Batman in the 1960s Issue 33: May/June 1965

 

The Caped Crusader in the 1960s
by Jack Seabrook
& Peter Enfantino

Infantino/Anderson

Batman #171

"Remarkable Ruse of the Riddler!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

E. Nigma, a/k/a the Riddler, is released from the state pen and buys a newspaper, where he reads that Batman has been baffled by the Mole-Hill Mob. Nigma runs into the Dynamic Duo in front of Police HQ and reminds them of his origin and their last encounter. Swearing that he's reformed, Nigma offers to help Batman catch the Mole-Hill Mob, gangsters who emerge from beneath manhole covers to commit crimes before vanishing into the vast network of tunnels beneath Gotham City.

That evening, the Riddler leads Batman and Robin right to the gang's hideout, where the Dynamic Duo avoid rolling manhole covers and mop up the bad guys. Two days later, at a picnic, Batman receives a riddle that leads him and Robin to the city wharf, where they are temporarily incapacitated by puzzles that spring from the Riddler's convertible. Giving chase, they accuse the Riddler of stealing the Black Pearl of the Pacific, but the Riddler proves that he paid $30,000 for the pearl and that the cash came from an inheritance. Now a rich man, the Riddler says he has no more use for crime. The puzzles in his car were just his way of saying hello!

As he drives off, the Riddler tosses Robin a present, which includes another riddle. That night, Batman watches through a widow as a jeweled cross is handed over to the Riddler at gunpoint. Batman chases and tackles the costumed puzzler, only to learn again that the transaction was above board--the gun Batman saw was really a cigarette lighter. The Riddler tells Batman that he has provided another riddle for the Caped Crusader to figure out. That evening, the Riddler holds up the Ox Club, but once again Batman has figured out the clue and arrives just in time. He and Robin fight off the Riddler's gang before turning their attention to the criminal himself.

Punches from the Caped Crusader and the Teenage Thunderbolt have no effect as the Riddler either spins in place or sways back and forth. Robin rushes off, saying he's figured it out and will be right back. Batman presses a dot on the Riddler's chest and switches off an electrical connection, allowing the villain to be captured. E. Nigma returns to the state pen, where he reluctantly gives the answer to a riddle that he had posed to the warden as he was leaving.

I very much enjoyed the "Remarkable Ruse of the Riddler!" From the notes in the story and some quick online research, it looks like this is the Riddler's first appearance since 1948, which means that one of my favorite Bat-villains disappeared for seventeen years! At this point, we're only a year away from the premiere episode of the TV show, which featured the Riddler. The story is entertaining and the riddles are good. Infantino's cover is really sharp, which is not a surprise, but the interior art, by Moldoff and Giella, is above-average, especially for them. We all know from page one that the Riddler will return to a life of crime before the end of the story and it's fun following along to see the way he manipulates Batman into thinking he's gone straight. I hope this is just the first of more returns by costumed villains!-Jack

Peter- How could one of Batman's most famous Rogues have been in jail 17 years? Penguin and Joker are paroled after three months! It's clear that this story was a huge influence on the TV Riddler. The gun lighter and Batman's assuming E. Nigma was pulling a heist are both memorable aspects of the premiere two-parter, "Hi Diddle Riddle/Smack in the Middle" (far and away the best episode of that show). The Riddler is a welcome face; I just wish that face were drawn by a different artist.

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #339

"Batman Battles the Living Beast-Bomb!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

After being dismissed his whole life by everyone around him, "Worthless" Walter Hewitt focuses his brilliant scientific brain on perfecting a machine that will absorb the powers of certain animals and change the loser into a bruiser. The eyesight of an eagle, the hearing of a dog, the singing voice of Yoko Ono and, finally, the strength of a gorilla. Ah, but it's that last component that leads Wally to a Gotham City police precinct, begging the cops to lock him up and call Batman.

He explains to the cops that something happened with his "Bioniformer" and the gorilla he used became super-intelligent. Now, that ape, who's evidently named himself Karmac, is doing what any smart ape would do: pulling bank heists. Can't anyone help Wally? The cops are naturally skeptical until Wally receives a psychic call from Karmac to bust out and get back to the lab, pronto. As the weakling tears the cell door off and uses it as a battering ram to bust out of the building, the cops grab their donuts and head for safer climes.

Luckily, Batman and Robin have just pulled up as Hewitt escapes the building. Astonished by the man's super-strength, Batman is left with no other option than to use his patented whirly-bird trick and smash Wally into a nearby brick wall. Somehow immediately grasping what's going on without a debriefing, Batman has Hewitt put under heavy anesthetic for some reason. Meanwhile, across town, Karmac has been monitoring the situation and decides Batman is the most agile fighting machine on Earth. How cool would it be to have that power in his own hairy body?

