JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Golden Age Batman
By Aaron Severson
Chronology: Part 1
| Events | Issue | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-History: Journeys in Time | ||
| c. 50,000 B.C.: On a time-journey to the Stone Age, Batman and Robin meet Tiger Man, possibly the world's first crimefighter. EH/DS/CP | Batman #93 [3] | 8/55 |
| c. 580 B.C.: Batman and Robin aid King Lanak of Babylon, see the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and discover that the ancient Babylonians revered a hero called Zorn, who bore a striking resemblance to Batman. BF/DS/CP NOTES: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, were located near the Euphrates river about 50 kilometers south of modern Baghdad, Iraq. According to ancient Greek historians the Gardens were created by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 B.C.), although modern archaeologists are uncertain of the exact dates —or if the Gardens even existed at all. | Batman #102 [2] | 9/56 |
| c. 500 B.C.: Batman and Robin visit Athens, witness the Olympic Games, and battle a Persian villain called Byrus. EH/JM/RB NOTES: The first Olympic Games were held in Olympia, a rural town in the western Peloponnesus, in 776 B.C. They were held every four years through 393 C.E. | Batman #38 [1] | 12/46-1/47 |
| 336 B.C.: Batman and Robin visit Macedonia and meet Alexander the
Great. They are briefly stranded in the past when Professor Carter Nichols's
"time-box" malfunctions, but they are later rescued by Superman. BF/DS/SM NOTES: Alexander the Great of Macedonia was one of the greatest leaders and conquerors of the ancient world. He was born in 356 B.C., ascended to the throne in 336 B.C. after the murder of his father, Philip of Macedonia, and died in 323 B.C. at the age of 33. The Justice Society of America (albeit without Batman) met Earth-Two's Alexander five years later when they traveled back in time to prevent Per Degaton from interfering with the outcome of the Battle of Arbela in 331 B.C. (All-Star Comics #35 (6-7/47)). | World's Finest #107 | 2/60 |
| c. 280 B.C.: Batman and Robin travel back in time to the Greek island of Rhodes, where they see the legendary Colossus of Rhodes and rescue Professor Carter Nichols, who has been captured by King Phorbus and forced to construct futuristic weapons. EH/DS/CP NOTES: The precise date of these events is not given, but the Colossus of Rhodes, an enormous statue of the sun-god Helios, was erected in Mandraki harbor in 282 B.C. and toppled by earthquake in 226 B.C. | Batman #112 [2] | 12/57 |
| Batman and Robin visit ancient Rome and defeat a Roman gangster called Publius Malchio, who employs a henchman known as The Jester, who, except for his normal skin tone, is a perfect look alike for the Joker. JS/DS | Batman #24 [1] | 8-9/44 |
| c. 40 B.C.: Batman and Robin travel to Egypt, where they briefly serve as personal bodyguards to Cleopatra. BF/DS/CP NOTES: The precise year of these events is not given, but the historical reign of Cleopatra VII, wife of Julius Caesar and lover of Marc Anthony, was from 53 B.C. to her suicide in 30 B.C. Interestingly, Cleopatra is depicted in this story as a look-alike for the Catwoman. | Detective #167 | 1/51 |
| c. 530 A.D.: Batman and Robin travel back in time to Great Britain, where they meet King Arthur. Batman
—dubbed "Sir Hardi Le Noir" —joins the Round Table and helps Arthur and his knights thwart a conspiracy by Mordred and Morgan Le Fay. BF/BK/RB NOTES: The approximate date of these events is based on the Annales cambiœ (Welsh Easter Annals), which have two references to a figure believed to be the historical basis of King Arthur. The latter, dated 537, refers to "the Strife of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut [Mordred] perished." | Batman #36 [3] | 8-9/46 |
| c. 700: Batman and Robin travel back in time to the Middle East, where they help a tribe called the Zotos defend their valley from a race of giants. BF/FM/CP | Batman #115 [3] | 4/58 |
| c. 900: Batman and Robin travel back to the city of Baghdad, where they encounter the evil Crier, a villain who looks exactly like the Joker except that he cries rather than laughs. During their time in Baghdad they convert a carpet into a serviceable glider, an event they believe later inspires legends of flying carpets. ?/LS/CP | Batman #49 [3] | 10-11/48 |
| c. 950: Batman, Robin, and Superman visit ancient Baghdad, where they meet Aladdin. EH/DS/SK NOTES: Aladdin is one of the most famous characters from A Thousand and One Nights (Alf Laylah Wa Laylah), a collection of Arabic and Oriental myths and stories of various (and in some cases uncertain) origins. | World's Finest #79 | 10-11/55 |
| 990: On a time-journey to 10th-century Norway, Batman and Robin meet Olaf Erickson, a Viking warrior who is a perfect look-alike for Bruce Wayne. They rescue him from a Byzantine prison and give him the self-confidence to lead an expedition from Norway to North America. BF?/LS/CP | Batman #52 [2] | 4-5/49 |
| c. 1200: Batman and Robin visit Sherwood Forest in medieval England, where they meet Robin Hood and battle the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham. DC/WM NOTES: The date is based on historical accounts of the early 16th century that suggest that Robin Hood was a historical figure during the era of King John and Richard the Lion-Hearted. This is the account on which Sir Walter Scott based the best-known version of the story. Scottish historians of the 14th century considered Robin Hood to be a historical figure of the late 13th century (circa either 1266 or 1282), decades later. | Detective #116 | 10/46 |
| 1255: Scientist/philosopher Roger Bacon sends two of his students, Marcus and Guy Tiller, through the time barrier to Gotham City in the year 1955 to determine,
"Will the future world be worth working for? Will it be a good
world?" BF/DS/CP NOTES: Roger Bacon (c.1220-c. 1292) was a philosopher and educational reformer noted for his efforts to add science to university curricula. | Detective #220 | 6/55 |
| 1275: Batman and Robin visit 13th century China, where they meet Kubla Khan and legendary explorer Marco
Polo. EH/JM NOTES: Marco Polo (1254-1324) was the famous Italian explorer who spent 17 years in China in the late 13th century. Born in Venice, Polo and his family journeyed to Asia in 1271, reaching China in 1275. He was a guest of China's emperor Kubla (or Kublai) Khan (the first of the Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty, who lived from 1215-1294), until about 1292. According to his book Ilmilione (The Travels of Marco Polo), he served as the mayor of Yangzhou for three years in the 1280s (not 1275, as the text of this story indicates), but modern historians are extremely skeptical of his claims. | World's Finest #42 | 9-10/49 |
| 1499: Batman and Robin travel back in time to Milan, Italy, where they meet famed artist and inventor Leonardo
Da Vinci. DC/DS/Gene McDonald NOTES: Italian artist, sculptor, and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) is perhaps the most famous figure of the European Renaissance. In 1499 he was in the final months of his role as official painter and engineer of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, who was overthrown later that year. Batman co-creator Bob Kane has often cited Da Vinci's plans for a flying machine, the wings of which resembled those of a bat, as one of his inspirations in the creation of Batman. | Batman #46 [3] | 4-5/48 |
| Early 17th century: Batman and Robin visit Venice, Italy to verify the authenticity of a painting by the artist Verillo. BF/SM/CP | Batman #125 [2] | 8/59 |
| c. 1628: Batman and Robin visit France
during the reign of Louis XIII and meet the Three Musketeers. They aid D'Artagnan, Aramis, Athos, and Porthos in protecting Queen Anne from the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and Milady De Winter. DC/DS NOTES: Although D'Artagnan and his three comrades were based on real people, the characters depicted here are clearly the fictionalized versions made famous by Alexandre Dumas's romances, beginning with his 1844 novel The Three Musketeers. This story probably takes place midway through the events of the novel, probably before the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham, which occurred on August 22, 1628. | Batman #32 (4) | 12/45-1/46 |
| c. 1654: Batman and Robin travel back in time to the area that will later become Gotham City, where they discover that the cave that will become the Batcave is being used by colonial scout Jeremy Coe as a base from which to spy on local Indian activity. BF/SM/CP | Detective #205 | 3/54 |
| April 16, 1667: A time-traveling Batman and Robin battle the infamous pirate Henry Morgan. ?/DS/CP NOTES: The real-world Henry Morgan (1635-1688), less villainous and bloodthirsty than his Earth-Two counterpart, was knighted by England's King Charles II in 1674 and appointed governor of Jamaica. | Detective #136 | 6/48 |
| 1696: On a time-journey to 17th century France, Batman, Robin, and Superman fill in as the Three Musketeers to help D'Artagnan free the Man in the Iron Mask, who is revealed to be the noble Count Ferney, imprisoned by Louis XIV's evil chancellor, Bourdet. EH/DS/SK NOTES: It should be noted that the Musketeers do not recognize Batman and Robin from their earlier encounter in Batman #32 (12/45-1/46). The chronology of this story is peculiar. The events of Alexandre Dumas's 1850 novel The Man in the Iron Mask take place in 1661, when the Musketeers are already middle-aged men (the historical D'Artagnan, whose death is described in the novel's epilogue, perished in 1673). The plot of this story, however, including the identity of the man in the mask, bears little resemblance to the Dumas novel, which was itself a very fanciful (and historically dubious) tale. There was indeed a Man in the Iron Mask; his true identity remains the subject of great speculation. Prison records indicate that he was arrested in 1669, transferred to the Bastille in 1698 —not 1696, as stated in this story —and died in 1703. | World's Finest #82 | 5-6/56 |
| 1753: Batman and Robin travel back in time
to Gotham City, where they meet the notorious Captain Lightfoot
and learn that he is secretly Abel Adams, a citizen of the town that will
become Gotham City, working to prevent a war between Gotham's settlers and
the local Indian tribes. BF/LS/CP NOTES: The real Captain Lightfoot was Michael Martin, an Irish-born highwayman who terrorized New England beginning in 1818. He was not born until 1775, 22 years after the events of this story, and was eventually hanged in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1822. | Batman #79 [2] | 10-11/53 |
| 1787: Batman and Robin travel back in time to Philadelphia, where they make the acquaintance of scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and acquit Bruce Wayne's ancestor, silversmith Silas Wayne, of charges that he is secretly a notorious highwayman. BF/JM | Batman #44 [3] | 12/47-1/48 |
| c. 1816: Batman and Robin travel back in
time to 19th century Europe, where they meet writer Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelley and Baron Victor Frankenstein and witness the true events that
inspired Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. EH/LS/CP NOTES: Historically, Mary Shelley(1797-1851) conceived Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus in the summer of 1816. The novel was completed in May of 1817, and the first edition was published in January 1818. | Detective #135 | 5/48 |
| 1854: Batman and Robin visit California in
the time of the Gold Rush and battle the bandit Joaquin
Murrieta. BF/DS/CP NOTES: Joaquin Murrieta was an infamous —and possibly legendary —Mexican bandit in California of the 1850's. He was the subject of a highly sensationalized biography by a San Francisco newspaperman in 1854 (which alleged that he had turned to banditry to avenge himself on the Yankees who had raped his young wife and had his brother hanged for a crime that he didn't commit), although the veracity of that account is dubious. That story may have been one of the inspirations for Johnston McCulley's bandit hero, Zorro. Murrieta was the subject of several feature films, including MGM's The Robin Hood of El Dorado (1936), based on a 1932 biography by Walter Noble Burns, starring Warner Baxter as Murrieta. | Batman #58 [2] | 4-5/50 |
| Later in 1854 Batman and Robin visit the Mississippi valley, where they meet river boat captain John Gordon, an ancestor of Commissioner Gordon, and exonerate him of charges that he is secretly a ruthless thief. BF/DS/CP | Batman #89 [1] | 2/55 |
| 1880: On a time-journey to the Old West,
Batman and Robin meet legendary lawman Bat Masterson. EH/SM/CP NOTES: Bartholomew " Bat" Masterson (1853-1921) spent most of 1876-1886 in Dodge City, Kansas. Although he served as deputy sheriff of Ford County from 1877-1879 and briefly as a U.S. marshal in 1879, by 1880 he was making his living primarily as a saloonkeeper and gambler. | Batman #99 [2] | 4/56 |
| The 20th Century | ||
| January 5, 1900: Birth of James W. Gordon,
who will later become police commissioner of Gotham City. ?/DS NOTES: Gordon's name may have been inspired by the pulp hero Commissioner James W. "Wildcat" Gordon, a police official who also fought crime outside the law as a vigilante called the Whisperer. That Jim Gordon, who was created by Johnston McCulley, the creator of Zorro, first appeared in his own pulp magazine in October 1936. | (World's Finest #53) | (8-9/51) |
| Later in 1900, a time-traveling Batman and Robin
meet famed science-fiction author Jules Verne, who briefly returns
with them to the 1950s. AD/DS/CP NOTES: French author Jules Verne (1828-1905), who created such works as Le Voyage au centre de la Terre (1864;A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, 1872), De la Terre à la Lune (1865; From the Earth to the Moon, 1873),Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (1870; Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, 1873), and L'Île mystérieuse (1874; The Mysterious Island, 1875) is considered one of the chief architects of modern science fiction. By 1900 he was residing in Amiens, where he stayed until his death in 1905. The mechanism by which Verne returned with Batman and Robin to the 1950s is not explained in this story. | Batman #98 [1] | 3/56 |
| April 7, 1915: Bruce Wayne is born in Gotham
City to Thomas and Martha Wayne. BF/JM
(World's Finest Comics) / ?/JM (Star-Spangled Comics) / RT/RK/AA
(America vs. the Justice Society) NOTES: The year is the date shown on Bruce's tombstone in America vs. the Justice Society #1. World's Finest Comics #33 established the month of Bruce's birth as April. Star-Spangled Comics #91 indicated that his birthday was the 7th of the month. According to Jim Steranko's Steranko History of Comics Vol. 1 (1971), Batman's secret identity was devised by Bill Finger. He was named for Scottish patriot Robert the Bruce (later Robert I of Scotland, 1274-1329) and American Revolutionary War General "Mad Anthony" Wayne (1745-1796). | (World's Finest #33) (Star-Spangled Comics #91) (America vs. the JSA #1) | (3-4/48) (4/49) (1/85) |
| c. 1916: The distant planet Krypton
explodes. Moments before its destruction, the Kryptonian scientist
Jor-L and his wife Lora send their only son, Kal-L, rocketing to Earth, where he is
found and adopted by John and Mary Kent. They name him Clark Kent. At the
same time Jor-L's brother, Zor-L, launches his own daughter, Kara, but her
rocketship does not arrive on Earth until the 1970s, although her aging is
artificially retarded during her long journey.
