Batman in the 1960s Issue 56: March/April 1969

  

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

Adams

Detective Comics #385

"Die Small--Die Big!"

Story by Robert Kanigher

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

"Hunt for the Helpless Hostage!"

Story by Mike Friedrich

Art by Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson

Batman is the number one idol of mailman Herbert Small. Herbert's pastimes include make-up, making realistic dummies, and keeping track of the Dark Knight's adventures. When seriously bad news is delivered to Herbert from his blasé medic ("Yep, the heightened sounds inside your head signal that you're maybe a month away from dying. Please make sure your account is paid up and don't bother with a hospital!"), Herbert makes it his life work to protect his hero from harm. How will he do that? Well...

One day, while delivering mail, Herbert overhears a group of bad guys plotting the demise of the Caped Crusader and witnesses the men leaving their hideout. Coincidentally, at that moment, Batman tangles with another group of thugs and Herbert watches in amazement while the hero dispatches them in no time flat. But... Herbert theorizes... if the underworld should ever learn the secret identity of Batman, they would kill him just like that. So, rather than working on a way to deliver mail faster and more efficiently, Herbert goes home, whips up a mannikin with his own face, and sends it to Wayne Manor, where he knows there is a big dinner going on. Herbie assumes that if Commissioner Gordon (in a rare appearance outside of the Gotham Golf Club) sees the dummy, he'll alert Batman and the hero will race over to Herbert's apartment and nab the would-be killers.

Forgetting all the flaws in this logic, Herbie runs home and applies make-up to resemble one of the mobsters he saw during the big secret meeting and heads over to their lair, where he informs his "colleagues" that Batman is really... Herbert Small! After writing down his apartment address for his new buddies, Herbert races home to await his fate. Back at Wayne Manor, the dummy has been found at the front door and brought in for examination. After the mannikin  has been unmasked (and Bruce breathes fresh air that it's not carrying the face of a billionaire), the Commish and the rest of the guests leave the party. Bruce searches his computer-like brain and suddenly screams out, "Ah hah, I have it, the face belongs to the nobody who delivers our mail!"

Racing to Herbert's mangy apartment, Batman arrives just before the hapless letter carrier is about to be ventilated. Crashing through the skylight (what would Gotham be without its plethora of overhead windows?), Bats rescues Herbert only to watch in horror as one of the criminals puts a bullet in the mailman. With the bad guys out of commission, Batman asks if there's anything he can do to make Herbert's last moments tolerable. Though Herbert clearly says "Take me to the hospital, you idiot!," Batman mistakenly interprets the man's final words as "Take your mask off!" and does so. Herbert's parrot begins to sing, the sun rises in Gotham, and Batman sighs.

There's nothing salvageable from the wreck of Big Bob Kanigher's meandering and sappy script nor from the ghastly Brown/Giella graphics found in "Die Small-Die Big!" I know Herbert was dying from some unknown malady (I'd have gotten a second opinion), but why would he think this elaborate scheme (which would net him possibly a half-dozen bad guys) would work and, had he lived, would he do it all over again for the next batch of underworld thugs? It's amazing how many otherwise-normal Gothamites have hidden skills.

In the much-better second installment of the new Batgirl series, our heroine finds the missing Mark Hanner (y'know, the handsome hunk that Babs Gordon has been stalking?) and puts the cuffs on bad guy Web Foote. But, hang on, the best news is that the chick Babs has seen Mark with is actually... his sister (yeah, never mind those too-cosy panels of Mark and his "sister" in an un-sibling-esque clutch!). Babs returns to work the next day and Mark comes in to ask her out on a date. A happy ending! This little eight-pager has so much more life and sensibility than its bigger stepbrother. The plot is disposable (and half the strip seems to be made up of flashbacks to the first chapter) but it's readable and the art is fabulous, detailed, and exciting; give me more!-Peter

Jack-The Batman story is pretty good, but why would Commissioner Gordon think that a replica Batman would have his real, secret face under the mask? The real highlight of the issue is the Batgirl story, which boasts fabulous art by Kane and Anderson. This is even better than last issue's art and it gives the Neal Adams cover a run for its money. The art is so good that it makes the story more enjoyable than it should be.

Adams/Infantino

Batman #210

"The Case of the Purr-loined Pearl!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Irv Novick & Joe Giella

Catwoman is out of prison and instead of starting a crime wave, she opens a Slenderizing Salon! Certain that she's up to something, Batman and Robin think she's behind a robbery where the getaway car is the Kitty-Car, but the crooks admit that they bought the vehicle at a used car lot!

The feline criminal is not going straight, however, and mails letters to eight female prisoners, all of whom are about to be released. When they get out, they are chauffeured to Catwoman's lair in a new and improved Kitty-Car. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne learns that the Nizam of  Nepal is coming to Gotham City for a visit and will display the priceless Potala Pearl in his turban. Bruce calls Commissioner Gordon and offers to let the Nizam stay at Wayne Manor, which is a step up from the Motel 6 that the city had planned.

At the Slenderizing Salon, Catwoman tells the eight former prisoners that she wants to start an all-girl gang to strike back at men, but the ladies aren't taken by the idea and put up a fight. Catwoman easily bests them all and tells them that their training is underway. Nine days later, the gals are slender and all are dressed in identical Catwoman costumes. They pile into the Kitty-Car and head for Wayne Manor, where the Nizam has bedded down for the night.

Batman and Robin are waiting for the attack and, despite taking some good hits, Batman manages to interrupt Catwoman as she attempts to steal the pearl. He tricks her into getting tangled up in a web of sticky yarn and the Nizam and his pearl are safe.

Needless to say, the cover is the highlight of this issue, with Infantino's cool layout and Adams's gorgeous pencils and inks. It's a shame that Novick and Giella's art inside can't compare to the cover--Novick seems incapable of drawing a sexy woman. There are a surfeit of Cat puns, none of which are funny, and the names of the eight female prisoners are just goofy--Florid Flo and Big Barbara are plus-sized, Timid Trixie is reticent, and Sultry Sarah is Novick's attempt at pulchritude. The old and new Kitty-Cars are pretty cool, as is Catwoman's retro-costume, but this story doesn't add up to much in the end.-Jack

Peter- Once again, we are in agreement, Jack. I'm not sure why Catwoman went to the trouble of trying eight cons rather than just heading down to Thug*Mart and renting a batch down there. It's strange that no reasoning is given for Catwoman's costume, which looks nothing like we've seen before. The cover is the highlight here.

Novick

Detective Comics #386

"Stand-In for Murder"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

"The Teen-Age Gap!"