Karmac lures Batman (on a solo flight since Robin is at an all-important sixth-grade pep rally) to his lab and zaps him with the Bioniformer, thereby soaking up some of the Dark Knight's prowess. Batman passes out and the big lug escapes. Back at the Gotham Jail, Hewitt awakens and tells Batman everything we already know about his simian foe. The Dynamic Duo suit up (with Bats soaking his gloves in a special anesthetic) and follow a lead into Gotham Park, where Karmac awaits. The gorilla informs his enemies that he's strapped on a bomb that will "destroy everyone--and everything--in Gotham City--except me!"

But sometimes being the World's Greatest Detective brings advantages other than small talk with good-looking chicks in seedy bars; Bats works out that all he has to do to deactivate the device is to lift Karmac off the ground and hold him for approximately five minutes. He uses the anesthetic gloves to knock the gorilla out and lifts him high over his head in an obvious nod to Waldemar Baszanowski (go ahead and Google him). 700 pounds over your head for a lengthy period of time? No problem. And, just like that, bomb dismantled and threat fizzled. Karmac returns to his "normal monkey" status and is shipped back to the jungle and Wally Hewitt is given a job on the ballooning staff of the Alfred Foundation.

The script leaves a lot to be desired but hey, if Jack is happy (and Jack is always happy when there's a DC super-ape around), I'm happy. The art is good but I see a definite trend in some of Carmine's characters to have sky-high foreheads. What animal do you suppose Wally used to get that effect?

In my day, if you'd have done the whirly-bird with your friends and released them near a brick wall, you'd be facing manslaughter charges. Luckily, Wally must have absorbed the strong bone structure of a rhino because he's knocked out but seems to exhibit no signs of a massive concussion. An interesting bomb that Karmac whips up, one that will obliterate every living soul and every gag shop in Gotham but won't harm a single simian cell in his body. How does that work? And an explosive device that has one fatal flaw: if you get picked up, the bomb will deactivate. Again, how does that work?-Peter

Jack-Another eye-catching cover and impressive interior art by Infantino and Giella can't hide the fact that this is yet another DC gorilla story! Why couldn't Hewitt's machine malfunction when he was acquiring the skills of a hippo, for example? A hippo battling Batman might have been interesting. Or a cockroach? Holy insecticide! One thing I love about Infantino's pages is his use of panels and captions. He can make a dull caption more interesting by wrapping a character's arms around it or by stretching it out, and sometimes he puts panels in interesting arrangements on a white background. He was quite inventive.

Infantino/Giella

Batman #172

"Attack of the Invisible Knights!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

"Robin's Unassisted Triple Play!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Sid Greene

At the Gotham City Museum, a guard/guide named Jenkins tells visitors the story of the Black Opals of Ealing, jewels that the first Duke of Durnham sent a trio of knights to destroy centuries ago to prevent his family from being cursed. The knights were crushed when a castle collapsed and, 800 years later, an archaeologist named Harris uncovered the jewels and the armor of the dead knights. His discoveries are now in the museum.

The guard reports that the suits of armor seem to be changing position at night! The next morning, Jenkins is found unconscious and reports that he was knocked out by one of the suits of armor. This looks like a job for Batman! The Dynamic Duo meander to the museum, where Batman goes to have a look around while Robin stays by the suits of armor. Suddenly, Robin cries out and Batman rushes back to find the Boy Wonder on the floor and one of the suits of armor coming toward them! The "Attack of the Invisible Knights!" has begun!

Batman and Robin manage to get knocked out cold. When they awake, the suits of armor are back in place as if nothing happened, but the Black Opals have been smashed to bits. Batman and Robin notice that their watches have stopped and Batman deduces that magnetism must be at work. They use a magnetometer to lead them to the home of the guard, Jenkins, where they discover that he and his brother used magnetism to activate the suits of armor and steal the jewels. It doesn't take much for the Dynamic Duo to knock out the Jenkins brothers, saving the jewels and solving the case.

John Broome's scripts use more science than those of Bill Finger and Joe Giella's inks are better than better than those of Charles Paris at shining up Moldoff's pencils. Still, this story isn't a big change from the sort of tale we were used to reading before the New Look started.

