Comics #261)
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in Detective Comics #261; next appears
in third story in this issue)
Villians
"The Boss," Spike Conners, and other crooks (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
The Mayor of Gotham City
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Cameo Appearances
Sir Oliver Jason, a stunt flier, and three spectators (first and only
appearance for all to date; characters in a phony story)
Synopsis
To trap a mastermind and scientific genius who uses his
intellect for fantastic crimes, Batman hatches an outre ploy. In
disguise, he informs Spike Connors, a known confederate of the mastermind,
of a "Bat-Ring" in a curio shop known to have a terrible curse on it.
He suggests having Spike make sure Batman wears the ring, and so sufferes
the curse. Connors takes the bait, gets the ring, and brings it back
to "The Boss," who reads the legend of the ring on a paper that came with
it, telling of a noble in 1812 who wore the ring and was struck by collapsed
masonry, and a flier in 1914 who wore the ring in defiance of the curse
and had the tail fall off his plane. Convinced, "The Boss" sends
Batman the gift on Batman Day, a day set aside by the city to honor the
crime-fighters great exploits. Batman wears the ring, and on two
occasions seems to have bad luck--once, during a charity circus performance,
when a glider wing breaks on him, and twice, when his Bat-rope snaps as
he swings after a fleeing felon, sending him falling into a truck of matteresses.
Convinced of the ring's power, "The Boss" attempts his greatest theft,
ripping the roof from an armored car with a giant magnet. Batman
and Robin waiting inside the car, emerge and give chase, and, despite the
ring's "curse", nab the mastermind. Later, at police headquarters,
Batman reveals to the unmasked "Boss" that it was all a ruse, designed
to lead him out of hiding.
SECOND STORY
"The Failure of Bruce Wayne" (10 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker:
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supproting Character
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in issue #117; next appearance in issue
#124)
Villians
An armed convict, "Babyface" Muller, Arnie Briggs, and as unnamed hood
(first and only appearance to date for all)
Other Characters
Silas Wayne (first appearance; dies shortly after this story)
Professor Sheckley (no appearance; name only mentioned; first and only
appearance to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Cameo Appearances
General Horatio Wayne (first and only appearance; in a portrait; identified
as Gen. "Mad Anthony" Wayne of Earth-One in reprint in Batman #259; first
actual appearance of "Mad Anthony" Wayne in World's Finest Comics #186)
Caleb Wayne and Ismael Wayne (in pictures; first and only appearance
to date for both)
Thomas Wayne (Batman's father; in a picture)
Synopsis
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are visited by Bruce's great-uncle
Silas Wayne, who is the self-appointed historian of the Wayne family and
is constantly harping at Bruce to do something worthy of his pioneer ancestors.
If Bruce did something worthy of his family, says Silas, he will die happy.
But being a playboy is not enough.
Accordingly, Bruce tried to answer emergencies for Batman
as Bruce Wayne. But he is frustrated each time by the police, who
see him as a meddling amateur, and he is forced to become Batman to deal
with threats. Silas allows that Bruce is in there trying,and may
live up to the Wayne name yet. Soon after, however, he has a relapse
of a stroke and is bedridden, soon to die. Bruce, perplexed, hits
on a solution. After he and Robin bring in the "Babyface" Muller
gang, Batman unmasks before reporters at police headquarters as Bruce Wayne.
As he does so, another Batman comes in the door, and "reveals" that he
allowed Bruce to help him out on the case to throw the crooks a curve.
The reporters praise Wayne for his courage. Afterward, the second
"Batman" unmasks in the Bat-Cave as Alfred. Silas allows Bruce's
portrait, as Batman, to hang proudly beside his ancestors. And Silas
passes away hours later--but not before Bruce reveals to him that he is
actually Batman.
THIRD STORY
"The Airborne Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (next appearance for both in Detective Comics #262)
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in first story of this issue; next appearance
in Detective Comics #262
Villians
Willie, the Denton Mob, and other Gotham criminals (first and only
appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
After Batman injures both legs turning the charge of a
maddened elephant at a charity circus, Gotham criminals prepare for a fieldday.
Unfortunately for them, Batman rises to the occasion with his and Robin's
whirly-bats, the one-man open helicraft that allow them sufficent manuverability
to challenge lawbreakers in action. When a gang of thieves tries
to snatch a payroll from the Gotham City Granary, the heroes release tons
of grain and stir it up with their rotor blades, effectively blinding the
hoods so that Robin can knock them out. On another occasion, they
use the whirly-bats to knock loose a boulder, blocking a bridge another
gang planned to escape over. When a third gang tries to scuttle them
with huge clouds of smoke from an aircraft company's smokestacks, Batman
uses a wind tunnel to blow away the smoke and enable him to track down
and capture the crooks. Finally, when a last group of criminals tries
to commit a crime while shielding themselves with a giant display-screen-window
from the Gotham Screen Company, Batman and Robin reach through the giant
holes of the screen with powerful suction-hoses and snag the criminals
bodily. Later, Batman assures Commissioner Gordon he'll have the
casts off by tomorrow. Gordon replies that the city hardly noticed
any difference while he wore them.
Detective Comics No. 262
December 1958
Cover: Batman and Robin held by Jackal-Head and his thugs //Curt Swan
/Stan Kaye
Story: “The Jackal of the Underworld” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#120; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #98)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (between BATMAN #120 / 122)
Intro: Dr. Coombs (only appearance)
Villains: Jackal-Head (Gibson) and his gang (first and only appearance
for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to battle the Moonman in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #98. Then Robin helps
Superman attempt to play a trick on Lois Lane in SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND,
LOIS LANE #6.
Synopsis: A new crimelord appears in Gotham, disguised in the mask
of Anubis, Egyptian god of the underworld, and using the “underworld” below
Gotham City as a crime motif.
