It’s been almost five months since I last wrote about the fun stories reprinted in Batman: The Silver Age Omnibus Volume One. It’s a massive tome that collects Batman #101-116 and Detective Comics #233-257, spanning mid-1956 through mid-1958. In an effort to cover more vintage comics faster, I’m going lighter on the story summaries. Let us begin with a new masked hero who has joined the Dynamic Duo and seems to be running the show.
Detective Comics #245 [July 1957] features Edmond Hamilton’s “The Dynamic Trio,” drawn by Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris. Moldoff also drew the cover as well. The Grand Comics Database aka the GCD summarizes the story:
Batman declares he needs help to crack a smuggling ring and brings in a new hero called Mysteryman. {Reporter/photographer] Vicki Vale spends the whole story trying to figure out who Mysteryman is.
This is the Batman I loved as a kid. He fights against crime without being driven by rage. He’s respectful of allies. He does the right thing. I like to think there is a still a readership out there who would love this Batman as much as I do.
Mysteries abound in Batman #109 [August 1957]. Behind the cover by Moldoff and Paris, we have three short Batman stories. The writers of the first two are unknown.
In “Three Crimes Against Batman,” drawn by Moldoff and Paris, a crook steals fairly worthless Batman-related objects as part of a plot to unmask our hero. It’s a too convoluted plot, both the crook’s plan and the story itself, that relies on the crook and the hero thinking alike. An inferior story.
“Follow the Batman” is another convoluted plot. A gang of crooks impersonate Batman to steal radium. A headmaster and students of a school for amateur detectives stumbles onto the plot and seeks to track the criminals. It’s slightly better than the first tale. Moldoff and Paris are the artists.
“The 1001 Inventions of Batman” is the gem of the issue. Written by Hamilton and drawn by Dick Sprang and Paris, it delighted me as a kid. A criminal scientist duplicates one of Batman’s crime-fighting devices and uses it to his own larcenous ends. The good guys know he’s duplicated a device, but don’t know which one. In figuring this out, our heroes recall several inventions. Young Tony would have loved to have had them all. I have no memory of the other stories in this issue, but this one has stayed with me since I first read it over six decades ago.
Detective Comics #246 [August 1957] presented ‘Murder at Mystery Castle” by Bill Finger with art by Moldoff and Paris. The cover was by Moldoff. The synopsis: The murder of John Barham in his own castle that he had disassembled in Europe and rebuilt in America draws the Caped Crusaders into a murder mystery that nearly costs them their lives.
As is to be expected from a tale by Batman’s co-creator, this is a classic. Barham’s castle with its ancient and still working weapons is fascinating. Each suspect has a possible motive. The clue to how Barham was killed is a good one as is Batman’s logic in figuring out the killer’s identity. It’s a mystery that plays fair with the readers.
Batman #110 [September 1957] was a pause in the run of covers by Moldoff. It was one of two covers this month drawn by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. Inside were the usual three short Batman stories.
“Crime of the Month Club” was written by Dave Wood with art by Sprang and Paris. Criminals committing heists of various kinds are using plans clearly devised by a mastermind. The opening splash reveals that mastermind is the Joker, selling crimes to the members of his crime-of-the-month club, but the story itself treats his identity as a mystery. Batman figures out the pattern to the crimes and foils the Joker who, for some reason, decides to carry out a crime in person. Not a particularly strong story.
“The Secret of Batman’s Butler” is by Finger, Moldoff and Kaye. It retells how Alfred came to work for Bruce Wayne, differing from his first appearance in several ways. In the story, Alfred thinks he’s accidentally exposed Batman’s secret identity to a criminal and decides to quit. Things are not what they appeared to Alfred, but the revelation of the truth makes perfect sense and is heartwarming.
“The Phantom Batman” is by Hamilton, Sprang and Paris. An explosion in an experimental electronics laboratory makes Batman a literal phantom who can neither be touched or touch anything. He has to overcome this ability/disability to bring a criminal gang to justice.
Detective Comics #247 [September 1957] with “The Man Who Ended Batman’s Career” has the second Swan/Kaye cover. The story is by Finger, Moldoff and Paris. It’s a favorite of mine.
Professor Milo, who will show up in a few more tales throughout the decade has a plan to destroy Batman. Using his psychological knowledge, the mad scientist installs an extreme fear of bats in our hero. Batman adopts the alternate identity of Starman, but his bat phobia continues to cripple his crime-fighting. I loved this story as a kid and still love it. There’s a reason Finger is my favorite Batman writer.
Moldoff is back on cover duty for Batman #111 [October 1957), which features two stories by Finger and one by Hamilton. All are penciled by Moldoff with inks by Paris on the first two and Kaye on the third.
In “The Gotham City Safari,” Batman and Robin become members of the Safari Club for their work hunting down the most dangerous game: criminals! The setting is a large estate which has been divided into parcels resembling and stocked with animals from Africa, India and Mexico. The non-violent hunt turns deadly when a member is murdered.
From writer Finger, young Tony learned “a sharp, violent blow on the tip of a rhino’s horn will knock him out temporarily.” I never got the chance to test this out back then or later.
“The Other Bruce Wayne” is also by Finger. Our hero was named for a cousin who is a great detective. The cousin is appalled by Bruce’s social butterfly lifestyle and vows to train him to be a detective. Hilarity ensues.
Hamilton’s “The Armored Batman” is the cover story. Threatened by the mysterious Blair Graeme, Batman and Robin don medieval armor to protect themselves. All Gotham is baffled, but there is a method to this madness.
That’s all for today. Watch for another look at Silver Age Batman in the near-future.
© 2024 Tony Isabella
I started reading comics right around the end of the Silver Age (depending on where you place that). I think the first super-hero comic I ever owned was DOC SOLAR: MAN OF THE ATOM issue #22 (January 1968). The first BATMAN comic I owed was the start of the Ra's al Ghul arc that introduced the Lazarus Pit and killed off the original "Matches" Malone. I'm familiar with previous Batman stories from a friend's collection and from reprints.
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