Story by Mike Friedrich

Art by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito

On a Gotham airstrip, a top-secret Air Force rocket known as the VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) is about to be test-flown by none other than... millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne! After receiving the necessary cautions, the jet takes off and accomplishes an astounding feat above the clouds... the vehicle can land in exactly the same spot it launched from. Wow! But when one of the techs pulls back the cockpit canopy he notices something odd... there's no Bruce Wayne!

The military brass immediately order that Commissioner Gordon be alerted (rather than, I don't know, the Pentagon) and that Batman be called in to investigate. Gordon gets on the Hot-Line to Bats but there's no answer. Is Batman/Bruce Wayne really dead? Well, to get to the bottom of this elaborate farce plot, we have to travel back in time to earlier that morning, where we see an ascot-laden Bruce Wayne preparing to head to the airstrip when he stops to look through the Batman mail he picked up at Gordon's office the night before. After tossing the usual nude photos from adoring fans and requests for autographs, Master Bruce comes upon a strangely written note informing the Caped Crusader that a big heist will be happening at Gotham First National in about half an hour. Bruce Wayne/Batman can't be in two places at once. Or can he?

Telling Alfred that the heist takes precedence over a photo op in a really snazzy plane, Bruce orders the world's most over-worked butler to call "Mr. Morse," Bruce Wayne's stand-in! Morse is given his assignment--to sit in a test jet and risk his life--and he heads for the airstrip while the Batmobile races to Gotham First National. Bats foils the criminal activity but is trapped in an armored car full of tear gas while, miles away, Mr. Morse is run off the road by a cement mixer and kidnapped by its shady, obviously non-union, driver. The man tosses Morse into the truck and drives it off a pier into Gotham Harbor. The driver then exits the truck, revealing a third Bruce Wayne, hops into Morse's convertible, and heads to the airfield.

There we pick up the beginning of the story and find out all the juicy behind-the-scenes details. The latest Wayne clone is actually disgraced businessman Carlyle Crane, who has rigged this impossibly complex ruse in order to kill Bruce Wayne (instead of, you know, putting a bullet in him) for ruining his reputation. Crane has built a complete replica of the top-secret VTOL, flown it up above the clouds, and killed a fake Bruce... or something like that. 

Once Batman gets out of his tear-gas-armored car mess, he answers Gordo's plea for help and heads to the airstrip, where he sorts out the entire mystery thanks to a very evident clue overlooked by Crane (Morse's helmet was left in the back of the convertible). Knowing his unknown adversary will come looking for the helmet, Batman hangs out for a few hours in the nearby bushes and puts the whammy on Crane when he arrives. Later, at the dock, Batman sighs as a perfectly good cement mixer (with Morse's corpse in the front seat) is hauled out of the water. Someone will pay for this destruction of fine equipment!

Despite (or possibly because of) the fact that this may very well be the most confusing, complex, coincidence-laden, confounding Batman adventure we've ever read, I enjoyed the heck out of it. I struggled to put into words what the hell was going on in the climax since there are so many threads being sewn together at one time. Though we've witnessed some pretty big villainous plots in these 1960s funny books, Carlyle Crane's has to take first price. The number of events that had to happen at just the right time for Crane's plate of revenge to be served is mind-boggling. 

I wish we could see the excised panels of Crane sitting at his desk, trying to figure out exactly when he should hire the cement mixer (and how would he know the exact moment Morse would come along?) and begin building his exact replica of VTOL. Not to mention the retractable roof on his mansion that hides the plane! Can someone tell me who this mysterious Mr. Morse is? It's hinted that he's been used before, but I assume he knows nothing of Bruce's alter ego. I couldn't find any reference to the character appearing before or after. The Brown/Giella art is still about as pedestrian as you'll find but, for this installment at least, the words are goofy enough to keep the pages turning.

In the back-up, Robin gets help from a nerdy college kid when he's jumped by a trio of good ol' boys tired of the Boy Wonder stealing their chicks from them. Dick thanks the awkward bookworm for saving his bacon and then ponders all the important friends and characters that come into his life and then never reappear. With "The Teen-Age Gap!," Mike Friedrich adds fuel to the argument that it's Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson who are responsible for making "Batgirl" the best Bat-strip recently. The only smile that crossed my face was when Dick is persuaded to pick up a guitar during a campfire to sing a few tunes, the lyrics of which confirmed my suspicion that Fred Wertham was not paying attention to funny books by 1969: Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine/I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine.-Peter

Jack-I can't recall a Batman story with so little Batman in it as "Stand-In for Murder." Where did poor Morse come from? Bruce Wayne has a double who is available at a moment's notice to take his place--and the guy gets killed? Only in a Frank Robbins script would a crook call Batman "B-Man." And I'm starting to think that my childhood belief in rubber masks that were undetectable came from some of these DC comics!

As for "The Teen-Age Gap!," the less said the better. I'm not surprised that, after two issues with fabulous art by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson on the Batgirl backup stories, we'd have to plummet back to Earth with a Robin story drawn by Andru and Esposito. When I was a kid, their art on Spider-Man didn't bother me, but as a much older man, I really cringe when I see their pages from the late '60s and early '70s. The groovy, hip lingo spouted by the characters is hard to take.

Adams

The Brave and the Bold #82

"The Sleepwalker from the Sea!"

Story by Bob Haney

Art by Neal Adams

Night at the Gotham City waterfront, and the Caped Crusader witnesses a strange series of events: a man stalks a beautiful woman who suddenly jumps into a speeding car. Another man, dressed in a scuba suit, shoots the stalker in the back with a harpoon and kills him. The killer removes an item of jewelry from the dead man and tosses it to the car's driver. Batman leaps onto the car, causing it to crash into a pole, but as he removes the driver he is grabbed from behind by Aquaman! The frogman takes aim and shoots Batman with a harpoon, causing him to fall into the water. Aquaman socks the frogman and dives into the drink, pulling Batman to safety before disappearing.

Later, Batman awakens to find a doctor tending to him and Commissioner Gordon standing nearby. Batman looks at the piece of jewelry that the driver held and observes that it's a talisman of a kraken--a giant squid! Just then, Batman recalls that he has a hot date and races home, where Alfred patches him up. Bruce Wayne is going out with Ailsa Dubois, model of the year, and rudely dismisses Honor, a gorgeous redhead about whom he had forgotten. Soon, Bruce and Ailsa dine on a terrace in the moonlight; he writes a check for $100,000 to invest in New Marine City at her behest but learns that money will not buy her affections. In fact, when he makes a move, she pulls a gun on him and then flips him over the side of the terrace! Bruce hangs onto a ledge and sees Ailsa leave the building; he realizes that she is heading to see Marius, a rich guy who owns a fleet of ships and who is somehow involved in the New Marine City project.