Detective Comics No. 263
January 1959
Cover: Batman and Robin watching the Professor, Smyte, and Brangan
escape in anti-gravity car //Curt Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “The Secret of the Fantastic Weapons” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman (last appearance in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
#98; next appears in BATMAN #121), Robin (last appearance in SUPERMAN’S
GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE #6; next appears in BATMAN #121)
Intro: Odin (in flashback), a tribe of Mayan Indians, their chief,
and his son (only appearance for all)
Villains: The Professor, Smyte, Brangan (first and only appearance
for all)
Synopsis: Batman and Robin attempt to fight crooks who employ superscientific
devices stolen from a hidden tribe of Mayan Indians who got them from an
alien traveller.
BATMAN #121
February 1959
Cover: Mr. Zero and frozen Batman and Robin
Artists: Curt Swan and Win Mortimer
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Body In The Bat-Cave" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in Detective Comics #263)
Villians
Alec Wyre (first appearance: dead before this story opens)
Jigger Mulane and his confederate, Dan Dolson and his gang, and Hank
Purdy (first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
While heading through the Bat-Cave en route to the Batmobile,
Batman and Robin discover a dead body in the Bat-Cave's depths. Batman
determines the cause of death as a blow to the head, and Robin, identifying
him as Alec Wyre, a criminal electronics genius, blurts out that whoever
killed him knows their secret identities. A notebook Wyre carried
gives them the names of three of his criminal "customers" who brought inventions
from him: Jigger Mulane, Don Dolson, and Hank Purdy. Batman
and Robin apprehend each of them in turn, and accuse each of Wyre's murder,
but each claims ignorance of Wyre's death. Since a guilty man would
have tried to bargain with the threat of disclosing Batman's identity,
they relize they have drawn three blanks. But the manner they used
to track down Hank Purdy, a high frequency transmitter, gives them an important
clue; they discover similar signals coming from the Bat-Cave, and trace
it to a banded Bat--the same bat Batman had earlier sent to Hank Prudy,
with a message to get out of town. Batman reconstructs what must
have occurred: Purdy was entertaining Wyre in his room when he received
the bat-package, and Wyre, realizing it came from Batman, banded the leg
with a high-frequency transmitter. Then, unknown to Purdy, Wyre sent
it back home and trailed it to the Bat-Cave. But, once within it,
his flashlight disturbed the bats and they fluttered against him en masse,
causing him to strike his head on a stalagmite--the one which, even now,
has a chip out of it--and killed himself. Batman reflects on how
a bat gave away his secret identity, and another bat, or mass of bats,
saved it.
SECOND STORY
"Crime Rides The Rails" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Villians
Duds Decker and his gang (first and only appearance to date for all)
Other Characters
Wilson and another detective (first and only appearance to date for
both)
Passengers and crew of a train, a runaway boy, a housewife, and
a circus owner (first and only appearance for all to date)
Synopsis
Gangster Duds Decker is handcuffed to a detective and
taken on board a train that will send him to an upstate penitentiary, but
he promises he will never be taken to the pen. To try to symie any
escape plans, Batman and Robin board the train as aides to Wilson, a railway
policeman. At one stop, as the threesome search the cars for hoboes,
they come upon a trio of Decker's thugs disguised as transients and subdue
them after a shor battle. Also, finding a young boy running away
from home because of a poor report card, Wilson convinces him to
return to his parents and study rather than face the cold, hungry life
of a hobo. Later, Batman uncovers a thug masquerading as a conductor--he
gives the time as "two minutes after two," rather than a conductor's
"2:10"--and subdues him. Still futher on, Batman and Robin dismount
the train briefly to catch a lion escaped from a circus train, thanks to
Decker's gang, and catch up with the train again to find it stopped.
Wilson, who has been unconscious, revives to tell him he was jumped by
Decker's men, who took their boss and the handcuffed detective along with
them. Batman and Robin track down the gang in a railroad maintenance
yard, and, signalling Wilson with a special whistle used by trainmen, capture
the crooks and save the detective. They see the train back on course,
waving to Wilson as he waves to them from the back platform of the caboose.
THRID STORY
"The Ice Crimes Of Mister Zero" (9 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Dave Wood
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #264)
Villians
Mister Zero (first appearance; next appearance, as Mr. Freeze, in Detective
Comics #373)
Marty, Luke, Gus, and Kirk (first appearance for all; all possibly
return as Mr. Freeze's gang in Detective Comics #373)
Other Characters
A prince and princess, attendees at their party, and guards (first
and only appearance to date for all)
Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Mr. Zero, a new super-villain, begins pulling incredible
robberies in Gotham with the help of his gang and his "ice gun," one barrel
firing acetylene flame and the other emitting a fast-freezing gas.
Batman and Robin try to stop one of his capers as his gang robs diamonds--"ice"
in criminal slang-- from a jewelry exchange, but Mr. Zero freezes the street
under the dynamic duo's skates and stops them. Later, in his lair,
which is kept cold except for a warmed bench for his gang, he explains
to a new member of his group of the accident that befell his when he was
saturated with the cold-gas solution used in his gun. He immediately
lost the ability to breathe or survive at normal room temperature, such
and had to dwell in and artificially cold environment, such as his refrigerated
lair or his "air-conditioned" Mr. Zero costume. Batman and Robin
try to stop a subsequent Mr. Zero robbery of a visting prince and princess's
diamonds, but their bat-ropes are frozen in mid-swing and, when the heroes
attempt to use an ice- slide to reach Zero's getaway car, the frigid felon
melts it. Batman and Robin attempt to follow Zero to his lair in
whirly-bats, but Zero freezes their propellors, takes them prisoner, and
freezes them in giant cakes of ice. Batman manages to rock his ice
cake enough to smash it open, along with Robin's icy prison and a steam
pipe as well. He manages to slug Zero before the villain, enveloped
in a steam bath, can use his ice-gun. Seconds later, outside, Zero
is gratified to find the steam-bath has restored his normalcy, and Batman
hopes the law may be able to normalize his criminal mind as well.
