Who's Up For Some Retro-Batman?

[espanolbot]

Turns out that Comixology has started giving away Detective Comics 27 for free, what with the issue being some 75 years old at this point. So, I thought that I'd post some! Haha!







Interesting side-note, this story was actually adapted from one of the Shadow pulps, specifically Partners of Peril by Theodore Tinsley. Considering the Shadow-influences that were present with the character... I'm kind of unsure whether this was a deliberate homage, or possibly Bob Kane stealing other people's ideas... again.

The fact that some of the art in the comic reflects some of the illustrations that accompanied the story, for example, doesn't help matters.

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/391/

Still, could be worse. Early Batman also lifted some of the more skeevy things from Doc Savage too.

Comments

[icon_uk]

What I remember finding a little odd about this story is the bit with "This is the gas chamber I use to kill guinea-pigs"..... The sodding this has an eight foot diameter and is well over six feet tall. Your average guinea-pig is what... six inches long and about 2 inches high... how the hell many guinea-pigs is he KILLING here.... or is he breeding some sort of giant mutant guinea-pig?"

[espanolbot]

He kills them by the pound, I guess.

[speedingtortoise]

It's more economical that way.

[an_idol_mind]

Maybe he doesn't mean guinea pigs in the literal sense.

[skjam]

Also, Commissioner Gordon's name was lifted from "The Whisperer" pulps, where the title hero's secret identity was Police Commissioner James "Wildcat" Gordon.

[althechi]

Wait, right down to his middle initial? Man, that's shameless.

[sagrada]

That blog is more enjoyable than almost any Batman comic. Especially the ones ruined by Mr. Kane. Thanks for linking to it

[superfangirl1]

Golden age Bat-man didn't play around and will give you a lobotomy for Justice.

[yvonmukluk]

It'd be interesting if someone did an elseworlds where Batman tried that & it actually made his insanity WORSE.

[espanolbot]

I thought that it was rather telling that in the Justice Lords storyline in the Justice League cartoon, that even though he'd been laser-lobotomised like the rest of the Arkham inmates, the Joker was still as smart and devious as he'd been before... just a lot calmer and less overtly violent (he was still cool with setting killer robots on people though).

After he'd been subjected to Lord Superman's brain surgery, they evidently thought that placing the Joker in charge of Arkham would be a good idea... which tells you all you need to know about the Justice Lords Universe (they take the easy route, even if it's horribly dubious or will potentially come back to get them in the future).

[star_of_airdrie]

Actually, a lobotomy of the frontal lobe (or a stroke in the frontal lobe for that matter) may only effect affect, giving the person a blunt or flat affect. But in many other cases, lobotomies do terrible things and the results are very inconsistent so we rarely do them anymore.

[michaelhealy]

You know, Arkham has always had that gothic aesthetic and is generally treated as corrupt and behind the times. Maybe that's why the Joker just got more and more kill happy as time went on.

[drtechnobabel]

Seeing this first Batman adventure makes me wonder how in the hell anyone thought that Batman was a good idea. I mean, if you remove him from the story, it's a rather decent pulp detective tale. Nothing is really added to the story by having a guy running around in a skintight bat costume, and while he may not have been the first masked detective type out there, but a lot of the other ones wore a domino mask and maybe a cape: nothing as outlandish as old 'Bat-Man' here. It would be one thing if he actually had superpowers, as you could say they were trying to cash in on this new superhero fad that popped up (this was first published the year after Superman's first appearance, after all), but with no powers he's a just a guy running around in an elaborate bat costume for no real reason. I mean, he doesn't even have any gadgets or a Batmobile, for Pete's sake!

Point is, while I'm glad that Batman exists and the character was obviously massively popular, the original concept of 'the Bat-Man' sounds absolutely ridiculous on paper (especially for 1939), and I feel like it's a miracle that this story ever got published.

[lego_joker]

I've heard more than one source say that Kane and Finger were indeed trying to ride off of Superman's popularity. I guess you could say that Batman came about as an attempt to cross-breed Superman and the Shadow, and, well... people have tried weirder combinations throughout the history of fiction.

"Rather decent pulp detective tales", after all, were a dime a dozen in the Golden Age. The truly adventurous and/or greedy would never settle for that.

[leoboiko]

> cross-breed Superman and the Shadow

“Lamont, what are you doing?”, said Clark as he was pushed to the wall. “What’s happening between us? I don’t know what—”
“Ssshhh”, Lamont whispered, caressing Clark's chest, and murmuring imposingly into his ears: “The Shadow knows…”

[starwolf_oakley]

DC has redone this story a few times, usually for a special Detective Comics anniversary. One version in 1989 had the skeletonized body of the villain fished out of the tank, complete with the "fitting end" line.

[espanolbot]

I think that the most recent version (for the 75th anniversary) had the guy actually survive the acid tank, becoming the Joker.

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

Comixology is also giving away that 75th anniversary edition as well. I thought the villain surviving the acid tank was a bit gratuitous, but other than that I enjoyed the re-telling.

The backup story, on the other hand, was fine on the surface but the more I think about it the less I like it.

[zapbiffpow]

I just realized: Batman was a plot twist in his very first story.

Also, Jay Pinkerton's Batman Origin Comics.