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| The Caped Crusader in the 1960s by Jack Seabrook & Peter Enfantino |
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| Infantino/Giella |
"Museum of Mixed-Up Men!"
Story by Gardner Fox
Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella
While visiting the Matthew Brady Photography Exhibit at the newly-opened Americana Wax Museum (funded by the "Alfred Foundation" in honor of the "dead" butler), Bruce Wayne becomes the victim of a bizarre scheme: a camera robs him of his face and replaces it with that of another man. It also leaves him with amnesia. He wanders the streets of Gotham, unaware of his real identity.
Meanwhile, miles away at the Gotham City Bank, the organization's favorite customer, "Bruce Wayne," strolls in and requests a withdrawal of half a million bucks. Since the man has all the correct IDs and, well... he's Bruce Wayne, fer goodness sake, he's handed a boatload of green and exits the building a happy man.
At that very moment, when all hope is lost, flying through a window is the Dark Knight! Quickly taking out the bad guys, he explains to Robin that he was in the grip of amnesia until he woke up standing in front of the Batmobile. All became so clear. Across town, Ralph Dibny (a/k/a the Elongated Man) admires the pics his wife, Sue, took the day before in the Americana Wax Museum and notes something quite astonishing: a man dressed in a suit entered the building and exited later with a completely different face. Mr. Stretch must investigate!
When Ralph arrives at the wax museum, he bumps into Batman and Robin and they compare notes. Suddenly, the three heroes are pummeled by invisible fists. Holy boxing ghosts! Actually, we discover that the charade is choreographed by "Boss" Barron, who has invented an "Electrofaciograph," which (obviously) allows him to steal the features of anyone who stands in front of his fantastic camera. The Electroblahblahblah also allows Barron to trade blows with Batman without actually being in the same room (yeah, I'm lost too). Once the lid is blown off Barron's scheme, the Terrific Trio plant right crosses on the criminal and save the day.
Not only does "Museum of Mixed-Up Men!" contain a confusing script, it's also (worse) extremely boring. I was looking forward to the Batman/Elongated Man team-up, but the event was wasted on a third-rate plot. How many bosses are there in Gotham? It's also hard to believe that the guy who got Bruce's features couldn't somehow work out the guy's night job while he was wearing his face. Obviously, I prefer Infantino's art to Moldoff's, but there are some rough spots here, one of which is Bruce's new face, topped with a forehead that would make Brainiac jealous.-Peter
Jack-I'm so impressed with Infantino's dynamic art that I give the story a pass. The cover would make me want to plunk down a dime and two pennies in a heartbeat! I was glad to see Aunt Harrier return, even for just a few panels, and I agree that Fox did get a little wordy on the page where the crooks explain what's really going on. Still, the art--and even the lettering!--is so dynamic and exciting that I enjoyed reading this one, even if the plot was a bit shaky.
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| Infantino/Giella |
"Two-Way Deathtrap!"
Story by Ed Herron
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella
"A Rendezvous with Robbery!"
Story by Ed Herron
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella
A couple of hoods named Mitch and Beany have discovered a cavern from which they can listen in on conversations happening in the Batcave! Mitch tells Beany about a nightmare he heard Batman relate, in which Batman is trapped in an enclosed room lined with concrete blocks that is rapidly filling up with water. Above him is a rotating machine gun, firing bullets across the room! Batman always awakens in a cold sweat and doesn't know if or how he'd escape the "Two-Way Deathtrap!"
Beany and Mitch pay a visit to a gangsters club, where they make a bet with the diminutive Big Joe that Batman won't be able to escape a trap they set. Soon, Batman is on patrol alone one night while Robin is at the school dance. Beany and Mitch lure him to a restaurant and he ends up in his nightmare scenario. The hoods watch on closed-circuit TV, but Big Joe wins the bet when Batman jams the machine gun with bullets from the floor and escapes. He finds the hoods, makes short work of them, and returns home to explain to Robin how he solved his nightmarish dilemma.
Reading Batman comics from 1964 is similar to reading them from the early '70s. On the one hand, we get issues illustrated by a top artist--Infantino in '64 and Adams in the early '70s--and on the other hand, we get dreck like this, illustrated by Moldoff with inks by Giella, while in the early '70s we'd get stories drawn by Frank Robbins. It's interesting to look at the pages and see where Giella let Moldoff's pencils shine through and where he had a stronger hand with the inks. As a result of the art, the stories aren't as interesting or as fun, even though they're a small step forward from the aliens and gangsters we were getting before the New Look.