Detective Comics No. 264
February 1959
Cover: Masked pirate vs. Batman and Robin //Curt Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “Peril At Playland Isle” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#121; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #99)
Intro: Charles Barden (dies in this story), Edith Barden, Mac Macklin,
Wilton (only appearance for all)
Villain: Carter (first and only appearance)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to deal with Vincent Verril in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #99, then join the
heroes of Earth to fight Commander Blanx as shown in flashback in JUSTICE
LEAGUE OF AMERICA #144.
Synopsis: Batman and Robin investigate the murder of the owner of an
island amusement park.
BATMAN #122
March 1959
Cover: Robin at wedding of Batman and Batwoman
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"Prisoners Of The Sargasso Sea" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger (?)
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Inker: Charles Paris (?)
Letterer:
Feature Character
Batman and Robin (last chronalogical appearance for both in flash
back in Justice League of America #144)
Villains
Blackjack and his crew (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Captian Jolly Roger, Erik, Flavius, and other denizens of the Sargasso
Sea (first and only appearance for all to date)
Comments
Jack Schiff becomes the editor and Murray Boltinoff and George
Kashdan become associate editors with this issue.
This issue is also reprinted as a Pizza Hut Collector's
Edition. The reprint can be distinguished by the lable "Pizza Hut
Collector's Edition Vol. I" above the cover logo, and the interior ads
for Pizza Hut.
Synopsis
Batman and Robin,in their Bat-Plane,head far out to sea
in pursuit of the pirate Blackjack's submarine. A storm arises, buffets
the Bat-Plane, and causes its engine to conk out. They land on the
plane's pontoons and drift for a day. Finally, on the horizon, they
sight a legendary scene: the Sargasso Sea, a morass of seaweed entangling
over a score of ships from ancient times, with a cloud of mist hanging
heavy over it. Drifting in closer, Batman and Robin are bade welcome
by an English ex-pirate, Jolly Roger, and his cohorts Erik of Norway and
Flavius of Rome. They explain that strange mists from the seaweed
keep them alive and unaging, and even their clothes do not wear out.
In their Sargasso colony, all wars and hatreds have been forgotten, and
they live in peace.
That is, until Blackjack and his men clamber over
the side of Roger's ship. The pirate, whose sub was also storm-damaged,
do a losing battle against Batman and Robin, until a machine-gunner on
the sub forces them to desist upon pain of killing the ancient seamen.
When Blackjack offers Jolly Roger a chance to join his crew, the old pirate
turns him down flatly, having mended his ways. Blackjack nevertheless
takes charge, and locks Batman and Robin below. the two heroes escape
through a porthole, organize a secret council among Jolly Roger and his
men, and help the Sargasso sailors bombard the sub with cannon shot.
The submarine retaliates, and the sailors on the wooden ship are in danger.
But Batman and Robin clamber over to the surfaced sub and attack the crew,
and, with the sub's guns silenced, the ancient sailors board the submarine
and take its crew prisoner. Roger says that he will keep the modern pirates
with them,and time will cure their evil. Batman and Robin repair
the Batplane's motor, cut away the seaweed from the undercarrige, and,
fashioning a wooden airstrip from one of the ship's timbers, take off for
the modern world, keeping the Sargasso coloney their secret.
SECOND STORY
"The Cross-Country Crimes" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supproting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in Detective Comics #262; next appears
in third story of next issue)
Villains
Hijack (Jack Spade; first and only appearance to date; not to be confused
with Hi-Jack, formerly the Jack of Clubs, who debuts in Justice League
of America#43)
Hijack's gang (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Carter, Gears, and Shorty (first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
A new villain costumed as the Jack of Spades and calling
himself Hijack leads a small gang in hijacking trucks from the Cross-Country
Trucking Company whenever they carry especially valuable cargo. Carter,
the head of Cross-Country Trucking, tells Commissioner Gordon, Batman and
Robin his troubles, and the two costumed heroes agree to tail Carter's
next valuable truck in the Bat-Plane. The next night, two truckers
take out a load of platinum, with Batman and Robin in the skies above.
They halt one attempt of Hijack's to take the cargo, but the gang gets
away. Later, Batman and Robin are decoyed by a phony holdup, and
Hijack separates the cab and its load, stealing the platinum. Batman
vows to bring Hijack to justice personally. From his trademark, the
Jack of Spades, Batman deduces Hijack to be Jack Spade, a recently-released
criminal who had been deafened for two years by dynamite during an escape
attempt. Later, Batman tells Carter in the latter's office that he
and Robin will ride along in the back of a truck carrying silver plate.
Hijack, as Jack Spade, reads Batman's lips with binoculars. That
night, Hijack stops the silver truck and orders the two drivers out, then
yells for Batman and Robin to come out and be cut down by their guns, or
stay inside and be dynamited. They dynamite the load, but Batman
and Robin emerge from hiding, having been disguised as the drivers.
The heroic pair defeats and captures Hijack and his gang, telling the costumed
criminal later that they had guessed he had learned lip-readin during his
deaf period, and had baited a trap for him with Carter's cooperation.
Later, Batman and Robin gaze proudly at the departing transport truck,
havin made its path a little safer.
