Retro Comics are Awesome

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #158
April 1950

The Thousand and One Trophies of Batman!
Script: Edmond Hamilton Pencils: Bob Kane Inks:Charles Paris

As they are reviewing their "Hall of Trophies", Batman and Robin are called by Commissioner Gordon who thinks they've trapped Dr. Doom! No, not that Dr. Doom. This guy is a smuggler who the police have been after for a long time. Dr. Doom prefers "death to prison!" and dives off the pier at the Gotham waterfront rather than be arrested, but he survives and hides inside a mummy case, which Batman just happens to take for his newest trophy, thus inadvertently smuggling Dr. Doom into the Batcave. Doom decides that he can now kill Batman and use the cave as his own base, and sets up a number of the trophies as death traps. Doom sets off the alarm, drawing Batman and Robin down to the cave, where they survive one close call after another and work out that the sarcophagus is the only way someone could have entered the cave. Dr. Doom tries to kill them with the mechanical dinosaur (interestingly a brachiosaur rather than a tyrannosaur), and finally resorts to throwing a grenade at them and sheltering inside the mummy case to protect himself from the blast. But while Batman and Robin survive the explosion, it jammed the door of the sarcophagus, and by the time Batman is able to open it, Dr. Doom has suffocated. Just like the last crook to enter the Batcave, Doom doesn't make it out alive.

This story that revolves around the trophies Batman has collected over the years makes me wonder how Batman got some of these giant items into his "Hall of Trophies" without someone noticing, such as the giant penny or the animatronic dinosaur. And a thousand trophies makes Batman seem like a hoarder, not to mention all the time that he and Robin have to take to maintain these items. Anyone who thinks the Golden Age has no continuity is wrong, because this story offers a trip down memory lane with items from "The Gamble with Doom" (Batman #44, Dec. 47-Jan. 48), "The Penny Plunderers" (World's Finest #30, Sep-Oct 47), the "Crime from Tomorrow" (Batman #48, Aug-Sep 1948), Batman and Robin's trip to dinosaur island (Batman #35 June-July 1946), the hunt for the white whale (Batman #9 Feb-March 1942), the "Case Without a Crime" (Detective Comics #112 June 1946) and "The Bandits of Tiny Town" (Batman #41 June-July 1947). One of the Penguin's umbrellas is present, as is the Jade Buddha from "The Case of the Laughing Death" (Detective Comics #45 Nov 1940). The only one I couldn't identify was a giant chess set and a reference to the "Chess Crimes".

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #159
May 1950

Bruce Wayne - You are Batman!
Script: ? Pencils: Bob Kane Inks:Charles Paris

I, Batman? Ridiculous! Why for me to be that bellow Batman would ruin my whole social schedule!

Alfred hands Bruce a letter than has just arrived, which reads as follows: "Bruce Wayne, you are Batman! Interfere with our activities again, and we'll expose your identity to the world!" The story flashes back to Bruce as Batman stopping a robbery aboard a yacht, and T. Worthington Chubb, crime boss, examines a list of everyone aboard the yacht, discounts men who do not fit Batman's physical description, and narrows his list down to six men, one of which is of course Bruce. Chubb has his gang watch all six men and stage a crime, so when Batman intervenes, Bruce is the only one unaccounted for, leading Chubb to decide (correctly) that he is Batman. So once again, we have a story where Bruce has to "prove" that he's not Batman to a crook who has figured it out.

They manage to fool some crooks into thinking they're home when they answer the bat-signal, but Chubb is convinced (again, correctly) that it's a trick. Bruce figures a different trick for the next time Batman is needed, but Chubb has had enough and simply kidnaps Bruce and Dick before he pulls off his next crime. Bruce is able to trick and knock out his guard, use his disguise skill to make the crook like himself and take the crook's appearance, show up as Batman and stop the crime, tell the police where "Bruce" and Dick are being held prisoner, and use all of this to convince Chubb that he was wrong the whole time, preserving his secret identity. There are a few holes in Chubb's initial logic, but overall this story holds up fairly well, leading to a fun "must preserve the secret ID" runaround.

On a side note, we still have the Wayne home in Gotham, with the same cutaway side view of the cave and the hoist for the vehicles leading to the old barn behind Bruce's house, so Bruce must still be on the edge of town on a large estate, far enough away from neighbors that they don't see the Batplane leaving or the Batmobile racing away from the barn.