Bruce follows Ailsa to the offices of Marius Enterprises and overhears Marius boast of his plans to loot and then destroy the new project. Ailsa pulls back a curtain to reveal a painting of Maris in his super-villain garb as Ocean Master, Aquaman's half-brother and evil nemesis, and Bruce enters the room, only to be knocked out by Aquaman, who seems to be under some sort of spell. Aquaman carries Bruce to the site of the New Marine City development and admits that he was just pretending to be in a stupor to trick Marius. Suddenly, Marius and Ailsa appear and Marius starts shooting, but Bruce and Aquaman escape.

An hour later, at Police HQ, Aquaman tells Batman and Commissioner Gordon the origin story of Ocean Master, also known as his half-brother, Orm. Aquaman refuses to harm him. Aquaman also explains that his super-hot wife Mera was abducted by humanoids and, while he was searching for her, he accidentally killed a marine biologist when he thought the man was about to kill a narwhal. Ever since killing the man, Aquaman has been concerned that he is as evil as his brother. Gordon suspects there's something fishy going on and he and Batman give Aquaman some sort of drug that clears his mind and makes him feel better about things. They are helped by Honor, the gal  Bruce ditched, who dresses up as Mera.

Gordon pulls a gun and insists that Batman and Aquaman capture Orm, who is boasting to Ailsa that he is about to hijack all of the treasures in New Marine City. Not so fast, say Batman and Aquaman, but a trap door opens and drops the heroes into a giant aquarium, where they confront sharks and a kraken! Aquaman's mental fish-controlling powers fail to work very well, so it's a good thing Gordon shows up with some cops who blast a hole in the side of the massive fish tank. A cop accidentally shoots Ailsa and Orm escapes in a submarine. Aquaman swims off and Ailsa tells Batman that she was in love with Orm and is ready to face the music.

The fact that it took me so long to summarize the story in this issue demonstrates that it's a tad complicated, but this is the best full issue of Neal Adams's art that we've seen to date, in my opinion. Everything he draws is stunning. I always thought that Aquaman was a cool character and I particularly like Ocean Master's outfit. There's some pathos in the character of Honor and Ailsa has more depth than the usual beautiful women we see in the Batman comics. This is one of the best issues we've read in our journey through the '60s.-Jack

Peter-Adams's art, as usual, is fabulous but Bob Haney's dialogue and plot swim with the fishes. I never feel Haney gets the Batman vibe (in his scripts, his Dark Knight spouts dopey one-liners and behaves very un-heroically) nor any of the Gotham mythos, for that matter. Why, when Aquaman pleads with Bats to spare his brother's life, does the Commish draw his gun and act all silly/threatening? My other big problem, one not caused by Bob Haney, is that since I was always a Marvel Zombie I never read any of the second-tier hero funny books and that includes Aquaman. I had no idea if Haney was making up Orm and his nefarious deeds out of whole cloth or there was a history here until I did a Wiki dive and discovered that the character debuted only a few years prior to Brave and the Bold #82. This is still the best of the three titles, but that's due entirely to Neal Adams.

Next Week...
Avert Your Eyes When
Peter Asks Jack to Write Faster!

Batman in the 1960s Issue 55: January/February 1969

 

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

Novick

Detective Comics #383

"The Fortune-Cookie Caper!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

Deciding to give the most overworked butler/chef/stuntman in Gotham the night off, Batman and Robin pop into their favorite Chinese restaurant, the famous Tommy Chee's, for some won ton soup, spring rolls, Moo Goo Gai Pan, and Tommy's renowned sweet and sour pork. After scarfing down their food, the boys are presented with the requisite fortune cookies. Batman's has a cryptic "Hang on baby, I'm almost there. Love, Neal" while Robin's has the hilarious "Help! I'm a prisoner in a Chinese bakery!" Robin remarks that he'll be saving this one for Aunt Harriet, who has a particular "yen" for Asian humor.

As the Duo are exiting the establishment, they are both cuffed from behind and knocked out. When they come to, they realize the only thing missing is Robin's fortune. "Ah ha!," exclaims the World's Greatest Detective Brain™.  "This makes me think the thugs wanted that message!" When they return to the restaurant to grill Tommy, the owner explains that the humorous message in the cookie is referred to in the trade as a "Number 25." Batman gets another scrunched-up look on his face and screams, "This means something!"

Eventually, our heroes split up, with Robin visiting the bakery where the cookie was born and Bats heading down to the freight yard to investigate anything that has a "25" on it: telephone poles, manholes, discarded Adele CDs, the works. While investigating the bakery, Robin is attacked by the baker and accidentally stumbles across a pretty young lady stashed in a closet. She tells Robin she is Hu Shi, sister of the bakery's owner, Yin Yan. Unfortunately, his attention is averted by the young lady's legs and he's clobbered from behind by the baker. Unbeknownst to Robin, Hu is in cahoots with her evil brother, who emerges from the shadows to inform his sibling that when Robin wakes up, they'll force him to lure Batman to the bakery and get rid of two of their problems.

Batman finally finds the elusive "25" he's been seeking when he comes across two hoods (the same two who put the boys to sleep back at Tommy's joint) rummaging through a freight car and carefully separating a #25 crate. Bats gets a little revenge by roughing up the criminals and, in the process, accidentally destroys crate #25, which spills its valuable cargo all over the freight car floor: pearls, smuggled from the Orient!

Back at the bakery, Robin has finally come around and is talked into summoning his mentor to the scene. But Bats is three steps ahead and overhears Hu Shi and Yin Yan discussing their smuggling operation. He bursts in through a skylight and, after dressing the thousands of cuts across his body, slaps the cuffs on the pair of Won Ton villains (see what I did there?), and explains the whole scheme to his junior partner. 