THIRD STORY
"The Marriage Of Batman And Batwoman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor:Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Inker:
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson (do not appear as Batman and Robin in
this story; both appear next, as Batman and Robin, in Detective Comics
#265)
Cameo Appearances
Batman, Robin, and Batwoman (first and only appearance to date for
all; as characters in Robin's dream)
Assorted crooks (first and only appearance to date for all; as,characters
in Robin's dream)
Comments
This story is mostly a dream of Dick Grayson's, as only
page 1 panels 1 and 2, page2 panels 1 and 2, and page 8 occur on the "Real"
Earth-One world. As such, Batman and Robin and Batwoman are listed
under "Cameo Appearances" because of their doubly fictious nature, even
though they make substantial appearances within the story.
Synopsis
After hearing Bruce Wayne say that he is going out with
Kathy Kane, secretly Batwoman, and seeing him to the door, Dick Grayson
falls asleep in a chair. He appears to awaken when roused by Bruce
and Kathy together, as they tell him they have taken the plunge and gotten
married. Dick is fearful of his status as Batman's parner, and, alone
with Bruce, discovers that he has not yet told her his secret identity,
nor has she divulged her Batwoman identity to him, as of yet. Later,
Bruce and Dick make excuses to leave when the Bat-Signal summons them as
Batman and Robin to an airport terminal robbery. Kathy, feeling bored,
becomes Batwoman and heads for the same site. After the three heroes
defeat the hoods, they head home in separate ways. When they arrive
home, Batman reveals his double identity to a grateful Batwoman.
But, on the next night, when Batman and Robin leave to answer another Bat-Signal,
Kathy cannot find her uniform. Batman confesses that he has hidden
it, saying that one crime-fighter is enough, her place is in the home,
and if she were unmasked the underworld would know that Batman is Bruce
Wayne. Batman and Robin appear on a movie set to foil a robbery there,
but Batwoman, clad in an altered Batman costume, also turns up and joins
in the battle. One of the hoods activats a wind machine. The
gale blows away Batwoman's cowl, and she is revealed as Kathy Kane Wayne.
The hoods then exclaim that "Batman is Bruce Wayne!" Robin angrily
yells that Kathy has ruined Batman's career. Batman shakes Robin
and tells him to stop it.
At that point, Dick Grayson wakes up in the chair,
being shaken by Bruce Wayne. Bruce tells him that what he has experienced
has been only a dream. However, Bruce muses that someday he /will/
probably marry, and Kathy is a nice girl. This does nothin for Dick's
peace of mind.
Detective Comics No. 265
March 1959
Cover: Robin reading of how the Clock trapped Batman in his first case
//Curt Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “Batman’s First Case” (13 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman (also appears in flashback; origin retold
in detail; see Comment under BATMAN #81 for chronology), Robin (last appearance
for both in BATMAN #122; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #100)
Supporting Characters: Thomas Wayne, Martha Wayne (in flashback; both
die in this story)
Intro: Tom Rogers (only appearance)
Villains: The Clock (Kyle; first and only appearance; also appears
in flashback; see Comment under BATMAN #81 for chronology), Joe Chill (in
flashback; see Comment under BATMAN #81 for chronology)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to fight Lex Luthor in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #100.
Synopsis: When Batman was beginning his crime-fighting career, possibly
the first felon he apprehended was a crook named Kyle, who later becomes
the Clock and used timepieces as a crime motif to revenge himself on Batman
for making him do “time” in prison.
BATMAN #123
April 1959
Cover: Robin, Bat-Hound, and cops vs. Batman
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Secret Of The Everglades" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #100)
Villains
Mike Briggs and his gang (first and only appearance of all to date)
Other Characters
Joe Osceola (first and only appearance to date)
Two tribes of Seminole Indians (first and only appearance for all to
date)
Synopsis
A Seminole Indian tells a group of youngsters around a
campfire about Old Joe Osceola's adventure with Batman and Robin.
Joe, a trapper, was grabbed by two toughs who said that "the boss" wanted
words with him, but Joe cried out, attracting the attention of a vacationing
Batman and Robin. The two toughs, after losing a fight, took off
in a swap-sled. Joe Oscelola confessed that he did not know what
they wanted, and, when Batman and Robin escorted him into the neighboring
village, complained that the young ones used to make over him the way they
do now of Batman and Robin. The two heroes decided to restore Joe's
pride in himself, somehow.
Soon, Mike Briggs, a buyer of alligator hides, visited
the camp, bought hides from Joe, and let drop the information that he knew
Joe had been attacked. Since Batman and Robin had let no one know
of the incident, only the thugs' employer could have had the knowledge.
The two heroes followed, but were captured and tied to logs. But
Old Joe managed to slip a knife to Batman, while showing himself to the
hoods, who captured him and interrogated him about a wooden plank which
he used to patch his canoe. Batman and Robin were able to free themselves
and rescued Joe, who pitched in and battled alongside them. Later,
Batman and Robin checked out the plank in Joe's canoe, which proved to
have and inscription in Spanish from Ponce De Leon, the explorer who sought
the Fountain of Youth. At the place where Joe found the plank, Batman
and Robin dug up Briggs's true objective--ancient suits of Spanish armor,
which could be sold for a high price. Joe opted to share the money
with his tribe, and thus became a hero again to the youth of his village,
as he is to the youngsters who hear the Seminole tell the tale again.
