Monday, November 11, 2024

Batman in the 1960s Issue 35: September/October 1965

 

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



Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #343

"The Secret War of the Phantom General"
Story by John Broome
Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

Commissioner Gordon calls on the Bat-Phone to let the boys know that Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, wishes to speak to them at the New Gotham Hotel but, while en route, they're distracted by a call from the police. There is a disturbance at Gotham City Terminal. Away they go!

When they arrive, they come across a heavily-armed group of thugs holding prisoners inside the building. Batman and Robin put the wham-bam-slam on most of the bad guys but, thanks to a special gas screen, a few escape down into the subway. They board a train and head off, free as the proverbial birds.

With nothing more to do at the site, the Dynamic Duo head for the hotel, where they find Ralph and Sue Dibny hanging out in their "spacious suite." Sue heads out to the Music Hall, cuz she's just a girl, and lets the boys talk manly business. Batman gives his stretchy friend the rundown on what just transpired at the Terminal and Ralph stutters out a "Wh-wh-what?" He then lets our heroes in on the big secret: General Von Dort, infamous Nazi war criminal who was presumed to have died in Hitler's bunker, is alive and well and vacationing in Gotham. Well, he does have a purpose. He's looking for a stash of the very radioactive M-244. If Von Dort does get ahold of the isotope, he can destroy the world.

At that moment, Von Dort's army parachutes into Gotham Park during a charity auction and attempts to heist a cache of priceless paintings. The Caped Crusaders arrive in time to put a dent in the plan but it turns out Von Dort had an ace up his sleeve; he had his henchmen commit the robbery while he was stealing the M-244 from a safe across town. He and his man Friday, Heinrich, then board a jet out of Gotham and fly to South America to assemble their super-secret death ray!

Batman, Robin, and Elongated Man hop in the Bat-Plane and give chase, landing just outside Von Dort's secret hideaway in the Andes Mountains. With the combined brain and brawn of three costumed heroes, Von Dort doesn't stand a chance. Even facing a deadly monocle eye-beam. Batman delivers the final right cross and freedom is restored to the world!

Not a bad little adventure, "The Secret War of the Phantom General." There are definite Big Bob Kanigher vibes in the script and, especially, that catchy cover. It screams "Sgt. Rock" cross-over, but we get Ralph Dibny instead. There are a couple of bizarre throwaway inserts here where John Broome explains what's going on. I'm not sure what the point was but the panels (one featuring a dart board with Julie's pic as a bullseye) are amusing. Von Dort is a one-and-done but his son, Willi (no, seriously, that's his name!), will battle Bats and "The New" Wonder Woman in Brave and the Bold #87 (January 1970).-Peter

Jack-My favorite parts of this overstuffed book-length story were the cameos by John Broome, which made me flip to the first page to confirm that there was no byline attributing the story to Bob Kane. On the letters page, the editor asks readers if they can figure out who wrote this issue's tale and, if so, how. I think that was a fun idea. The art isn't up to the usual high standards set by Infantino and Giella and Elongated Man didn't add much to a tedious issue.


Infantino/Giella
Batman #174

"The Human Punching Bag!"
Story by Gardner Fox
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

"The Off-Again On-Again Lightbulbs!"
Story by Gardner Fox
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Sid Greene

B.G. (Big Game?) Hunter is the world's best, but he wants to capture Batman to prove his mettle. He holds Roy Reynolds, "genius of the getaway gimmicks," (last seen in Batman #170) in a cage and makes him come up with a great crime and a super getaway to lure Batman into Hunter's trap. Robin is away on a Teen Titans adventure, so Batman responds to an alarm and beats up three crooks robbing a jewelry store, who manage to get up and run away.

When Batman gives chase, he is stopped by a leaf storm and ground sprinklers that cause him to stumble and crash into a park bench. The crooks get away, but Batman notices that they ran through butterfly bush flowers, so he can track the fragrance on them using a florameter. The trail leads to Hunter's mansion, where Batman again knocks around the hapless trio of crooks until he falls through a trap door and into a big plastic bag. Three boxers practice on "The Human Punching Bag!" but Batman uses guile to defeat them and B.G. Hunter.

B.G. Hunter? Seriously? Will he hire the law firm of Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe to defend him? This is juvenile stuff and a real letdown, especially in light of the terrific cover. Giella certainly makes Moldoff's art look better than Paris did, but it's still stiff and simplistic, just like the story.

After helping Robin catch the Islip gang, Batman rushes to the latest meeting of the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City, where a heavy, bald porter tells the members that it's Friday, not Wednesday, as they all thought. He uses a special chandelier to hypnotize everyone but Batman, who engages in fisticuffs and demands to know what's going on. The porter refuses to talk and, after he's sent to jail, Batman fears that the rest of the club members are in danger. The Cowled Crusader deduces that Al Cutshaw must be out for revenge; fortunately, he saves two of the club members from a bomb in the nick of time. The porter is unmasked as Cutshaw and Batman reveals that he was wearing contact lenses that prevented him from being hypnotized.

Slightly better than this issue's lead story, "The Off-Again On-Again Lightbulbs!" suffers from a plot that jumps around too much and depends on fistfights to move it along. The last page, where Robin pulls a bald cap off of the villain, is about at the level of a Scooby-Doo reveal. Not a good issue!-Jack

Peter-He's defeated super-strength cavemen, diabolical aliens from Uranus, and masterminds of crime, but Batman is foiled this issue by... a leaf storm. Sorry, a bit anti-climactic for me. Gardner Fox gets mileage out of "The Human Punching Bag" since its script is very similar to that of "The Crime Boss Who Was Always One Step Ahead of Batman!" in 'tec #344. "Off-Again" is lame with a capital L. Once again, I'll bemoan the atrocious art. One panel (reprinted below because my simple words cannot do it justice) seems to visualize a Batman punch that knocks a criminal's head off!

