Batman in the 1960s Issue 37: January/February 1966

 

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

Infantino/Anderson

Detective Comics #347

"The Strange Death of Batman!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

Who is... The Bouncer? Contrary to popular opinion, he's not the guy who throws the drunks out of The Gotham Bar and Grill but a brilliant metallurgist who "stumbled onto an alloy of rubber, steel, and chrome" that allows objects to bounce higher than ever recorded in history. Now, that's some invention! But, instead of applying the find to the greater good and crafting things like airplanes that can never crash, this evil genius uses his "Ellastaloy" to craft a suit that helps him rob banks and amass a fortune so that he can... do something.

Naturally, the crime spree that The Bouncer commences upon catches the attention of the Dynamic Duo (this was one of those rare weeks when the Rogues were all in Gotham Pen at the same time) and the boys head out into the streets to investigate. The Bouncer bounces and the Caped Crusaders are taken completely by surprise, losing the fight in the first round. But at least now they've experienced first-hand the skills of... The Bouncer!

After another failed attempt to capture the extremely fast bouncing villain, Batman concocts a way to eliminate the Bouncer's powers. Just in time too, as the ricocheting rascal has plans to fill the Dark Knight with lead. But wait... there's more...

Right after finishing this compact and simple tale, writer Gardner Fox retreats to his "What If" room (where, doubtless, the question, "What if I were paid better?" comes up daily) and wonders what would have happened if the Bouncer had known what Batman and Robin had up their sleeves and prepared for it? What if the gun aimed at Batman's heart had gone off and killed our hero? Well, naturally Robin would want revenge and the Justice League would mourn their fallen comrade but we also learn that Robin will grow into a scientific genius Bruce Wayne would be proud of (perhaps a little too late since, you know, he's dead and Robin's plan to bring down the Bouncer might have saved Batman's life... but you live and learn). Robin uses science to quash the Bouncer's crime wave and put the fiend behind bars for at least six months (murder is a serious charge even in Gotham).

As he ponders his win in the Batcave and wishes his mentor could be there to share his glee, Robin is startled by a familiar voice behind him. It's the World's Greatest Detective risen from the grave! Well, no, actually it's the Batman of Earth-Two, who had been prodded by that world's Robin to aid this world's Boy Wonder in his path to glory. Robin happily accepts Bruce-2's offer and kindly omits his thought that Robin-2 might just want to get rid of the old man and hog the spotlight for himself. And Bats-2 has brought along a friend... Alfred-2! But, as Gardner points out in the final dialogue box, this is all made up. Forget it. Disregard it. Done.

"The Strange Death of Batman" is enjoyable enough but there's a whiff of "deadline doom" to it. A needle-thin idea that was thrown together at the last second becuz the strip was needed immediately. There's a whole lot of scientific information cluttering up those word balloons as well. The legion of eight-year-old comic buyers must have either been amazed at all the professorial theorems or skipped all the big words and headed to the next nicely-drawn panel. I know I did. Carmine's pencils are the obvious draw here; this is some of the best Bat-art we've seen on this leg of the journey.

At least Fox spared us the three-page origin expository and kept it to a mere three panels. All these super-powered villains seem to arrive at their new vocation through dumb luck or being hit by lightning so why bother drawing it out? This origin even omits the reason that the unnamed metallurgist decided crime was the way to go. I had to laugh at Fox's warning to kids not to skip to the final pages and read the ending first. As Jack notes below, Carmine and Joe were obviously not caught up in the "excitement" of this strip either since their idea of a fabulous suit for The Bouncer is no costume at all. This guy could easily pass as a faster version of Clayface.-Peter

Jack-It's hard to argue that the Bouncer is a silly character when the back-up story features the Elongated Man. I'm more concerned with Bruce Wayne asking Robin if he "dug" something. Bruce Wayne, hippie in training? As for the Bouncer, if he could invent a suit that would protect him when bouncing at great speed or from a great height, couldn't he at least come up with a colorful design? A plain brown bodysuit just doesn't cut it.

Most interesting of all is DC's use of the "what if" concept years before Marvel's comic book of that title premiered. I love seeing Batman of Earth-Two show up, accompanied by Alfred of Earth-Two, to train Robin, while Earth-Two Robin takes over as Batman! It may be another imaginary story, like so many others at DC, but it tracks what really happened...in comic book reality, that is.

Kane/Anderson

Batman #178

"Raid of the Rocketeers!"

Story by Robert Kanigher

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

"The Loan Shark's Hidden Hoard!" 

