Comic Book Review: The Best of DC #2: Batman

Comic Book Review: The Best of DC #2: Batman edited by Paul Levitz

1979 was the fortieth anniversary of the first published Batman story. Thus this special digest, showcasing interesting stories from each decade of the hero’s publication history. It comes with an essay by Mike W. Barr explaining each story’s significance.

“The People vs. The Batman” credited to Bob Kane begins with Batman interrupting an underworld meeting with a man named Delmar. A quick-thinking gangster turns out the lights during the ensuing fight, and when the police arrive, all the criminals have already fled, only leaving a dazed Batman visible while escaping.

The gangsters reconvene without Delmar, and conclude that the stockbroker and secret gang chief is now a liability to their operations. Underboss Hill orders his minion Weasel to get rid of Delmar using a clever plan…

Batman decides to investigate Delmar undercover as Bruce Wayne, wealthy playboy, who has plenty of stocks, and thus a good cover for interacting with a stockbroker. Bruce is shocked when Weasel bursts in, shoots Delmar and then frames Wayne for the crime. Despite the extremely suspicious nature of the accusation, Commissioner Gordon has no choice but to have Bruce Wayne arrested and jailed pending a hearing.

This means that Dick Grayson must act alone as Robin. He tracks down Weasel, who has discovered that Hill is treacherous and plans to kill him to make sure he can’t change his testimony. Robin prevents this, but Weasel runs away rather than talk to the young crimefighter, making him an easy target for a hit and run car “accident.” It didn’t kill him immediately, but now Weasel’s in a coma and it’s touch and go whether he’ll die.

Hill remembers that Batman was seen at Delmar’s office the night before the murder, so has another henchman dress up as Batman (who has become a popular masquerade costume) to climb the hospital fire escape and assassinate Weasel. This fails when a nurse surprises the criminal in the window, but this does cast suspicion on the Caped Crusader.

Robin of course knows that wasn’t actually Batman, because Bruce Wayne is in jail. He breaks his mentor out, leaving behind a dummy to fool the guards. Batman and Robin confront the Hill gang, but are temporarily overpowered and dumped in the river, so there’s a page of escape action before they can capture the gang boss.

Meanwhile, Weasel comes out of his coma, and learns that he’s going to die anyway. But he needs to get revenge on Hill first, and escapes from the hospital.

Bruce Wayne’s hearing is going badly because he isn’t there, but Batman shows up with Hill and states that he’s behind the Delmar killing. The district attorney doesn’t trust the word of a vigilante and tries to have Batman arrested, but Commissioner Gordon refuses. The police commissioner makes an impassioned speech about how Batman is awesome, actually, and officially makes him an honorary deputy.

Weasel shows up and makes a dying confession naming Hill as his boss, allowing Batman to duck out and return as Bruce Wayne, whose name is now cleared. Happy ending! This story made it possible for Batman to work directly with the police in subsequent tales.

“Alfred, Armchair Detective!” (no credits) stars our favorite butler in DC Comics. At this point, Alfred was more of a comic relief character, created to kind of answer how wealthy playboy Bruce Wayne managed to keep up stately Wayne Manor without any servants. So Alfred was introduced, as a son of the Wayne family’s previous butler who’d only now heard that Bruce had a need for a servant. He was chubby at first, but dieted to a slimmer look as part of a fitness kick. Alfred’s primary joke in the Golden Age was that he fancied himself a detective who could assist Batman and Robin, but wasn’t all that good at it.

Alfred reads a book about an “armchair detective” who solves crime by having people come to him and describe the circumstances, without even moving from his seat. He scoffs, knowing that most mysteries need a little more active investigation.

For example, a recent rash of penthouse burglaries. So Alfred dons a disguise and visits various dive bars hoping to overhear something of use. At the Dead Copper Bar & Grill, he catches a fragment of conversation, but is a little too obvious about eavesdropping. The criminals (who are the crooks he’s looking for) tie him to the armchair he’s sitting in, and carry him out of the restaurant.