On the Letters to the Batcave page, an anonymous fan reveals that the fanzine, Batmania, conducted a poll to determine the best Batman story of 1964  and the award went to... "Castle with Wall-to-Wall Danger" from 'tec #329 (July 1964). Hard to argue with that choice.



Infantino/Giella
Detective Comics #344

"The Crime-Boss Who Was Always One Step Ahead of Batman!"
Story by Gardner Fox
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

While doing their early morning rounds, Batman and Robin notice there's something a little off about sweet old Apple Annie, an octogenarian who donates fruit to the boys every morning. She seems to be nervous while handing over her prizes. They don't call him the World's Greatest Detective for nothin' and Batman's keen instincts tell him that the guy on the corner is watching their every move. 

Using his noodle, Bats parks around the corner and follows the shadowy figure to an apartment high atop a nearby building. Using his insanely sharpened senses, the Dark Knight is able to read lips (hanging upside down!) and learns the characters inside the room are about to pull a caper and are en route to a car parked outside the building. Using deaf-and-dumb sign language, Bats tells his junior crime-fighting partner to go hide in the boot of the car while he remains to see what's what. Robin does what he's told and the car speeds off, taking him far outside the city.


When the car finally stops and Robin hops out of the trunk, he's annoyed to find several gun barrels pointing right at him. The Boy Wonder gives it the old college try, knocking out two of the three hoods, but number three draws our hero out into the woods where the Teenage Tornado falls into an underground pit. It was all a trap! As if to put an exclamation point on the event, the hood that Batman has been watching outside the apartment building opens the window and tells Bats all about Robin's fate. "Always remember, Batman," the criminal mastermind explains, "Johnny Witts is thinking one move ahead of you every step of the way." He convinces Bats to come in from the cold and then brags about his heightened intellect.

Witts speeds for the door but when Bats follows, he finds himself nearly falling down a four-story elevator shaft. Witts escapes and the Caped Crusader survives only though his skilled training. Back at the Bat-Cave, Robin returns to find the boss already hard at work on a new theory revolving around Apple Alice. He's convinced that Alice isn't "an old hag" at all but a pretty young maiden. With the help of the Bat-Identi-Sketch-Kit, the duo is able to come up with an exact sketch of Annie. Rather than give their sketch to the cops (who never seem to be doing anything anyway), our heroes use their noggins and visit every fashion salon in town, finally unmasking Annie with the help of a seamstress, who also agrees to sew a tracker button onto Annie's latest dress.

The tracker works and the Dynamic Duo follow Annie to a brownstone, where they discover Witts and his henchmen. After some violent fisticuffs, our heroes turn Witts and Co. over to Gotham's finest (Bats had hung a giant donut and a "50% off Sale" sign outside the brownstone) and head back to the Bat-Cave to gloat over their latest victory.


There is some odd language used here that would not make it past 21st-Century censors; "old hag" and "deaf-and-dumb" have long been seen as less than complimentary but fall under the 1966 fair usage act for primitive phrases in funny books. Winning the Most Long-Winded Title of 1966 Award, "The Crime-Boss Who Was Always One Step Ahead of Batman Until the End When His Scheme Fell Apart" is nowhere near as much fun as "Phantom General" and the art... well, let's not go there again. The script is flimsy but readable. My favorite Bat-ism this issue would have to be the gizmo in the Batmobile that apes an engine fading off into the distance. Just how big is that crazy control panel?

On the Batman's Hot-Line letters page, future comic book scripter Mike Friedrich (his first pro sale will arrive in the June 1968 Batman) taunts Julie about the secret identity of the Outsider: "Actually, I think you yourself don't know who he is; making up the rules as you go along." I side with Mike.-Peter

Jack-Johnny Witts isn't much of a criminal mastermind. When the going gets tough, he clutches his noggin and complains that he needs peace and quiet to think of a way out. The highlight of this story occurs when Batman and Robin put on various disguises to follow the knockout gal around Gotham City. It sure beats hanging upside down trying to read lips!

Next Week...
More Uncanny Commie Tales!

Monday, November 4, 2024

Journey Into Strange Tales Issue 124: Atlas/Marvel Horror & Science Fiction Comics!

 


The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics
Part 109
June 1956 Part III
by Peter Enfantino
and Jack Seabrook


Strange Stories of Suspense #9
Cover by Bill Everett & Carl Burgos

"Breaking Through the Time Barrier" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★1/2
"Nightmare" (a: John Forte) ★1/2
"Look to the Stars?" (a: Bob McCarthy) ★1/2
"The Unknown Man" (a: Mac L. Pakula) 
"Flight from Mars!" (a: Dick Ayers) 
"The Man Who Knew!" (a: Syd Shores) 

After crashing his time-travel plane, a scientist moves to a remote estate where his neighbors laugh at him until one day a UFO lands in his yard and aliens greet him, telling him he's on the right track and should just persevere, so he throws away his cane and greets the new day. You think my synopsis of "Breaking Through the Time Barrier" is alternately confusing and full of blueberry muffins? You should read the crap my words attempt to describe. Gorgeous Sinnott work is wasted on words that go nowhere.

No better is the inane "Nightmare," in which a jailbird dreams every night that he lives in another dimension. His prison psychiatrist tells him he must go into that world and face his demons, but it turns out the other world is his world and our world is a dream. Got that? Again, some striking graphics are wasted on juvenile twaddle. In "Look to the Stars?" a weatherman forecasts earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes with uncanny accuracy. What's his secret? He's an alien, of course, receiving messages from another planet.

Jerry Hudson wants to skin-dive for treasure in the ocean but his mom says it's not safe and he'll always be her little boy, even if he is eighteen. Proving he's his own man, Jerry stands up to his mother by sneaking out his bedroom window and meeting up with buddy Slim down at the beach. The dive goes swimmingly but, while walking along the ocean floor, Jerry happens upon a deep-sea cave and enters. Astonished, he finds a set of stairs that lead right into his own house!