[andersonh1]

World's Finest Comics #46
June-July 1950

Bruce Wayne, Riveter!
Writer: William Woolfolk Pencils: Dick Sprang Inker: Charles Paris

You've seen Bruce Wayne as a Private Eye, you've also seen him as a policeman, cowboy, and in countless other roles...

Here is another story where Bruce (rather than Batman) is front and center, working as a riveter in a ship building yard in order to catch a killer who is also an employee of the shipyard. They have a few clues as to his identity, but Bruce wants to get in closer, and he figures no one will recognize him in work clothes, a long way from his usual wealthy social circles. Given how much of a public figure Bruce is, and how often he's made the newspapers, I don't think he quite thought this through, but of course it works. The story presents us with a number of possible suspects and gives reasons that they could be the killer, giving Bruce plenty of opportunity to use his deductive skills to investigate and eliminate various suspects. Ultimately the vital clue is found early in the story. Batman and Robin think it's the rubber section from the top of an eyedropper, but it turns out to be a suction cup for applying contact lenses ("the newest kind of eye glasses!" Bruce explains to Dick), and the killer is the worker who didn't get anything in his eyes when a cloud of sawdust blew through the yard after an accident, affecting Batman and Robin and others present, but not him.

I looked up the history of contact lenses, and the earliest corneal lenses were apparently developed in 1949, not long before this story was published, so they were indeed "the newest kind of eye glasses". They were also expensive and fragile, making me wonder if a blue-collar riveter could afford a pair. Regardless, it's good to see Bruce once again getting some page time, and interesting to see what at the time was cutting edge but is now commonplace, the contact lens, used as part of the mystery.

[andersonh1]

Batman #59
June-July 1950

The Man Who Replace Batman!
Writer: David Vern Pencils: Lew Sayre Schwartz and Bob Kane Inker: Charles Paris

Everything's legal - I have a permit for my guns. Is there any reason why I can't be another Batman? Has he a monopoly on crime-fighting?

It's the first appearance of Floyd Lawton, the Gotham millionaire otherwise known as Deadshot. The character is best known today as a member of the Suicide Squad, with his full face helmet and sight over one eye, but here he is dressed in a tuxedo, top hat, and wears a mask much like the one Robin wears. I believe this is his only appearance until the 1970s. Deadshot takes on crooks and impresses the police with his shooting while fighting crime, and openly declares his intention to replace Batman. Gordon reluctantly agrees to allow him to operate. Batman and Robin only find out about Deadhot, oddly, after he's been operating for some time. They have a bad feeling about him, but cannot prove anything.

They obtain a scrap of his coat, track down the shop it came from, set up a ruse to get photos of Deadshot, and using all the measurements of the customers in the shop are able to determine correctly that Deadshot is Floyd Lawton, who Bruce vaguely knows from one of his clubs. When they keep an eye on Lawton they eventually learn the truth: that Lawton is "fighting" crime only in order to get rid of Batman and then secretly run all crime in Gotham. When Batman confronts Deadshot, Lawton calmly tells Batman that he's going to shoot and kill him, but that it will look like an accident, and there's nothing Batman can do to prevent it. When Lawton finally tries to kill Batman, Batman mocks and goads him, and Lawton misses several times, finally losing his nerve. Batman reveals later that he snuck into Lawton's house and altered the sights on all his guns, hoping that missing would do just what it did to Lawton.

This is a solid story, which not only gives us the debut of a character that would be much more prominent in future, but also gives Batman a good showing as a detective, and shows his ability to plan ahead and rig the game to help him win. Good stuff.

The Forbidden Cellar!
Writer: Unknown Pencils and Inks: Jim Mooney

When I think of 1950s Batman, "horror stories" is not the genre I associate with the character, but that's what we get here. It's fairly tame, as one would expect given the general safe tone of the series, but it's clearly presented as this strange situation where everyone who goes into a "haunted cellar" comes out insane, due to whatever horror was locked away there, which we are not shown until the end of the story. A millionaire leaves his "haunted" estate to a local college, who want to turn the building into a library, but they want to disprove the superstition first. A photographer, a student, and Professor Vincent all go down into the cellar and when they come out they act insane and attempt to kill people, with Vincent actually killing Dean Hedge. Batman decides to go in himself, and the same thing apparently happens to him. Now we've seen genuine supernatural events in a few of these stories over the years, but as it turns out, the explanation is more mundane. Professor Vincent had put a mushroom in the cellar that emitted spores that caused temporary madness, and used it and the "haunted" reputation of the cellar to shoot and kill Hedge, because Vincent had been swindling money, and was afraid that the Dean was about to find out. Batman had seen several signs that Vincent was not actually crazy after his trip down into the cellar, and feigned madness to keep Vincent off guard until he could examine the mushroom and offer proof of Vincent's guilt.