Between his struggles to get free and various coincidences, Alfred manages to deliver the gang to the police without leaving his armchair. It’s a slight tale, but worth a chuckle.

“The 1,000 Secrets of the Batcave!” credited to Bob Kane concerns an escaped convict, Wolf Brando, who breaks into Wayne Manor and stumbles on the entrance to the Batcave. Bruce Wayne must somehow find a way to ditch Commissioner Gordon so as Batman he can rescue Dick Grayson/Robin and corral the criminal without revealing the existence of the Batcave.

This was in 1948, so the Batcave was already well-stuffed with lab equipment, Bat-vehicles, and souvenirs from past cases, including the robot dinosaur and giant penny. Bizarrely, Batman had a Joker souvenir just sitting around that was still armed with poison gas.

Batman has to deal with the fact that Wolf now knows his secret identity, and fully intends to reveal it if he’s captured. This is avoided when Wolf falls into a whirlpool that empties into the East River and drowns. The body is found miles away, protecting Bruce Wayne’s identity. (One might question why Batman hadn’t installed safety equipment just in case he himself ever fell into the whirlpool, but hey.)

“The First Batman” credited to Bob Kane, opens with Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson cleaning up Wayne Manor’s attic in the 1950s. Dick’s dusting an old desk, when a hidden panel opens. Inside are a reel of movie film, a diary, and a bat-like costume. But that’s impossible, isn’t it? Bruce Wayne is the only Batman.

Bruce recalls his parents Thomas and Martha Wayne being murdered in front of him by a robber, vowing vengeance on all criminals, and training mind and body to that end. Then the moment when he was trying to decide on a disguise, the bat flying in the window and how he was inspired to become the Batman to fight that “cowardly, superstitious lot.” And just a couple of years ago, finally finding that robber, Joe Chill. Chill had managed to evade Batman but foolishly told his criminal compatriots that he had created the caped crusader. They shot him dead in a fit of rage, only belatedly realizing they should have asked who Batman was.

The movie reel turns out to be an anachronistically “talkie” home movie of a long ago masquerade ball with a “flying creature” motif, to which Dr. Thomas Wayne wore a “bat-man” costume. Criminals invaded the ball to abduct Dr. Wayne for…reasons. He punched one of them out, but then they took a hostage. That’s all the film has.

Bruce realizes that he must have been influenced by the lost memory of this costume as well as the actual bat. Time for the diary!

Turns out that the crooks were working for bank robber Lew Moxon, who needed a bullet removed but can’t go to a legitimate doctor because they would be required to report it. Thomas turns the tables on his captors, and his testimony helps send Moxon to prison.

Years later, he met Moxon on the street, who had been released on parole. Moxon informs Thomas that he will get revenge, but no one will know it was him. Just in case, Thomas hid this diary and the other things in his desk as evidence.

Bruce realizes that based on the dates, Moxon must have hired Chill to pretend to be a robber and kill the Waynes–which explains how the robbery seemed botched at the time.

Obviously, it’s time to reopen the Wayne murder case. Batman puts in a request to Commissioner Gordon, who manages to find out that Lew Moxon lives in Coastal City these days, where he manages a billboard blimp business. Road trip!

Batman and Robin approach the Moxon Sky-Hi Advertising Co. after dark, and the employees jump the dynamic duo. But when Batman hauls Moxon and co. to the police station and accuses the man of the Wayne murder, the man just smiles. He claims to have never even heard of a Dr. Thomas Wayne, and volunteers to take a lie detector test to that effect. Sure enough, he’s apparently telling the truth and not using any of the known methods of beating the machine.

Turns out that shortly after the Wayne murder, Moxon was in an automobile accident and got a head injury. This gave him partial amnesia and he wandered off from the hospital one day and wound up in Coastal City years later. Technically, this would have violated his parole, but by the time the police knew where he was, the statute of limitations applied.

On the other hand, given how quickly Moxon’s employees resorted to violence, they’re probably up to something shady. Sure enough, they’re using the blimps to commit robbery from the skies. The ensuing battle wrecks Batman’s costume, so he switches to his father’s old suit which he brought along.