Acting as though nothing is wrong, Jerry puts on some clothes and asks his ma what's for dinner. She ignores him and Jerry, despondent, heads over to the clubhouse where his buddies hang out. Again he is met with silence, except for a man who berates Jerry and demands he pay the twenty-five bucks he's owed. What gives? Well, it turns out that stairway led to an alternate world that somehow blurred into our own world and... are you still awake? Let's just say that "The Unknown Man" makes four duds so far this issue, but the difference is that Pakula's art is dreadful.

Even though his Martian foster parents have always been kind and loving to him, orphan George wants to return to Earth to soak up the vibes. His real parents died shortly after their spaceship crash-landed on Mars, so all George has ever known is the red planet. George stows away on a rocket ship bound for Earth, but he gets a whale of a surprise when he gets there. Well, it's a big surprise to George but not to the reader (he was actually on Earth the whole time and the spaceship he boarded went to Mars), nor to this grizzled old Atlas vet or anyone paying attention to the title ("Flight from Mars!")

Genius Martin Cabell believes that six or seven great brains should be running the world instead of dopey politicians, but how does he get his message across? Luckily, his buddy, John, has invented a time machine so Martin can travel into the future and see if his idea would work. He makes the jump and lands hundreds of years in the future, where the population relies on those six or seven great brains to do everything for them. Mankind has become brainless, emotionless Tik-Tok viewers. Quickly, Martin jumps into the tin can, makes it back to the present, and tells John, "Yeah... never mind!" It's obvious the scripter of "The Man Who Knew!" wanted to make some deep statement on Communism and I admire that unknown scribe for rising above his colleagues this issue and actually pondering what might make a good story. But, in the end, the story is way too preachy (as these things often are) and we are left to wonder why Martin didn't foresee the ramifications of his big idea if he's got such a keen brain.-Peter



Strange Tales #47
Cover by Sol Brodsky

"When Mankind Vanished!" (a: Frank Bolle) ★1/2
"Overflow" (a: Tony DiPreta) ★1/2
"When Sorcerers Meet" (a: Bob McCarthy) 
"The Trial of Dr. Voltron!" (a: Ed Winiarski) 
"The New Member!" (a: Vic Carrabotta) 
"The Hands" (a: Jim McLaughlin) ★1/2

In "When Mankind Vanished," grumpy multi-millionaire Gregory Winston is sick of the unwashed masses he must wade through every day to get his business done. At the eye doctor one day getting new glasses, he mentions his disdain for anything that walks on two legs and the oculist scolds him and tells him he'd miss the warmth of fellow earthlings if he were ever alone. "Like hell," the man mutters and exits the office. Suddenly, the streets are empty, cars pass by without drivers, and buildings are erected without construction workers. He can hear their voices but he can't see them! 

Sure enough, within three panels, Gregory Winston wants companionship. Sure as the name of this comic is Strange But Uplifting Stories, the oculist was right. But when Gregory heads back to the man's office, the building has become a different storefront. Winston swears, as God is his witness, he'll find that strange oculist and get his vision back. Just once I'd like one of these selfish bastards to enjoy the fruits of their labor before being transformed into a caring individual. It's really sad to see how far the line has plummeted since the advent of the CCA. One of the great "what ifs" has to be: would the quality have declined without the witch hunt?

The government of an overpopulated Neptune sends a recon team to Earth in anticipation of a full-scale invasion, but the dopes land smack-dab in the middle of the production of a science fiction movie. Mistaking the special effects for a ready, willing, and able militia, the boys from Neptune head back with their tails between their legs. "Overflow" reuses yet another overused plot device, but I still have a soft spot for Tony DiPreta's unique style.

Helen tells Chris she's dumping him because he's poor and won't get a real job, instead insisting he's a great magician. With a heavy heart, Chris admits she might be right but, gosh, magic is so... magical! Luckily, he gets a good-paying gig at a birthday party and sets out in the rain to prove just how wrong Helen is, but the dope gets lost in the storm and ends up at a creepy, rundown mansion in the middle of the woods. Seeking shelter, he enters the building to find it filled with oddballs. 

Chris learns that the other men (and one gorilla) are there for the annual sorcerers convention. When they discover there is an outsider in their midst, the wizards attack. Convincing them he's a wizard too, Chris escapes and heads home to Helen, promising his life as a magician is over. Tomorrow, he'll get a job running numbers. My gosh, this post has been filled with even more dogs than usual. The only highlight of "When Sorcerers Meet" is when Helen tells her beau she's not marrying him because his lack of a bank account will lead to quarreling. Good point, but why in the climax is she taking the guy's word for it that things are gonna change?

At "The Trial of Dr. Volton," the brilliant scientist is accused of sending his son up into space in a rocket ship but, as we learn in the twist climax, son Eddie is just a robot. The Winiarski art is pretty rough but the script elicits a few giggles. In "The New Member," Compton, a man from outer space, seeks to join a hunter's club on Earth since they don't have lions and rhinos back on Pluto. In the climax, Compton takes one of his new friends for a ride in space in his convertible space car (without aid of oxygen or any of that annoying stuff), proving once and for all that life in the 1950s was very cool.

In the preachy finale, "The Hands," a pair of disembodied hands appear in a stinkin' commie country that looks a heck of a lot like Russia, floating through the air, heading for the palace of dictator Grigor. Turns out the hands belong to Torloff, the country's "last Democratic leader," who was slain during Grigor's rise to power. Torloff, who can somehow speak through his hands (yeah, yeah, I know, this is a story about floating hands... so what if they can talk...), explains that he's there to avenge his own death and restore freedom to the (unnamed, but clearly the USSR) country. 