How did the Boy Wonder not shout out, "Hang on a sec, Batman, why didn't Yin just slip the two hoods a note that says 'check out crate #25 in the freight yard' instead of an elaborate scheme involving random fortune cookies?" I'm amazed that the racist Asian stereotypes had hung around through 1969 in the funny books. Writer Frank Robbins has the characters spouting dialogue like "Confucius say 'little man with big mouth... get face full egg-rolls!'" while the colorist slaps a bright yellow sheen across all the foreign faces. Can you imagine the multitude of five-year-old Batman readers who went to school expecting their Asian classmates to be bright yellow?  But then, as I'm quickly reminded, the Black characters in funny books of the time were pigeonholed with equally egregious conventions. But pull all this nonsense aside and we're still left with an overly-complicated plot and half-baked (pun intended) action. The graphics are competent (in fact, stacked next to Shelly's dribbles, they're art) but someone needs to motivate Frank to write something... I don't know... maybe original.-Peter

Jack-As I read this story, I was jotting down all the offensive Asian stereotypes, but by the end I thought it was pretty good! The art by Brown and Giella is certainly smooth and one panel (on p. 13) even looks a bit like the work of Gil Kane. The level of story and art has gone up enough that even a tale like this one is enjoyable. By the way, this is the last issue to feature an Elongated Man backup story.

Cardy

Batman #208

"The Women in Batman's Life!"

Story by E. Nelson Bridwell

Art by Gil Kane & Jack Abel

"The Secret Life of the Catwoman"

Story by Bill Finger

Art by Bob Kane, Lew Sayre Schwartz & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Batman #62, January 1951)

"Vicki Vale's Secret!"

Story by David Vern

Art by Bob Kane, Lew Sayre Schwartz & Charles Paris

(Reprinted from Batman #73, November 1952) 

"The Menace of the Firefly"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella

(Reprinted from Batman #126, September 1959)

"The Dilemma of the Detective's Daughter!"

(Reprinted from Batman #165, August 1964)

Peter-As usual with the reprint volumes, there's some fun stuff here, but I'm not a fan of the scattershot approach utilized, with some stories only getting a few pages here and there. Of the full-lengthers, the one I liked the most was the supremely goofy Firefly yarn and least, of course, was the dreadful Moldoff/Giella "Detective's Daughter" drivel. The Ma Chilton epilogue is a little too much for me to stomach. It's all a bit too coincidental. What ever happened to Uncle Philip, the guy who inherited Bruce and dumped him in the lap of a dead gangster's mother?

Jack-Here's where we differ! I recall that fantastic Cardy cover from childhood, and comics like this were a big part of what made me a Batman/DC Comics fan. The issue starts out with five pages of a framing story drawn by Gil Kane--not his best work, but still dynamic. Next comes a vintage Catwoman story with great, old-style art by Lew Sayre Schwartz, including a terrific splash page. A couple more pages from another old Catwoman story are followed by more framing pages by Kane.

Vicki Vale has never been one of my favorite characters (except when embodied by Kim Basinger), but the panel reproduced here shows that Schwartz could draw cheesecake with the best of them. Things quickly plummet in the art department as Shelly Moldoff wrestles away the pencil and draws the dull story with Firefly, which is included because it features Batwoman. Moldoff is also responsible for the wretched story about the detective's daughter. Things pick up with a selection about Eclipso drawn by Win Mortimer before Moldoff brings us down again with a smattering of Poison Ivy. The issue ends on a high note with a portion of Infantino's classic Batgirl story.

I have place in my heart for these Batman 80-page giants and would happily pay a quarter all over again if I saw one on a newsstand.

Adams

The Brave and the Bold #81

"But Bork Can Hurt You!"

Story by Bob Haney

Art by Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, & Vince Colletta

A big lug named Carl Bork disembarks from a tramp steamer at Gotham Harbor and is shocked to remain unharmed when a truck runs him over. To test his newfound invulnerability, Bork robs a nearby diner and feels no pain when police shoot him as he runs away.

Barry Allen (the Flash) is visiting Gotham City Police Headquarters and hears a call on the police radio about a disturbance at the waterfront. Batman rushes to the scene and sees Milo Manning, an extortionist, being confronted by Bork. When Manning's goons attack Carl, he tells them that nothing can hurt him, "But Bork Can Hurt You!" The goons switch their allegiance to Bork, who gives Batman a walloping when the Dark Knight tries to arrest him. Bork announces that he's taking over Gotham City and no one can stop him!

Within hours, Bork has given an ultimatum to the mayor, so Batman and the Flash team up to figure out the secret to his invulnerability. Using his super speed, Flash runs around the world and learns that the leader of a new African nation is sending a commando unit to Gotham to arrest Bork and bring him back for trial. Bork's mayhem continues while Flash's investigation proceeds. From a ship's captain, the Scarlet Speedster learns that natives on Desolation Island made a life-sized wooden carving of Bork and these carvings are said to possess supernatural powers. The Flash races to the island but is knocked out when a volcano erupts and the carving floats away.

Back in Gotham City, the mayor is pushing to give in to Bork's demands. The Flash recovers and goes looking for the wooden statute while Bork is jailed and easily punches his way through a wall to escape. The Flash finds the carving and sets out to destroy it, but it's no easy task--nothing seems to affect it. The African commandos have reached Gotham City and shoot Bork with a dart that wounds him, suggesting he's no longer invulnerable. Batman challenges Bork to a duel to buy time as Flash runs through outer space and destroys the carving by planting it inside the sun! Batman succeeds in knocking Bork for a loop and the menace is over. The criminal is led to a waiting plane to face justice in Africa.

Twenty-four pages of Neal Adams are a treat and the Flash is an added bonus. The story moves along quickly and doesn't waste too much time with needless fistfights, though it stretches my suspension of disbelief to accept that Flash can run through space and into the sun without having any problems with lack of oxygen or incredible cold. I wonder if Colletta inked the Flash sections and Giordano inked the Batman sections?-Jack

Peter-This one's a total winner. Clever script and knockout graphics. I'll have to do a brush-up on my Flash knowledge. How can the guy run to the sun?  Well, as I said, it was a lot of fun so I didn't let the particulars drag me down. Refreshing that Carl Bork was gifted with invulnerability and yet didn't go shopping at Villains 'R' Us for a costume. He just ran around in his work civvies. Bob Haney's best work so far. Could the good stuff finally be here now that we're near the end?

Novick

Detective Comics #384

"Whatever Will Happen to Heiress Heloise?"

Story by Gardner Fox

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

"Tall, Dark, Handsome--and Missing!"

Story by Mike Friedrich

Art by Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson

While getting ready to head out on a solo patrol (Robin is off with the Titans), Batman happens upon two thugs roughing up "recently found heiress" Heloise Madigan. Bats puts the kibosh on the dastardly duo and then drives Heloise back to her place. Upon entering the huge mansion, Batman and Heloise are both surprised to hear the family lawyer proclaim that this Heloise is a fraud! The real Heloise has just turned up to claim the millions left to her in her father's will.