SECOND STORY
"The Joker's Practical Jokes" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Villains
The Joker (last seen in issue #110; next appears in issue #127)
Convicts at Gotham State Prison (first and only appearance for all
to date)
Other Characters
The passengers and crew of two ships, two truck drivers, workers in
a rocket factory, and a prison guard (first and only appearance for all
to date)
Synopsis
After overhearing a construction worker tell a young
apprentice to fetch a "left-handed monkeywrench"--a practical joke common
among builders--the Joker hits upon using practical jokes as a theme for
crimes. Through police headquarters, he sends Batman and Robin clues
to his thievery attempts. "Anchor watch," which is a gag played upon
new seamen, siginfies that the Joker will use an inflatable whale tied
to a docked ship's anchor to draw the attention of passengers and crew
so that he may loot the ship's safe. Batman and Robin try to nab
the Joker, but he punctures the whale and releases a cloud of smoky gas
used to inflate ballon, and makes his escape. His next practical
joke crime revolves around a "cable stretcher," a nonexistent item electric
linemen send green workers to fetch. The Joker creates a web of stretched
wires across a road to trap a truck carrying a payroll to a new hydroelectric
dam. Batman and Robin try to stop the Joker's escape once again,
and once again they fail. Finally, the Joker notifies Batman that
his next crime motif is "unobtanium," and imaginary fuel refered to by
rocket scientists. The Joker's ploy is to set off a horde of toy
rockets in a rocket parts factory, create havoc, and loot them of industrial
diamonds. Batman appears, and the Joker flees up the side of a prop
rocket outside, having equipped the nose capsule to fly. But Robin,
in the Batplane, lassos the capsule with a cable and prevents the Joker's
escape. Later, in prison, the Joker falls for a gag when inquires
to a guard about a "sheepskin" the other convicts have said he is to receive.
The guard curtly tells the Joker that a sheepskin is prison slang
for a pardon, and the Joker is far away form earning that kind of sheepskin.
Everyone concerned cracks up--except the Joker.
THIRD STORY
"The Fugitive Batman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Inker: Lew Schwartz (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #266)
Guest Star
Bat-Hound (last seen in Detective Comics #254; next appears in issue
#125)
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in second story of last issue; next
appears in Detective Comics #266)
Villains
Lucky Lane, Nifty Blake, and the Red Mask Mob (first and only appearance
to date for all)
Other Characters
Frank Tyler (first and only appearance to date)
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
Commissioner Gordon calls a press conference, with
Robin present, and announces that Batman is wanted for a crime, the details
of which he cannot reveal at present. But even Robin is joinging
in the hunt, and proves it by battling Batman--and losing--at a drive-in
theater later on. Afterward, Robin uses Bat-Hound to pick up Batman's
scent,since John Wilker, Ace's owner, has gone to Europe for a vaction
and left the dog with the Wayne household. Batman manages to elude
Bat-Hound and Robin by using a giant fish-net display to entangle them,
but he is still on the run. Eventually, he falls in with Nifty Blake,
suspected of being a member of the Red Mask Mob, and begs to be allowed
to join the gang. To prove his sencerity, Batman removes his cowel.
The features undreneath are that of Frank Tyler, a detective writer whom
the newspapers report to be wanted for murder. Satisfied, Blake takes
Batman to meet the secret head of the Red Mask Mob, one Lucky Lane, the
former "king of the underworld." Robin and Bat-Hound arrive, supposedly
on Batman's trail. But Batman changes course and battles against
the Red Mask Mob, with Robin and Bat-Hound helping him defeat them.
Later, Frank Tyler comes out of hiding, and the entire murder chare is
revealed as a hoax to smoke out the head of the Red Mask Mob, which succeeded.
Detective Comics No. 266
April 1959
Cover: Satellite destroying Batmobile as Batman and Robin escape //Curt
Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “The Satellite of Gotham City”
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger?
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in BATMAN
#123)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (between BATMAN #123 / 124)
Villains: Astro (not to be confused with the member of the Band
of Super-Villains in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #134) and his gang (first and
only appearance for all)
Synopsis: Gotham City is plagued by a “satellite” with destructive
powers, which opposes Batman and Robin.
Detective Comics No. 267
May 1959
Cover: Robin, Batman, and Bat-Mite in Bat-Cave //Curt Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “Batman Meets Bat-Mite” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST
COMICS #101)
Intro: Bat-Mite (next appears in issue #276)
Villains: Tipper Neely and his gang, Yellow Gloves Gang, various crooks
(first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to fight the Atom-Master in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #101.
Synopsis: Bat-Mite, a hero-worshipping magical elf-being from another
dimension, comes to Earth in hopes of helping Batman and Robin fight crime.
The Dynamic Duo are reluctant, especially when he uses his magic to make
their battles more “exciting”.
BATMAN #124
June 1959
Cover: Gas from giant space seed drifting towards Batman and Robin
//Curt Swan / Win Mortimer
FIRST STORY
"The Invisible Batman" (8 pages )
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff (?)
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (last seen in World's Finest Comics #101)
Supporting Character
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in issue #120; next appearance in first
story of next issue)
Villains
Smiley Gober, Lou, and other members of his gang (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Other Characters
A scientist, Mrs. Dumont, and the members of the Gotham Community Chest
(first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
Batman and Robin, battling two members of Smiley Gober's
gang at the Aladdin Lamp Company, are dismayed when one of the gangsters
accidentally triggers a ray-machine's beam on Batman, causing him to become
invisible. After the hood's are taken by the police, a scientist
at the plant explains to Batman that the machine is used to experiment
with light waves, and the ray which caused his predicament is unknown to
them. The invisible Batman carries on, even though he knows he will
have to make a televised appearance later in the week with the Gotham Community
Chest, as Bruce Wayne. Batman and Robin next encounter Smiley and
his gang going through bags of soy flour at a bakery. When they detect
the unseen Batman's footprints in spilled flour, the gangsters employ a
vacuum cleaner filled with soy flour on reverse power to blow flour over
Batman, rendering him visible. When he accidentally falls into their
hands, Smiley unmasks Batman, only to find that the concealed upper half
of his face is still invisible. Robin appears, removes th flour from
Batman's body with an exhoust fan, and helps his mentor bring the crooks
down with the help of a vat of butter. Later, Bruce Wayne appears
at the Community Chest with make-up covering his face, but the hot lights
of the television crew causes the make-up to run. However, his invisibility
has worn off, and no harm is done.