When Grigor's henchmen raise the possibility that the hands might be right, the dictator pulls out his Makarov to shoot them dead but the bullet ricochets and kills Grigor instead. Peace and harmony are restored to (whatever this country is called). Dreary and pretentious, two adjectives that should not be applied to a funny book strip. Artist Jim McLaughlin (who penciled only one other Atlas tale, "The Wrong Man," back in Strange Tales #32) gets the job done; he's neither awful nor brilliant, but my eyes didn't bleed (as they tend to do while looking at Dick Ayers's work) so there's that. I have to parrot Jack in that the Atlas tales seem to be getting worse and worse; trite and lazy.-Peter


Strange Tales of the Unusual #4
Cover by Carl Burgos

"The Long Wait!" (a: Paul Reinman) 
"The Life Saver!" (a: John Forte) 
"Flames of Fury!" (a: Bill Benulis) ★1/2
"The Warning Voice" (a: Tony Mortellaro) 
"The Talking Horse! (a: Bob Forgione & Jack Abel) ★1/2
"Mission to Jupiter" (a: Bob Bean) 

As two archaeologists named Henry and Agnes explore an underground vault in Egypt, they discover what appears to be a guardian statue that seems to move! Putting it down to a case of the jitters, they round a bend and discover a fleet of solar ships and a scroll that tells a strange story. Agnes deciphers the hieroglyphics and learns that it was written by Torus of Mandu, a planet that orbits Earth's sun far more distantly.

The Mandurians flew to Earth long ago in their solar ships and, because their orbit around the sun takes so long, the minutes that their trip takes equal millennia in our time. When they reached Earth, they found hostile cavemen and hid underground. All of the Mandurians were rescued except for Torus, who was still hiding, and he began "The Long Wait!" on Earth. Henry and Agnes realize that what they thought was a statue was really Torus but, when they run back to where they saw him, they see that he has been rescued and is being taken home in a flying saucer.

Among the many puzzling aspects of this sub-par tale is why Torus would move so slowly and last so long when he and his fellow Mandurians were moving perfectly well when they encountered the cavemen. The point of the story seems to be that the concept of time on Mandu is so different than ours that his wait of thousands of Earth years was equal to minutes in Mandurian time. Sadly, Paul Reinman's art is some of the worst I've seen from a very good artist.

As Craig Parker walks through a train terminal, he sees an old man nearly fall from a high walkway. Craig is "The Life Saver!" and catches the man before he falls. Unfortunately, important papers fall from Craig's pocket and are immediately swept up by a maintenance worker and tossed in an incinerator. Craig explains that the papers were the only proof that existed that he owned property, which he had planned to sell in order to raise money to get married. The originals burned in a courthouse fire in 1895.

The old man encourages Craig to continue on his way and Craig boards the train to Fairview. When it stops an hour later. Craig's head is spinning and he feels compelled to exit the train. He finds himself in Fairview in 1895 and runs to the courthouse, where he rescues the papers before they burn. He gets back on the train and soon finds himself at the lawyer's office, holding a singed sheaf of papers that prove he owns the land. Outside the window, the man he saved, Father Time, is glad that he turned back time for a while to help Craig.

It was obvious from the first page that the old man was Father Time, so the ending was no surprise. John Forte's art is serviceable. Once again, I feel like Rod Serling was mining old Atlas comics when he wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone--this one reminds me of "A Stop at Willoughby." Crazy, I know.

Tom Jordan, an experienced forest ranger, calls in a report that he saw flames, but when the chief arrives, he sees nothing. Later, Tom sees them again, investigates, and discovers flames shaped like people emerging from a hole in the ground. The "Flames of Fury!" tell Tom that they come from Earth's molten core and want to come up to the surface, where there is light. A bit of rain scares them, so they take off into space in a big ball and Tom is the only one who knows where a mysterious comet came from.

The GCD and the signature on page one say that Benulis drew this, but the long faces of the human characters remind me of the work of Mort Lawrence. The story is a dud but I like how the flame people are drawn.

A redhead named Phineas Ferguson is looking forward to seeing a movie called Tough Guy from Tulsa at the local theater, but he's not interested in the eight vaudeville acts also playing. Accidentally shoved by another man in line, Phineas drops a quarter and it rolls through a grate and into a sewer. He hears a voice urging him to go down below and find his quarter, so he climbs down a ladder into the sewer and finds the coin.

"The Warning Voice" tells him to keep looking, so Phineas finds more change, gets lost, and emerges in the Middle Ages, where knights bring him before the king. The voice tells him to light a cigarette and turn on his portable radio; the king is amazed and appoints Phineas the royal magician. Phineas makes a run for it and returns to his own time. In the theater, he watches the vaudeville acts until he hears the warning voice again and sees that it's the voice of a ventriloquist onstage who is talking to a wooden dummy that looks just like Phineas!

Huh? Only Carl Wessler could create such confusion in the space of a mere four pages. It was bad enough that Phineas traveled through time and back again, but the conclusion with the ventriloquist came out of left field. Again, a Twilight Zone episode comes to mind--"The Dummy."

Billy Ross sneaks out of bed every night to talk to the horses in his dad's corral. When Pop finds out, he forbids Billy from maintaining his nightly ritual. Billy insists that one horse answers back, but his dad won't hear of any discussion of "The Talking Horse!" Every night at midnight, Billy sits by his window, looking out at the corral and waiting for Conrad, the talking horse, to appear. One night, Conrad stops coming. A week later, in the woods, Billy encounters Conrad, who says that his existence will be their secret because the world doesn't believe in... centaurs!

At three pages, this story seems long, and the surprise ending is just creepy, especially since Billy has his hand placed on the centaur's waist.

Emperor Taarg knows his subjects on Jupiter will revolt unless their work is lessened, so he sends a flying saucer to Earth to bring back an Earthling to see if they would make good workers. On Earth, Professor Keller and his musclebound assistant Harold happen to see the ship from Jupiter land nearby. That's handy, since the prof wants Harold to go to Jupiter to take pictures that will prove that there is life on that planet.

The aliens capture Harold and bring him back. He soon astounds them with his feats of strength but, when he takes out his camera to photograph them, they think it's a weapon and go nuts. When Harold is chased and cornered, he uses his strength to destroy the palace, leading the emperor to order that he be sent back to Earth, since Earthlings would surely take over Jupiter if they were brought as workers. Professor Keller welcomes Harold back and opens his chest to make a few adjustments--Harold is a robot.