Jerry Siegel/Joe Shuster (Superman newspaper and Action #1) / PL/JSt/JO/DG
(Showcase) NOTES: The precise date of the destruction of Krypton-Two was never established. The origin of Power Girl in Showcase #97-#98 described it as approximately 60 years before her 1976 debut. Superman's parents and homeworld were not named until the first episode of the Superman newspaper comic strip in January 1939. The first names of his foster parents, not revealed in the early stories, were given as Eben and Sarah in George Lowther's 1942 prose novel The Adventures of Superman and in the Adventures of Superman radio series, and as John and Mary in Superman #53 (7/8-48), which Who's Who in the DC Universe later established as the canonical names of the Earth-Two Superman's foster parents. |
(Action #1) (Showcase #97-98) | (6/38) (2-3/78) |
| c. 1917: Thomas Wayne becomes a surgeon in
the American Expeditionary Forces during the first world war, eventually
rising to the rank of colonel. BF/SM/CP NOTES: Although World War One began in Europe in the summer of 1914, the United States did not formally enter the war until April 1917, and the first American combat troops were not involved in combat until later that year. | (Batman #120 [2]) | (12/58) |
| Some time following Thomas Wayne's return from the
Army, Englishman Jarvis Beagle becomes the Waynes' butler. His son, Alfred
Beagle, will later follow in his father's footsteps as the butler to Bruce Wayne. DC/BK/JR NOTES: Alfred initially had no last name. He was given the surname "Beagle" in Detective Comics #96 (2/45). Although the name of his Earth-One counterpart was later said to be Pennyworth, the Earth-Two Alfred (as established in Superman Family #211 (10/81)) was Alfred Beagle. | (Batman #16 [3]) | (4-5/43) |
| c. 1918?: After attending a masquerade ball
dressed in a bat-man costume, Thomas Wayne captures fugitive bank robber Lew
Moxon, who has invaded the Wayne house seeking medical attention for wounds
suffered during his flight from police. At his trial, Moxon swears vengeance
on Wayne. Thomas Wayne's costume, which fascinates his young son, later
inspires the design of the costume Bruce Wayne wears in his career as Batman. BF/SM/SK NOTES: The placement of this story in Earth-Two continuity is extremely speculative. The story shows Bruce as a young boy of perhaps two or three at the time of the masquerade party, and indicates that Moxon spent 10 years in prison before ordering Wayne's murder, which is not consistent with the dates of Bruce's birth or his parents' murders. Nonetheless, the story is included here for the sake of completeness. | (Detective #235) | (9/56) |
| c. 1920: Probable date of Selina Kyle's birth. AB/JSt/GF NOTES: The date is conjecture. In Brave and the Bold #197,Selina says that she was 30 years old when she claimed to have become Catwoman while suffering from amnesia; that story took place in late 1950 (Batman#62). | (Brave & Bold #197) | (4/83) |
| Circus acrobat Hugo Marmon,
calling himself "Bat Man," thrills crowds while performing in a costume uncannily similar
to that eventually worn by Batman. ?/DS/CP NOTES: The chronology of Marmon's career is conjecture. The story specifies only that his career preceded that of Bruce Wayne's, although Marmon did not perform in Gotham City until after May 1939. | (Detective #195) | (5/53) |
| c. 1923: Alfred Beagle's niece, Valerie, is
born in Australia. Although Alfred maintains a correspondence with Valerie
for many years, she does not come to England until after Alfred has
already left for the United States, and, at least as late as 1945, the two never had actually met. BF/JB/CP NOTES: Earth-One's Alfred, Alfred Pennyworth, also had a niece, Daphne Pennyworth (daughter of Alfred's older brother, Wilfred), who first appeared in Batman #216 (11/69). | (Batman Sunday ) | (2-3/45) |
| June 6, 1924: James Gordon graduates from law school and joins the Gotham City Police Department as a rookie policeman.?/DS | (World's Finest #53) | (8-9/51) |
| June 26, 1924: While walking home from a
movie, Thomas Wayne is shot and killed by Joey Chill. His wife Martha
suffers a fatal heart attack, leaving their son Bruce an orphan. Although
Thomas Wayne's killer is presumed to be a mugger, Bruce Wayne later learns
that Chill was a hired killer in the employ of Lew Moxon. Young Bruce is
left in the care of his uncle, Philip Wayne. He vows to devote his life to
avenging his parents' deaths. BF/BK/SM NOTES: The first telling of Batman's origin, in Detective Comics #33, stated that the murder took place "some 15 years" prior to 1939. The specific date was established in Secret Origins #6. The first version of Batman's origin was devised by his creators, Bill Finger and Bob Kane. The definitive retelling of the story, in Secret Origins #6, was written by Roy Thomas with art by Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. In the early versions of this story, both Thomas and Martha Wayne were shot to death. Batman #47 (6-7/48) established instead that Martha Wayne had a heart attack upon seeing her husband shot. This version was repeated in most accounts until the early seventies. The guardianship of Bruce's uncle Philip was first mentioned —in connection with the Earth-One Batman —in Batman #208 (2/69); Philip Wayne's role in Earth-Two continuity was established by Secret Origins #6. According to Secret Origins #6 this incident took place after the Waynes went to a movie starring Rudolph Valentino. Historically, the only two Valentino films in theatres during 1924, Monsieur Beaucaire and A Sainted Devil, were not released until months after June 26; these were the first Valentino films to be released since 1922. | Detective #33 Secret Origins #6 | 11/39 9/86 |
| October 11, 1926: James Gordon marries a
young woman named Barbara. ?/DS NOTES: Superman Family #211 (10/81) revealed that Commissioner Gordon's wife, never named in any Golden Age story, was named Barbara. The Earth-One Gordon's wife's name was Thelma. | (World's Finest #53) | (8-9/51) |
| c. 1927: James Gordon and his wife have a
son, Tony Gordon. ?/DS NOTES: Tony Gordon had a counterpart on Earth-One, the older brother of Barbara (Babs) Gordon (Batgirl); he was first seen in Batman Family #12 (7-8/77). Barbara Gordon apparently had no direct counterpart on Earth-Two. | (World's Finest #53) | (8-9/51) |
| 1928: Richard (Dick) Grayson is born to John
and Mary Grayson. RT/DR/MGu NOTES: The year is that shown on Dick's tombstone. | (LAST DAYS) | (1986) |
| 1931: James Gordon attains the rank of lieutenant in the Gotham City police department. ?/DS | (World's Finest #53) | (8-9/51) |
| c. 1933: Disguising his identity with a costume very similar to that later worn by Robin, Bruce Wayne studies with gifted police detective Harvey Harris. EH/DS/CP | (Detective #226) | (12/55) |
| Fall 1935: Bruce Wayne enrolls in Gotham University. RT/MR/TA NOTES: Bruce Wayne was first established as having attended Gotham University in World's Finest Comics #59 (7-8/52). | Secret Origins #6 | 9/86 |
| c. 1937: James Gordon becomes Gotham City's police chief and later its police commissioner. DV/DS/CP | (Batman #71 [2]) | (6-7/52) |
| A very young Selina Kyle marries a wealthy man who
proves to be physically
and emotionally abusive.
When Selina divorces him
he uses his connections to ruin her socially and financially. To strike
back, she burglarizes his estate, stealing jewels he ostensibly bought for
her. Afterwards, she takes up a full-time criminal career, becoming the
notorious jewel thief called The Cat. AB/JSt/GF NOTES: The name of Selina's first husband was never revealed. Because her brother was named Karl Kyle, Kyle presumably was her maiden name. | (Brave & Bold #197) | (4/83) |
| June 1938: Clark Kent becomes a reporter for
the Metropolis Daily Star, meets Lois Lane, and
begins his heroic career as Superman. JSi/JSh NOTES: The name of the newspaper that employed Clark Kent and Lois Lane was changed to the Daily Planet in the December 2, 1939 installment of the Superman Sunday newspaper strip. The change was reflected in the comic book in Superman #4 (Spr. 40) and Action Comics #23 (4/40). As established in Justice League of America #91 (8/71), however, the Earth-Two Clark Kent continued to work for the Daily Star, eventually becoming the paper's editor. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. | ACTION 1 | 6/38 |
| Fall 1938: While attending Gotham
University, Bruce Wayne meets Julie Madison while acting in a production of
Hamlet, in which Bruce plays the part of Polonius and Julie that of Ophelia.
They soon fall in love. RT/MR/TA NOTES: This was the first chronological appearance of Julie Madison. | Secret Origins #6 | 9/86 |
| Resentful of Bruce Wayne's popularity and his successes a member of Gotham University's fencing team, Bruce's classmate Jourdanton removes the safety cap from his foil during a match, inflicting small scar on his wrist that later enables Denton to deduce that Bruce is secretly Batman. BF/SM/CP | (Batman #96) | (12/55) |
| 1939 | ||
| Spring 1939: Bruce Wayne and Julie Madison graduate from Gotham University. Julie moves to New York to pursue an acting career on Broadway, while Bruce remains in Gotham to pursue his dreams of fighting crime. RT/MR/TA | Secret Origins #6 | 9/86 |
| A bat flying into the open window of Bruce Wayne's
study inspires him to create a new identity for his war against crime: the Batman. BF/BK (Detective #27) / RT/MR/TA (Secret Origins) NOTES: This scene, conceived by Batman co-creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane, may have been inspired by a very similar scene in the debut adventure of the Bat, a pulp adventurer who appeared in Popular Detective magazine in November 1934. The Bat's adventures, credited to Better Publications house name C.K.M. Scanlon, may have been written by Johnston McCulley, the creator of Zorro. | (Detective #33) Secret Origins #6 | (11/39) 9/86 |
| In his first outing, Batman apprehends a thief
named "Slugsy" Kyle at the Gotham Glassworks and leaves him bound and unconscious for the police. BF/SM/CP (Detective#265) / RT/MR/TA (Secret Origins) NOTES: This story was originally recounted in flashback in Detective Comics #265, and retold in Secret Origins #6. | (Detective #265) Secret Origins #6 | (3/59) 9/86 |
Bruce Wayne meets Commissioner James Gordon,
an old friend of his uncle Philip. BF/BK (Detective #27)/ RT/MR/TA (Secret Origins) There is no evidence to suggest that the Shadow, whose comic book adventures were published by DC in the 1970s and 1980s, had a counterpart on Earth-Two, but in Batman #253 (11/73), Earth-One's Batman met the Shadow and confessed that his costumed career and identity had been directly influenced by the Shadow's exploits. That story was written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. | Detective #27 Secret Origins #6 | 5/39 (9/86) |
| The Batman tracks down the villainous
Alfred
Stryker, a chemical magnate who has murdered several of his
partners in an attempt to gain control of Apex Chemicals. BF/BK (Detective Comics #27) / RT/MR/TA (Secret Origins) NOTES: This six-page tale, entitled "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," was the first published appearance of Batman, although the text makes it clear that it is not Batman's first case —he is already wanted by the police. Bruce Wayne smokes a pipe in this story, as he does in a number of stories through the mid-forties. Batman's car in this tale and in subsequent early adventures is a red coupe, later replaced by the more flamboyant Batmobiles. Batman's first adventure was drawn by Bob Kane and scripted by Bill Finger, who later indicated that the story was borrowed from an adventure of the Shadow. | Detective #27 Secret Origins #6 | 5/39 9/86 |
| Bruce Wayne becomes engaged to Julie Madison. RT/MR/TA | Secret Origins #6 | 9/86 |
| Batman apprehends jewel thief Frenchy Blake
after
killing one of his henchmen by throwing him off a roof and
extorting a confession out of Blake himself. BF/BK NOTES: Batman's second appearance marks the first use of the bat-line, initially carried coiled on his utility belt. Curiously, Batman does not wear gloves in this story. | Detective #28 | 6/39 |
| Bruce Wayne buys Wayne Manor, and discovers the vast
caves that lie beneath it. He will later outfit the cavern as his
crimefighting
headquarters, the Batcave. BF/SM/CP NOTES: The Batcave was apparently conceived by the writers of the 1943 Batman serial. The cave in its modern form didn't appear in the series until Batman #12 (8-9/42), and was not called the Batcave until Detective Comics #83 (1/44). | (Detective #205) | (3/54) |
| Batman confronts the vile Karl Hellfern, better
known as Dr. Death. After Batman kills the doctor's Indian henchman
Jabah,
Hellfern accidentally immolates himself with a vial of an incendiary
chemical,
apparently perishing in the ensuing blaze. GF/BK NOTES: This story introduced the first gadgets from Batman's utility belt: a glass vial of "choking gas" and suction cups that he used to scale the side of a building. It also referred for the first time to the "Wayne mansion;" Detective Comics #27 showed only Bruce's "room." This was Batman's first use of a gun: he holds two of Dr. Death's henchmen at bay with a captured pistol. It was also the first story in which Batman is wounded in action. Batman kills Jabah by snapping his neck with his silken rope, the first of three occasions on which he used the bat-rope in that fashion. With this story, written by Gardner Fox rather than Batman's co-creator, Bill Finger, the length of the Batman feature increased from six pages to ten pages. Gardner Fox apparently wrote the stories in the subsequent four issues of Detective Comics, after which Finger once again became the primary writer. | Detective #29 | 7/39 |
|
"Less than a week" after their previous encounter,
Batman
discovers that Dr. Death is still alive, although hideously scarred
by the fire that nearly killed him. After killing another of the
doctor's
underlings, a Cossack called Mikhail, Batman apprehends Dr. Death and
turns
him over to police. GF/BK/SM NOTES: Dr. Death was the first Batman foe to appear more than once. Dr. Death's Earth-One counterpart, who had a loosely similar M.O., appeared in Batman #344 (2/82) and Detective Comics #512 (3/82). | Detective #30 | 8/39 |
| Noted industrial designer Norman Lowell designs a
distinctive
autogyro for Batman: the bat-gyro. Batman later saves Lowell from
being
kidnapped by a Nazi agent. NOTES: The placement of this story in Earth-Two continuity is arbitrary, but seems fitting. This story, written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Gary Gianni, won an Eisner award for Best Short Story in 1997. | (Batman Black and White #4) | (9/96) |
| Batman meets Australian circus performer Lee Collins, who teaches him to use the boomerang as a weapon and presents him with the first batarang as a gift. BF/SM/CP | (Detective #244) | (6/57) |
| Bruce Wayne's fiancée Julie Madison
falls
under the thrall of the sinister Monk and his accomplice
Dala,
who try to hypnotically force Julie to murder one of their enemies.