Slightly astonished, Batman throws Heloise #1 (who keeps spouting newspaper jargon to the Caped Crusader) in the Batmobile and whisks her away to the Gotham precinct house, where she is booked for impersonating an heiress. Batman heads out the door but his Incredible Detective Brain (the World's Greatest™ ) suddenly alerts him to the fact that the real Heloise Madigan might be in danger. Duh! He speeds back to Madigan Manor, where he finds the gorgeous redhead taking a dip in the pool and saves her from death as two criminals leap from the bushes and head for her unprotected flesh.

Batman leaps some would say a wee bit far for a human being and nabs both villains, pulling them into the pool with him. After a minor tussle, both cretins are apprehended and our hero once again hops in the Batmobile to make that long trip to the precinct house. The next day, while Bruce is sitting in his smoking jacket, enjoying a Cuban and a snifter of Henri IV Dudognon Heritage Cognac Grande Champagne, his Bat-senses once again alert him. Could Heloise #1 be in danger as well? 

After a little detective work, Batman is able to track Heloise #1 to the Rogers Real Estate Agency, where she is currently extorting money from her crooked boss. In a long and sloppy expository word balloon we discover that the stunning redhead once took dictation (and provided other secretarial functions, no doubt) for Big John Madigan, Heloise's dead father. The knowledge she gained during her employ allowed her to impersonate the heiress (who was long thought to be dead as the result of a car accident when she was six--please.... don't ask me to elucidate any further) in an attempt to lay her wicked fingers on all that dough. Drat that real Heloise showed up just then! Bad timing! Batman busts through the door, revealing he's heard enough of the backstory (well, she goes on for at least an hour) to testify in court to the beauty's bad business practices. 

I love how when the Madigan family lawyer lays out exactly how they discovered that Heloise #1 was a fraud: that morning (yes, that morning!) they had discovered a "long-lost baby rattle" and had the FBI run the fingerprints, which matched those of a "local government clerk"!!! All that in just a few hours (yes, just a few hours!) from a city that can't even keep its most wanted criminals behind bars for more than a few months at a time. "Whatever Will Happen..." is dumb as dirt and extra hard to follow but I won't deny that it's at least a wee bit entertaining as well. I do have one more nit to pick with funny book writers in general: why put dialogue in a character's mouth that must then be followed constantly by an asterisk and explanation of said dialogue?

Every Friday at exactly 1:30, Mark Hanner, a very handsome man, attracts the attention of a very special librarian. That would be, of course, Babs Gordon, daughter of Gotham's police chief (and 10-handicap golfer) and a/k/a the beautiful Batgirl. Anyway, this guy comes into the library every week and requests a copy of the Gotham Gazette until one day... he doesn't. Becoming alarmed, Babs visits the man's apartment and sees a pretty girl fleeing, leaving the door open. Immediately heading for Hanner's bathroom (!) our curvaceous crusader notices the medicine cabinet open and fears her Romeo might be in danger.

As Batgirl, Babs follows the girl to a seedy part of town and up into a very nasty apartment, where she's attacked by a gang of gunsels. She fights them off, they flee, and she turns her attention to a locked door. With one kick of her boot, she's in. It's there she finds Hanner. But is he alive? To Be Continued! It's only a small part of a bigger piece but "Tall, Dark..." beats any of the regular Bat-adventures this month in both script and art. Where can I vote for this to be the lead strip? Gil's art is gorgeous; his Batgirl is babe-alicious (a dead ringer for Gil's Mary Jane Watson) and the fight scenes are well-choreographed! Please let this strip stay good!-Peter

Jack-"Heloise" was a quick, enjoyable read, marked by a lot of large panels and not a ton of dialogue. Bob Brown continues to impress me with his art on the Batman strip. It pales in comparison to the art by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson on the new Batgirl backup strip, which replaces the long-running strip featuring Elongated Man. Not only does Kane draw a gorgeous Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, his fight scenes are bursting out of the panels!

Novick

Batman #209

"Jungle Jeopardy"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Irv Novick & Joe Giella

Batman and Robin return to the Batcave and feel compelled to take the elevator upstairs before changing out of their costumes. Halfway up, they realize it's a bad idea and descend to the Batcave, but when the elevator door opens they see that the Batcave has been transformed into a jungle, where a tiger and an elephant rush toward them!

The night before, the Dynamic Duo had foiled a robbery in progress, after which some crooks who escaped met with a clever bad guy who called himself Brainwash and who had a plan to eliminate Batman and Robin. Brainwash paid a visit to the office of Commissioner Gordon and planted a small device under his desk that broadcast subliminal messages to the Commish. That night, Gordon was compelled to call Batman and Robin to dispatch them to the scene of a bank robbery. The Batmobile was parked over a manhole cover, so Brainwash popped up and planted another device on the car's undercarriage.

As Batman and Robin chased the robbers, they felt compelled to rush home to the Batcave and take the elevator upstairs. After their jungle vision, they went upstairs and saw another angry tiger in the place of Alfred the butler. Meanwhile, Brainwash and the gang are robbing the bank. The Master Detective figures out what's going on, realizing that he and Robin have been brainwashed. He removes the device from under the Batmobile and surmises that old nemesis Mr. Esper is behind this.

The Dynamic Duo head to the bank and quickly dispatch Brainwash and his gang, plugging their ears so they can't be subjected to any more subliminal suggestions. Batman pulls off Brainwash's amazingly lifelike mask to reveal Mr. Esper, who is handcuffed and headed for jail.

Another fun, full-length story with nice art by Irv Novick, "Jungle Jeopardy" is fast-moving. Robin makes an offhand remark about the elephant being African (due to its big ears) and that leads Batman to realize the jungle is an illusion, since there are no tigers in the African jungle. It's nice to learn a little something every once in a while. Oh, and that cover would definitely have made me want to buy this comic!-Jack

Peter-This one wasn't too bad at all and the Novick/Giella art is easy on the eye. But, yeah, I have some questions. The Batmobile seems to be a pretty easy target since Esper is able to plant his brainwashing device without setting off any alarms. You'd think a super sophisticated piece of weaponry like the Batmobile would have some safety measures built in, no? And I just love when our heroes are so easily fooled by the instant jungle that grows out of the Batcave. "I've never been so scared in my life, Batman! It was so real!" How could it be, Boy Blunder? It's the Batcave!!!  I'm not sure I understand why Esper was disguising himself as "Brainwash." Does he have a split personality? Is he so egotistical he wants to be two super-villains?

Next Week...
Angelo Torres Leads an
All-Star Monday!

