• HISTORY
• WHO'S WHO
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  • 00 Introduction
  • 01 Pre-War
  • 02 Golden Age
  • 03 All-Star Squadron
  • 04 Young All-Stars
  • 05 Post-War
  • 06 Silver Age
  • 07 Infinity, Inc.
  • 08 Legacies
  • 09 JSA
  • 10 JSA
• JSI / EARTH-2
  • Membership
  • 00 Introduction
  • 01 Golden Age
  • 02 All-Star Squadron
  • 03 War's End
  • 04 Post-War
  • 05 Silver Age
  • 06 Infinity, Inc.-now
• ELSEWORLDS
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• GOLDEN AGE BATMAN
• SPEAR OF DESTINY

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Golden Age Batman

By Aaron Severson

Introduction

In the beginning, a criminal killed his parents. In the end, a criminal killed him. In between those two acts of dread finality —for forty years —he fought the forces of violence with nothing but his gloved fists and his keen brain. He's forgotten now...the very Earth that spawned him swallowed up by cosmic catastrophe and replaced by another Earth, a newer universe. But that's today. And today didn't get where it is...without yesterday. 

—from Secret Origins #6, September 1986 (script by Roy Thomas)

This work is a chronicle of the life and times of the original (Golden Age) Batman, who—before the Crisis on Infinite Earths brought radical changes to the DC universe in 1986—lived on the parallel world of Earth-Two. On Earth-Two, Batman began his costumed career in 1939, married Selina Kyle (the Catwoman) in 1955, and had a daughter, Helena Wayne, who ultimately became the Huntress just before Batman's untimely death in 1979.

The chronology traces his life from his origins in the hard years just before World War Two to his swashbuckling journeys through time and space in the 1950s to the life and death of his heroic daughter in the eighties. It's a tragic story: a noble hero, conceived in death, who found a brief moment of happiness in the arms of one of his greatest foes, only to be swallowed up in the end —along with his entire family —by the same darkness in which he was born. It is the essence of the Dark Knight.

Standards

Codes

This chronology does not list all of Batman's adventures, which would take a document many times this size, but it lists crucial events in his life and the lives of his family, and various points of historical interest. All events are fully annotated, including the source material.

• First appearances: If a story contains a character's first appearance in print, the character's name is shown in boldface type. Note that a character's first appearance in print is not necessarily his or her first chronological appearance.
• Dates: The events of each story are generally assumed to have taken place on the publication date, or on the date specified in the story, if different. Where precise dates could be established, an entry is preceeded with boldface type (e.g., December 7, 1941).
• Parentheses: If an event is described in the story as having taken place at an earlier time, or an event is presented as a flashback within a story, the event is listed at the time it occurred and the issue and publication date references are shown in parentheses. For example, World's Finest Comics #53 (August-September 1953) contains a retrospective of the life of Commissioner Gordon, which (among other things) includes his birth date. This event is listed in chronological order (January 5, 1900); the citation shown is (World's Finest #53) with the date (8-9/53) of the citation.
• Brackets: A bracketed number following the issue (e.g., [3]) signifies which story within that issue. Throughout the Golden Age, all Batman stories were all relatively short, ranging from 6-15 pages. Batman appeared in one story of that length in each issue of Detective Comics and World's Finest Comics (through 1954, after which he shared the main story with Superman), and three to five stories in each issue of Batman. Continuity from story to story within the same issue was relatively uncommon, although not unheard of. Full-issue ("book-length" or "novel-length" stories) were not seen in Batman until the early 1960s. Because this chronology does not attempt to list every published story, it should not be assumed that the listing for any single issue of Batman represents the whole contents of that issue. In addition, an effort has been made to separate events taking place in separate stories in the same issue.