Bruce
sends Julie on an ocean cruise to recuperate. As Batman, he follows
her
on the Bat-gyro. In Paris, he narrowly escapes a death-trap
set
by the Monk, and again rescues Julie from the villain's clutches. GF/BK/SM NOTES: The Bat-gyro (also called the "bat-plane"), introduced in this story, was the forerunner of the Batplane. It was inspired by a similar aircraft used by the Shadow in his pulp adventures. This issue marked the first appearance of the batarang (spelled "baterang" in the text) and the first time Batman wears gauntlets rather than wrist-length gloves. This story identified Batman's home city as New York, the first time the setting of his adventures was explicitly named. Batman's city was first called Gotham City in Detective Comics #48 (2/41). | Detective #31 | 9/39 |
| In Paris, Batman captures the Monk's accomplice, Dala, and forces her to lead him to the Monk's stronghold in Hungary, where he learns that the villains are both vampires and werewolves. He eventually slays both monsters with a pistol loaded with homemade silver bullets. GF/BK/SM NOTES: This story was the first time Batman killed with a gun. The Monk and Dala had Earth-One counterparts; the Earth-One Dala first appeared in Detective Comics #511 (2/82), the Monk in Detective #515 (6/82), with their final appearance in Detective Comics #518 (9/82). A modern version of the tale appears in the 2006-2007 mini-series Batman and the Mad Monk, written and drawn by Matt Wagner. | Detective #32 | 10/39 |
| Batman returns to Paris, where he puts Julie Madison on a ship for America. Shortly afterward, he aids Charles Maire and his sister Karel against the sinister Duc D'Orterre, who has burned away Charles's face with a deadly ray. GF/BK NOTES: The text suggests that this story took place immediately after the events of issue #32, and probably before those of #33. The faceless features of the unfortunate Charles Maire strongly resemble those of a Dick Tracy villain, the Blank, who first appeared on October 21, 1937. This issue was the final time that Batman was not prominently featured on the cover of Detective Comics. | Detective #34 | 12/39 |
| Armed with an automatic pistol and wearing a bulletproof vest, Batman takes on the villainous Scarlet Horde and its leader, self-styled world conqueror Carl Kruger. GF?/BK/SM NOTES: This story was the only occasion (other than the splash page of #34 and some DC house ads) on which Batman actually carried a gun in a holster on his utility belt, and the first time he was shown to be wearing a bulletproof vest. The story also makes the first reference to a hidden laboratory and workshop, including both scientific equipment and a newspaper clippings file, somewhere in the Wayne house. This issue also includes the first, two-page account of Batman's origin, by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. | Detective #33 | 11/39 |
| 1940 | ||
| Batman defeats Sheldon Lenox with the help of his friend Wong, the unofficial mayor of Chinatown, who is later described as a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. BF/BK/SM NOTES: Batman replaced his red coupé in this and many subsequent issues with a dark blue open car, loosely identifiable as a 1938 or 1939 Lincoln Zephyr convertible coupe modified with external exhaust pipes and a bat-shaped hood ornament. | Detective #35 | 1/40 |
| January 26, 1940: Famed detective Dana Drye records in his diary that he has accumulated "indisputable proof" that Bruce Waynes Batman, although he chooses not to publicly reveal his knowledge. JSa/JR | (Batman #14 [1]) | (12/42-1/43) |
| Batman takes on the villainous Professor Hugo Strange. BF/BK/JR NOTES: This story was the first to depict the distinctive fins on the sides of each of Batman's gauntlets, the final detail of the basic costume to added before 1964's "New Look." | Detective #36 | 2/40 |
| Batman battles an international spy ring led by Count Grutt. BF/BK/JR NOTES: This was the last pre-Robin story in Detective Comics. The next issue box announced that it would be followed by the story of Hugo Strange and his man-monsters, but that story instead was moved to Batman #1 (Spr. 40). | Detective #37 | 3/40 |
| Batman has a second encounter with Professor Hugo Strange, who has used a special glandular growth formula to transform inmates from a local insane asylum into feral, 10-foot-tall "man monsters." Batman is captured by Strange and his men and injected with the monster serum, but he manages to concoct an antidote in time to save himself. He subsequently kills a number of Stranger's henchmen and "man monsters" with machine-gunfire from the Batplane, hangs another monster with the bat-rope, and uses tear gas pellets to cause the last monster to fall to his death from a downtown skyscraper. BF/BK/JR NOTES: This story was the first appearance of a fixed-wing Batplane, replacing the previous autogyro (and the only time in the comics the Batplane was armed with a machine gun!). The confrontation between Batman and the final monster atop the skyscraper was clearly based on the final scenes of RKO's 1933 film King Kong. The violence of this story prompted an edict from new Batman editor Whitney Ellsworth (who began his tenure with this issue, replacing original Batman editor Vin Sullivan) that Batman should never kill his opponents. A modern version of this story appeared as the 2004 mini-series Batman and the Monster Men, written and drawn by Matt Wagner. | Batman #1 [2] | Spr 40 |
| Circus acrobat Dick Grayson's parents, John and Mary Grayson, are murdered by henchmen of gang leader Anthony "Boss" Zucco. The boy is taken in by Batman, who shares with him the secret of his true identity and trains him as his partner: Robin, the Boy Wonder. Together, Batman and Robin bring down Zucco, who is later sentenced to life imprisonment. Dick Grayson becomes Bruce Wayne's legal ward. BF/BK/JR NOTES: Robin was the first kid sidekick in superhero comics, and was widely imitated both at DC and its competitors. The origins of the character are debatable; he was apparently suggested by Bob Kane, but designed in large part by Kane's assistant, Jerry Robinson, who also gave the character his name, said to be inspired by Robin Hood. The character's most obvious fictional antecedents are Dick Tracy's adopted son, Junior (who first appeared in Chester Gould's seminal detective strip on September 8, 1932), and Terry Lee, the titular hero of Milt Caniff's great adventure strip Terry and the Pirates (which debuted on October 22, 1934). Boss Zucco, the man responsible for the deaths of Dick Grayson's parents, was, like many early Batman gangsters, clearly modeled on actor Edward G. Robinson, who starred in many Warner Bros. gangster films of the 1930s and 1940s, including Little Caesar (1930), Two Seconds (1932), and Brother Orchid (1940). The end of the story implied that he would be sent to the electric chair for his crimes, but Infinity, Inc. #6 (9/84), which showed him as a very old man in a prison hospital, revealed that he was instead given a life sentence. In this first outing, Robin (who was armed with a slingshot in this and many subsequent stories of the early forties) killed at least three of Zucco's henchmen by throwing or kicking them off of an unfinished skyscraper. Batman once again drove a red coupé in this story, rather than his dark blue roadster. | Detective #38 | 4/40 |
| Following the apprehension of Boss Zucco, Bruce Wayne attempts to persuade Dick Grayson to retire as Robin, but Dick eventually convinces Bruce to allow him to remain his permanent partner after helping Batman apprehend Stick-up Sidney. BF/DS NOTES: This story asserts that Batman made Dick his partner solely for the purposes of apprehending the killer of his parents, which is somewhat at odds with Robin's original appearance in Detective Comics #38 (4/40), in which Batman and Robin swore "an undying oath" that they would "fight together against crime and corruption and never...swerve from the path of righteousness." | (Batman #32 [2]) | (12/45-1/46) |
| Batman unsuccessfully pursues a cunning masked thief called the Red Hood. The Red Hood makes a daring escape by leaping into the waste chemical catch basin of the Monarch Playing Card Company, apparently perishing in the attempt. Unbeknownst to Batman, the Red Hood survives, but his plunge into the chemical wastes turns his hair green, his skin chalk-white, and his lips bright red. The unnamed thief later becomes Batman's deadliest foe: the Joker. BF/LS/GR NOTES: This story was the Joker's first chronological appearance. The real name of the Earth-Two Joker was never revealed. The chronology of the story itself is somewhat careless: the flashback describes Batman's encounter with the Red Hood as taking place 10 years before, and after the debut of Robin, but the Joker was already known in his familiar green-haired, white-skinned form by the spring of 1940, as shown in Batman #1. | (Detective #168) | (2/51) |
| After the brutal murder of Batman's friend and ally Wong, the unofficial mayor of Chinatown, Batman and Robin apprehend or kill the entire Green Dragon tong that has been terrorizing Chinatown. BF/BK/JR NOTES: This story was one of the final times that Batman and Robin were shown to deliberately kill their opponents, in this case by crushing many of the tong's members beneath their gigantic Green Dragon idol/statue. | Detective #39 | 2/40 |
| Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson visit the New York World's air, where, as Batman and Robin, they defeat the evil Professor Hugo Vreekill, a mad scientist armed with a steel-destroying ray weapon. BF/BK NOTES: This issue was the first time Batman and Superman appeared in the same comic book. They appeared together only on the cover, which was drawn by Jack Burnley; inside, they were featured in separate stories. The New York World's Fair was held in Flushing Meadow, Queens, New York. It opened on April 30, 1939, closed for the winter on October 31, and reopened on May 11, 1940. It closed for good on October 30, 1940. National/DC published two issues of New York World's Fair Comics, released to coincide with the Fair's opening; they were 100 pages, priced initially at 25 cents (later reduced to 15 cents). Batman did not appear in the first issue, although it did feature Superman. The comics, the brainchild of Batman editor Vincent Sullivan, were not a commercial success, and their failure contributed to Sullivan's departure from DC, to be replaced by Whitney Ellsworth. | New York World's Fair Comics #2 | 1940 |
| Batman
and
Robin
confront
the
sinister,
murderous Joker. BF/BK/JR NOTES: Nothing
was
revealed
about
the
Joker's
origins
or
real
name
in
this
story,
except
that
he
had
previously
spent
time
in
prison
(although
it
is
not
clear
whether
that
was
as
the
Joker
or
in
his
original
identity)
—one
of
his
victims
was
the
judge
who
sentenced
him. The creation of the Joker has been the subject of considerable debate, with Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson each claiming credit for the idea. Robinson said the Joker was inspired by an image on a playing card, Finger by the 1927 silent film The Man Who Laughs (dir. Paul Leni, Universal Pictures), based on the 1869 Victor Hugo story (L'Homme qui rit) and starring actor Conrad Veidt as Gwynnplaine, a young gypsy whose face is cut into a permanent grin. The character's appearance also bears a striking, probably non-coincidental resemblance to the leering face at the entrance of the Steeplechase Pavilion of Fun at the Coney Island amusement park, which Finger's son later described as one of his father's inspirations. | Batman #1 [1] | Spr 40 |
| Two days after his capture the Joker escapes jail and begins a new reign of terror that ends when he accidentally stabs himself while trying to kill Batman. BF/BK/JR NOTES: The Joker's second appearance originally was intended to end with his death. Editor Whitney Ellsworth, however, decided the Joker was too good a villain to lose, and ordered the addition of a final panel showing the Joker being taken away by ambulance, with dialogue indicating that he would survive. | Batman #1 [4] | Spr 40 |
| Batman and Robin meet the cunning female jewel thief called the Cat. They prevent her from stealing a valuable emerald necklace, but Batman, smitten by the attractive thief, allows her to escape. BF/BK/JR NOTES: In this story the Catwoman was simply known as the Cat; although she spent much of the story in disguise, she did not appear in costume. Her real name was not revealed. The text indicates that she was already renown as a successful thief by the time of this story, although her identity, appearance, and even the fact that she was a woman were not generally known. In his 1989 autobiography Batman and Me, Bob Kane claims credit for Catwoman's creation, although most other accounts indicate that she was the brainchild of Bill Finger. | Batman #1 [3] | Spr 40 |
| Bruce Wayne's fiancée Julie Madison begins a new career as a film actress with a small part in the Argus Pictures horror film Dread Castle. She and the rest of the cast are threatened by the murderous Clayface, who is later revealed as former horror star Basil Karlo. BF/BK/JR NOTES: Basil Karlo was based on legendary horror star Boris Karloff (1887-1969). In a career spanning more than 40 years and more than 100 films, Karloff starred as such movie villains as the Frankenstein monster, the Mummy, Dr. Jekyll, and Sax Rohmer's sinister Dr. Fu Manchu. | Detective #40 | 6/40 |
Learning
that
the
Joker
is
still
alive,
Batman
and
Robin
attempt
to
abduct
him
from
the
hospital
and
take
him
to "a famous brain specialist" for an operation to make him "a valuable citizen." They
find
the
Joker
has
already
been
kidnapped
by
a
gang
of
crooks
who
hope
he
will
lead
them
in
stealing
the
priceless
Pharaoh
Gems.