In the Batcave, Batman tests a new gizmo that involves six TV screens receiving pictures from six TV cameras flying over Gotham City watching out for crime. One camera picks up a robbery in progress at the Morrow Art Gallery being carried out by the Flower Gang, who use trick plants and flowers! Just as the Dynamic Duo are about to head to the scene, Batman gets an emergency call from the Justice League, so "Robin's Unassisted Triple Play! begins. The Boy Wonder hops behind the wheel of the Batmobile and is soon at the art gallery, where he engages in fisticuffs with three members of the gang until he realizes that they are all illusions brought on by whiffs of a special plant they left at the scene.

Robin follows the gang to a wharf, where he overcomes one member and follows the others by boat to a secluded seaside house. Tricking them into thinking Batman is with him, the Teenage Thunderbolt overcomes two of the gang members, but a third gets away. Robin trails him to a greenhouse and is able to hold his breath and avoid inhaling deadly flower gas long enough to knock out the ruffian. Back at Wayne Manor, Dick brags about his success to Bruce.

While it's interesting to see a rare solo adventure for the Boy Wonder at this stage in the development of the Batman comics, this one is decidedly ordinary, though Greene is an excellent inker and probably makes Moldoff look his best.-Jack

Peter-I was hoping that the Invisible Knights would turn out to be ghosts or something supernatural but, unfortunately, John Broome went for the old pulp standby, the perfectly logical solution. Seems like an awful lot of trouble for an evil genius to go to. If he's so smart, just invent a Radiozappitator that transports the jewels from within the case to the palm of your hand. No need for all the theatrics. Thank goodness Bruce just happened to be flying his little UFO cameras around the gallery at just the moment it was about to be heisted in "Robin's Unassisted Triple Play." If I were Bats, I wouldn't have bothered with the Justice League excuse. Robin has been missing so much patrol time lately thanks to Junior Proms and dates with Nancy that Batman could be excused for just wanting to hang out around the mansion, drink some wine, and enjoy some Brahms on the Hi-Fi. Call me crazy but of the six Bat-tales I read this time out, the Robin story was the only one I enjoyed.

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #340

"The Outsider Strikes Again!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

Why is Batman and Robin's equipment turning against them? The Batarang becomes almost fluid and envelops Robin, forcing him over a cliff. Only lightning fast skills can save him. Ditto Batman, whose Bat-rope becomes a boa constrictor, squeezing the very life out of the World's Greatest Detective! Only the Dark Knight's super-inflatable chest and a handy branch save him from being crushed. 

Back in the Batmobile, they receive a call from the mysterious Outsider, who claims responsibility for the equipment malfunctions. He intends to smash the Dynamic Duo if it's the last thing he does. As his speech ends, the Batmobile turns against its masters, chasing the Caped Crusader up a building's wall (!). When it doesn't catch its prey, the vehicle explodes in flames as if displaying a fit of temper.

Dick has a date with Nancy at the prom so, after reminding his young ward what happens when a teenager has too much booze and a babe on his arm, Bruce works on a special chemical drawn from the dust of the Batmobile wreckage. He's convinced the stuff will counteract the properties used by the Outsider to take control of the boys' gear. 

Gordon calls to inform him that there's a ruckus at the Athletic Hall of Fame; someone has burned into the entranceway an invitation to Batman to enter. Since Bats has never been one to ignore a challenge, he shows up at the Hall and is immediately set upon by three nattily dressed thugs who throw bullets at him, explaining they've been told by the Outsider they don't need a gun. But Batman's new dust bomb, tossed at the bullets, renders them harmless. The thugs are rounded up and taken away. Later that night, the boys agree they haven't seen the last of the Outsider, even though (ironically) they've never seen him!

Months ago, I thought this Outsider continuing storyline might be fun, but it's going absolutely nowhere. Fox leaves us no clues as to the identity or why this force is out to get Bats and Robin rather than Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, or the Flash. To add insult to injury, the art is the pits; stiff and generic, with no style or originality. Without the credits, I couldn't tell you who drew this crap.-Peter

Jack-The Batmobile on that great cover looks purple to me! Inside it's the usual color. I'm to the point where I'm disappointed to see Moldoff rather than Infantino drawing the Batman story in Detective. Fox and Broome's stories are more science-based than what we'd been reading before the New Look and I don't miss the space aliens.

I like that the Outsider stories are linked but I think the effect is lessened because we still haven't seen the villain. There's also a reference here to a recent Joker story. Is Marvel's success with continuing stories influencing the editors at DC? At least one thing never changes--Moldoff's fondness for drawing giant objects. I laughed when Dick got home from the prom and Bruce offered him a piece of cake and a glass of milk.

Next Week...
What indeed?