Another convoluted mess of a script by Carl Wessler is saved by the final panel, which caught me by surprise. Bean's artwork is average at best, but I gave this story two stars simply because I did not guess the ending in advance.-Jack

Next Week...
An Extra Long (yuck, yuck, get it?)
Adventure Co-Starring
The Elongated Man!

Thursday, October 31, 2024

The Hitchcock Project-The Indestructible Mr. Weems by George F. Slavin [2.37]

by Jack Seabrook

The Knights of the Golden Lodge have a problem. The four board members meet and recite their pledge: "'We, Knights of the Golden Lodge, pledge ourselves in brotherhood unstintingly to help our fellow members and those less fortunate than ourselves.'" Cato Stone, currently in charge, sits in a large, wooden, throne-like chair at the head of the table and leads the discussion of the difficulty they have been having in selling plots in their new cemetery, which they have recently renamed Elysium Park in an effort to make it more appealing.

Brother Elkins fondly recalls when the cemetery was a golf course and Harry Brown comments that no one wants to be the first to sign up. He mentions Clarence Weems, whom no one has seen at lodge meetings recently, since his wife died, his business went sour, and he got sick. The poor man is not expected to live out the year. Brown proposes a solution: the lodge will offer to pay Weems the sum of fifty dollars a week if he will agree to be the first person buried in Elysium Park.

Robert Middleton as Cato Stone
The foursome agree to give it a try and visit Brother Weems, who lives in a fourth-floor walkup apartment. After they trudge up the stairs, Weems's pretty daughter Laura greets the lodge members at the door. Cato is noticeably winded from the climb. To the surprise of three members, Laura is dating Harry and reminds him that he is taking her to the movies tonight. Harry confesses that their wedding had to be postponed last December but, before he can explain why, they are summoned into Clarence's bedroom, where he lies in a large, four-poster bed and admits that he may not last much longer.

Cato makes an "'honest business proposition'" and Weems points out that Stone's real estate office handled the sale of the golf course to the lodge. Weems accepts the offer, remarking that "'it has the sound of an honorable arrangement,'" and signs a contract. He tells the lodge brothers that, now that Laura knows he has been taken care of, she can give up her job and get married; Cato shoots a look at Harry, aware that he will also benefit from the arrangement. Brodsky optimistically assures Cato that Weems won't last a month.

Joe Mantell as Harry Brown
After Cato and the other lodge brothers leave, Mrs. Collins, Weems's neighbor, brings him chicken broth, but he perks up and says that he feels like a steak. He also surprises her by complimenting her appearance and telling her, "'Call me Clarence.'"

Sometime later, at another board meeting, Brodsky remarks that Harry is getting married next month and Harry opens an application for active membership from Clarence Weems, who enclosed six months' worth of dues. Elkins rushes in to announce that he saw Weems walking with a woman in the park and looking very healthy! The four men head back up the three flights of stairs to check on Weems, with Cato looking visibly winded at the top and fanning himself with his hat, only to have Laura answer the door and say that her father is napping and can't be disturbed. Brodsky looks on the bright side and suggests that perhaps Clarence is just holding on until his daughter's wedding.

Russell Collins as Clarence Weems
At a lodge dance, Cato is shocked when Clarence and Mrs. Collins enter and Weems buys two tickets. Cato calls an emergency board meeting and accuses Harry of fraudulently talking the others into the scheme to support Weems so that he could marry Laura. Harry fires back that Cato's firm got the commission for the sale of the old golf course. They agree to speak to Clarence's doctor to find out how sick he really is.

Back in the Weems apartment, the board members uncomfortably share a sofa as Laura serves coffee. Dr. Allen emerges from Clarence's bedroom and explains that Weems had given up and was wasting away until the lodge gave him a reason and a will to live. The doctor compliments the men for having "'brought a dying man back from the grave.'" Stone, Elkins, and Brodsky leave while Harry stays with Laura.

At another board meeting, the brothers try to figure out how to stop the financial bleeding. Cato suggests offering Clarence $500 to tear up the contract and the others agree that it's worth a try. They climb the three flights of stairs again, with Cato rushing at first but getting progressively more winded. On the fourth-floor landing, Weems is seen pushing a heavy piece of furniture toward Mrs. Collins's apartment; when Cato sees this he cries out, "'Look! He's as strong as an ox!'" and collapses, dying of a heart attack at the top of the stairs. Dr. Allen arrives on the scene moments later and explains that Stone's heart failed because he was climbing three flights of stairs every week to check on Weems.

Don Keefer as Elkins
At Cato's funeral, there is a large flower arrangement donated by Clarence, who admits that he also gave Stone his cemetery plot: "'It was the least I could do; he tried dreadful hard to make a success out of this place.'"

"The Indestructible Mr. Weems" is a wonderful, comedic episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with an original teleplay by George F. Slavin that is a textbook example of story construction. There is no murder or crime at all, beyond some questionable ethical decisions by two of the lodge brothers: Cato Stone profits off of the sale of the golf course to the lodge to be used as a cemetery, and Harry Brown frees his girlfriend from the burden of working to care for her father by talking his lodge brothers into providing a steady stream of income for the older man. The surprise ending, where Cato Stone collapses from a heart attack, is set up beautifully by having him display a temper and by showing him get tired every time he has to make the long ascent to Clarence Weems's apartment, yet there is never a sense that he is in danger until the end.

Harry Bellaver as Brodsky
Stone and Weems are on opposite trajectories during the episode; Stone starts out seeming hale and hearty, only to decline and suffer a fatal cardiac event at the end, while Weems begins the show in bed, lamenting the short time he has left to live, only to improve steadily throughout the tale until, in the end, he outlives Stone. The direction of the show by Justus Addiss is excellent, using only a few minimal sets to tell an engaging and fast-moving story. Funniest of all are the stairs leading up to the Weems apartment; each level is clearly the same set, but on the first level there are two framed pictures on the wall, while on higher levels the walls are bare. The design of the lodge meeting room is also effective, with Stone's large, ornate chair demonstrating his seeming power and influence in what is really a social gathering place for local businessmen.