During
the
search
for
the
Joker,
Batman
again
encounters
the
Catwoman
and
allows
her
to
escape
in
exchange
for
information
on
the
Joker's
whereabouts.
Later,
the
Catwoman
trades
the
Pharaoh
Gems
to
the
Joker
in
exchange
for
sparing
Robin's
life.
She
escapes
capture
by
making
a
daring
leap
from
the
Batplane. BF/BK/JR/GR The fourth story in this issue marked the debut of inker George Roussos, who helped to establish much of the atmosphere of the forties Batman series. | Batman #2 [1] | Sum 40 |
| August 1940: Batman and Robin meet painter Pierre Antal, who achieves unwelcome notoriety when his society patron murders the people whose portraits Antal has painted. Batman and Robin later remember this as their "first really big case." BF/BK/JR NOTES: Batman and Robin's recollection of this case was mentioned in a story in Batman #38 (12/46-1/47), also written by Bill Finger, which also established that these events took place in August 1940, the cover date of the issue in which the story appeared. | Detective #42 | 8/40 |
| Late one night Batman confronts Commissioner Gordon in his office and tells Gordon that despite working outside the law, his goal is to fight crime and to aid the police. EH/SM/SK NOTES: The placement of this story in Earth-Two continuity is conjecture, as it appears to contradict the early adventures in which Batman was actively sought by police. However, Gordon's role in enlisting Batman for a secret government mission in November 1940 (see below), and several stories in which Gordon praises Batman, despite his official status as an outlaw, both suggest that Batman and Gordon may have already reached an understanding by this time. In any case, as established by Untold Legend of the Batman #1 (7/80) (the definitive account of the origins of the Silver Age Batman, by Len Wean and Jim Aparo), these events were definitely part of Earth-One continuity. | (Detective #234) | (8/56) |
| Gotham City is terrorized by the so-called Ugly Horde, a mob of hideous-looking men. Each has been deformed by a thyroid-modifying chemical created by their leader, a man named Carlson, who was disfigured by a similar formula while in college. Batman and Robin defeat Carlson, and his victims are restored to normal by a plastic surgeon called Dr. Ekhart. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: The chemical used by Carlson is very similar to that used by Hugo Strange to create his "man monsters," although that connection is not made in the text. The Dr. Ekhart mentioned in this story presumably is the same plastic surgeon who later operates on Harvey Kent, a.k.a. Two-Face. | Batman #3 [2] | Fall 40 |
| Batman and Robin once again battle the Catwoman, and once again Batman allows her to escape capture. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: The Catwoman, referred to alternately as the Cat and the Cat-Woman in this story, wore a dark blue cat-head mask in this issue, the first time she wore a cat-like costume. | Batman #3 [4] | Fall 40 |
| Batman approaches Commissioner Gordon in his office late one night and explains his desire to fight crime. Although Gordon is skeptical, they eventually come to a private agreement. EH/SM/CP NOTES: The events of this story, revealed in flasbhack in this 1956 story, may more properly belong to Earth-One continuity; they are included in Untold Legends of the Batman #1 (7/80), the definitive origin of the Earth-One Batman. Gordon's role in helping Sir William Stephenson recruit Batman for a special mission in November 1940, however, suggest that some version of this agreement was also reached on Earth-Two, prior to Gordon's public deputization of Batman in Batman #7 (10-11/41), a year later. | (Detective #234) | (8/56) |
| November 16-17, 1940: Enlisted by Commissioner Gordon and Sir William Stephenson, Batman joins the Flash and Green Lantern on a covert mission to Scotland to investigate rumors of a planned Nazi invasion of Great Britain. The three heroes are captured by German forces and taken to Berlin, where Batman and his comrades are narrowly rescued from death at the hands of Adolf Hitler himself by the timely arrival of Dr. Fate and Hourman. These five heroes, subsequently joined by the Atom, Hawkman, the Sandman, the Spectre, and Superman, manage to defeat the Nazi invasion force, prevent an attack on Washington, D.C. by an experimental German long-range bomber, and thwart the assassination of President Roosevelt himself. At Roosevelt's suggestion, the assembled heroes decide to forma team, with a name suggested by Superman: the Justice Society of America. PL/JSt/BL NOTES: This was the first account of the origin of the Justice Society, which was not told in their debut in All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940) nor in any Golden Age story. Commissioner Gordon is shown using the Bat-Signal to summon Batman in the fall of 1940, nearly a year before he officially deputized Batman in a dramatic courtroom speech (Batman #7 (10-11/41)), which may be an error, or may indicate that Gordon arranged a private accommodation with Batman sometime prior to his public deputization. The Flash was created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert in Flash Comics #1 (1/40); Green Lantern by Martin Nodell (with scripts by Batman co-creator Bill Finger) in All-American Comics #16 (7/40); Dr. Fate by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman in More Fun Comics #55 (5/40); the Hawkman by Gardner Fox and Sheldon Moldoff in Flash #1 (1/40); Hourman in Adventure Comics #48 (3/40); the Sandman by Gardner Fox and Bernard Christman in Adventure Comics #40 (7/39) (although his appearance in New York World's Fair Comics #1 was published slightly earlier); and the Spectre by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Bailey in More Fun Comics #52-#53 (2-3/40). Sir William Stephenson (1896-1989), code-name Intrepid, was the head of British intelligence during the war, and also helped to organize the American Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA. | (DC Special #29) | (8-9/77) |
| Batman and Robin clash with Professor Hugo Strange. In their final battle Strange is sent hurtling off a cliff to his apparent doom. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: The Earth-One Hugo Strange, whose early history was similar, survived this incident unscathed and fled to Europe, next appearing in Detective Comics #471 (8/77). On Earth-Two Strange survived the fall, but was left paralyzed for more than 20 years. He next appeared in Brave and the Bold #182 (1/82). | Detective #46 | 12/40 |
| Although still engaged to Julie Madison, Bruce Wayne flirts with beautiful actress Linda Lewis. Batman and Robin are commended by the commander of Fort Stox after they thwart an attempted robbery of the gold reserve there. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: "Fort Stox" is clearly intended to represent the U.S. Army Fort Knox. Fort Knox, located in northern Kentucky, was established in 1917 as a training camp and as a permanent post in 1932, and is the location of the U.S. Depository containing the majority of America's gold reserves. This story contained the first use of the term "Batmobile," although it described the red (sometimes blue) roadster used by Batman and Robin throughout 1940 and early 1941, rather than the more distinctive vehicle introduced in Batman #5 (Spr.41).This also was the first story to refer to Batman's home city as Gotham City rather than New York. According to Jim Steranko's 1971 book The Steranko History of Comics Vol. 1, Bill Finger picked the name after seeing a local jewelry store called Gotham Jewelers. "Gotham," of course, is a nickname for New York City, first popularized by author Washington Irving in a series of satirical writings in 1807-1808. In the 1940s Gotham was obviously modeled on, and intended to represent, the city of New York, as was Metropolis (in fact, the Adventures of Superman radio series made it clear that Batman and Superman lived in the same city). By 1952, however, the comics (e.g., Superman #76) made it clear that Gotham and Metropolis were separate cities. By the 1970s it was established that in the DC universe Gotham City, Metropolis, and New York all coexist separately, although DC remains reluctant to clearly state where the fictional cities are located. A number of other DC comics characters, including Starman, Green Lantern, and the Justice Society of America, also made their homes in Gotham City, although this coexistence was not acknowledged in stories published in the Golden Age. | Detective #48 | 2/41 |
| Batman and Robin have a rematch with the Joker, who has survived his apparent demise in their previous encounter, battle modern-day pirates, encounter racketeer Jimmy McCoy, and break up a gambling ring. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: Jimmy McCoy is drawn to resemble actor James Cagney (1899-1986), who played similar gangster parts in a variety of Warner Bros .motion pictures in the 1930s and 1940s. The story in this issue is a pastiche of several of those films, notably Public Enemy (1931, dir. William Wellman) and The Roaring Twenties(1939, dir. Raoul Walsh). The first three stories in this issue identified Batman's home city as New York, but the fourth and final story identified it as Gotham City, the first time that name appeared in the Batman series. The stories in this issue were the last time Batman wore a bulletproof vest and the last time he used a gun (scooping up fallen pistol to wing a fleeing gangster). | Batman #4 | Win 1940 |
| November 22, 1940: Batman declines an invitation to the first formal meeting of the Justice Society of America, buts named an honorary member by those in attendance. NOTES: The Justice Society of America was the first comic book superhero team. It was created by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox, who wrote many of the group's adventures. All-Star Comics was published by All-American Comics, a publisher partly owned by National Publications during the mid-forties, whose books, including All-American Comics, Flash Comics, and Sensation Comics, carried the DC logo, but were created through separate editorial offices. The JSA was intended to provide additional exposure for All-American's superhero characters (membership was limited throughout the war years to those without their own comic books). Although Superman and Batman were acknowledged as existing in the same reality as the JSA, they were only occasionally mentioned, lest they overshadow All-American's own characters. | All-Star Comics #3 | Win 1940 |
| 1941 | ||
| Thanks to the success of her first film, Dread Castle, Julie Madison decides to continue her film career under the stage name Portia Storme. Frustrated by Bruce Wayne's apparent lack of ambition, Julie reluctantly breaks off their engagement. As Batman, Bruce Wayne protects her from a new attack by Clayface, but makes no attempt to change her mind about their engagement. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: Julie Madison's stage name was probably inspired by Bill Finger's girlfriend (and eventual wife), who was named Portia. Curiously, another Portia Storme, with no apparent relationship to Julie Madison, had already appeared in the third story in Batman #2 (Sum 40) a few months earlier. This was the final Golden Age appearance of both Julie Madison and Clayface. The subsequent fate of Earth-Two's Julie Madison was never revealed. Batman #208 (2/69) established that there was also an Earth-One Julie Madison, whose early history and relationship with Bruce Wayne were similar. According to World's Finest Comics #248 (11/77-1/78) she later married the monarch of the European nation of Moldavia and became Princess Portia, a marriage clearly modeled on that of actress Grace Kelly (1929-1982) to Prince Rainer of Monaco in 1956. An Earth-One Basil Karlo appeared in Detective Comics#496 (10/80). Karlo's post-Crisis origin was retold by Mike W. Barr, Keith Giffen, and Al Gordon in Secret Origins #44 (9/89). | Detective #49 | 3/41 |
| Two months after being rescued from Gotham harbor after an apparently fatal plunge during his last encounter with Batman and Robin, the Joker opens a gambling ship moored just outside the three-mile limit. When Batman investigates, he is nearly slain by the Joker, but his life is saved by Queenie, one of the Joker's henchmen. Queenie, who has realized that Batman is Bruce Wayne after spotting a shaving nick on Bruce's chin, falls in love with him and ultimately sacrifices her life to save him from her confederate's bullets. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: Bruce Wayne was shown smoking a cigarette in this story. Bruce smoked in a number of early stories, although he more commonly smoked a pipe than cigarettes. This was the last quarterly issue of Batman, which subsequently became bi-monthly until 1954. This issue introduced the distinctive Batmobile that Batman used throughout the forties. While its style and detail varied quite a bit from story to story, it was loosely similar to the Buick and Cadillac fastback coupes of 1942-1949 (both the Buick Century/Super and the Cadillac Series 62 shared the same General Motors "B-body," which GM sometimes called a "sedanet"). The 1940s Batmobile was a dark blue, supercharged car with an enormous bat-shaped ram on the nose, external exhaust pipes on the hood, and a tall, scalloped vertical fin extending from the rear edge of the roof to the tail. This Batmobile remained basically unchanged (except for minor detail and stylistic variations) until February 1950 (Detective Comics #156). | Batman #5 [1] | Spr 41 |
| While helping Batman investigate the racketeer "Smiley" Sikes, Robin is nearly beaten to death by a pair of the gangster's henchmen. After leaving his wounded partner in the care of a surgeon, Batman invades Sikes's hide-out and, despite being shot three times, brutally extorts a confession from the now-terrified Sikes. After depositing the defeated criminal at the local police precinct Batman returns to the surgeon's home, where, muttering, "I think I'm going to be a sissy and faint, doc...sorry!" he finally collapses of his wounds. The surgeon, fortunately, is able to save the lives of both Batman and Robin, and opts not to remove their masks while they are unconscious, thus preserving their secret identities. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: A narrative caption in this story asserts that "long ago, the Batman had permanently discarded his bulletproof vest because it hampered freedom of movement." | Batman #5 [3] | Spr 41 |
| Bruce Wayne renews his acquaintance with socialite and nurse Linda Page, whom he dates throughout the war years. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: Although this was Linda Page's first appearance in print, it is clear from the story that she and Bruce had known each other for some time before; Bruce greets her, "Linda Page! Well, well! I haven't seen you in a dog's age. The whole crowd has been asking about you!" | Batman #5 [4] | Spr 41 |
| Batman and Robin investigate the murder of author Eric Dorne, ultimately discovering that his killer was a fifth columnist whose activities Dorne had discovered. The killer boasts that his operation printed "pamphlets dealing with the greatness of our Fatherland's cause." BF/BK/GR NOTES: The appearance fifth columnists supporting an unnamed Fatherland is one of the earliest references to the brewing war in Europe. Before America's entry into the war, many publishers, like the Hollywood studios, were very reluctant to name Nazi Germany or Japan, although the creators many of whom were Jewish) were often staunchly anti-fascist. This was the first issue of a new 96-page quarterly anthology, selling for 15 cents when most comics were 10 cents. It was renamed World's Finest Comics with the second issue. | WB 1 | Spr 41 |
| March 1941: Batman and Robin apprehend a gang of criminals in a Gotham City nightclub with a little help from playboy Ted Knight. Inspired by the caped crusaders, Knight soon begins his own costumed career as Starman. RT/Put/AJ Note: The Golden Age Starman first appeared in Adventure Comics #61 (4/41). His debut story was drawn by Jack Burnley, although the scripter is unknown. Starman never had an origin prior to this story. | (All-Star Squadron #41) | (1/85) |
| Batman and Robin defeat the evil Loo Chung, a Chinatown crime lord who has stolen a jade ring, formerly the property of Batman's murdered friend Wong, that once belonged to Genghis Khan, Wong's ancestor. BF/BK/JR/GR | Detective #52 | 6/41 |
| Batman and Robin battle Hook Morgan and his gang of harbor pirates. While pursuing the pirates, Batman lands the Batplane on the water and activates a feature that folds back the wings, transforming it into a speedboat. BF/BK/JR/GR | Detective #53 | 7/41 |
| Batman and Robin attempt to uncover the killer of a murdered Gotham City District Attorney. Batman seeks medical aid from Linda Page, who has become a nurse "to make something of herself." BF/BK/GR Note: This was the first issue of World's Finest Comics, renamed after the publication of one issue under the title World's Best Comics. | World's Finest #2 | Sum 41 |
| Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson take a short vacation to Texas so that, as Batman and Robin, they can aid Linda Page's father, oilman Tom Page, whose business is being threatened by extortionists. BF/BK/JR/GR | Batman #6 [3] | 8-9/41 |
| College psychology professor Jonathan Crane, stung by constant criticism of his shabby wardrobe and eccentric habits, begins a new career as a costumed extortionist, the sinister Scarecrow. Batman ultimately discovers Crane's true identity and brings him to justice. BF/JR/GR NOTES: The text of this story still identified Batman's home city as New York, rather than Gotham. It is worth noting that although some later accounts of the Scarecrow's origin point to his dismissal by the university (specifically for firing a pistol in class) as leading to his criminal career, in the original tale he had already become the Scarecrow before losing his job. | World's Finest #3 | Fall 41 |
| June 28, 1941: Batman, Robin, and Superman make a surprise appearance at a JSA meeting to help the JSA's mission to raise$1,000,000 for war orphans. NOTES: This tale, written by Gardner Fox, was the first time Batman and Superman appeared together in the same story. Their cameo was drawn by Everett Hibbard. The date was established in the retelling of this scene in All-Star Squadron Annual #3. | All-Star Comics #7 (All-Star Squadron #Ann 3) | 10-11/41 (1984) |
| Immediately following the conclusion of their JSA meeting, Batman and Robin aid the JSA against the villainous Ian Karkull, who has gathered a group of super-villains, including the Catwoman, to help him assassinate eight men destined to become future U.S. Presidents. Although Catwoman is assigned to kill Ronald Reagan, then filming the movie Kings Row for Warner Bros. in Hollywood, she has a change of heart, and is wounded saving Batman and Robin from another of Karkull's henchmen. Karkull himself is apparently destroyed by Dr. Fate, releasing a burst of "temporal energy." Unbeknownst to the JSA, that energy will later enhance the longevity of everyone present, allowing them to remain healthy and active even at an advanced age. RT/RHob/JO/RiB/CI/DN/GP/KG NOTES: The villainous Ian Karkull first appeared in the Dr. Fate story in More Fun Comics #69 (7/41), which was written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Howard Sherman. | (All-Star Squadron #Ann 3) | (1984) |
| In a dramatic courtroom speech, Commissioner Gordon hails Batman as a great hero, and appoints him a deputized member of the police force, ending Batman and Robin's days as outlaws in Gotham City. BF/BK/GR NOTES: As previously noted, the events of DC Special #29 (8-9/77), the origin of the Justice Society of America, suggest that Batman and Gordon may have made a private accommodation some time before these events. | Batman #7 [4] | 10-11/41 |
| Batman and Robin meet the Penguin. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: In his autobiography Bob Kane claimed to have created the Penguin based on the cartoon penguin who appeared on Kool cigarette packs in the 1940s. Others involved insist that the Penguin was Bill Finger's invention. Finger's son said in a 1986 interview that the character was actually suggested by his mother, Finger's girlfriend and later wife, Portia. It should also be noted that the Penguin's appearance, including his trademark cigarette holder, bowler hat, and monocle, bears a striking resemblance to the early Dick Tracy villain Broadway Bates (who made his newspaper strip debut on February 26, 1939), and that both villains represent a caricature of actor Edward G. Robinson (1893-1973). | Detective #58 | 12/41 |
| Batman joins Superman and other current and honorary members of the Justice Society at an air show exhibition, where he meets aviator Hop Harrigan. NOTES: This story, a one-page text feature, was Batman's second published appearance with the JSA. Such text stories were included in most Golden Age comics in order to meet a Post Office requirement for second-class mail. The author of the story is unknown. Hop Harrigan first appeared in All-American Comics #1 (4/39). | All-Star Comics #8 | 12/41-1/42 |
| A noble but misguided attempt to use a radium serum to revive the dead transforms Professor Henry Ross into the tragic but deadly Professor Radium, who kills several people and clashes with Batman and Robin before accidentally falling to his death. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: This story was retold in somewhat different form in the final continuity of the Batman daily newspaper strip (September 23-November 2, 1946). In that version of the story, Professor Radium's real name was Professor Zachary Knell. | Batman #8 [2] | 12/41-1/42 |
| Batman and Robin are invited to Washington, D.C., where they are publicly honored by the President and the director of the FBI, who is subsequently wounded by the Joker during an attempt on Batman's life. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: The text of the story identified the FBI chief as "G. Henry Mover," but modern stories have established that Earth-Two's FBI director at this time was J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972), just like on Earth-Prime. | Batman #8 [4] | 12/41-1/42 |
| The Gotham City Police Department erects the Bat-Signal atop police headquarters, which becomes their primary means of contacting Batman. JSch/BK/GR NOTES: The term "Bat-Signal" was not used in this story, and was not coined until late 1945, although the signal itself was the same. According to Bob Kane, the Bat-Signal was inspired by the 1930 film The Bat Whispers, itself based on The Bat (1917-1920), a stage adaptation by Mary Roberts Rinehart of several of her mystery stories. In that film, the killer, who disguised himself with a bat-like mask, used a silhouetted bat symbol to announce his crimes. The signal's role in the Batman feature may also have been inspired by the red, skyscraper-mounted signal used to summon the Phantom Detective, a pulp hero created by D.L. Champion who appeared in his own magazine from Thrilling Publications beginning in 1933. This story was the first Batman adventure written by Jack Schiff, who subsequently became Batman editor from 1943 through the spring of 1964. | Detective #60 | 2/42 |
| Furious at having been left out of the list of "the nation's five favorite comedians" to whom the late comic Happy Hanson, the Joker attempts to murder Hanson's other heirs —Freddie Banter, Claude S. Tilley, Denny Jackson, Ted Allenby, and Buster Parks —in order to gather the clues they have each received to the location of Hanson's hidden fortune. At one point during his chase with Batman and Robin, the Joker passes up the opportunity to unmask Batman, declaring," It's too simple--unworthy of my intelligence! And I like these battles of wits! The hunt...the chase! That's the breath of life to me!" BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: Each of the characters in this story was based on a real-life comedian of the period. Happy Hanson was modeled on silent movie master Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), Freddy Kanter on comedian Eddie Cantor (1892-1964), Claude S. Tilley on W.C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield, 1880-1846), and Buster Parks on Buster Keaton (Joseph Frank Keaton VI, 1895-1966). Denny Jackson was modeled on radio personality Jack Benny (1894-1974), while Ted Allenby was based on Benny's radio rival, Fred Allen (1894-1956). | Detective #62 | 4/42 |
| Batman meets international gentleman thief Michael Baffle. BF/BK/JR/GR Note: This story, entitled "A Gentleman in Gotham," introduced Michael Baffle, clearly based on A.J. Raffles, the "Amateur Cracksman," the creation of E.W. Hornung (brother-in-law of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes), who first appeared in Cassell's Magazine in 1898. Raffles is often cited as an inspiration for Leslie Charteris's famous rogue, the Saint, as well as Ian Fleming's James Bond. Michael Baffle is drawn to resemble distinguished British actor Ronald Colman (1891-1958), who played Raffles in the excellent 1930 film version. | Detective #63 | 5/42 |
| December 6-7, 1941: While appearing at a USO benefit
rally with Superman, Batman and Robin are captured by agents
of the time-traveling Per Degaton and, with the help of Degaton's
ally, Wotan, imprisoned in a magical force field on an island
off the coast of Northern California. As a result, they, along
with most of the Justice Society and other prominent heroes,
are missing in action when Japanese aircraft attack the Pearl
Harbor naval base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu on the morning
of December 7. RT/RiB/JO NOTES: The meeting between Batman and Robin and Superman in this story was inspired by their appearances together on the covers of World's Finest Comics during the war, on which they promoted the sale of war bonds and performed other patriotic activities. The three heroes did not team up in the stories within the issues until World's Finest Comics #71 (7-8/54). Per Degaton's first appearance in print was in All-Star Comics #35 (7/47). Wotan, an enemy of Dr. Fate, first appeared in More Fun Comics #55 (5/40). The events of this date were first described in the 1980s All-Star Squadron series. Although that series made reference to various Golden Age stories, none of these events were ever depicted in the Golden Age. All-Star Squadron began with a 16-page preview insert in Justice League of America #193, which led directly into All-Star Squadron #1 the following month. | (Justice League of America #193) All-Star Squadron #1 | (8/81) 9/81 |
| Batman, Robin, Superman, and their colleagues are freed from Degaton by the Shining Knight and his friend Danette Reilly. Degaton is defeated and returned to his native era, the year 1947. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt makes a radio speech announcing the formation of the All-Star Squadron, a group of all active costumed heroes that will report directly to President Roosevelt. RT/RiB/JO | All-Star Squadron #3 | 11/81 |
| December 8, 1941: The All-Star Squadron, including Batman and Robin, attempts to mount an all-out assault on the Japanese fleet. They are thwarted by a mystic energy field created by the Japanese sorcerer called the Dragon King. This "Sphere of Influence," created by the Dragon King's machinery using the power of the Spear of Destiny and the Holy Grail, causes the most powerful American heroes to fall under Hitler's mental domination if they enter Axis-occupied territory. The assembled heroes realize that they will be confined to Allied territory for most of the war. RT/RiB/JO NOTES: Hitler's possession of the Spear of Destiny in DC history was first revealed in Weird War Tales #50 (2/77). For complete information on the Spear's role in DC continuity, see my Spear of Destiny page. This story contained the first chronological reference to Dr. Daka, the villain of the 1943 Batman serial from Columbia Pictures, although Daka himself did not appear in the comic book series until All-Star Squadron #42-#43 (2-3/85). | All-Star Squadron #4 | 12/81 |
| Batman and Robin track a quartet of crooks who have murdered the fortune teller Jaffeer on a live radio broadcast, but all four criminals perish in the manner prophesied by the dying Jaffeer. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: This story was later rewritten for the Batman Sunday newspaper strip, appearing from August 25-October 13, 1946. The two versions of the story, both written by Bill Finger, were substantially the same, although in the newspaper version the fortune teller's name was Jandor, rather than Jaffeer. The Sunday strip was drawn by Jack Burnley and Charles Paris. A similar story, entitled "Four Killers Against Fate," appeared in World's Finest Comics #40 (5-6/49); the scripter of that story is unknown, but it was apparently drawn by Jim Mooney. | Batman #9 [1] | 2-3/42 |
| December 24, 1941: Batman and Robin reunite a young boy named Timmy with his father, Bob Cratchit, who was wrongly convicted of murder. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: This was the first Batman Christmas story. Bob and Tim Cratchit, of course, are the names of characters from Charles Dickens' famous 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. | Batman #9 [4] | 2-3/42 |
| 1942 | ||
| February 2, 1942: After the Joker attempts to murder Robin by trapping him in a room full of burning sulfur, Batman beats the villain senseless and leaves him on the steps of the Gotham City courthouse for the police. BF/BK/JR/GR (Batman #10) / RT/JO/MM (All-Star Squadron #20) NOTES: The date, which would put this story out of sequence with the other stories published during this period, was established by All-Star Squadron #20, which took place concurrently with these events. | Batman #11 [1] All-Star Squadron #20 | 6-7/42 4/83 |
| February 10, 1942: Robin introduces himself and reveals his true identity to Robotman's friend and assistant, Dr. Chuck Grayson, his distant cousin. Dr. Grayson is subsequently kidnapped by agents of the villainous Ultra-Humanite, after which Batman and Robin join the All-Star Squadron in battling Ultra. RT/JO/MM NOTES: Chuck Grayson and Robotman first appeared in Star-Spangled Comics #7 (4/42). They were created by Jerry Siegel and Leo Nowak, who were clearly heavily inspired by the Adam Link stories written by Otto and Earl Binder (as "Eando Binder") in Amazing Stories magazine in 1939 and 1940. | All-Star Squadron #24-27 All-Star Squadron #Annual 2 | 8-11/83 |
| February 22-23, 1942: Batman and Robin attend the first full meeting of the All-Star Squadron in their headquarters in the Perisphere, on the grounds of the New York World's Fair. Robin has a brief altercation with fellow kid sidekicks Speedy, Dyna-Mite, and Sandy the Golden Boy. RT/RHow/MM NOTES: Speedy, Dan the Dyna-Mite, and Sandy were the sidekicks of Green Arrow, TNT, and Sandman, respectively. All of these heroes were loosely modeled on the winning formula introduced by Batman and Robin. Green Arrow and Speedy, created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 (11/41). TNT and Dyna-Mite, created by Weisinger and Paul Norris, debuted in Star-Spangled Comics #7 (4/42). The Sandman first appeared in Adventure Comics #40 (7/39) and New York World's Fair Comics #1 (1939), but he did not acquire a "superheroic" costume and sidekick until Adventure Comics #69 (12/41). (Although Sandman and Sandy are most associated with Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, the characters were revamped by artist Chad Grothkopf and an unknown writer several months before Kirby and Simon took over the strip.) | All-Star Squadron #31-32 | 3-4/84 |
| February 25, 1942: Batman accompanies Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Plastic Man to London and then to Berlin in pursuit of Captain Marvel of Earth-S, who has fallen under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Spear of Destiny, separating him from his alter ego, Billy Batson. The heroes of Earth-Two eventually free Captain Marvel, and his colleagues, Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel, from Nazi control, and the Marvels return to their own Earth. RT/RiB/RHow (#36) / RT/AJ/RHow (#37) NOTES: This was the first clash between Earth-Two's Superman and Captain Marvel of Earth-S. Captain Marvel, created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck, first appeared in Fawcett Comics' Whiz Comics #2 (2/40). Captain Marvel Jr., created by Ed Herron and Mac Raboy, debuted in Whiz Comics #25 (12/41); Mary Marvel, created by Binder and Marc Swayze, first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (12/42). They were acquired by DC Comics in 1972. This story established that the heroes of Earth-S appeared as comic book characters on Earth-Two, just as the heroes of Earth-Two appeared as comic book character son Earth-One (as originally shown in Flash #123 (9/61)). | All-Star Squadron #36-37 | 8-9/84 |
| March 3-4 1942: Japanese agent Prince Daka leads a group of Japanese metahuman agents, including Kung, Sumo, and Tsunami, in an attempt to steal Starman's Gravity Rod. Their battle with the All-Star Squadron ends when Daka's comrades become frustrated with their leader's dishonorable behavior, forcing Daka to flee without his prize. RT/Put/AJ/Bill Collins NOTES: Kung was created by Gerry Conway and José Delbo for Wonder Woman #237 (11/77); Sumo by Conway, José Luis García-López, and Dan Adkins for All-New Collectors' Edition C-54 (1/77); and Tsunami by Roy Thomas and Rich Howell in All-Star Squadron #33 (5/84). This was Sumo's first chronological appearance, and the first chronological appearance of Daka, the villain of the 1943 Batman movie serial from Columbia Pictures (in which he was played by J. Carroll Naish). | All-Star Squadron #41-43 | 1-3/85 |