Story by John Broome

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Sid Greene

Bruce Wayne's old college chum, Professor Nelson, has a lot of weight on his shoulders due to a family history of military success. He is the director in charge of firing several new rockets and, while their purpose may be left unexplained, the importance of the launches to Nelson's sense of self-worth can't be overstated. Unfortunately, the first two rockets suddenly disappear off the radar and Nelson must push the abort switch.

The next night, Nelson gets ready to launch rocket ship number three, unaware that Batman and Robin are going to follow it in the Bat-Plane to see what happens. The rocket ship again seems to vanish, but Batman and Robin are following close behind and see that it is being pulled to a remote island by a strange ray beam. The Dynamic Duo land on a nearby island and start swimming toward the rocket ship's location but they quickly encounter the "Raid of the Rocketeers!" The men with jet-packs on their backs capture Batman and Robin and take them to the island, where they listen to the grand plans of the King of the Rocketeers--that's what I assume he's called, since he wears a crown on his head that looks like part of a rocket ship.

Peter (Batman) and Jack at a
bare*bones staff meeting

One of the missing rockets is fired into the middle of Gotham City Park with a message scrawled on its side: agree to pay one billion bucks in an hour or the next rocket will carry an atomic warhead! The people of Gotham tell King Rocketman to pound sand, so he sends up the next rocket with a couple of unwilling passengers named Batman and Robin! They manage to free themselves, pull the abort switch, and parachute to safety after a "thrilling" mid-air fistfight with flying Rocketeers, including the king, who should have known better. Gotham is saved and, best of all, Prof. Nelson can hold his head high when his last rocket makes a successful run.

This looks like Big Bob Kanigher's first stab at a Batman story and it's so bad that it's good. I was laughing and cringing as I read it and, by the end, I had begun to wonder if it was intentionally ridiculous. The Gil Kane/Murphy Anderson cover is a knockout, but the Moldoff/Giella interior art is the usual stuff. The Rocketeer island business seems like a James Bond knockoff, which isn't surprising in early 1966, but the billion dollar ransom demand required a spy like Austin Powers to respond.

A pair of Gotham City grifters named Weeper and Rosy lament their lack of funds to bet on a sure thing at the race track. Rosy has been peeping through his binoculars at a room in the building across the street, where he has seen a man putting gobs of the long green stuff into a safe and never taking any out. Weeper refuses to commit robbery, so they head to Sharkey, the loan shark, for a loan at 100% interest.

Sharkey enjoys his massage a bit too much...

That night, while Weeper and Rosy are at the track, Batman and Robin hear an explosion, just the latest in a series of mysterious bombings. They identify the source of the blast and follow a car to Sharkey's office, where Batman fights a huge massage therapist known as Mako. One gang member escapes during the melee. Commissioner Gordon later shows up and Sharkey's records reveal that he was behind the bombings, which were done to punish people who welshed on loans. Robin finds a hidden key and they're off to look for Sharkey's hidden stash.

Mako tries to undress Batman...

Meanwhile, their horse having finished out of the money, Rosy and Weeper head to the apartment with the safe full of money to acquire funds to pay back Sharkey, only to find the safe empty. Batman and Robin show up and discover the missing gang member hiding in the closet with the loot! Weeper and Rosy end up in prison and Weeper reminds his pal that he always says that "crime don't pay"!

As usual, Sid Greene's inks jazz up Moldoff's pencils to an extent, but this story is even cornier than the one before it. The GCD tells us that this issue went on sale on December 2, 1965, and Wikipedia tells us that the Batman TV show premiered on January 12, 1966, when this issue was still on the newsstands. Methinks the folks at DC were upping the camp factor in anticipation of the premiere.

Batman does the old soft shoe...

Oddly enough, in the letters column, ye olde editor quotes a September 2, 1965 article from the Detroit News that says that ABC-TV "'is planning a test film for a possible one-hour weekly program based on the comic strip, The Batman.' All we can do at the moment is confirm the news item, and ask you to watch this department for what we hope will be the most electrifying TV news of the Fall, 1966 season!" I know these mags were put together well in advance of the sale date, but doesn't it seem strange that the editor thought the show wouldn't come out till fall when it premiered the month after this issue went on sale?-Jack

Peter-In "Raid of the Rocketeers!" Robin is caught underwater and remarks that he doesn't even have breath for a one-liner. How do we get a whole strip's worth of Robin underwater? It's not so much the fact that we have to put up with the constant barrage of zingers but that those jokes are so gawdawful ("They look like an unwelcoming committee!" anyone?). The story is brainless entertainment, obviously infringing on Bond territory, though James would probably laugh off the Rocketeers and their goofy outfits. If this was a Marvel comic of that era, the Rocketeers would be commies aiming to stifle world peace rather than just simple criminals out for a big payday. "Loan Shark" is about as bad as they come; awful art and lazy script. Rosy and Weeper come off as a failed comedy team so this might be as close to Abbott and Costello Meet Batman as you'll ever come. The only true dog this month.