The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion quotes Slavin as saying that this was the first comedic episode of the series; earlier episodes had had humorous elements but this does appear to be the first one not focused on crime or murder. Slavin added that a rabbi told him the story that became "The Indestructible Mr. Weems" at his father's funeral! He comments that the production was kept quiet from Hitchcock, who was on vacation at the time and who was not in favor of comedies on the series. In the end, Slavin said that his teleplay was nominated for a Writer's Guild award.

Rebecca Welles as Laura Weems
George F. Slavin (1916-2001) served in the Air Force in WWII and then wrote for film and TV from 1947 to 1980. In addition to writing this episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he wrote an episode of Star Trek. His papers are held at the University of Wyoming.

Director Justus Addiss (1917-1979) worked in television beginning in 1953 and directed ten episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "A Bullet for Baldwin." In his private life, he was the lifetime companion of Hayden Rorke, who played Dr. Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie. Addis worked almost exclusively in television, from 1953 to 1968. He also directed three episodes of The Twilight Zone. His only feature film was The Cry Baby Killer (1958) for producer Roger Corman; this film was notable for being Jack Nicholson's first onscreen role.

Gladys Hurlbut as Mrs. Collins
Leading a terrific cast of character actors is Robert Middleton (1911-1977) as Cato Stone. Middleton was a formidable presence on TV and in films from 1951 to 1977. Born Samuel Messer, he was on Alfred Hitchcock Presents three times, including "Crack of Doom," and he was on Thriller twice.

Joe Mantell (1915-2010) plays Harry Brown. Mantell appeared twice on Alfred Hitchcock Presents; his other episode was "Guilty Witness." He was on screen from 1947 to 1990, appeared twice on The Twilight Zone, and had a role in Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). Film fans will best remember him for delivering the final line in Chinatown (1974): "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."

Theodore Newton as Dr. Allen
The indestructible Clarence Weems is played by Russell Collins (1897-1965) in one of ten appearances on the Hitchcock TV show. A wonderful actor whose stage career began in the 1920s, he began appearing in films in the 1930s and on TV in the early 1950s. Most of what we see of him today is from later in his career, such as his role in "Kick the Can" on The Twilight Zone and his appearances on the Hitchcock show, including Fredric Brown's "The Night the World Ended."

In smaller roles:
  • Don Keefer (1916-2014) as Elkins; a familiar face to viewers of The Twilight Zone from his role in the classic episode, "It's a Good Life," he was in three episodes of that series and three episodes of the Hitchcock series, including "The Percentage." Keefer had a long career on screen, from 1947 to 1997, and was also on Star Trek and Night Gallery as well as being part of the original Broadway cast of Death of a Salesman (1949-1950).
  • Harry Bellaver (1905-1993) as Brodsky; a veteran of stage, screen and television, he appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents twice (see "Silent Witness") but is best known as one of the policeman on Naked City, appearing in nearly every episode of the series, which ran from 1958 to 1963.
  • Rebecca Welles (1928-2017) as Laura Weems; prior to 1957, she acted under her real name, Reba Tassel. She was married to director Don Weis and appeared in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Backward, Turn Backward." Her career was mostly on TV from 1951 to 1964.
  • Gladys Hurlbut (1898-1988) as Mrs. Collins; she worked on Broadway from 1920 to 1949 as both an actor and a playwright before starting a screen career that lasted from 1951 to 1961. She was in one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The Perfect Murder."
  • Theodore Newton (1904-1963) as Dr. Allen; he was on Broadway from 1928 to 1951, in films from 1933 to 1963, and on TV from 1949 to 1963. He was in seven episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "O Youth and Beauty!"
Watch "The Indestructible Mr. Weems" here or order the DVD here. It aired on CBS on Sunday, June 9. 1957. Read the GenreSnaps review here.

Sources:

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

"The Indestructible Mr. Weems." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 2, episode 37, CBS, 9 June 1957.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Listen to Al Sjoerdsma discuss Fredric Brown's "The Night the World Ended" here!

Listen to Annie and Kathryn discuss "The Indestructible Mr. Weems" here.

In two weeks: "Forecast: Low Clouds and Coastal Fog," starring Inger Stevens!

Monday, October 28, 2024

Batman in the 1960s Issue 34: July/August 1965


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



Infantino/Giella
Detective Comics #341

"The Joker's Comedy Capers!"
Story by John Broome
Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

Eccentric gazillionaire Cornelius Van-Van has grown tired of contemporary comedies; no one makes 'em like they used to. So Van-Van grabs the bull by the horns and hires movie producer B.C. DeNil to make a batch of slapstick comedies for Van-Van's private viewing.

Fifty grand check in hand, DeNil exits the estate and heads back to his Gotham hideout, removing his mask to reveal... the Joker! Yep, freshly paroled after six long weeks in the pokey, the Clown Prince of Crime is back! His plot is to get at Van-Van by making a series of comedies starring facsimiles of old comedians while performing robberies (got that?).

So, a bank is robbed by the famous washed-up comic, the Tramp, using his deadly pie-throwing machine, all while being filmed by a camera crew. Batman and Robin arrive just as the waddling Tramp is exiting the building. They attempt to nab the hobo but are tripped up by the criminal's sticky bubbles. Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are having a nice afternoon reading the paper in front of the fireplace when Dick exclaims, "Check this out, boss!" and then details the Caped Crusaders' failed attempts at apprehending the culprit. It's right then and there that the World's Greatest Detective declares "Hey, that wasn't us! Those guys are phonies! Wait a sec; comedy and crime blended together like a souffle! Who does that sound like, Dick?" After Dick guesses Bill Cosby, Bruce pours himself a drink.