| April 1, 1942: Batman and Robin briefly visit New York to aid the All-Star Squadron in the search for the missing JSA members and in the battle against the Monster Society of Evil. RT/MC/AJ/AA/VC NOTES: This story was badged as a Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. The Monster Society of Evil, an organization of nemeses of Captain Marvel, debuted in Captain Marvel Adventures #22 (3/43) by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck. This was actually a chronologically earlier version of the Monster Society, created on Earth-Two, rather than Earth-S. | All-Star Squadron #54 | 2/86 |
| April 12, 1942: Batman and Robin once again attend a meeting of the All-Star Squadron at the Perisphere in New York. They later appear in a photograph of all the Squadron's members. RT/AJ/MC NOTES: All-Star Squadron #60 was the last appearance of the Golden Age Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, and other Earth-Two characters in the All-Star Squadron series. At the end of this issue the effects of the Crisis on Infinite Earths took hold, causing those characters to vanish. | All-Star Squadron #59-60 | 6-7/86 |
| Dick Grayson celebrates his 14th birthday. Bruce Wayne gives him his own miniature version of the Batplane as a gift. JG/BK/JR/GR NOTES: The mini-Batplane was never seen in any subsequent story. | Batman #10 [1] | 4-5/42 |
| Batman and Robin again match wits with the Catwoman, who is masquerading as society figure Marguerite Tone. Catwoman evades capture by startling Batman with a passionate kiss and then making a break for freedom. JSch/BK/JR/GR | Batman #10 [3] | 4-5/42 |
| The Joker, tired of life as a fugitive, turns himself into police, confesses his crimes, and is sentenced to die in the electric chair. After his execution, his body is stolen by his henchmen and revived by a special serum, restoring him to life. Having paid the price for his crimes, the Joker is briefly able to walk the streets a free man, although Batman subsequently implicates him in the crimes carried out by his henchmen, forcing him to flee the law once more. Gotham City radio station WABX is shown to be broadcasting an adventure series entitled "The True Adventures of Batman." BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: There were two unsuccessful attempts to create a real-world Batman radio show. The first was in 1943; only the never-aired pilot, entitled "The Case of the Drowning Seal" (with Scott Douglas as Batman), was produced, and no recording is known to have survived. The second, The Batman Mystery Club, planned in 1950, met a similar fate. Despite these failures to secure them their own radio series, Batman and Robin were frequent guest stars on the Adventures of Superman series on the Mutual Broadcasting System beginning in March 1945. | Detective #64 | 6/42 |
| Batman and Robin come to the aide of district attorney Lee Benson, whose efforts to apprehend gangster Joe Dolan are hampered by his childhood friendship with Dolan, who once saved his life. BF/BK/JR/GR Note: This story was clearly inspired by the 1934 MGM film Manhattan Melodrama, directed by W.S. Van Dyke, in which Clark Gable and William Powell played boyhood friends who ended up on opposite sides of the law: Gable a notorious gambler, Powell a crusading district attorney. | Batman #11 [2] | 6-7/42 |
| Batman encounters state trooper Tom Bolton, who mistakenly believes that Batman murdered his father, gangster Mike Nolan. Batman ultimately persuades Bolton that he has made a mistake after Batman apprehends the real killer. JGr/JB/GR NOTES: This story explicitly states that Mike Nolan was murdered in 1937 and that Batman was already in action at that time. However, the majority of subsequent accounts explicitly indicate that Batman's career began in 1939, the time of his textual debut, so this account can be considered apocryphal. The cover of this issue shows Batman and Robin welcoming the Boy Commandos to the pages of Detective Comics, although the characters do not appear in the same stories within the issue. The Boy Commandos, created by the team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, debuted in the previous issue, Detective Comics #64. | Detective #65 | 7/42 |
| April 1942: Batman and Robin appear on the program Racket Busters, broadcast simultaneously on radio and television. Among those listening in the audience are the Joker, the Penguin, and Catwoman. View Magazine reporter "Scoop" Scanlon makes a concerted effort to prove that Batman is secretly Bruce Wayne, but Batman ultimately outwits him with the aid of dying actor Mark Loring, who impersonates Batman long enough to convince Scanlon that Bruce Wayne and Batman are separate people. Loring dies shortly afterward, taking Batman's secret to the grave. JG/JR/GR NOTES: The date of these events is established by the publication of the May 1942 issue of View during the course of the story; if it was a monthly magazine the May issue would have appeared in early April. The "Racket Busters" program name presumably was a play on Gang Busters, a popular crime anthology series that ran on radio from 1935 to 1957 and briefly on television in 1952. DC published 67 issues of the Gang Busters comic book from 1947 to 1959. This story was the first time Batman and Robin appeared on television. | World's Finest #6 | Sum 42 |
| Batman and Robin visit their Hall of Trophies and recall their encounter with the three Rafferty Brothers, each of whom was ironically killed as a result of the heavy bulletproof vests they wore for protection. DC/JR/GR NOTES: This story explicitly described Batman and Robin's encounter with the Rafferty Brothers as taking place in May and June 1939. That is contradicted by later stories that indicated Robin did not join Batman until spring 1940, the time of his textual debut. This was the first appearance of the Hall of Trophies, although the text strongly suggested that it was located aboveground, rather than underground. | Batman #12 [1] | 8-9/42 |
| May 26, 1942: Gotham City holds a ticker-tape parade in Batman and Robin's honor. A stone statue of the duo is erected outside City Hall. BF/BK/JR NOTES: The mayor of Gotham City, depicted briefly in this story and described as "that hustling, bustling little dynamo of energy," is a caricature of Fiorello LaGuardia (1882–1947), nicknamed "the Little Flower," who served as the mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1945. | Batman #12 [4] | 8-9/42 |
| His mind unhinged after half his face is hideously scarred by acid, former Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Kent turns to crime as Two-Face. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: Two-Face owes an obvious debt to Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, and his appearance to the posters for the 1941 Paramount film version starring Spencer Tracy. His most direct inspiration, however, may have been the Shadow novel The Face of Doom, written by Walter Gibson and published in issue #146 of the Shadow magazine (March 15, 1938). His coin flipping was clearly based on the trademark mannerism of actor George Raft (1895-1980), who first established the habit in the 1932 Paramount gangster film Scarface. Two-Face's origin may also have been partly inspired by the origin of another pulp character, the Black Bat, a heroic district attorney who became a crimefighter after being scarred by acid. The Black Bat, created by Norman Daniels under the house name G. Wayman Jones, appeared in Better Publications' Black Book Detective magazine beginning in July 1939. He was so similar to Batman in details of his costume and modus operandi that both National/DC and Better Publications threatened legal action. (The similarities were apparently purely coincidental.) Two-Face's story was retold in somewhat different form in the June 23 to August 18, 1946 continuity of the Batman Sunday newspaper comic strip (also written by Bill Finger, but drawn by Jack Burnley and Charles Paris). In that version of the story, which incorporated elements from Two-Face's three previous comic book appearances, Two-Face was an actor, Harvey Apollo, not a district attorney, and was killed at the story's end. At one point in this story Two-Face and his men rob the patrons of a movie theater, who are watching an animated Superman cartoon. This was the first time Superman appeared or was mentioned in the Batman series. Fleischer Studios produced a series of 17 lavishly animated Superman shorts for Paramount Pictures between 1941 and 1943, the first of which premiered on September 26, 1941. | Detective #66 | 8/42 |
| After carrying out a new series of crimes based on the number two, Two-Face is apprehended and jailed by Batman. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: The events of this story immediately followed those of Detective Comics #66. The mayor of Gotham City appears briefly in this story, once again depicted as a caricature of Fiorello LaGuardia. | Detective #68 | 10/42 |
| Batman temporarily fires Dick Grayson from his role as Robin after Robin's life is threatened by a vicious criminal. DC/BK/JR/GR | Batman #13 [1] | 10-11/42 |
| While pursuing the Joker, Dick Grayson poses as an autograph collector, traveling around Gotham to get the signatures of famed baseball player Joe DiMaggio and Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman. JSch/BK/JR/GR | Batman #13 [2] | 10-11/42 |
| November 18, 1942: Batman and Robin attend a convention of the world's greatest detectives, organized by the legendary Dana Drye and including Ezra Plunkett, Dr. Tsu, Grace Seers, and Sir John Bart. They soon find themselves investigating the death of Dana Drye, who is apparently murdered during the meeting. Batman and Robin ultimately deduce that Drye's death was actually an elaborately staged suicide. They also learn that Drye had deduced Batman's true identity. To honor the great detective, Batman elects not to reveal the truth about his death, marking this case as (at least publicly) one of his few failures. JSa/JR NOTES: The detective characters in this story were intended to represent various archetypes of the mystery genre (the café-society sleuth, the rural bumpkin detective, the Oriental manhunter, et al), so as to establish Batman as the preeminent fictional sleuth. | Batman #14 [1] | 12/42-1/43 |
| The Penguin offers to plan robberies for other criminals in exchange for a share of the loot, only to double-cross his clients by murdering them and taking all the booty for himself. DC/JB/RB NOTES: This story was the last time the Penguin committed murder before the mid-seventies. | Batman #14 [4] | 12/42-1/43 |
| December 17, 1942: A representative of film producer David O. Selznick meets with Bruce Wayne, who claims to represent Batman, to discuss the possibility of a feature film presenting Batman and Robin. Selznick discusses Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland as likely stars. Bruce breaks off the talks a few weeks later after an unfortunate incident involving the kidnapping of a studio script girl. Stuart M. Kaminsky NOTES: These events were described in a prose short story entitled "The Batman Memos," published in a 1989 anthology edited by Martin H. Greenberg. David O. Selznick (1902-1965) was one of the premier film producers of Hollywood's golden age, his credits including King Kong (RKO, 1933), Manhattan Melodrama (MGM, 1934), A Star Is Born (United Artists, 1937),Gone With the Wind (MGM, 1939), and the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca (United Artists, 1940). Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland costarred memorably in several films, beginning with the classic swashbuckler Captain Blood (Warner Bros., 1935). |
The Further Adventures of Batman (7/89) | |
| 1943 | ||
| A prank by Lois Lane accidentally results in a national newspaper story identifying Clark Kent as Superman. Among the many readers of the story are Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Bruce remarks, "To think he even had me fooled!" Dick replies, "And it's no cinch to fool the Batman!" The paper later prints a retraction indicating that the story was a hoax. JSi/Ed Dobrotka/John Sikela NOTES: This cameo was the first time Batman and Robin appeared in the Superman series. Bruce and Dick's hair was incorrectly colored brown. | Superman #20 | 1-2/43 |
| While masquerading as beautician Elva Barr, the Catwoman falls in love with Bruce Wayne. Batman recognizes "Barr" as the Catwoman in disguise, but hopes that her love for him will compel her to change her ways. He allows her to escape and then publicly courts her as Bruce Wayne; they soon become engaged. However, the Catwoman becomes suspicious of Bruce's motives and confronts him disguised as Linda Page, at which point he admits that his engagement is a sham. Heartbroken and infuriated, the Catwoman returns to her life of crime with a vengeance, only to be arrested by Batman —the first time he has ever turned her over to police. JSch/DS/JR | Batman #15 [1] | 2-3/43 |
| Batman and Robin consider two possible futures for the war effort: one in which the Dynamic Duo wages a doomed struggle against the Nazi and Japanese occupiers of America, another in which they single-handedly destroy an Axis invasion fleet, leading to the surrender of the Axis powers. DC/JB/RaB NOTES: At the time this story was written (probably in the fall of 1942) the U.S. had had a difficult year in the war in the Pacific, and were only preparing to actively enter the battle against Germany, making the outcome of the conflict still an open question. | Batman #15 [3] | 2-3/43 |
| Batman and Robin have a rematch with Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, who has escaped from prison following their last encounter. DC/BK/JR/GR NOTES: This story was the Scarecrow's final Golden Age appearance. The Earth-One Scarecrow, whose early history was similar, appeared next in Batman#189 (2/67). | Detective #73 | 3/43 |
| While pursuing the Joker, Batman and Robin briefly encounter the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripsey. The heroes promise to "get together sometime and talk shop." ?/Hal Sherman Note: This was a brief (four panels) cameo by Batman and Robin in the Star-Spangled Kid strip. The main Batman story in this issue, "Crime of the Month Club" by Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, and George Roussos, pitted Batman and Robin against crooked mystery writer Bramwell B. Bramwell. The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripsey were created by artist Hal Sherman and writer Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman, making their debut in Star-Spangled Comics #1 (10/41). In a variation on the kid-sidekick concept popularized by Batman and Robin, the strip featured a young hero (Sylvester Pemberton) with an adult sidekick (Pat "Stripsey" Dugan). | World's Finest #9 | Spr 43 |
| Batman and Robin take on crooked twin brothers Deever and Dumfree Tweed, who become known as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. DC/BK/JR/GR NOTES: The two villains were inspired by, and took their names from, two peculiar characters in Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. | Detective #74 | 4/43 |
| Alfred, the son of Thomas Wayne's former butler Jarvis, comes to Wayne Manor to fulfill a promise made to his dying father that he would follow in the family tradition by becoming a "gentleman's gentleman." Shortly after his arrival, Alfred, who fancies himself a great amateur detective, accidentally stumbles onto the secret entrance to the Batcave and learns that Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are Batman and Robin. Although Bruce and Dick initially plan to send their bumbling would-be servant away, Alfred convinces them to let him stay on as their butler, cook, chauffeur, and man Friday. GF/BK/JR NOTES: Alfred initially had no last name. He was given the surname "Beagle" in Detective Comics #96 (2/45). Although the name of his Earth-One counterpart was later said to be Pennyworth, the Earth-Two Alfred, as established in Superman Family #211 (10/81), was Alfred Beagle. In current continuity, Alfred Pennyworth used "Alfred Beagle" as a stage name during a brief and undistinguished acting career, as established in Batman #675 (May 2008). | Batman #16 [3] | 4-5/43 |
| May 29-30, 1943: Batman joins forces with the Unknown Soldier to stop a Nazi agent from stealing American atomic secrets. BH/RT/FM NOTES: The year of this story is ambiguous; the climax explicitly takes place on Memorial Day (at this time, May 30), and President Roosevelt is shown to be alive, which means it takes place before April 1945, but there is little textual evidence to suggest whether it takes place in 1943 or 1944. The Unknown Soldier first appeared in Star-Spangled War Stories #151 (7/70). He apparently had counterparts on both Earth-One and Earth-Two. | Brave & Bold #146 | 1/79 |
| Batman and Robin meet B. Boswell Browne, their greatest fan, a kindly old man who
collects memorabilia and souvenirs of his heroes. He subsequently finishes a book on the heroes, for which Batman graciously agrees to provide a preface.