SECOND STORY
"The Return Of Signalman" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Character
Commissioner Gordon (last seen in Detective Comics #266; next appearance
in flashback, in Detective Comics #273)
Villains
The Signalman (last seen in issue #122; next appears as the Blue Bowman
in issue #139)
Assorted Gotham crooks (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Miss Lanor, an actor playing Robin Hood, a movie crew, and a guard
(first and only appearance to date for all)
Synopsis
Phil Cobb breaks jail and returns to the Gotham underworld
as the Signalman. He hopes ot acquire a gang, now that he has one
battle with Batman under his belt, but the Gotham crooks refuse, since
Batman has outsmarted him. Accordingly, Signalman begins a new solo
crime campaign, sending clues to Commissioner Gordon and Batman.
The symbols of theater masks and a short=voyages sailing symbol indicate
his first raid will be on an old showboat's box office; Batman and Robin
confront Signalman on board, but he brings down a smokestack with ans explosive
and forces the heroes to stop the resulting fire as he escapes. Later,
the heroes receive the astrological symbol for Sagittarius, the archer,
and the chess symbol for a castle. They deduce correctly that Signalman
intends to rob a priceless borrowed diamond necklace from a actress portraying
the queen of England in a Robin Hood movie being filmed nearby; the Signalman
flings down a checkered flag and escapes in a racing car. Finally,
Batman receives a flashlight with a Bat-Signal fixed to it. He realizes
that the Signalman plans to rob the police exhibit at a nearby hall, heisting
a display of the many honorary police badges sent to Batman. During
the confrontation, Signalman attempts to escape by climbing a giant microscope,
but Batman climbs a giant saftey patrolman's statue, reaches Signalman,
and knocks him onto a giant scales of justice.
THIRD STORY
"The Mystery Seeds From Space" (9 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #268)
Villains
A meteorite, a "sound seed," a "paralyzing gas" seed, and a robot (first
appearance for all; all destroyed in this story)
Other Characters
Martha and her husband (first and only appearance for all to date)
Comments
This story bears some reseblance to the various versions of H.G. Wells's
novel, War of The Worlds.
Synopsis
A farmer outside of Gotham City and his wife are
the first to feel the effects of a trio of strange "space seeds"
fallen from the heavens: a strange, incredibly loud whistling noise that
sets up powerful viberations in the air around it. Hearing the noise,
Batman and Robin investigate in the Batplane, seeing Gotham Tower and a
cross-river bridge disintergrating from the noise. They protet themselves
with earplugs and, finding the strange seedpod, cause a small avalanche
with rubble and muffle, but not stop, its sound. Batman and Robin
then encounter the farmer, who tells them of two other seeds which fell
to Earth right after a meterite recently struck the ground. The second
seed releases a petrifying gas cloud which threatens to drift towards Gothem
City; the heroes anchor their Whirly-Bats over the gas cloud and hold it
stationary in a small ravine. They track the third seed by the radio
interference it caused and find a giant, collapsible robot emerging from
the interior, which proceeds to free the gas cloud and sound seed,all of
which head for Gotham. Realizing the meteorite must be a control
element, Batman uses the Batplane's grappling hook to snag it and then
dips it into the petrifying gas cloud. It becomes brittle enough
to be shattered by the vibrations of the sound seed. Without the
control element, the gas cloud evaporated and the robot and sound seed
disintergrate. When Robin wonders why another planet would use those
means to attack Earth, Batman speculates that it may have been due to a
military error.
Detective Comics No. 268
June 1959
Cover: Robin watching Batman overturn carful of crooks //Curt Swan
/ Stan Kaye
Story: “The Power That Doomed Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance of both in BATMAN
#124; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #102)
Intro: Professor Blake (only appearance)
Villains: Big Joe Foster and his gang (including Pete Kulik), various
crooks (first and only appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to fight a caveman from Krypton in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #102.
Synopsis: During a test flight of a new jet plane, Batman passes through
the tail of a comet. The radiations of the comet give him super-strength,
but he will die from its effect within a week unless he can locate a reclusive
professor to cure him...and the underworld is looking for the professor,
to keep him out of Batman’s hands.
Detective Comics No. 269
July 1959
Cover: Batman and Robin tied to targets, facing criminal archers //Curt
Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “The Thousand Deaths of Batman” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance for both in WORLD’S
FINEST COMICS #102; both next appear in flashback in issue #273)
Villain: The Director, the Big Guy, the Green Hood Mob (including Haley),
a Batman impostor, Shorty, various crooks (first and only appearance for
all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin battle the Dragon
Society in flashback in issue #273.
Synopsis: A criminal director, for a price, stages plays for the underworld
in which Batman and Robin actors are “killed”, until the real Batman and
Robin take the crook-actors’ places.
BATMAN #125
August 1959
Cover: Plaxians crowning unmasked Batman king as Robin and Guerney
watch //Curt Swan / Win Mortimer
Letterer:
FIRST STORY
"The Secret Life Of Bat-Hound" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in flashback in Detective Comics #273)
Supporting Characters
Alfred Pennyworth (last seen in first story of last issue; next appearance
in issue #127)
John Wilker (last seen in Detective Comics #254; last appearance to
date)
Guest Stars
Batwoman (last seen in issue #119; next appears in third story of next
issue)
Bat-Hound (last seen in issue #123; next appears in issue #130)
Villains
Mr. Midas and the Midas Mob (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Citizens of Gotham City
Comment
Ace the Bat-Hound becomes the pet of Bruce Wayne and Dick
Grayson in this story.
This issue contains the first Batman letters page "Letters to the Bat-Cave."
Synopsis
When John Wilker takes a job which will keep him
travelling constantly, he asks Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson to keep his
dog Ace permanently, not knowing his dog is secretly the Bat-Hound.