The crime wave continues (with each heist committed by a different faded comedy star) and the boys seem helpless until Batman receives an invitation to the home of Cornelius Van-Van, where the first annual Cornelius Awards ceremony will be held. The Dynamic Duo have won the Best Supporting Players of the Year award and Corny would be grateful if they would accept in person. Using that enormous brain of his yet again, Batman decides this is the best way to catch the Joker and his cinema-graphical cronies.

At Van-Van's estate, Joker admits to his henchmen that the whole comedy-producing schtick was cooked up to get invited to the zillionaire's mansion. The real heist is about to happen. Batman and Robin show up but Joker is wise to their presence and meets them halfway. After a brief tussle, Joker is once again in handcuffs and hauled off to a waiting cell (doubtless to be soon released on parole). Van-Van thanks the boys and asks if there's anything he can do for his heroes. Batman admits he'd love to see the finished films. The delighted entrepreneur fires up the projector and pops some corn and the trio have a grand laugh. Gotham is once again safe from crime.

And once again, in "The Joker's Comedy Capers," we see a criminal genius going to extreme lengths to pull off a heist when he could just pull off the heist. Weeks of planning and the drudgery of filming accomplish what the Joker probably could have done by showing up at Van-Van's and hoisting him up over a giant blueberry pie or something equally loony. The highlight, for me, is the finale, where Bats, Robin, and Van-Van guffaw while viewing the footage of Joker committing felonies and, ostensibly, risking the lives of many innocent victims. And I'd question just how wonderful the robbery dailies were, since the boneheaded henchmen were inside a van parked outside the targets! Did the Joker only rob solid glass buildings? Definitely not a strip you'll find in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told.-Peter

Jack-I liked it, mainly because Infantino and Giella draw the Joker as menacing, something Moldoff and Paris didn't do. I don't know why DC insisted on pretending that the Tramp was not Chaplin and the Banjo was not Harpo Marx; for some reason they always change the names of famous people. The GCD reminds us that this story was adapted for the Batman TV show but it featured the Riddler instead of the Joker. It makes sense because most of the crimes are committed by the villain in costume, so the Riddler works just as well.




Mortimer and Moldoff
80-Page Giant #12: Strange Worlds of Batman and Robin

"The Captive Planet"
(Detective Comics #256, June 1958)

"The Caveman Batman"
(Batman #93, August 1955)

"King Batman the First"
(Batman #125, August 1959)

"There Was a Crooked Man"
(Batman and Robin Sunday strips, 11/12/44-12/31/44)

"The Three Super-Sleepers"
(World's Finest Comics #91, December 1957)

"Batman's Roman Holiday!"
(Batman #112, December 1957)

"The Interplanetary Batman"
(Batman #128, December 1959)

"The Winged Bat-People"
(Batman #116, June 1958)

The Batman Annuals have been replaced with issues of the 80-Page Giant series. The letters page in this one tells us that what would have been annual #8 was released as 80-Page Giant #5 with a December 1964 cover date, but we missed covering it because we were waiting for the next annual!

Batman Annual #9 is 80-Page Giant #12, with a July 1965 cover date, featuring Batman and Robin's Bizarre Adventures in Time and Space! The best story has nothing to do with time or space, however; it's eight pages of Batman Sunday newspaper comics from late 1944 that are an utter delight. The art by Jack Burnley and Charles Paris is excellent and the story, which involves a crooked man, is engaging and ends with a real surprise.

The other stories are a mixed bag. I like the ones penciled by Dick Sprang, and this time we are lucky to get four of them! The stories drawn by Moldoff are about what we'd expect. Still, this is an unusually good giant-sized comic.-Jack


Infantino/Giella
Batman #173

"Secret Identities for Sale!"
Story by John Broome
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

"Walk, Batman--To Your Doom!"
Story by John Broome
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Sid Greene

One night, Batman, Robin, and the Gotham Police break into the secret hideout of Mr. Incognito, "the masked mastermind of crime in Gotham City"! While the good guys knock the bad guys around, a photographer snaps a couple of pics before being ejected. Mr. Incognito escapes through a trap door.

Later that day, freelance photographer Elwood Pearson visits the mayor with a shocking offer: one of his photos reveals the secret identity of Mr. Incognito and he'll sell it to the city for a cool million. Pearson explains that his days shooting photos of celebs on vacation ended when he invented an x-ray camera that reveals the faces behind the masks. The mayor asks for time and suggests that the Dynamic Duo investigate Pearson before the deadline expires.

Meanwhile, the photographer calls Mr. Carter of the Carter Real Estate Agency to say two things: 1) I have a couple of "Secret Identities for Sale" and 2) I know that you are Mr. Incognito, since my other photo showed the face beneath your mask. Carter promises to visit Pearson in an hour with a million bucks to purchase the photos.

Night falls and, while Batman and Robin are looking around outside the photographer's studio, Mr. Incognito has entered by means of a secret passageway. Pearson holds the photo of Batman and Robin up to a mirror and Bruce and Dick's faces are displayed, but neither Pearson nor Incognito recognize them. The Dynamic Duo crash through a skylight, knock out both men, and retrieve the photo. Incognito is sentenced to 99 years in jail and Pearson is found guilty of assault for trying to stop the Dynamic Duo out of greed.

It's hard to believe that Mr. Incognito is such a big deal when we've never heard of him before. On Infantino's gorgeous cover he looks like Kirby's Sandman, but inside Moldoff draws him in more mundane fashion.

Everyone is shocked when the jury returns a not guilty verdict in the trial of a criminal named Bunky Galliver. The D.A. summons the Dynamic Duo to his office and shows them photos of the people in the audience at four recent trials that all ended in unexpected verdicts. Batman notices that the same man, in disguise, was at each trial, and the Caped Crusader decides to investigate! Coincidentally, the same man's name and photo are in the daily paper, which reports that he's Franklin Knott and he's running for governor of Gotham State!