DC/BK/JR NOTES: B. Boswell Browne's name recalls that of James Boswell (1740-1795), 9th Laird of Auchinleck, the Scottish lawyer and writer most famous as the biographer of British writer Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). | Batman #17 [1] | 6-7/43 |
| Batman and Robin encounter the tragic criminal mastermind Dr. Matthew Thorne, the Crime Doctor, a gifted physician who. BF/BK/JR/GR NOTES: There was a popular radio series from 1940-1949 called The Crime Doctor. The series, created by Max Marcin, was about a former criminal who became a respectable criminologist, Dr. Benjamin Ordway, after developing amnesia. After regaining his memory, he was tried and exonerated for his crimes, and became a sleuth. The radio show spawned a series of films from Columbia Pictures, the first of which, starring Warner Baxter as the title character (renamed Dr. Robert Ordway), was released in 1943, about the time this story appeared. The comic book character, however, is more reminiscent of the 1938 Warner Bros. film The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, in which Edward G. Robinson played a doctor who became fascinated with crime after embarking on a project to study the psychology of criminals, eventually becoming a criminal himself. The film was produced and directed by Anatole Litvak and written by John Huston. | Detective #77 | 7/43 |
| Batman and Robin have a rematch with Tweedle Dee
and Tweedle Dum, who are operating an elaborate robbery scheme in a lonely
country inn. JSa/JR/GR NOTES: According to comics writer Mike W. Barr, the plot of this story (entitled "The Secret of Hunter's Inn") was borrowed in large part from a 1935 Ellery Queen mystery novella, The Lamp of God. | Batman #18 [1] | 8-9/43 |
| Batman and Robin have a second encounter with the Crime Doctor,
who is murdered by one of his own men shortly after saving Robin's life. BF/BK/GR NOTES: There was also an Earth-One Crime Doctor, who first appeared in Detective Comics #494 (9/80), and a post-Crisis version of Matthew Thorne, who fought Batman and Robin in Detective Comics #579 (10/87). | Batman #18 [4] | 8-9/43 |
| Two-Face escapes from prison and returns to his life of crime. He has a change of heart, however, after accidentally shooting his former fiancée, Gilda, and surrenders himself to Batman and Robin after helping to apprehend his former henchmen. At his trial, Batman's testimony persuades the court to give Harvey a light sentence, and Harvey learns that the famous plastic surgeon Dr. Ekhart, the one surgeon with the skill to repair his face, has escaped from a German concentration camp. BF/BK/JR/GR | Detective #80 | 10/43 |
| A 21st century lab worker named Rob Callendar is transported to the 20th century by a space-time warp created by a laboratory accident. He attempts to make himself wealthy by stealing a series of objects that are destined to become part of Batman's famous trophy collection, but he is ultimately returned to his own time empty-handed when the time warp wears off. BF/JR/FR | World's Finest #11 | Fall 1943 |
| Batman and Robin visit the hidden undersea kingdom of Atlantis, where they discover that the kingdom's naive rulers, Princess Lanya and Emperor Taro (a look-alike for Dick Grayson), have been persuaded by Nazi U-boat commander
Hauptman Kurt Fritzl to allow him to use Atlantis as a secret base to attack Allied shipping. Batman and Robin persuade Taro and Lanya of Fritzl's treachery and drive the Nazis out, but the Atlantean emperor decides that Atlantis must remain cut off from the surface world. DC/DS NOTES: This version of Atlantis bears no resemblance to the ruins of Atlantis that figured in the origin of the Golden Age Aquaman (who, unlike his Silver Age counterpart, was not a native of Atlantis), as told in More Fun Comics #73 (11/41), or to the versions of Atlantis that appeared in the Superman or Wonder Woman stories of this period. It is possible that on Earth-Two, as on Earth-One, there was more than one undersea civilization called Atlantis. | Batman #19 [2] | 10-11/43 |
| A man named Lyon commits a series of robberies while masquerading as the Joker, leading the real Joker to go after the imposter himself. ?/DS NOTES: A very similar story appears only a few months later, in Detective Comics #85 (3/44) | Batman #19 [3] | 10-11/43 |
| Two months after his trial and conviction for crimes committed as Two-Face, Harvey Kent's face is finally repaired through the efforts of Dr. Ekhart, a brilliant plastic surgeon. Harvey's fiancée, Gilda, promises to wait for his release from prison. BF/BK/JR/GR | Detective #80 | 10/43 |
| Batman and Robin meet Mortimer Drake, the Cavalier. DC/BK/GR | Detective #81 | 11/43 |
| Bruce Wayne briefly loses the custody of Dick Grayson when Dick's unscrupulous uncle, George Grayson, accompanied by a female accomplice posing as his wife, accuses Bruce Wayne of being an unfit guardian. George Grayson's court challenge is defeated after it is exposed as a scheme to extort $1,000,000 from Bruce, and Bruce regains custody of Dick. BF/BK/JR | Batman #20 [4] | 12/43-1/44 |
| Concerned that he lacks "a certain dash" as Batman's assistant, Alfred takes a vacation to a health farm, "cultivatin' a new figure." When he returns, the formerly rotund, clean-shaven Alfred is rail-thin and sports a thin mustache, looking so different that Batman and Robin don't immediately recognize him. DC/JB/GR NOTES: Alfred's appearance was altered to resemble that of William Austin, the actor who played the character in the 1943 Batman movie serial. The first printed appearance of the "skinny" Alfred was in the October 27, 1943 installment of the Batman newspaper comic strip; Detective Comics #83 went on sale about one month later. This story was the first time in the comic book that Batman's underground headquarters was called the Batcave. The Batcave also appeared in the 1943 serial, and may have been conceived by or in conference with the serial's writers. It was used in the newspaper strip starting October 27, 1943. | Detective #83 | 1/44 |
| Batman and Robin match wits with Japanese spymaster Prince Daka, who is attempting to develop a more powerful version of a deadly
"radium gun" designed by Linda Page's uncle, Martin Warren. Daka eventually meets a grisly demise in his own alligator-filled deathtrap. NOTES: This story appeared only in Columbia Pictures' 15-chapter 1943 Batman movie serial, although, as noted above, its villain, Prince Daka (also called Dr. Daka), later appeared in All-Star Squadron #42-#43 (2-3/85). That story, set in March 1942, took place before the events of the serial, and constitutes Daka's first chronological appearance. The serial's first installment implies that the U.S. War Department was aware of Bruce Wayne's dual identity, and caused the draft board to declare him 4-F (unfit for service) so that he could continue his work as Batman. The notion that Batman worked for the government during the war is also implied by several stories in Brave and the Bold featuring the Golden Age Batman in a wartime setting (i.e., Brave and the Bold #84, #146, and #162). There is little evidence in the wartime comic book stories to suggest such a relationship, but it would be a logical explanation for how Bruce Wayne avoided being drafted! Lewis Wilson played Batman in the chapter-play, with Douglas Croft as Robin, Shirley Patterson as Linda Page, William Austin as Alfred, and J. Carroll Naish as Dr. Daka. The serial was written by Victor McLeod, Leslie Swabacker, and Harry L. Fraser and directed by Lambert Hillyer. It was originally released in April 1943, and was re-released in 1954. In late 1965 it was reedited, omitting the serial chapter breaks, into a feature entitled An Evening With Batman and Robin. |
Batman film serial, series 1 | 1943 |
| 1944 | ||
| After serving a year in the state penitentiary
Harvey Kent is released from prison and marries his fiancée, Gilda.