Soon after, BAtman and Robin go on a mission against Mr. Midas, a masked
criminal whose gang specializes in gold robberies, when he steals a solid
gold car at an exhibition and scatters gold coins in his wake, causing
pedestrians to stop and pick them up and so obstruct the Batmobile.
Detective work leads Batman and Robin to Midas's hideout, an abandoned
gold mine, but the villain traps them there with a cave-in after telling
them he is about to "pull the Jason job!" Batman is able to signal
Bat-Hound back at Wayne Manor via a radio signal in Batman's boot and a
receptor in Ace's collar; Ace, as trained,puts his head through a harness
holding the Bat-Hound masks, summons Kathy Kane as Batwoman, and leads
her to the source of the signal, where Batwoman digs out the heroes with
a steam shovel. Batman and Batwoman deduce that "the Jason job" refers
to a movie nearby being made of "Jason and the Golden Fleece," with a fleece
made of real gold. When the four crime-fighters arrive, Batman,Batwoman
and Robin defeat the gang, while Midas makes a break for it in his car.
Bat-Hound gives chase, corners Midas at an airport, keeps him from reaching
a plane, and holds him until Batman can arrive and kayo the master thief.
Later, Bat-Hound receives a hug from Batwoman as his two masters look on,
grinning.
SECOND STORY
"The Last Days Of Batman" (9 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Supporting Characters
Commissioner Gordon (last chronological apprearnce in flashback in
Detective Comics #273; next appearance in Detective Comics #270)
Prof. Carter Nichols (last seen in Adventure Comics #253; next appearance
in issue #127)
Villain
El Bolo (Senor Lopez; first and only appearance to date)
Other Characters
Verillo and Signor Beri (first and only appearance for both to date)
John Kirk (no appearance; name only mentioned; first and only appearance
to date)
a ringmaster, the citizens of Bay City, and the citizens of 14th century
Venice (first and only apperance for all to date)
Citizens of Gotham City
Comment
This story takes place Febuary 6-9,1959.
Synopsis
Batman and Robin are sent back to 14th century Venice
to successfully verify that a painting reputedly done by the artist Verillo
was indeed his work, and that museum curator John Kirk has not erred in
purchasing it. But, when the time comes for their return to the present,
Carter Nichol's time machine is struck by a bolt of lighting. Batman
is returned to his time of departure plus one hour, but Robin is shot forward
in time three days, and picks up a newspaper whose headline tells of Batman's
death, falling from a TV tower in Bay City, while saving Robin from
a villain named El Bolo. Desperatly, Robin realizes that he may yet
have a chance to save his mentor, if he can change history when he returns
to the present. Nichols's repaired machine retrives Robin from the
future, but he refuses to tell Batman about the headline, realizing his
guardian would not be stopped from sacrificing his life for Robin.
The heroes do encounter El Bolo twice, resulting in the bolo-wielding villain's
escape each time. But, when Robin, acting on his own, is trapped
by El Bolo on his TV-tower hideout in Bay City, a Batman-costumed figure
swings toward them--and falls after his Bat-Rope is cut in two by El Bolo's
bladed bolo. A reporter, seeing the fall, hurries to call in the
story of Batman's apparent demise. But, seconds later, the real Batman
swings onto th TV tower, having distracted El Bolo by a costumed dummy,
and apprehends the villain with a bolo of his own. Robin reveals
all to Batman, and they pass by a newsboy later who holds the erroneous
report of Batman's death, more than slightly exaggerated.
THIRD STORY
"King Batman The First" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Dick Sprang
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in Detective Comics #270)
Villains
Rakk and Guerney (first and only appearance to date for both)
Other Characters
Vol, Selina, and other inhabitants of Plaxius (first and only appearance
for all to date)
Synopsis
Batman and Robin, on the trail of a criminal named Guerney,
wind their way through undergound caverns until they encounter a "time
warp" that places them in another dimension (as it already has Guerney).
Soon after, they find themselves in an athletic arens, where they overhear
a crooked athlete named Rakk fixing a competition to ensure him victory.
Batman enters the lists against Rakk and defeats him after a series of
alien sports. Then, startling enough, he is unmasked and crowed king
of Plaxius, the alien world--the objective of the competition. But
Guerney, who has watched the contest, informs Rakk of their alien nature,
and Rakk, declaring same to the officials, has Batman and Robin jailed
on grounds of illegal alien competition. The heroes are freed from
inprisonment by Selina, fiance of Rakk's rival Vol, who has been abducted
by Rakk. Batman, Robin and Selina track Vol to Rakk's satellite castle,
where they smash his defenses with a passing meteor and Batman defeats
Rakk in personal combat. They return with Guerney to their homeworld,
knowing that Guerney has recognized Batman's unmasked face during the coronation
ceremony. But, when they return through the warp, neither Batman,
Robin, nor Guerney can remember anything of their adventure, and Batman's
identity remains secret.
Detective Comics No. 270
August 1959
Cover: Giant alien crushing Batplane as Batman and Robin parachute
out //Curt Swan / Stan Kaye
Story: “The Creature From Planet X” (12 pages)
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Jack Miller
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters: Batman, Robin (last appearance of both in BATMAN
#125; both next appear in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #103)
Supporting Character: Commissioner Gordon (last appearance in BATMAN
#125)
Intro: A giant alien (only appearance)
Villains: Bart Travers and his gang, various convicts (first and only
appearance for all)
Comment: Shortly after this story Batman and Robin team with Superman
to battle Atkins and Bork in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #103.
Synopsis: A giant green alien is stranded on Earth and is duped into
helping a gang of crooks, with Batman and Robin struggling to show him
the error of his ways.
