Batman in the 1960s Issue 40: July/August 1966

 

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

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #353

"The Weather Wizard's Triple-Treasure Thefts!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella

Tired of being foiled by the Flash in Central City, the Weather Wizard travels to Gotham to stage a brilliant heist. Actually, three brilliant heists! "The Weather Wizard's Triple-Treasure Thefts!" begins when WW causes it to rain on Gotham's empty reservoirs (there's been a drought going on for four years but no one stopped all the action to let us know). Elated Gothamites look towards the sky and see a message from WW, claiming he's paying the good folks for allowing him to steal three "great treasures." Further, he adds that the thefts have already occurred. That's news to slumbering Commissioner Gordon and his crew, who claim no reports have come in.

Millionaire Felix Bayard fears his Golden Cup (not the one he wore when he played linebacker for the Gotham Gladiators, but the solid gold drinking cup he keeps in a vault) may have been stolen and replaced with a cheap fraud. Not being an expert in priceless antiquities, he calls art expert Haverford Mimms and asks him to evaluate the goblet for him. Mimms show up, quickly declares it's the real deal, and then takes off his Mimms mask to reveal... the Weather Wizard!

Crafty devil that he is, WW wrote that note in the sky to get itchy billionaires to check their hidden storage facilities and expose the treasures to the criminal element. He exits stage left, golden goblet in hand, and wishes Mr. Bayard a good day. Gordon spends no time handing off the robbery to Batman, who's at home consoling Dick Grayson, who can't patrol for a few nights due to a basketball injury. Bats considers his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, to be a candidate for the next target since he owns the "fabulous" Rajah Ruby (the world's most perfect ruby!), bought by his father in India decades before. That night, sure enough, a trench-coated figure (gosh, who could it be?) snatches the ruby out of Wayne's wall safe and runs into the night. Next morning, Bruce and Dick discover the theft and report it to Gordon.

Monitoring the police airwaves, Weather Wizard hears of the theft and grows angry that someone else made off with such an incredible treasure. Using some of his magical weather tricks, the fiend traces the thief's footprints to a local cave and finds the ruby unprotected. Well, almost. Batman leaps out of the shadows and attempts to corral WW, but the villain is too quick and entraps the Caped Crusader in a large ice cube, explaining that the box will melt in two hours unless Batman attempts an escape. Then his oxygen will quickly be depleted. WW excuses himself, explaining he still has one more treasure to nab.

Being the hero that he is, Bats decides waiting two hours is for wimps and uses his boot heel to whip up some heat. The cube quickly melts and Batman is a free man! Luckily, our hero had the foresight to have Robin follow WW by car to his next stop, "The Mayan Room of the local museum," and there the Duo put an end to the Weather Wizard's attempted triple crown heist.

"WW's TTT!" is an entertaining enough little adventure, but it's got some silliness going on as well. I'm not sure if WW is about to make another appearance over in the Flash's mag and DC thought it a good idea to hype, but the line "Only the Flash can stop me!" is used at least a half-dozen times. Yeah, we get it. Then there's the weird panel where both Bruce and Dick act as though someone has broken in and stolen the ruby when at least one of them knows better. If Bruce hasn't told Dick that it was actually he himself who staged the robbery, why not? And if both are in on the act, who are they foolin'?  They're the only ones in the room! And there's even more expository word balloons than usual, telling us all stuff we had guessed pages before. Anyway, the Carmine/Joe graphics always make me smile even if there are some gaps in logic.-Peter

Jack-From the cover, I thought the Flash would be a guest-star in this issue, but it was not to be. I always thought the Weather Wizard was a cool villain, who seems to have unlimited powers but who is always defeated in the end. I especially like the panel where he's just sitting in a cloud, up in the sky. Why not? He can control the weather! The art is terrific, as usual.

Various

Batman #182

"The Villain of 100 Elements"

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #294, August 1961)

"Batman, Junior and Robin, Senior!"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Stan Kaye

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #218, April 1955)

"Batman, Robot"

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #281, July 1960)

"The Experiment of Professor Zero"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Dick Sprang & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #148, June 1949)

"The Rainbow Batman"

Story by Edmond Hamilton

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Stan Kaye

(Reprinted from Detective Comics #241, March 1957)

"The Joker Batman!"