Batman in the 1960s Issue 54: November/December 1968

 

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

Novick

Batman #206

"Batman Walks the Last Mile!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Irv Novick & Joe Giella

There's a new master crook in Gotham City and he calls himself the Planner! When Batman and Robin investigate a theft from the Orphans' Fund during a charity ball, they quickly determine that the culprits are Big Squat, Chief Sittin-In, and Li'l Moose, all members of the musical combo known as Custer's Last Stand. A few well-thrown punches are sufficient to defeat these guys and Batman theorizes that there must have been a brain behind the scenes.

The next night, the Dynamic Duo are being honored at a dinner when a claims investigator named E.G. Never leaps up and insists that he's the brains behind Batman's success, secretly solving all of their cases for them and never getting credit. Never challenges Batman to a duel in which they'll each race to solve the next case. At midnight, the Planner, whose headquarters are at an auto graveyard, instructs two goons known as Chomp and Stomp on the details of their next heist.

Another day goes by, and that night Chomp and Stomp rob a check-cashing service. E.G. Never solves the case in no time, leaving Batman and Robin to collect the crooks and avoid being squashed by a wrecking ball. It turns out that the Planner and E.G. Never are the same person, and he/they next instruct a villain, who goes by the name Cat-Crook and dresses just like Batman, on how to steal diamonds. After the heist, Never identifies the culprit and the Dynamic Duo bring him in. The Cat-Crook recognizes Never's voice as that of the Planner and, when he escapes from the police station, the Cat-Crook goes looking for Never, who is waiting to kill Batman.

Tony Hillerman it ain't...

In the moonlight shadows at the auto graveyard, Never mistakes the Cat-Crook for the Caped Crusader and fatally shoots him. Robin saves Batman from being crushed in a car-crusher and the Planner is apprehended. Everyone testifies against him and he's sentenced to die in the electric chair! Never goes off the deep end in prison, insisting that he's Batman and demanding to be executed in his Batman costume, so the last we see of the villain is him being led to the chair dressed as Batman!

I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy, so I'll accentuate the positive and say that Novick's art is a big step up from Moldoff's. I like that we're seeing full-length stories, since they allow for more plot development. There's a lot of corn in this one, however, from the Indian rock group to the incredible coincidence of the Cat-Crook dressing almost exactly like Batman and being mistakenly shot and killed. The end, where the Planner is led to the electric chair, is surprising--this would not have happened in the earlier '60s Batman comics. Instead, after being revealed as a visitor from Mars, he would have flown off into space.-Jack

Peter-Frank Robbins's dialogue has shifted into Phase Two; Phase One being annoying, Phase Two being indecipherable. In one panel, Robin exclaims to an adversary, "Like... Pow! You're all strung-out -- 'Git' happy!" What the hell does that even mean? Did this issue come with a special Frank Robbins decoder ring? Can anyone out there tell me they ever heard real human beings talk like the characters in the opening panel (below)? What are these two lunks droning on about? I have no idea. Un-PC dialogue of the issue goes to Batman, after clobbering the Indians: "Have no 'reservations' about you sittin' out this war dance!" No, wait, how about naming the Indian rock group "Custer's Last Stand"? After being transformed into a cool senior citizen by Neal Adams (in B&B), Gordo resumes his role of doddering old fool here. And how about the biggest cheat of them all: that cover?

Novick

Detective Comics #381

"One Drown--One More to Go!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

On a dark, murky night in Gotham Harbor, a trench-coated stranger drags a dazed Boy Wonder to a boat, rows out a bit, chains a couple of cinder blocks to the kid's legs, and dumps him overboard. As Robin sinks below the surface, we see the assailant is none other than... Batman! Holy cow! And we thought the team had gotten over their latest argument a couple issues ago! To learn the whole story, we have to go back an hour before Robin took a header into the drink.

Returning to Gotham in his Bat-Copter after a tension-filled adventure with the Justice League, Batman makes sure to "black out" his vehicle in order to avoid detection by the underworld (why he doesn't do this in any other adventure is up to you to decide) and thereby must wear his infra-red goggles to read his instrument panel. That's how he notices the Gotham Harbor lighthouse is transmitting a Morse Code message reading "Kill Robin! The kid knows everything!" 

Immediately, Bats gets on his walkie-talkie and contacts Dick, who's out patrolling the streets. Batman orders his pre-teen partner to get back to Stately Wayne Manor, pronto! Neither knows how close Robin was to death as a man on the docks was about to ventilate our young hero. Seeing that Robin is heading home, Bats heads for the lighthouse for a discussion with old friend, lightkeeper Capt. Cyrus Spume. The old, salty sea dog seems to be doing fine (if, I mean, playing chess with a sea lion is fine) and sends Bats out into the night; the Dark Knight ain't buying it. His brilliant detective brain detects something evil at work.

Sure enough, when Bats climbs to the light at the top of the building, he overhears two ruffians plotting yet another assassination attempt on the Boy Wonder. Heading back to the Batcave, Bats asks the Teenage Tornado if he's stumbled onto anything lately that would lead to a target on his back. A pair of infra-red goggles Robin is playing with catch the Caped Crusader's attention and Robin explains that he acquired them at a recent fight at the waterfront. The kid had stumbled into a ring of thugs breaking into a safe on board a ship and monitoring the beam at the nearby lighthouse. "Ah-ha!!!," exclaims the World's Greatest Detective™, "I knew it had something to do with that lighthouse beam!" 

Out on patrol, the boys get an urgent call from Gordon, claiming he got a tip phoned in while he was on the 18th hole, from a guy claiming that Batman was in trouble down on the docks and that Robin should get there asap. "I smell a rat!" opines the three-time Gotham Aptitude Award winner and Batman hatches a remarkably disposable scheme to fool Robin's would-be killers. Rather than try to bust the scumbags the usual way, Bats takes out "Dead-Eye," the hitman waiting at the docks, dons the killer's purple (!) trench coat, and dumps the kid in the harbor. 

Of course, Bats has equipped Robin with a breathing device and two chlorine tablets to fight off the hepatitis bacteria from Gotham's sewage. The ruse is successful and the hidden "Mister X" takes the bait, believing "Dead-Eye" has put an end to the illustrious career of Batman's partner. Unbeknownst to the mysterious X, Robin is actually swimming to the (as far as I know) heretofore unrevealed "Seaside Auxiliary Underwater Batcave" (!!!).