Sources

The material in this chronology is drawn from:

• Golden Age stories (1939–1958) and
• Earth-Two stories (published 1963–1986 and involving the "Golden Age" Batman and his friends, colleagues, and enemies).
• Other Media: Though most events are from the comic books, there are some from other media. Because World's Finest Comics #271 (September 1981) established that the first meeting of Superman and Batman in the 1945 season of the Adventures of Superman radio series was part of Earth-Two continuity, other events from the radio series are also treated as part of Earth-Two continuity (although certain aspects of the radio continuity are at best problematic from the point of view of Earth-Two history). Similarly, because the villain of the 1943 Columbia movie serial, Dr. Daka, was later introduced to the comic books in All-Star Squadron, the events of the serials are also considered to be at least partly canonical. Not all of the events of the Batman newspaper comic strip of 1943-46, however, can be considered as part of the same continuity. Some of the stories in the strip were rewritten from previous comic book stories, and cannot be easily reconciled with the events in the comic books.

Methodology: What's Golden Age?

The question of which stories should be considered part of the Golden Age canon is the subject of some debate. Assigning a fixed cut-off point based on either date or issue number is arbitrary and potentially misleading. The early careers of the Earth-Two (Golden Age) and Earth-One (Silver Age) Batmans were substantially similar, and many events took place on both Earth-One and Earth-Two (for example, as shown in Brave and the Bold #182, there was a Batwoman on both Earth-One and Earth-Two). By the same token, some adventures, although certainly Golden Age stories, were not part of Earth-Two continuity.

For the purposes of this chronology, it was generally assumed that stories in Batman and Detective Comics prior to roughly 1960 took place on Earth-Two (although they may also have taken place on Earth-One) if they could reasonably be reconciled with the timeline established for the Golden Age Batman's career. Batman's appearances in other comic books after 1954, including his team-ups with Superman in World's Finest Comics from issue #71 (July-August 1954), were assumed to have taken place solely on Earth-One except as noted herein. Where contradictions arose, Earth-Two stories were given precedence over Golden Age stories. For example, Batwoman did not make her comic book debut until the July 1956 issue of Detective Comics, but a key Earth-Two story (Brave and the Bold #197) shows her in action in 1955. Therefore, the chronology assumes that Batwoman's debut on Earth-Two took place sometime prior to 1955.

In general, stories after 1956 are included only if:

1. They were specifically mentioned in an Earth-Two stories (e.g., the Spinner story in Batman #129)
2. They're implied by an Earth-Two story (e.g., the origin of Batwoman)
3. They make some interesting point about the history or continuity (e.g., the Club of Heroes stuff, recently referenced in "Batman: R.I.P.")

Creator Abbreviations

One of the most unfortunate aspects of Golden Age comics is that their creators often remain sadly and undeservedly anonymous. Many early comic books were produced in assembly-line fashion by studios of assistants, for companies that rarely printed creator credits (so as to avoid ownership disputes and payment of royalties), with recordkeeping that was frequently poor or nonexistent. Batman stories published before the mid-1960s did not list any names except that of Bob Kane, Batman's co-creator. The question of who worked on a given story is often a matter of confusion and controversy, especially when it involves writers—while pencillers and inkers can often be identified by a careful attention to stylistic details, uncredited scripts often remain a mystery. Nevertheless, I feel that an effort should be made to at least try to credit the people who created the stories and characters.

The credits listed here for pre-1965 stories represent the best information that I have been able to gather. The question of proper credit is one that confounds comic book scholars far more knowledgeable than I, and I don't doubt that there are a fair number of errors, owing both to incorrect data and simple mistakes and omissions on my part. If you have corrections to any of the credit information herein, please let me know and I will add it to future updates of this chronology. A special thanks is due to the historians of the Grand Comics Database and to Bob Hughes, who maintains the excellent Who's Whose in the DC Universe web site, from whom much of this data was obtained.