Once he sees the “bat-man”, Moxon’s memory is triggered. He remembers that he had Dr. Thomas Wayne murdered, but now the man is right here in front of him. In a panic, he runs out into traffic, and this time the wounds are fatal. Case closed, this time for good. (And for a few decades, that was the last wrinkle added to the Waynes’ murder.)

“Murder at Mystery Castle” credited to Bob Kane, is a fairly straightforward detective story. Five men gather in a castle brought over from Europe by an eccentric gun manufacturer, filled with medieval weapons. One of the men is accused of defrauding the manufacturer, but as the sheriff is being called, a crossbow goes off and murders the manufacturer. Sure, the accused man is the most likely suspect, but there’s no proof as such. The sheriff calls over to nearby Gotham City for the Batman.

Batman spots a clue early on, and also spots one of the other men as a former racketeer who claims to have gone straight, and besides, what would his motive be? After various action moments and red herrings, Batman reveals the real killer. I’m not going to spoil it here, but mystery genre fans will have worked it out well before the end.

You’ll notice I’ve been using the words “credited to Bob Kane.” Mr. Kane was a co-creator of Batman with writer Bill Finger, but he got it put into his contract that only his name would be credited on Batman comics and he was legally sole creator. While he certainly had some input in all these stories, being the main Batman artist during the Forties and Fifties, this tended to obscure all the other people working on the stories at the time. It was decades before DC officially credited Bill Finger as co-creator and also acknowledged the other people who’d worked on the character.

We swing into the Sixties with “The Cry of the Night Is Kill!” story Mike Friedrich, art by Bob Brown and Joe Giella. This was a retelling of the very first Batman story, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate.” It was somewhat expanded from the original, having the son of the chemical engineer falsely accused of his murder be a youthful radical who hates the military-industrial complex, the police, and all other Establishment figures, including Batman.

Robin is rather out of character, playing “bad cop” and immediately assuming the son is the murderer based on his rotten attitude. Batman, however, keeps his cool and doesn’t let the young man’s hateful words prevent him from carefully examining the evidence.

Batman finds the real killer, and both Robin and the son have something to consider.

And finally, a story from the 1970s, “The Joker’s Five Way Revenge!” story by Denny O’Neil, art by Neal Adams.

A bit of backstory. The Joker was initially introduced in the early 1940s as a stone-cold killer who would murder people out of hand just to say hello. He was a great character, and the writers kept bringing him back. But it was realized that since the Joker never actually “paid” for his murders because he kept escaping jail, this undermined Batman’s effectiveness as a crimefighter.

So there was a story in which the Joker, tired of being on the run, turned himself in, confessed to all his crimes, and was put to death in the electric chair. He was legally dead, but his gang was able to steal his corpse and bring him back to life. Having now “paid for his crimes” the Joker had a clean slate and could go straight. For all of a week. He quickly returned to crime, but never murdered again. Until now.

With a new, more “serious” look and feel for the Batman comics, it was decided to bring the Joker back to his roots. He’d been absent from the books for a couple of years, so it didn’t immediately follow his more light-hearted version.

A corpse is found on the outskirts of Gotham City, its face contorted in a horrible grinning rictus, and a playing card nearby–the joker card! The victim is one of the Joker’s former henchmen, one of five who’d been in his gang the last time Batman captured him. The Joker had believed that one of his crew had betrayed him, and sworn revenge. And recently he escaped from “the state hospital for the criminally insane” (later named as the Arkham Asylum.)

Batman reasons that the Joker will be after the other four henchmen, not really caring which one was the actual traitor. He’s right, but is unable to save three of them from the Joker’s lethal pranks. He finally catches up, only to have both himself and the last henchman put into a shark tank deathtrap.

Batman is able to catch the Joker thanks to the criminal’s poor getaway plan, but the Clown Prince of Crime has been established as lethal again.

I actually liked the mystery castle story best, but they’re all fun stories. Most of them have been reprinted in other collections, so if you can’t find this particular digest, which is a collector’s item indeed, you can still enjoy them individually.