Meanwhile, back at the docks, Batman has shed his Mike Hammer overcoat and is spying on yet another safecracking job on a nearby ship. Waiting to nab the crooks as they exit the boat, Batman is amazed to see the thieves load their booty into a "Scuba-Motor" (think torpedo) and launch the mini-sub. Bats dives in and grabs hold of the missile as it zooms towards its base, which happens to be Capt. Spume's lighthouse. Surfacing, our hero is greeted by gun-toting thugs who introduce him to the brains of the outfit... Captain Spume! With the help of Spume's sea lion, Batman makes a getaway, but a lone gunman takes aim and...

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a giant suction cup hits the gunman square in the head and pulls him to the rail. Turns out, the sucker is attached to the end of Robin's bat-rope. The kid pulls himself up without breaking the gunman's neck and assists his mentor in putting the kibosh on Spume and his Spumesters. In a freak accident, the Captain takes a tumble off the lighthouse and falls to his assumed death. The boys shrug and blame the CCA for not paying attention.

Have we had our fill of "This team is through!" frauds? Though "One Drown..." is no less stupid than any other Bat-Adventure we've endured in the 1960s, it's also got a lot of goofy charm and I have to admit to smiling quite a bit during its length. Sure, I'm smiling at the absurdities (let's start and finish with the hat-wearing, chess-playing sea lion, Albatross) but the point is, I'm smiling. Once again, the Duo go to incredible (and dangerous) extremes to present an elaborate ruse when just putting knuckle sandwiches into teeth might have sufficed. Extra star for having the kindly old codger revealed to be Mister X.-Peter

Jack-Frank Robbins likes playing with silly names, doesn't he? E.G. Never in Batman and Captain Cyrus Spume in Detective! I'm beginning to wonder if the covers came first and then Robbins had to come up with a story to explain them. He certainly goes to some plotting extremes to justify the seemingly-impossible situations depicted on the covers, which I presume were dreamed up to lure readers into plunking down twelve cents. Batman's grey tights and blue boots are conspicuous sticking out from under the purple trench coat and I don't think any crooks would've been fooled for long by the disguise. Finally, this is the second comic this month to have the bad guy die (or be on his way) at the end. Is this a new era for the Dark Knight, one with more violence and grit?

Adams

The Brave and the Bold #80

"And Hellgrammite is His Name!"

Story by Bob Haney

Art by Neal Adams

As Batman confronts an arsonist on the roof of a building, he is distracted by a helicopter that passes by overheard and blasts out a loud announcement for Jack Ryder on WHAM-TV. The arsonist falls off the building but lands in a fire department net; Batman confronts Ryder, who insists that Batman watch his TV show tonight for important news. On the show, Ryder warns of a dangerous new criminal in Gotham: "And Hellgrammite Is His Name!" He looks like a man-sized grasshopper and Batman isn't impressed.

Commissioner Gordon asks Batman to look into the disappearance of gangster Ace Branigan, but Batman heads back to the TV studio, where Ryder wants him to help capture Hellgrammite. When the Caped Crusader defers, Ryder presses a button and transforms into the Creeper, who is wanted by the law. Batman ignores his warnings about Hellgrammite and the two trade blows until the Creeper lures Batman to a giant cocoon, where Hellgrammite, a former entomologist, must return to recharge his insect powers every 24 hours. Just then, Hellgrammite slithers up, fights Batman to a draw, and disappears.

Commissioner Gordon shows up and tells Batman that his new top priority is to capture the Creeper! Instead, Batman and the Creeper agree to team up temporarily to go after Hellgrammite. The fickle Commissioner Gordon asks Batman to protect Big Al Dalko from Ace Branigan in order to prevent a gang war, so Batman enlists the Creeper to help. They visit Dalko's "pad" and discover that Dalko was nabbed by Hellgrammite! They find the super bug has wrapped himself in an impervious cocoon and wait for him to emerge. Out he comes at full power and easily escapes.

Another mobster named Turk Trask thinks that the Creeper snatched both Branigan and Dalko and wants to avoid the same fate. He and his goons attack the Creeper and capture him, but Batman comes to the rescue. In the confusion, Hellgrammite snatches Trask. As Jack Ryder, the Creeper broadcasts a warning to Hellgrammite and the Creeper and Batman track the villain to a closed subway station, where they find the three missing mobsters wrapped in cocoons. Batman takes the cocoons to a nearby hospital, where a dose of radiation frees the crooks, who are allowed to go on their way. Batman and the Creeper locate Hellgrammite, who is none too pleased that his cocoons are gone; after a big fight, the Creeper zaps the bug with electric current and defeats him before disappearing.

There's not a lot of substance to this story, despite the fantastic artwork. Jack Ryder and the Creeper appear for no particular reason and I could never figure out Hellgrammite's goal. Adams and Giordano's Creeper is not as impressive as Ditko's and at one point Batman notes the character's resemblance to the Joker. Although Hellgrammite's outfit is ridiculous, Adams draws the heck out of him and his appearances are the artistic highlights of the story, though nothing on the inside lives up to the cover. It's safe to say that anything Adams drew at this point in his career was worth reading.-Jack

Peter- Ludicrous villain (former bug analyst), hilarious bad guy monikers (Bronk Boyle and Turk Trask, anyone?), and silly script (Bob Haney continues to write dialogue for Batman that makes him sound like a dimwitted hippie), but.... oh, that art. Good gracious, this Adams guy was a force to be reckoned with. I love how Gordo changes his "Number One Priority" every four pages. "Yeah, Batman, I know that I said the Creeper was your top assignment ten minutes ago, but Big Al Darko sounds like the real deal... wait, this just in, Gotham Golf and Country Club will be auctioning off a rare diamond tonight, so get over there, pronto!" Hellgrammite wears the typical villain costume that would be impractical in "real life."

In the end, Batman never thinks to tell Gordo how the Creeper helped save Gotham, never nay-saying Gordo's firm stance. Put in a good word for the felon? Nope, the Dark Knight (and he does look like a Dark Knight) accepts the accolades, collects the "Hero of the Month" Award, and keeps mum. The best thing about The Brave and the Bold, I'm finding, is that it gives me a taste of some of these lower-tier DC heroes who might have had a short run series or back-up in Adventure Comics but have interesting and quirky qualities. I was a Marvel Zombie and wouldn't have been caught dead with anything carrying the DC logo, so I had little knowledge of the Creeper or Deadman prior to this voyage. 

Novick

Batman #207

"The Doomsday Ball!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Irv Novick & Joe Giella

A mysterious man in a fancy car gives a new bouncing ball to a street kid named Skinnay just as police in Gotham City are alerted that the Mad Bomber has delivered a midnight ultimatum! Batman and Robin are summoned to City Hall, where they learn that an H-bomb has gone missing. The Mad Bomber demands to be paid $10M by 11:30 p.m. or he'll blow up Gotham at midnight!