BATMAN #126
September 1959
Cover: Firefly vs. Batwoman, Batman, and Robin //Curt Swan / Win Mortimer
FIRST STORY
"The Mystery Of The 49th Star" (9 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer:
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both last seen in World's Finest Comics #103)
Villains
Will Brady, Bart Brady, and Matt Brady (the Brady Brothers; first and
only appearance for all to date)
Atkins (first and only appearance to date)
Other Characters
Chalmers (first and only appearance to date)
Citizens of Alaska
Synopsis
Batman and Robin are called in to help an old friend recover
stolen diamonds. The friend, Chalmers, lives in Alaska and made his
fortune there; the diamonds, 49 of them, were out in star shapes and set
in an "American flag" setting, to be presented to the Alaskan government
to commemorate Alaska's being admitted to the Union. Chalmer's guard
Atkins informs Batman that he was slugged from behind by three bandits.
From fingerprints, Batman and Robin determine the thieves to be the Brady
Brothers, notorious criminals. By canvassing bush pilots, they find
that the three Bradys split up and were flown to different areas.
They capture Will Brady in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, a volcanic region;
Bart Brady is taken near Kodiak Island; and Matt Brady is caught in the
Eskimo territory of northern Alaska. Each possesses 16 diamonds,
totalling 48 in all; the 49th, symbolizing Alaska, remains missing.
Batman and Robin return to Chalmers, who waits for them with his guard
Atkins at a mining plant. Batman tackles Atkins and recovers the
49th star, telling him that he could not have known there was three thieves
if he was knocked out from behind. Afterward, Batman salutes the
American diamond-flag, nad pay special tribute to Alaska.
SECOND STORY
"The Batman Lighthouse" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin
Villains
Three unnamed thieves, several foreign agents, and Hack Jorgens (first
and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Dan Grady, Carlo Luria, and a lighthouse keeper (first and only appearance
to date for all)
Synopsis
Gotham City has recently erected a lighthouse in
the shape of a giant Batman holding a torch, which figures in the lives
of three separate individuals. When bandits overpower night watchman
Dan Grady and lock him in a warehouse's stockroom, he forms a "bat-signal"
from parts of a bicycle reflector pasted to board, shines it by the light
of the nearby lighthouse, and thus signals Batman and Robin to rescue him
and defeat the thieves. Later, political refugee Carlo Luria gazes
on the lighthouse from within a ship; with him he has a report which, when
presented to the American government, will block their loan to his small
nation and thus enable a dictatorship to be overthrown. However,
agents from the nation are on board, start a fire, pose as firemen and
attempt to abduct Luria. Batman and Robin are drawn from their Bat-Boat
search for gangster Hack Jorgens by the fire, and the fact that the ship's
"firemen" are ignorant of firefighting terminology tips them off to the
agent's true nature. They are able to rescue Luria and subdue the agents.
Finally, Batman realizes that Hack Jorgens bas holed up in the Batman Lighthouse
when he notes that the becon is revolving too slowly; the clockwork mechanism
must be cranked up every four hours, and the lighthouse keeper, tied up
by Jorgen, has not been able to do it. Batman chases Jorgen up the
arm of the giant Batman to the torch, where he tackles him, finally bringing
the gangster to bay. Later on, in prison, Jorgens is given a cell
facing the Batman Lighthouse.
THIRD STORY
"The Menace Of The Firefly" (8 pages)
Credits
Editor: Jack Schiff
Plotter,Scripter: Bill Finger
Penciller: Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Charles Paris
Letterer:
Feature Characters
Batman and Robin (both next appear in DETECTIVE COMICS #271)
Guest Star
Batwoman (last seen in first story of last issue; next appearance in
World's Finest Comics #104)
Villains
The Firefly (Ted Carson; first and only appearnce to date; not
to be confused with the Earth-Two Firefly, Garfield Lynns, who appears
in Detective Comics #184, or his Earth-One counterpart who appears in First
Issue Special #7)
The Firefly's gang (first and only appearance for all to date)
Other Characters
Citizens and Police of Gotham City
Synopsis
A new costumed criminal, the Firefly, and his gang
crash a party at the Carson Mansion at Gotham which Bruce Wayne and Dick
Grayson are attending. Batman and Robin attempt ot interfere with
the Firefly's theft of gold nuggets from the Carson family's first gold
strike, but the Firefly blinds them momentarily with a powerful light beam
from his helmet and insures his gang's getaway. Later, Bruce Wayne
finds Kathy Kane spruning him for Ted Carson, causing him to exclaim that
he now has both the Firefly and Carson to worry about. Soon, Batman,
Robin and Batwoman are summoned to combat the Firefly at the Gotham Glassworks,
but they discover that the Firefly possesses a sonic weapon that can shatter
glass and are forced to take cover while the criminals flee, though one
is caught. As they part, Batwoman reveals to Batman that she knows
his secret identity. Later, Bruce Wayne calls upon Kathy Kane, only
to find Ted Carson already there. After a few minutes, Ted gets up
to leave and asks Bruce to see Kathy to dinner; she pleads a headache and
gets Bruce's raincoat, still leaving him in the dark as to whether or not
she suspects him of being Batman. After Bruce leaves, a fallen paper
reveals to Kathy the Firefly's plans to rob the Gotham Museum of Natural
History. She becomes Batwoman and travels to Ted Carson's house,
telling him to become Batman and accompany her to foil the Firefly's plans,
and revealing she saw him change from a uniform into civilian clothes at
the party. Carson leaves, and emerges in his uniform--the Firefly's.
He proceeds to tie Batwoman up and joins his gang at the museum, attempting
to steal silver relics. But Batman and Robin have deduced his next
crime-site and Batwoma has freed herself, and the crime-fighters bring
the criminals down. Later, Batwoman reveals that she thought Bruce
Wayne was the Firefly because she had mistakenly given Bruce Ted's coat,
from which the plans for robbing the museum had dropped. Still later,
Kathy Kane, dancing with Bruce, contemplates him as a candidate for Batman,
and rejects the notion.