Here’s the next chapter in my series of bloggy things about the stories reprinted in Batman: The Silver Age Omnibus Volume One. That hardcover chronicle collects Batman #101-116 and Detective Comics #233-257, ranging from the mid-1956 through the mid-1958.
First up is Detective Comics #248 [October 1957] with one of my favorite stories as a young Batman fanatic. Sheldon Moldoff drew the cover for “Around the World in 8 Days” by Batman co-creator Bill Finger, Dick Sprang and Charles Paris. The synopsis from the Grand Comics Database:
Bandits break into a hospital and steal an experimental new drug....the only one that will save a patient, and Batman & Robin only have a week to discover its location and get it back so that the man can be injected with it. To make matters worse, the loot from the crime has been broken up between "fences" all over the world!
I was six years old when I first read this story. I’m not sure I had ever been out of Cleveland at the time. Likely not since my father worked ridiculous hours carrying the family bakery on his back. He was the pick of my grandparents’ litter.
Some of the locations were given but a single panel apiece, but the world-wide quest was thrilling nonetheless. I’d love to redo this adventure with more pages and set in modern times. I miss tho days when saving a single person’s life was as important to Batman as saving Gotham City or the world.
Detective Comics #249 [October 1957] has a cover by Moldoff for Finger’s “The Crime of Bruce Wayne!” Interior art for the tale is by Moldoff and Paris: The synopsis:
Bruce Wayne decides to go along with a scheme in which he would confess to being a wanted criminal known as the Collector in order to get vital information from a cellmate about where the crook stashed $50,000...but the plan goes horribly wrong and Wayne gets sent to death row!
This story is new to me, which is surprising since I had a crush on Batwoman and would have bought the issue if I’d seen it. That may be a good thing since I didn’t know Bob Ingersoll back then. Because of my pal’s many “The Law is a Ass” columns, I now know the legal stuff in this story is hooey.
Batman #112 [December 1957] has a cover by Moldoff and the usual three stories. First up is “The Signalman of Crime” by Finger, Moldoff and Paris. Small-time crook Phil Cobb can’t get hired by any Gotham gangs, so he makes the completely logical decision to adopt a colorful identity and leave clues to his planned crimes for Batman. Because that always works. Spoiler: it doesn’t. But the Signalman is a fun goofy addition to the ranks of very silly villains challenging the Dynamic Duo.
“Batman’s Roman Holiday” is by Edmond Hamilton with Sprang and Paris. It’s another logic-free story in which Professor Nicholas – how I hated that character then and now – sends Bruce and Dick to the past to have an adventure as Batman and Robin. I never understood the pseudo-science behind the stories. I was usually very accepting of such nonsense, but this was just a bridge too far for me. If I wrote a Professor Nicholas story, it would reveal that things were not what they seemed and that he had his own evil agenda.
Finger redeems the issue with “Am I Really Batman?”. Moldoff and Paris are the artists. Professor Milo strikes again. Milo wasn’t as garish as Batman’s usual recurring foes, but he always made things personal. This time out, Bruce wakes up in a mental ward, not realizing Milo attacked him with an amnesia gag that dulls the will to live.
We wrap up Batman’s 1957-dated issues with Detective Comics #250 [December 1957]. Moldoff’s cover features “Batman’s Super Enemy” by an unknown writer with art by Moldoff and Paris.
The synopsis: A wanted criminal finds a ship full of weapons from outer space.
John Stanner is on the run after Batman and Robin break up his gang, He’s lucky enough to be the first human to encounter a spaceship full of advanced inventions, which he immediately uses to commit crimes and free his henchmen. The ending to his reign of terror is logical but telegraphed from the start. There were a number of stories by unknown writers in the 1950s. I continue to hope they are identified eventually.
Detective Comics #251 [January, 1958] kicks off the 1958-dated issues with “The Alien Batman.” The cover is by Moldoff. The story is by an unknown writer, Moldoff and Paris.
Is Batman actually an alien from another world? Spoiler alert. He’s not. But a clever criminal is making the people of Gotham fear the Caped Crusader. Which is a boon to the local rackets. Until Batman exposes the scheme.
This is a weak one. Much of the story consists of various folks remembering Batman’s past perils and wondering if he was able to survive them by using otherworldly powers. The revelation behind a blood test that supposedly proves Batman is an alien is maybe the weakest plot element in the story.
The comics-reading kids of the late 1950s seemed to love strange Batman transformations. I liked some of the tales a great deal. But the hoaxes always disappointed me.
Batman #113 [February 1958] has a cover by Moldoff with “Batman – The Superman of Planet X.” But, before we get to that story, we have two others to check out.
“The Menace of False Face” is by an unknown writer. Moldoff and Paris are the artists. The title villain disguises himself as a variety of famous people to commit crimes. He’s not really much of a match for our heroes. The GCD synopsis claims Batman didn’t recover False Face’s loot, but I didn’t get that from the end of the story. I assume the authorities eventually recovered it and returned into its rightful owners. Minus generous contributions to the Policemen Benevolence Society, of course.
“Batman Meets Fatman” is by Finger, Moldoff and Paris. A clown who does a Batman parody is a big hit with audiences, including Batman. Our heroes give the clown a ride in their surprisingly roomy Batmobile. They get a tip about the whereabouts of missing loot. Bad luck puts Batman and Robin in a tight spot, but they are rescued by the clever clown. It’s a charming little story of a type we don’t see anymore.
“Batman – The Superman of Planet X” is by Ed Herron, Sprang and Paris. The synopsis: Batman is transported to the planet Zur-En-Arrh and helps the Batman of that world battle invaders from yet another planet. On Zur-En-Arrh, our hero has powers like his pal Superman. The story is inventive with great art.
I sort of recall that Zur-En-Arrh plays a major part in recent Batman stories, but I would have to read those stories to say for sure. Which I have no real interest in doing. Reading a sane Batman in Mark Waid’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest is far more enjoyable.
That’s all for another chapter in our ongoing look at the Silver Age Batman. I’ll return to this era in the near-future.
© 2024 Tony Isabella
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