Story by David Vern

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Batman #85, August 1954)

(Original title -"Batman--Clown of Crime")

Peter-These 1950s Batman reprints prove that, at one time at least, Sheldon Moldoff was a capable penciler. Should we blame the inkers who came after Stan Kaye? Of the four new to us, the silliest is "The Rainbow Batman," a story that would fit in well with the 1960s installments. Goofy script with a truly inane reveal. Who knew Bats kept multi-colored costumes for just such an occasion?

Jack-It has to be Stan Kaye's inks that make Moldoff's pencils look so good. My favorite story this issue is the one drawn by Dick Sprang in 1949, "The Experiment of Professor Zero." I love that the Prof's henchman is named "Beefy"! "Batman, Junior and Robin, Senior!" is also lots of fun, especially when the bad guy is wandering around Gotham City with two heavy gas canisters under his arms! They saved a goodie for last--"The Joker Batman!" is a hoot, when the Clown Prince of Crime and Batman switch personalities due to an accident. The sight of Batman laughing madly like the Joker and acting like a prankster is worth a look.

Infantino/Giella

Detective Comics #354

"No Exit for Batman!"

Story by John Broome

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

Evil Dr. Tzin-Tzin has obviously become bored of spreading pandemonium throughout Asia and has moved his business to Gotham. His number one goal is to kill the Batman! When the corpse of Strip Bander, one of Tzin's henchmen, turns up at the morgue, Commissioner Gordon puts down his pitching wedge and calls the Dynamic Duo to the building to have a pow-wow. The coroner's verdict: death by fright!

At that point, Gordon proves to Batman that he's not just another pretty face and gives the scoop on Dr. Tzin-Tzin's swath of terror, which led to him eventually becoming Interpol's Most Wanted Man! Back at Gordon's office, the Commish shows Batman a strange object: a red ball. Experts are stymied. Since the orb was found at the site of a bank robbery, it has to be something more dangerous than a dog's ball. Gordon tasks Batman and Robin with discovering just what the device is capable of and how it can lead them to the mysterious Tzin-Tzin. 

The boys head back to the Batcave, where the orb suddenly lights up and shows them the deadly visage of Dr. Tzin-Tzin! The fiend has a message for the Caped Crusader: "stay out of my way!" The orb then explodes. Bats puts Robin in charge of examining the fragments of the red ball and heads out of the cave on patrol. A burglar alarm leads him into a dark alley, where a gang of thugs jump him and gives our hero their best. Unknown to Bats, the whole episode is being filmed for Tzin's enjoyment. 

After a terrifying and lengthy fight (one of Tzin's henchmen labels it "a gory fist battle"), Bats emerges victorious, watching as the thugs run away in defeat, tails between legs. Pooped, Bats heads back to the cave, where he has a quick meal and some well-deserved rest before declaring that the red orb must be rebuilt if they are to track Tzin. Working strictly from memory, Batman uses duct tape and super glue to piece the ball back together. Miraculously, it works and is able to help the boys locate Tzin's secret hideout: the top floor of a Gotham skyscraper!

After battling their way in, the Dynamic Duo finally get a face-to-face with their brand new arch-nemesis, who attempts to hypnotize Batman. Using his quick wits and a Batarang, the Dark Knight puts Tzin's hypnotic eye out of service and the Asian villain behind bars. But is this the last Batman and Robin will see of Dr. Tzin-Tzin? 

Well, it's the last we'll see of him in the 1960s, but with a little digging you can read about his next appearance here. An obvious knock-off of Fu Manchu (or maybe even the more timely Mandarin over at Marvel), Tzin-Tzin sure doesn't seem like an international menace. He's got an evil eye that hypnotizes (and is used effectively in this story exactly once), but he's also got big, strong henchmen who could have killed Strip Bander just as easily. There's not a lot going on in this one. The character is definitely better utilized in the 1970s by Wein and Wolfman, when Tzin becomes a member of the League of Assassins. I do like how Batman was able to rebuild Tzin's red orb and make it work just the way it did before the explosion. World's Greatest Handyman! For some reason, the Moldoff/Giella art annoyed me less this time out; the characters' faces are still amateurish at best but at least there's a bit of detail surrounding the doodles.-Peter

Jack-Moldoff continues providing us with more dynamic page layouts and Giella's inks help make the art palatable. Dr. Tzin-Tzin didn't put up much of a fight, did he? One question comes to mind: was Carmine Infantino the best cover artist who ever drew for the comics? I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone who could make me want to buy and read a comic book more than he.