Batman in the Future!
Writer: Bill Finger Pencils: Lew Sayre Schwartz and Bob Kane Inker: Charles Paris

Now we're getting into more of what I picture when I think of 1950s Batman: sci-fi craziness. But the story is rooted in a sub-series that we've already seen for some time: Batman and Robin's time travel adventures thanks to Professor Carter Nichols. This time he accidentally sends them into the future rather than the past. Batman and Robin capture the Joker, and after he's in jail, Batman asks him why he keeps using his talents to commit "crazy humorous crimes", to which the Joker replies that his ancestors were famous clowns and he's just following in their footsteps. That makes Batman and Robin curious enough to want to investigate the claim, but Professor Nichols accidentally sends them into the future because he had been wondering whether his methods worked in both directions.

So it's off to the far distant year of 2050 for Bruce and Dick, a world of interstellar travel, flying cars, and terrible fashion sense, where a descendant of the Joker who looks just like his ancestor (how? the Joker's appearance is cosmetic due to his accident, not genetic) is police chief Rokej. After gaining his confidence, Batman and Robin help Rokej take on space pirates. They spend some time in the spaceship construction factory, get their own Bat-ship to take into space, and deal with sabotage as they enter the race around the solar system. They expose the villain by means of radioactive dust that glows in the dark before returning to their own time. It's all good fun with old-school sci-fi.

[Shockwave]

Bat to the Future!

[andersonh1]

Bat to the Future!

We need "like" buttons on this forum. That's great!

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #160
June 1950

The Globe-Trotter of Crime!
Script: ? Pencils: Dick Sprang Inks: Charles Paris

You walking encyclopedia! You know everything....

Law enforcement from around the world hold a conference in Gotham City, and while waiting for Batman and Robin to arrive, they discuss how they helped track down the Globe-Trotter, an international thief named Henry Guile III, who loved money and the theater. Guile always wanted to be an actor, but he was terrible at acting and refused to admit it. He turned to crime, and his method was to play a part while committing the crime. Batman pursued him through England and France and captured him atop the Eiffel Tower.

The so-called globe trotter only hits England and France, so the name doesn't seem appropriate (even though he did choose it himself, so it's a case of his plans being cut short). But the most bizarre thing in this story is Batman asking Gordon "what are your orders?" as if he's now just another employee of the Gotham Police Department. Batman hasn't really been a vigilante for a long time, and he's long since essentially become a trusted, public, establishment figure, but asking Gordon for orders still just seems wrong.

[andersonh1]

Detective Comics #161
July 1950

The Men Who Died on Time!
Script: ? Pencils: Lew Sayre Schwartz and Bob Kane Inker: Charles Paris

James Dice, of Dice-Barker-Waters theatrical productions, gets a letter in the mail from "The Avenger" who promises he will die at midnight. Sure enough, at midnight, during a party to celebrate the premier of a new play, Dice falls dead. Gordon doesn't think it can be murder, but Batman is not so sure. Barker gets a similar note, and Gordon still thinks it's a prank, but fills the house with police, to no avail. Barker also dies at midnight, though his watch was slow making him think at first that he survived. The surviving member of the trio reveals to Batman that there was once a fourth partner, Slade, who could be behind the murders. The story turns into a procedural here and throws more suspects at the reader in addition to Slade. Waters, too, receives a death note, and despite locking himself into a vault to try and survive past midnight, he too dies. Upon investigation, Batman determines that Barker's watch was the vital clue and that a hidden poisoned needle had been built into each watch, a needle that was activated at midnight.

We're only eight pages into the story, so the remaining four pages see the killer attempting to cover his tracks while Batman tracks him down, but the murderer catches Batman by surprise and actually kills him using some type of poison gas. The police find him quick enough that they are able to resuscitate Batman, who had followed the clues and worked out who the killer was. It's Waters, who faked his death and killed the others because he had been embezzling money. He planned to live on his new wealth using an assumed identity.

This feels like the plot of the first Joker story with people dying as predicted despite police protection all around them. It's a nice little murder mystery with more suspects than usual for one of these 12 page stories, and notable because some no-name crook does what the Joker, Penguin and all the other big-time villains have never been able to do: kill Batman. Batman being Batman, he shakes it off and cheerfully explains the whole thing after being revived.