He eventually reestablishes himself in legitimate society and founds his
own law practice. BF/LS/CP NOTES: Harvey's eventual return to legal practice indicates that he received a pardon for his past crimes, although this was never explicitly stated. | (Batman #50 [2]) | (12/48-1/49) |
| Alfred romances a pretty blond maid named Belinda,
unaware that she is actually the Catwoman, who is masquerading as a maid in
order to ‘case' wealthy homes. After helping to capture the Catwoman,
Alfred, still dressed as Batman, gives her a sound spanking before turning
her over to police! AS/Mort Meskin NOTES: This story was the first time Alfred masqueraded as Batman. Batman and Robin have a rematch with the Cavalier. BF/BK/JR NOTES: This issue also featured the debut of the "Adventures of Alfred" back-up strip. The series, drawn by Jerry Robinson and written by Don Cameron and Al Schwartz, ran through Batman #36 (8-9/46). | Batman #22 [1] | 4-5/44 |
| June 4-5, 1944: Batman travels to France on
a secret mission for the American and British governments, where he
encounters Sergeant Rock and helps to make preparations for the D-Day landing at Normandy. BH/NA NOTES: Sgt. Rock first appeared in Our Army at War #81 (6/59). He had counterparts on both Earth-One and Earth-Two. | Brave & Bold #84 | 6-7/69 |
| Batman and Robin have their third clash with the Cavalier, this time deducing his true identity as Mortimer Drake. DC/DS | Detective #89 | 7/44 |
| Using the system of time travel by hypnosis developed by their friend, Professor Carter Nichols, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson make their first trip back in time to visit ancient Rome. JSa/DS/JR NOTES: Carter Nichols also appeared in a number of stories set on Earth-One (e.g., Brave and the Bold#171 (2/81)), but it is unclear how many of Batman's Golden Age time travel stories also occurred on Earth-One. Carter Nichols also exists in current continuity; his first appearance was Detective Comics #700 (August 2010), and his first chronological appearance was in Batman The Return of Bruce Wayne #5 (October 2010). | Batman #24 [1] | 8-9/44 |
| Batman and Robin battle Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, who have
become the mayors of the small town of Yonville. Although stymied by their
foes' ostensible legal authority, Batman and Robin ultimately defeat the
two villains, and Batman is elected mayor of Yonville long enough to
charge the Tweeds with fraud, grand larceny, and attempted murder. DC/DS NOTES: This was the final Golden Age appearance of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Their Earth-One counterparts, whose early history was similar, appeared next in Batman #291 (9/77). This story demonstrated how far Batman and Robin had come from their early days as outlaws. Even after they have been arrested and jailed by the Tweeds, Batman remarks, "Whatever their game, Robin, they've got the law on behind them--and we never fight the law!" | Batman #24 [3] | 8-9/44 |
| The Joker and the Penguin form a fragile alliance in hopes of triumphing over Batman and Robin. Although they succeed in capturing the Dynamic Duo, Batman skillfully sets the villains against each other, leading to their defeat. DC/JR/GR | Batman #25 [1] | 10-11/44 |
|
Apocrypha: September 19, 1944: Batman joins forces with the Blackhawks to
destroy a German base in the Arctic. MW/Dave Cockrum/Dan Adkins NOTES: The Blackhawks were created by Will Eisner and Chuck Cuidera, making their debut in Quality Comics' Military Comics #1 (8/40). Although this story features the Golden Age Batman, it is apocryphal from the standpoint of Earth-Two continuity. There was no Golden Age Batman on Earth-One, and in April 1942 (as shown in All-Star Squadron #50 (10/85)) the Blackhawks of Earth-Two departed for the parallel world of Earth-X, where they later died in action (Justice League of America #107 (9-10/73)). The story is included here for the sake of completeness. This story depicts the Batplane as a heavily modified Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. | Brave & Bold #167 | 10/80 |
| Autumn 1944: While attending to business
affairs in London as Bruce Wayne, Batman travels to the coast of France,
where he helps Sgt. Rock defeat a plan by the Iron Major to sabotage Allied
armor units. Bill Kelley/JA NOTES: The Iron Major, Sgt. Rock's greatest wartime nemesis, first appeared in Our Army at War #158 (9/65). | Brave & Bold #162 | 5/80 |
| Batman and Robin match wits with Tweed
Wickam, a corrupt politician and fixer whose crooked administration has been
running roughshod over the town of Twin Mills, and his chief lieutenant, the
deadly marksman Jojo. ASch/BK/CP NOTES: Jojo was drawn as a dead ringer for actor Peter Lorre (1904-1964), who portrayed a variety of sinister characters in films such as M (1931), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), and The Maltese Falcon (1941). | Batman Daily | 10/44-1/45 |
| Batman and Robin are caught up in a confounding
mystery incorporating elements of various children's nursery rhymes. They
soon discover that the whole bizarre scenario has been staged by
Adventure, Inc., a group that stages costume adventures and mysteries, which
has mistaken the real Batman and Robin for their next clients. BF/JB/CP NOTES: Bill Finger later rewrote this story, incorporating Superman, for World's Finest Comics #83 (7-8/56). That version of the story was drawn by Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye. | Batman Sunday | 11-12/44 |
| Batman and Robin finally succeed in apprehending
and jailing the Cavalier. DC/DS NOTES: This was the fourth and final Golden Age appearance of the Cavalier. According to Who's Who in the DC Universe #4 (6/85), Mortimer Drake served his time and subsequently retired to a quiet life in his Gotham City mansion. His Earth-One counterpart, who had a similar early history, was next seen in Wonder Woman #212 (6-7/74). | Batman #26 [1] | 12/44-1/45 |
| December 11, 1944: Batman is shot twice in the abdomen by a criminal named "Mad Dog" Bilker. DV?/WM/CP? | (World's Finest #50) | (2-3/51) |
| 1945 | ||
| Hoping to impress Batman and Robin with his
detective skills, Alfred takes a month-long vacation in the small town of
Middleton, where he goes into business as a private detective. DC/DS/GR NOTES: This story gave Alfred's last name as "Beagle," the first time he was given a surname. | Detective #96 | 2/45 |
| After intercepting one of Alfred's letters to his
niece, Valerie (whom Alfred has never actually met), in which Alfred
claimed to have become "an industrial magnate" in America, a con woman named
Gertrude poses as Valerie in an attempt to swindle him. Batman, Robin, and
Alfred ultimately realize that Valerie is an imposter, and Alfred helps his
masters bring the con woman and her accomplices to justice. BF/JB/CP NOTES: This story once again gave Alfred's full name as Alfred Beagle. Alfred describes his niece as being 22 years old at the time of this story, and says that he never met the girl because she was raised in Australia and did not come to England until after Alfred had already left for America. | (Batman Sunday ) | (2-3/45) |
| March 1945: While pursuing the sinister master
spy Zoltan, Batman is captured and encased in a wax-like shell. Dick
Grayson, knocked unconscious and left drifting in a rowboat by Zoltan's men, is found
by Superman, who helps Robin rescue Batman and apprehend Zoltan. Superman
learns Batman and Robin's secret identities, but they remain ignorant of his
identity as Clark Kent. RT/RiB/FM NOTES: This storyline, aired on the Adventures of Superman radio series from February 28 to March 15, 1945, was the first time Superman, Batman, and Robin participated in an adventure together. It was recounted in World's Finest Comics #271, which established it as part of Earth-Two continuity. While some radio show events also took place on Earth-Two, the radio series is sometimes at odds with both the contemporary comics and with Earth-Two continuity (for example, the radio show strongly implied that Batman and Robin operated in Metropolis). Superman made his radio debut in a syndicated series that debuted on February 12, 1940. The series ran in syndication through March 9, 1942, and resumed on the Mutual Broadcasting System, under the title The Adventures of Superman, on August 31, 1942. Superman and Clark Kent were played for most of the series by Clayton "Bud" Collyer. At various times the role of Batman was played by Stacy Harris, Matt Crowley, and Gary Merrill. Robin was played by Ronald Liss. Interestingly, in 1966 Ronald Liss wrote the scripts for a set of audio adventures on a record album entitled The Official Adventures of Batman and Robin. The record's four stories included the origins of Batman and Robin; a Penguin story, based on the comic book story "Parasols of Plunder" from Batman #70 (4-5/52), originally written by Bill Woolfolk and drawn by Lew Sayre Schwartz and Charles Paris; and a Joker story, incorporating elements of the Joker's first two stories from Batman #1 by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson and the story "The Joker's Utility Belt" by David Vern, Dick Sprang, and Charles Paris from Batman #73 (10-11/52). Liss reprised his role as Robin on the record, with Jack Curtis as Batman and Jackson Beck, narrator of the Superman radio series, providing the narration. The record was produced and directed by Herb Galewitz, and released by MGM's Leo the Lion Records label (CH-1019). | Superman radio (World's Finest #271) | 3/45 (9/81) |
| April 15, 1945: Batman joins his JSA
comrades in Washington, D.C., where they serve as an honor guard at the
funeral of President Roosevelt. RT/RK/AA (America vs. the Justice Society) / RT/DR/MGu (Last Days of the JSA) NOTES: Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia on April 12, 1945. | (America vs. the JSA #1) (LAST DAYS) | (1/85) (1986) |
|
Apocrypha: In an alternate timeline created by the effects of the Crisis on
Infinite Earths and the unwitting involvement of the Spectre, Adolf Hitler,
seeing Germany's ruin at hand, uses the power of the Spear of Destiny to
bring about the end of the world. Immediately following FDR's funeral the
Justice Society attempts to invade Hitler's bunker in Berlin to wrest the
Spear from Hitler, but although several JSA members, including Batman, make
it into the dictator's inner sanctum, they are too late to stop him from
completing his doomsday spell. Fortunately, a heroic sacrifice by the aging Justice
Society of 1985 prevents this scenario from coming to pass. RT/DR/MGu NOTES: Historically, Adolf Hitler and his mistress, Eva Braun, apparently died by their own hands on April 30, 1945, although their bodies were burned and never conclusively identified. According to Unknown Soldier #268 (10/82) Hitler was actually assassinated by the Unknown Soldier, who afterwards was himself slain in the streets of Berlin. The events of that story (by Bob Haney, Dick Ayers, and Gary Talaoc) presumably took place on Earth-Two, as other stories showed the Unknown Soldier to have survived the war on Earth-One, but were not reflected in Last Days of the JSA. | LAST DAYS | 1986 |
| Batman makes a radio broadcast and testifies before the U.S. Senate to support legislation aimed at providing greater opportunities for ex-convicts. ASch/JR | Batman #28 [4] | 4-5/45 |
| May 7, 1945: Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, who became the German Reichsfuhrer after the death of Adolf Hitler, officially surrenders to the Allies, ending the war in Europe. The following day, May 8, is celebrated as V-E (Victory in Europe) Day. | ||
| Bruce Wayne becomes smitten with a young woman
named Karen Drew. He becomes entangled in a dangerous intrigue when
Karen is blackmailed by ruthless smuggler Wright, who convinces her
that she has killed his business rival, Dan Mitchell. Bruce discovers that
Mitchell is not really dead, and helps Karen and her father bring Wright and
his men to justice. JSch/JB/CP NOTES: Neither Bruce Wayne nor Dick Grayson appeared in costume in even one strip of this 10-week continuity. The too-infrequent presence of the costumed leads was one of the factors that contributed to the early demise of the Batman newspaper comic strip. At the request of writer (and series editor) Jack Schiff, artist Jack Burnley modeled Karen Drew on actress Lauren Bacall (née Betty Joan Perske, 1924- ).The villainous Wright was based on actor Sidney Greenstreet (1879-1954),in particular his roles in the Warner Bros. films The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Across the Pacific (1942), while one of Wright's henchmen was modeled on quintessential movie tough guy Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), Greenstreet's frequent co-star and, from 1945 until his death, Bacall's husband. | Batman Daily | 4-7/45 |
| While Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Alfred are away on a fishing vacation, crooks rob Wayne Manor. Batman and Robin's efforts to apprehend the thieves are complicated when Hawke and Wrenn, a pair of down-at-heels private detectives, try to shore up their business by masquerading as Batman and Robin. DC/JR | Batman #29 [3] | 6-7/45 |
| Commissioner Gordon gives Batman and Robin their
most difficult assignment to date: finding an apartment in Gotham City for
Phyllis Parker, the daughter of "Big Ed" Parker, a major contributor to the
police emergency fund. ASch/BK/CP NOTES: Serious housing shortages were a fact of life in most American cities during and following World War Two. The situation was reflected in the popular culture of the time, including films like Columbia Pictures' 1943 comedy The More the Merrier, starring Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn. | Batman Daily | 7-9/45 |
| August 14, 1945: Imperial Japan surrenders unconditionally. August 15is celebrated as V-J (Victory in Japan) Day. | ||
| After one of his accomplices, a girl named
Dixie Lamarr, shoots and kills a federal agent, gang leader Dr.
Bly frames Lois Lane, a perfect double for Dixie, for the killing. Batman and Robin
join forces with Superman to apprehend the real Dixie and exonerate Lois of the charges against her. NOTES: This radio storyline, which originally aired from September 4 to September 24, 1945, was written by Ben Peter Freeman. Dixie Lamarr was voiced by Joan Alexander, who also played Lois Lane for most of the run of the Superman radio series. | Superman radio | 9/45 |
| After the crooked treasurer of the Wayne Motor Company embezzles a large amount of money from the company, Bruce Wayne decides to personally repay the defrauded stockholders, leaving him penniless. Alfred is briefly compelled to support his masters by mowing lawns to earn enough money to buy gasoline for the Batmobile. The dishonest treasurers later apprehended by police, and Bruce Wayne's fortune is restored. DC/WM | Detective #105 | 11/45 |
| Following his battle with Henry Miller, a Nazi agent transformed into an "Atom Man" by injections of liquefied Kryptonite into his veins, Clark Kent enlists the aid of Batman and Robin to help him recover the remaining pieces of Kryptonite, which have fallen into the hands of the sinister Crescent and Star Gang. Clark reveals to Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson that he knows their secret identities, and reveals to Bruce that he is secretly Superman. NOTES: Henry Miller, the Nazi "atom man," next appeared in World's Finest Comics #271 (9/81), where he was called the "Atoman," establishing his existence on Earth-Two. This radio storyline, which ran from December 4, 1945 through January 8, 1946, was written by Ben Peter Freeman. Superman learned Batman and Robin's true identities in their first encounter in March 1945, but Batman didn't learn Superman's secret identity until the December 7, 1945 episode of The Adventures of Superman. Curiously, they did not share this information with Robin, who remained unaware that Clark Kent was Superman. | Superman radio | 12/45 |
| December 7, 1945: The All-Star Squadron disbands on the fourth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. NOTES: This date was established only in the World at War sourcebook written by Ray Winninger for the Mayfair Games DC Heroes Role-Playing Game. | World at War Sourcebook (1991) | |
| The Joker sets out to humiliate Batman and Robin with a series of pranks inspired by college fraternity initiation rites. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne buys a star sapphire as a birthday gift for Linda Page. DC/DS NOTES: The title of this story, "Rackety Rax Racket," seems to have been inspired by the 1932 film Rackety Rax (dir. Alfred L. Werker, 20th Century) starring Victor McLaglen. This was the final Golden Age appearance of Linda Page. Her next appearance is in flashback in Brave and the Bold #197 (4/83), describing events of 1955. | Batman #32 [1] | 12/45-1/46 |
| Professor Carter Nichols sends Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson back in time to the early 17th century, where, as Batman and Robin, they meet the Three Musketeers. DC/DS NOTES: This story treats the Three Musketeers as real historical personages, rather than fictional characters. While Alexandre Dumas, author of the immortal 1844 novel The Three Musketeers, based his heroes very loosely on real people (Athos on Armand de Sillègue d'Athos d'Autevielle (1615-1644); Porthos on Isaac de Portau (dates unknown); Aramis on Henri d'Aramitz (?-1674); and, most famously, D'Artagnan on Charles de Batz (1618-1673)); those historical figures had little resemblance to the colorful figures of the novel. The Musketeers in this story are clearly Dumas' Musketeers. | Batman #32 [3] | 12/45-1/46 |
| Batman and Robin round up a gang of car thieves led by the vicious, mumbling villain Lockjaw. ASch/JB/BK/CP NOTES: The nearly incomprehensible Lockjaw is very similar to a later Dick Tracy villain, Mumbles, who first appeared in the Tracy strip in October 1947. | Batman Daily | 11/45-2/46 |
Continue: The Postwar Years…
Introduction
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