WRITERS		ARTISTS
Mike W. Barr – MWB Cary Bates – CB Alan Brennert – AB E. Nelson Bridwell – ENB Don Cameron – DC Joey Cavalier – JC Gerry Conway – GC Arnold Drake – AD Bill Finger – BF Gardner Fox – GF Mike Friedrich – MF Joe Greene – JG Edmond Hamilton – EH Bob Haney – BH France E. Herron – FH Paul Kupperberg – Put Paul Levitz – PL Elliot S. Maggin – ESM Denny O'Neil – DON Marty Pasko – MPa Bob Rozakis – BR Joe Samachson – JSa Jack Schiff – JSch Alvin Schwartz – ASch Jerry Siegel – JSi Roy Thomas – RT David Vern – DV Marv Wolfman – MW Dave Wood – DW Bill Woolfolk – BW		Neal Adams – NA Alfredo Alcala – AA Jim Aparo – JA Terry Austin – TA Mark Beachum – MB John Beatty – JBe Rich Buckler – RiB Tim Burgard – TB Jack Burnley – JB Ray Burnley – RaB Frank Chiaramonte – FC Mike Clark – MC Gene Colan – GC Vince Colletta – VC Mike DeCarlo – MDC Tony DeZuniga – TDZ Dick Dillin – DD Ric Estrada – RE George Freeman – GF Walter Gibson - WG Joe Giella – JGi Keith Giffen – KG Mike Gustovich – MGu Don Heck – DH Mike Hernandez – MH Richard Howell – RHow Rick Hoberg – RHob Carmine Infantino – CI Arvell Jones – AJ Bob Kane – BK		Rafael Kayanan – RK Stan Kaye – SK Bob Layton – BL Mike Machlan – MM Gary Martin – GM Todd McFarlane – TM Frank McLaughlin – FM Sheldon Moldoff – SM Jim Mooney – JM Win Mortimer – WM Jerry Ordway – JO Charles Paris – CP Bruce Patterson – BP Chuck Patton – CPt George Pérez – GP Fred Ray – FR Marshall Rogers – MR David Ross – DR George Roussos – GR Bernard Sachs – BSa Alex Saviuk – AS Kurt Schaffenberger – KS Lew Sayre Schwartz – LS Mike Sekowsky – MS Dick Sprang – DS Joe Staton – JSt Romeo Tanghal – RoT Stan Woch – SW Wally Wood – WW

Batman Series

For the sake of conciseness, the non-comic sources referenced in this chronology have been abbreviated. These are the prominent Batman series indexed in this Chronology…

Author’s Note

This chronology began as an exercise in trivia, exploring an obscure corner of DC comics continuity. It was not just obscure, it was also obsolete. Not only had the “Golden Age” Batman long since been shuffled off to an alternate world called “Earth-Two” (killed off in 1979), but he was declared retroactively null and void back in 1986. So his relevance to the current lexicon of DC comics and importance in comprehending the involved, labyrinthine saga of the modern Batman is basically nill.

So what was the interest? I’ve long had a peculiar fascination with the Earth-Two Batman that began back in 1984, when I saw a retailer poster for a mini-series called America versus the Justice Society. That poster was a reproduction of Jerry Ordway’s cover for issue #1, showing a spectral Batman looking accusingly at members of the Justice Society of America (with whom I was not yet familiar), with a caption proclaiming, “Batman speaks from beyond the grave...to accuse the JSA of TREASON!” Now that certainly caught my attention—I’d always been a Batman fan, dating back to my earliest coherent childhood memories. The discovery that there had been an “old” Batman who had married, had kids, and died was both intriguing and creepy. The notion that my previously ageless childhood hero was dead created an odd and vaguely unsettling sense of mortality, which perhaps was why it stuck in my head.

When I first started the chronology it was intended as a quick exercise to save me time; over the years I’ve found myself fielding questions from others who’ve stumbled upon these obscure stories and been curious about them. As it developed, it also provided an opportunity to delve into the roots and history of the character. As a result there’s information here on Batman’s 1940s movie serials, the appearances of Batman and Robin on the radio, their short-lived newspaper strip, the origins of familiar aspects of the mythos like the Batarang and Batmobile, and the various things that influenced and inspired Batman’s creators.

I think the results are interesting, surprising, and often enlightening. I hope you enjoy it.

A special thanks is also due to Mike Kooiman, whose chronology format I adapted for this project.

—Aaron Severson

Begin reading the Batman Chronology …

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