Kubert

Detective Comics #348

"Birdman of Bedlam!"

Story by Robert Kanigher

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

Bruce and Dick say a goodbye with kisses to Mona, the winner of the Miss USA Beauty Contest (her prize was a date with the playboy billionaire) and watch with awe as she shimmies her tightly-wrapped buttocks and swings her milky globes gets on the airplane and waves goodbye. Minutes later, while driving away from the airport, their glee turns to horror as Mona's plane erupts in flames and crash lands nearby. The Duo race to the crash site and take the time to change into their outfits and discuss possible reasons for the disaster while passengers erupt into flames before their eyes. "Quick, Robin, these people need help!" exclaims the World's Greatest Detective.

The Dynamic Duo evacuate the plane but, sadly, Mona the Most Gorgeous Woman in America is dead. Her dream to build a camp for refugees in Rwanda will never come to be. "Oh well," sighs the Caped Crusader as he turns his attention to the pilot, who has a fantastic story to tell: the jet was attacked by a swarm of birds! Both Dark Knight and Teenage Tornado are flummoxed since there is no sign of an avian at the crash. No feathers, no corpses, not even the tell-tale white splashes on the windshield. What in the world could have happened?

Take away the word balloons
and you can see Wertham was
on to something

The mystery doesn't last long as, hours later, Gotham Airport receives its first message from the mysterious Birdmaster. Batman strokes his chin and asks Robin: "Do you think this evil genius could have something to do with the crash of the jet airliner?" Before Robin can answer, the Birdmaster issues his ultimatum: stay out of the skies or die!

Not one to take a challenge lightly, Batman drives back to the Batcave and winds up the Batplane for action. Sure enough, quickly after taking to the air, the plane is surrounded by thousands of birds of every size and species: vultures, eagles, hawks, McGuinns, sparrows... Bats manages to take out some of them with his Batrockets but more arrive to take their fallen comrades' place. Before long, the boys realize they're not being forced to crash but guided to a certain spot outside Gotham.

Batman and Robin eject from the Batplane and land in a heavily-wooded area. Immediately, they are set upon by a quartet of grown men wearing silly bird suits and gassed into unconsciousness. The men haul the Duo to a high-cliff mansion, a castle owned by... the Birdmaster (cue lightning and waves crashing the rocks)! The boys are brought before the fine-feathered evil genius and dropped in a large cage; Birdmaster explains he wants to add the Duo to his collection of one-of-a-kind birds. 

Not stopping to explain that a bat is not a bird, the Dark Knight instructs Robin to accompany him to the top of the cage. Obviously not one to think an evil scheme through, the Birdmaster has forgotten to put a top on the cage and the boys easily escape, besting the bird-henchmen without much effort. Birdmaster hops into his nearby plane and takes to the skies, forgetting he instructed his avian army to take down any vehicle that flies. The boys watch as the plane heads for the ground; a certain death for the one-and-done Rogue. 

What a difference between last month's serious tone to this month's campfire. "Birdman of Bedlam!" is certainly not Big Bob Kanigher's finest hour and his insertion of at least one bad Robin one-liner per panel is so far away from his landmark work on Our Army at War that I'd never have guessed the identity of the author without a helping hand. Worst quip might be Robin, as the boys are heading for a fiery death, assuring Batman that he only turns green when he's standing on his nose. What does this even mean?

Aside from the awful zingers, though, this one is full of violence. From Mona's meaningless death to the exploding buzzards, Big Bob doesn't hold back. That was the one aspect of his script I appreciated. The Birdmaster's ultimate motivation for all this chaos is a supremely dopey one, almost as inane as the Bird-thug outfits. I want to see the excised panel where Birdmeister convinces hardened criminals that the only way they can bodyguard is by wearing a feathered shawl and a beak cap. 1966 has definitely arrived.-Peter

Jack-The Go-Go checks are here! Did anyone ever get the story behind them in an interview, possibly with Julie Schwartz? Was DC feeling the heat from Marvel and so felt the need to do something to make the tops of their mags stand out on newsstand racks (that's exactly what it was, Jack, according to this fan-written blog post-Peter)? I'd love to know the scoop. Big Bob gets even nuttier this issue, with characters getting killed, plane crashes, and one-liners flying left and right. I love Joe Kubert's art but he doesn't seem quite right for Batman, as shown on the cover.

Next Week...
More Everett
You're Welcome!