In the sequel to "The Dilemma of the Detective's Daughter" (Batman 165), Pat Powell's face to face meeting with Bruce Wayne at the charity ball is postponed when crooks dressed as waiters heist the men's wallets and the ladies' jewels. Pat's father orders her to leave the party and get to work on solving the case. Batman and Robin also investigate and follow clues to Plainview, where they discover Pat and her father locked in the closet of a house that was recently vacated by the robbers.
Using her detective skills, Pat leads the Dynamic Duo right to the crooks, who are hiding at an oil and gas processing plant. Pat, her dad, Batman, and Robin manage to subdue the hoods and, back at Police Headquarters, Pat anticipates finally meeting Bruce when he arrives to recover his stolen wallet.
More mediocre art mars "A Rendezvous with Robbery," where Pat Powell demonstrates that she's pretty smart for a girl. Not only does she track the crooks by solid detective work, she also thinks to put a transmitter on their car, helping the Caped Crusader locate them at story's end.-Jack
Peter-Both of these adventures are really silly but I enjoyed "Two-Way Deathtrap!" in spite (or maybe because) of its ridiculous plot. But, hey, how could I not giggle at the mid-'60s sexism found in "A Rendezvous with Robbery"? I think my favorite 1964 line of dialogue in a Bat-title would have to go to Pat's explanation to Bats of how she was able to identify the gang they're tracking: "Stymied from stopping the crooks at Bruce's estate, I determined to catch up with them later--so, being a woman, I took careful notice of the masked man's clothes..." I can't believe Pat was a such a good driver, being a dame and all. The final panel promises a follow-up story to come but, damn it all, that bit of romance never materialized.
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| Infantino/Giella |
"The Joker's Last Laugh!"
Story by John Brome
Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella
He's back! The Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker, has discovered a way to paralyze a crowd with laughter, even when he's telling corny jokes! First up, the grinning ghoul robs a ruby store (!) of its gems by using a giant chicken as a vehicle (why did the chicken cross the road?...), leaving an entire crowd and Gotham's Finest outside the building, guffawing.
The World's Greatest Detective gets the news and boasts that no bad jokes will stop him and Robin from putting Joker back behind the bars he was, ostensibly, just released from on good behavior. Gordon tips our heroes off and the Dynamic Duo arrive at the Modern Art Gallery just in time to see their arch-enemy and his thugs exiting the building, holding priceless works of art and some Warhols. Joker tells his bad joke and the boys break into paralyzing laughter. The bad guys get away again.
Batman and Robin give chase and nab Joker as he falls out of his van. Coincidentally, the action takes place in front of a police precinct on the outskirts of Gotham (one that Batman is not familiar with... hint, hint) and Bats slaps the cuffs on the clown. He walks his prisoner into the jail, seemingly unfazed by the fact that there are no cops in the building and locks the psycho in a cell. Presto-chango, the floor turns and the Dynamic Duo are the prisoners! Joker confesses the building is a phony and if the boys try to escape, the cell will explode.
Another really dumb adventure and, unlike the previous issue, nothing decent to look at. Well, I will say that, to me, Giella is a more effective inker for Moldoff but, as they say, put a dress on a pig and it's still a pig. If chuckles are your goal when reading these 1960s strips, then "The Joker's Last Laugh!" might be up your alley. The scene where Bats keenly remembers every single curve and groove in the key he saw for a split second and then creates an exact replica out of a wooden stool would have been perfect for the '66 show. Me, I'd just like for the staff to put forth something that proves they care.-Peter
Jack-Once again, the best Batman art is on the cover, with Infantino and Giella creating another memorable scene. The highlight is Batman's sheepish look in the third panel. The story inside features a classic Joker gimmick--use some sort of agent to get people to laugh uncontrollably. Is this the first time this was used? It certainly will resurface later on, with more deadly results. When Batman and Robin downed mass quantities of anti-histamine pills they should've gotten very sleepy, but writer John Broome left that part out.
Once again, the Elongated Man story is better than the Batman story and features absolutely gorgeous art by Infantino and Sid Greene. Giella is a good inker but I'd like to see Greene ink Infantino on a Batman tale.
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