Dick Grayson disguises himself as a street urchin and tails Bucky while Bruce Wayne attends Knott's speech at Gotham Hall. Something in the way Knott speaks makes Bruce feel compelled to vote for the candidate. Dick reports that Bucky and his gang plan to rob the Keller mansion, so Batman and Robin rush to the scene of the crime and make short work of Bucky and his gang.

At the Batcave, Batman looks into Knott's past and visits a scientist named John Grover, who reveals that Knott worked for him and was fascinated by his work with E-Rays, which compel behavior in those bathed by them. Batman deduces that Knott has been using E-Rays to influence juries and make people vote for him. Suddenly, Knott walks in and shoots E-Rays at Batman, Robin, and Grover. Knott commands them to walk into Pima Lake and drown! Compelled, the trio walk into the lake. Batman recalls that he was also ordered to vote for Knott, so he uses that compulsion to save himself and the others.

Batman visits a Knott rally and knocks out the crooked politician, who is soon found guilty by a jury that is not bathed in E-Rays.

Unfortunately, John Broome's story, "Walk, Batman--To Your Doom," is as dumb as anything we read prior to the dawn of the New Look. Moldoff's graphics are as weak as ever and even Giella's inks don't help.-Jack

Peter-I would call baloney on the fact that Pearson doesn't recognize Gotham's most recognizable resident but we have to remember that the entire population of the city is drawn by Shelly Moldoff. For Mr. Incognito to receive a 99-year sentence for piddly little crimes, while Penguin, Joker, and Riddler are paroled before being arrested, is a mockery of justice. My favorite panel of "Secret Identities for Sale!" is when Bats, Robin, and the entire Gotham police force bust down a door and find Incognito sitting on a throne, a lone lamp sitting in the corner. Who thought "hey, we need a little light in this criminal's hideout!" Less enjoyable but even more ridiculous is "Walk, Batman--To Your Doom," wherein my favorite line of dialogue would have to be "Must vote for Knott--Can't drown--Must vote for Knott..."


Infantino/Giella
Detective Comics #342

"The Midnight Raid of the Robin Gang!"
Story by John Broome
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

Gossip columnist Cal Carroll has Gotham abuzz (and Dick Grayson livid) with his columns about the possible break-up of the Dynamic Duo due to Robin's jealousy about Batman's celebrity. Does the Dark Knight hog the limelight? Dick and Bruce agree to file this one under "Misunderstandings" but, as Robin heads off to elementary school, the billionaire playboy wonders if there might be a spark of truth to the rumblings.

At that moment, the hardest-working cop in America, Commissioner Gordon, calls on the Bat-Phone to invite Bats in for a chat and our hero hops in the Batmobile and runs twenty red lights to make it there in minutes. Pushing aside the empty pizza boxes on his desk, Gordon gets down to business: there's a mystery man in Gotham who's recruiting school-age kids into a life of crime. Does Batman think Robin could go undercover and get the skinny on this bad dude? Batman smiles and agrees that this is a job for Robin!

Walking home from school, Dick Grayson decides to drop in on Tom Willard, a school chum who hasn't been in class for some time. Though Tom is not in, Dick heads into the shack on the property that he and Tom used to use for... chinwags. On the wall hangs a Robin outfit. Startled, Dick pulls down the uni just as Tom enters the shack and tears the costume from Grayson's hands. Tom tells Dick there's no way he's going back to school and Dick, using the World's Second Greatest Detective Brain, decides to play along and confess to his old bud that he wants to join the gang that Tom had told him all about at one time in the past. Tom happily agrees and promises to take Dick to "the boss." Later, the boys visit the gym owned by Al Craig (the aforementioned "boss" and a wrestling promoter) and, entering the man's office, Dick is startled to see three kids in Robin uniforms! Holy Triplicate Tornado!

Dick is introduced to Craig, who locks our teen hero in a room while he gives directions to his four Robins. Dick can hear his plans through the wall: each Robin will commit a crime in a different part of Gotham. Dick picks the lock and heads out into the night to try to talk sense into Tom Willard. Meanwhile, across town, while on patrol, Batman comes across Robin robbing a jewelry store! While Bats chases the phony, the real Robin swoops in but, due to temporary blurry vision, accidentally knocks his boss off the roof. After saving his pre-teen partner from a similar tumble, Bats tosses Robin in the Batmobile and tears off. It's there that the Teenage Titan spills the beans about the Robin Gang.

Arriving at Craig's Gym, the boys are set upon by wrestlers (who have been misled by Craig to believe these guys are phony Caped Crusaders auditioning for a ring gig) but make quick work of the dopes. They arrest the Robin Gang and Al Craig and then attend to more important matters: getting Dick an eye test. Commissioner Gordon's twin brother, who happens to be an optometrist, diagnoses Robin as recovering from a blow to the head, nothing a few eyedrops, rest, and refraining from dirty magazines for a while can't cure. The Gotham Tattler headlines scream "Robin's Eyes Are Perfect Again" and the boys have a laugh until the damn Bat-Phone rings again.

You might find it amazing that every teen in this strip looks like Dick Grayson until you remember that's the m.o. of Sheldon Moldoff. All the kids look like Dick, middle-aged men (and women) resemble Bruce, and old-timers naturally appear to be Gordon; there are no deviations. The phony/legit Robin scene, where Dick knocks Bats off the roof, is a knee-slapper and could have led to all sorts of fun misidentifications . I thought, for a moment, that Batman might have tossed the wrong Robin into the hot rod a la Jill St. John in the premiere of the '66 show, but no such luck. For once, I loved the minimalist (nonexistent?) artwork by Moldoff and Giella. A dumb script begs to have laughable graphics.-Peter

Jack-Did anyone picking up this comic in 1965 believe for one minute that Robin had really gone rogue? I thought it was funny that Commissioner Gordon referred to Robin's friends as "playmates"; I suspect Bruce Wayne has playmates of a different sort. This wasn't a bad story overall, just not up to the Infantino entries.

Next Week...
That ol' Sinnott Magic!