Batman decides that the only clue is the Mad Bomber's voice on the tape and who better to identify it than another crook? He and Robin head to syndicate HQ, where they barely survive attacks by crooks for several pages before they finally talk to Brill, the boss. He can't ID the voice so he calls in his associates, one of whom hears background noise on the tape that allows him to identify the location where it was recorded.

Batman and Robin head to the neighborhood and overlook Skinnay playing with his ball; they make their way to the city lot where cars that are towed are stored and find the H-bomb in the fancy car's trunk. Unfortunately, a note warns that any attempt to defuse it will be met with instant retaliation. Commissioner Gordon dispatches an armored trunk with the $10M ransom, since time is getting short, and the Dynamic Duo ride along to the airport, where they fight with the Mad Bomber until he's killed by a taxiing airplane.

Thank goodness Batman remembers Skinnay and his new ball! He and Robin head back to the neighborhood and find the ball, which turns out to contain the detonator. They clip a wire and Gotham is saved from destruction!

First of all, take a good look at that cover and tell me that the faces and the awkward body positions don't suggest that Frank Robbins had a hand in the drawing. I know the GCD credits Novick and says that the squiggled signature reads "IN," but it sure looks like Robbins was involved. The story could've been a lot shorter, especially if they had cut the unnecessary pages where Batman and Robin have to fight their way into the big boss's home just to ask him to listen to the tape. You know it's bad when the cover scene is taken from a pointless part of the story.-Jack

Peter-I thought it odd that the Mad Bomber's identity was kept in the shadows even after he died. I like to imagine that he's the Kingpin's younger and shorter brother, Myron Fisk. The whole plot this time out, bomb and the bouncing ball, is unnecessarily complicated, but then I complain when Frank Robbins's scripts are stupid and simple, so that just goes to show that I cannot be satisfied. I love how Batman questions whether the bomb scare might be a hoax until he sees that ultra-secret government tag (that, no way no how, could be replicated) and then jumps in with both feet. Why are Brill's district captains wearing Robin-esque eye coverings? To protect their secret identities?! I so wanted one of the disguised thugs to point to Robin and say, "Hey, aren't you Dick Grayson?"

Infantino & Novick

Detective Comics #382

"Riddle of the Robbin' Robin!"

Story by Frank Robbins

Art by Bob Brown & Joe Giella

The Smokescreen Gang and the Blowtorch Mob both have a big problem: after every heist, their booty disappears. Each gang suspects the other of foul play but both sets of morons never think to turn their attention to the one point in the middle: the "Armorer!" That would be Mr. Armory, the kindly old funeral home director who moonlights as a criminal mastermind, repairing damaged weapons and supplying important information to the crooks.

But what the dopey crooks don't realize is that Mr. Armory is planting listening devices on the weapons and then listening in as the villains plan their next robbery. Once the deed is done, Armory swoops in and cracks the safe the booty resides in. Both mobs are getting understandably upset and, after a confrontation where both sides almost eliminate the competition, decide to join forces to root out the mysterious looter.

Together, the boys will steal the Kimberly Star, a priceless diamond which is set to be delivered to the Cranston Jewelry Shop the following week and stash the rock in the mob safe. The safe will be rigged with a high-powered rifle that will put really big holes in anyone who opens the door. Hearing this new plan, the Armorer realizes he's got a big problem. If no one takes the bait, the gangs might start narrowing down the list of suspects and realize their mutual arms supplier is the guilty party; if he skips town, they'll know it fersure.

Armory decides the best patsies would be Batman and Robin, who have been experiencing a down cycle of violent crime in Gotham. Rather than nabbing Penguin while he's busting into the Gotham Toiletry Arcade, the boys are busting the homeless and hungry for stealing apples and public urination. Armory impersonates a hobbled old man who stumbles in the street before a patrolling Batmobile; when the Duo race to assist the old geezer, he tips them that the Kimberly Star is going to be stolen at Cranston's when it's delivered in ten minutes and then runs like a rat down the avenue.

Suspicious of the tip, Batman orders the Boy Wonder to head to the airport where the diamond is set to be delivered to its courier at any minute and he motors over to Cranston's. It's not long before Bats realizes they've been screwed with. The mobsters grab the courier and the diamond and Robin gives chase. But his walkie-talkie gets damaged and he can't properly communicate with his boss so Batman has to use the World's Greatest Detective Mind™ to track his little buddy to the Blowtorch Mob hideout (he overhears a conversation with Armory and Robin and realizes the mortician has the same voice as the old man in the street), where he arrives just in time. Good thing too, since the gun inside the safe would have necessitated a new three-eyehole mask for the Boy Blunder. The boys safely recover the diamond and slap the cuffs on Armory. 

The most fun I had with this snoozer was the splash, where we see the Dynamic Duo running down petty criminals during their break from high-profile adventure. Robin breaks the wrist of a kid stealing some fruit while his mentor shakes down a human department store, with toaster, alarm clock, and transistor radio emerging from the hardened criminal's pockets. A toaster? The art's okay (certainly better than Moldy Moldoff) but the script by suddenly omnipresent Frank Robbins is dull and unengaging. His "hip" dialogue probably came off as dated when the comic was on the newsstand and it doesn't help that he populates his scenario with the world's stupidest criminals ("Hmmm. What could be the focal point of our problem? We all shop at Raley's, our wives get their hair done at Jeannie's, the kids all go to Gotham Elementary... Nope, not seeing it!"). 

None of the villains are named Joe or Ralph; they're "Fingers" or "Stick." Do you think more than one mobster carried the same moniker? It's a big town; perhaps there's a "Mumbles I" and "Mumbles II"? Don't mind me, I'm rambling. One other thing before I go: did I miss the panel where Robbins explains how the Armorer opened the mob safes? Did he have the combos or was his listening device able to transmit the sound of the tumblers falling?-Peter

Jack-"Riddle of the Robbin' Robin!" is utterly forgettable. The first page doesn't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the story, but after pages and pages of fighting and wisecracks I found it hard to care. It's awkward to have a two-way radio in your belt buckle, since it would be likely to get damaged in just about any scrap. Robin's walkie-talkie is messed up when it knocks into the steering wheel of the Batmobile! At least the art in Batman and Detective is consistent, probably due to the fact that Joe Giella inks both comics. As is so often the case, the cover is the best thing about this issue--the GCD says Infantino laid it out and Novick drew it.

Next Week...
Yeah, It Might Only Be Four Pages But...
It's Williamson and Krenkel, Dudes!