Infantino/Giella

Batman #183

"A Touch of Poison Ivy!"

Story by Robert Kanigher 

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

"Batman's Baffling Turnabout!"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

No matter which luscious beauty Bruce Wayne dines or dances with, he can't get Poison Ivy out of his mind. The only thing that seems to distract him is fighting crime. Meanwhile, from her prison cell, Poison Ivy sends Batman a gift of a pocket mirror that she made in the machine shop. He gazes into the mirror and keeps thinking of her promise that he will set her free. The Caped Crusader has to smash the mirror to break the spell.

Poison Ivy hears about the mirror and fakes sickness, dying of a broken heart, in order to be moved to the prison hospital, but when Batman pays a visit she reveals that her hairs contain explosives! Batman carries her out to freedom in order to prevent her from blowing up the hospital. She and her goons take Batman for a ride, blowing up the police cars that are in pursuit and putting the Dark Knight to sleep with a jab of "bye-bye syrup." Back at her hideout, Ivy keeps Batman on a leash and he fights back with a hunger strike. After days of this, she brings an IV tube to force feed him but he fights back, aided by Robin, who appears out of nowhere. The Dynamic Duo quickly defeat Poison Ivy and she returns to jail.

The publishing schedule must have been getting close to catching up to the hit TV show, since the TV screen on the cover shows the TV Batman logo, while in "A Touch of Poison Ivy," Batman watches TV in the last panel but only sees Poison Ivy in her cell. I enjoyed the campy story, though it represents unusual behavior for Batman, something we've been seeing more and more of recently. Bruce Wayne certainly gets around, doesn't he? In the space of one page, he goes on dates with Trina ("as delicious as angel cake"), Vickie (they "make beautiful music together"), and Gilda (whose kiss "will break any thermometer").

In the middle of knocking around some goons in a waterfront warehouse, Batman falls through a trap door and finds himself stuck on a gooey net suspended above the river. A voice taunts him; a crook he sent to jail five years before will leave Batman to drown as the tide comes in. Above, in the warehouse, a substitute Batman joins the Boy Wonder and complains of a twisted ankle. Robin recognizes the fake right away and drives him to the auxiliary Batcave, where Batman relaxes in front of the TV. Robin heads off in the Batmobile and watches on closed-circuit TV as the fake Batman sets a bomb to blow up the hideout. Robin discovers another bomb under the hood and dismantles it before trailing the faux-Dark Knight back to the waterfront warehouse. Fake Batman is surprised to encounter the real Batman, who is alive and kicking. Their fistfight ends as expected and Batman explains to Robin how he escaped a watery grave.

"Batman's Baffling Turnabout!" scrapes the bottom of the barrel. There's yet another reference to watching TV, and Robin uses the "Bat-Noculars" to watch the duplicate Caped Crusader, something that sounds suspiciously like an influence from the TV show, which always featured "Bat-This" and "Bat-That." I must admit that I did not notice that the fake Batman's chest emblem was old style, missing the yellow oval around the bat, which is how Robin knew right away that he was a phony. In the last panel, Batman refers to his "New Look," a touch that is a bit meta. The best thing about this issue is the cover. Again.-Jack

Peter-The script for "A Touch of Poison Ivy!" is so awful it's hard to believe it was written by Big Bob Kanigher. The faux hip lingo almost made my eyes bleed; particularly egregious was Robin's "Big Daddy" nickname for Batman. At no time, in no place, should a teenage boy call a grown man "Big Daddy!" Where's Wertham when he's really needed? The entire affair has a camp sheen to it that I'm positive isn't accidental. So many panels in this one made me cringe. "Baffling Turnabout!" is just as dopey but at least it's entertaining. Odd that we never find out who the faux-Bats is. Is this the first appearance of Bat-Cave II? Never knew there was a second hideout until now. Property taxes must be a nightmare for Wayne.

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