[andersonh1]

I'm interested in going through all the Superman books like I have the Batman books, but reviewing one volume at a time is usually enough for me. Reading is quick and easy, while going back and summing up a story in a paragraph or two takes a bit more effort. But the latest volume has me wondering when and how things changed as the series continued. Volume 6 has the final stories written by Jerry Siegel as he and Shuster had their well-known legal issues with DC at that time, and the oval signature "by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster" disappears partway through the issues covered in that book. I think the Silver Age tone starts before Superman exits the 1940s. The stories from 1947 and 48 are very different than the stories from 1939 and 1940. Maybe I'll go back and read Superman from start to finish now that I have six volumes. It'll be fun to revisit those crazy early stories anyway. I had reviews written and posted for most of the first volume, so I'll pick up where I left off and mix them up with Batman volume 7.

The last Superman stories I reviewed were on this page of the thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1140&p=51816&hilit=superman#p51816

Concluding Superman #5:

The Wonder Drug
Writer: Jerry Siegel Art: Paul Cassidy

Clark Kent is sent by Editor Taylor to interview Morton Craig, a man arrested for grand larceny. Clark thought the man was honest, and goes to interview him in jail, but Craig will not talk and demands to see Dr. Bren, supposedly for injections to combat "anemia". But more is going on, and when Craig says he'll talk, Clark's hearing allows him to catch the remark, and he follow Bren. The doctor is mixed up with racketeer Carlin and with a chemist, professor Carl Grinstead, who has invented a new drug, "Parabiolene". Long story short, instead of using it to help people as Grinstead intended, the racketeers have been using it to get people addicted so they can control them. Superman investigates and puts an end to the racket, and when the guilt-stricken Grinstead tries to commit suicide, it's his own drug that saves his life.

New York World's Fair Comics #2
July 1940

Superman at the 1940 World's Fair
Writer: Jerry Siegel Art: Jack Burnley

Editor Taylor sends Clark and Lois to cover the World's Fair (and we learn that Metropolis and New York are far enough apart that they take a plane to get there). They enjoy the sights of the fair, but when Lois mentions that the Madras Emerald is on display, it's obvious where the plot is going. When Clark spots a known criminal in the crowd at lunch, Lois wants to trail him to get a story, but Clark plays the coward and refuses. As usual, Lois is captured and it's up to Superman to stop the jewel thieves and rescue Lois. When Lois later calls Clark a coward, he gets in a dig of his own by revealing that he "interviewed" Superman and already called in the story.

While this story is about as formulaic as they come, and written for inclusion in the World's Fair comic to promote the fair, Jack Burnley's art is great as ever, and I'm not sure Lois ever looks better than when Burnley draws her.

[andersonh1]

Action Comics #26
July 1940

Professor Cobalt's Clinic
Writer: Jerry Siegel Art: Paul J. Lauretta, Paul Cassidy

The hot-tempered Professor Clarence Cobalt claims his institution can cure infantile paralysis and other bone and joint problems, but his ad is turned down by the Daily Planet. The editor calls him a fake, and the angry Cobalt almost strikes him with his cane, only for Clark of all people to stop him and throw him out the door. Clark and Lois are sent to investigate the clinic for a story, and find that Cobalt is charging exorbitant prices for sugar pills that do nothing, calling it medicine. The story does nothing to conceal the fact that Cobalt and his associates are swindlers, who plot together while out of earshot of the patients (though of course Superman can hear them). Once they learn that Lois and Clark are investigating them with an intent to expose their racket, they lock both up to "think about it".

Clark changes to Superman, takes Lois back to write up the story, then swipes the safe with the clinic's records and drops it at the newspaper. When the editor wants a sample of the "medicine", Superman finds that Cobalt had attempted to destroy it all. By talking to various victims of the clinic he is able to help a few victims find genuine medical treatment, but is unable to find medicine samples. But it doesn't matter, because the news is out and a crowd of the clinic's victims attempts to lynch Cobalt and his flunky, only for Superman to stop that and see that the two end up in jail.

The story ends with a one panel ad appealing for contributions to President Roosevelt's fund to fight infantile paralysis, making it another story inspired by a social issue of 1940. I suspected some real-world relevance when a specific disease (rather than a fictional one) was named, and when Roosevelt was name-dropped in the opening panels. The challenge for Superman here is the collection of evidence before it's destroyed, and saving lives, even the villains of the piece. So he's racing time rather than facing some physical threat (apart from a hurricane as he's flying a doctor to help one of the victims). This is a solid example of the type of story we'll continue to see from this era.