Batman #91 (April 1955)



Odd to go an entire three stories without getting one by Bill Finger. Finger has been writing the lion's share of Batman stories in this thread thus far, so this is more than a little surprising.

While I generally don't discuss non-Batman features, I was a bit surprised by the Peter Porkchops one-pager, which sends a very clearly anti-McCarthy message to young kids:



I'm not sure it took much courage to print this kind of thing now that McCarthy was on the outs, but considering the hold he had over the nation until just recently, it feels subversive all the same.



"The Living Bat-Plane!"

Script: Edmond Hamilton
Pencils: Dick Sprang
Inks: Charles Paris
Colors: ?
Letters: Pat Gordon

Grade: C+




While I was aware Batman had a Bat-Plane prior to this issue, it didn't seem to command a lot of attention until now. Suddenly, it plays a key role in every story in this issue. While it's cool to see Batman having such high tech tools at his disposal, and while Jets were certainly the very emblem of cutting edge technology in the 1950s, I really don't understand how a Bat-Plane makes any sense for Batman at all. He's not globe-trotting; he is fighting crime in one city, down narrow streets and alleyways, in and out of buildings. Even with vertical take-off and landing capabilities, how often was he really going to need this thing while fighting crime?



We're still a few years away from the introduction of the Whirley-bats. Those certainly made a lot more sense to me.


The story is silly, and yet the action is solid: A scientist creates a means for Batman and Robin to remotely control their vehicles, and the controls fall into the wrong hands. Fighting the Batmobile and the Bat-plane makes for great action AND forces Batman and Robin to prove that they are better than their tools, even while showing off just how cool these tools are.




Unfortunately, Hamilton feels the need to tack on a mystery in the third act, I guess in order to create more anticipation. What's in the Bat-Plane's secret compartment? Why would it have the ability to "control" Batman and Robin?

The solution? Dummies.



Really? Their greatest concern, while criminals were flying their high powered jet through Gotham and nose-diving civilians, was that someone might find their dummies and use them to impersonate them? AND what did Batman and Robin do as soon as they found them? They threw them out of the plane, over a large crowd, where anyone would see and have the opportunity to take those dummies.

Idiocy.


Important Details:


1. This story adds yet another far-out scientist the Dynamic Duo works with: Dr. Philip Winters.



However, this will prove to be his only appearance.



Minor Details:

1. While Hamilton does a questionable job on the plot, I truly love his narration here, ably complimented by Sprang and Paris.



I'm honestly surprised to find something that eloquent in an Atom-Age Batman story.


2. Speaking of Sprang, I adore this panel:




3. The GCPD must have a pretty hefty budget:



A little surprising that they're getting that kind of funding when a masked vigilante does most of their work for them.




"Batman's Publicity Agent!"

Script: ?
Pencils: Sheldon Moldoff
Inks: Charles Paris
Colors: ?
Letters: Pat Gordon

Grade: C

A criminal mastermind decides the most brilliant way to hinder Batman is to secretly finance a publicity campaign for him, and it's every bit as stupid as it sounds. Really not too much to say about this one beyond attempting to solve the mystery of who wrote it. We can be reasonably sure it isn't Finger. His repeated message of sacrificing personal comfort for the greater good would be at direct odds with the implicit message of this story:



In fact, this story feels very much like it was written (once again) by Edmond Hamilton, boasting several notable similarities to the next story in this volume (also written by Hamilton).

For one, both stories center around Gotham having elaborate clubs with extensive resources, where wealthy citizens spend their time obsessing over surprisingly niche interests. This story has the Gotham Heroes Club, where everyone dresses up like their favorite hero and thrashes villains if they happen to crash the party:



and the next story will center around the Gotham Explorers Club, itself a place of immense resources and niche interests:




Another similarity is the surprisingly lame mid-combat banter depicted in both stories. Here's Batman in this story:



and here's the villain in the next one:




Finally, there's the unmistakable fact that all three stories give a surprising amount of attention to the Bat-Plane, though I suppose this could have been at Schiff's request.



Minor Details:

1. This panel has gotten me thinking:



I'd assumed the big villains were being purposefully de-emphasized at this point, as they seldom seem to show up on the covers of this era. If the writers are comfortable acknowledging that Batman has a Rogues Gallery in 1955, then why the hell aren't they using it? They have to come up with five plots a month, and no one ever says, "Hey, let's just bring back the Joker"?




"The Map of Mystery!"

Script: Edmond Hamilton
Pencils: Dick Sprang (signed as Bob Kane)
Inks: Charles Paris
Colors: ?
Letters: Pat Gordon

Grade: D

Definitely my least favorite story of this bunch, the conflict centers on an explorer who finds a lost Incan ruin and wants to keep the location secret, while an unknown colleague seeks to discover the location for his own gain. My problem with this story is that I have no idea what's at stake or why I should care.



Why are Batman and Robin even involved? Is it to save the indigenous people? Well, they're never mentioned nor shown, so I doubt it. Is it to preserve the dignity of these religious relics? Apparently not, since the antagonist topples all but one of them in an effort to stop Batman and Robin at the end. Is the antagonist even breaking the law? Well, not really beyond ransacking an apartment and letting loose some dangerous ants in order to create a diversion.

So then the real goal must have just been to help a wealthy amateur explorer keep his secret.



Batman expending all of his energy to protect a wealthy man from having his favorite secret uncovered by a colleague? Bill Finger never would have written a story like that.


Minor Details:

1. Whereas Finger gave us a clear impression only two months back that Batman and Robin only suit up as needed, Hamilton has them going on regular patrols:



It didn't really occur to me until this moment that Batman and Robin of this era only seem to fight crime by day. Is this a morality thing (the adolescent sidekick needs a bedtime), is it so as not to have Batman associated with vampires and other supernatural beings now forbidden by the code, is it for the writer's sake (everyone is awake, and every business is open), or is it for the sake of the colorist?


2. The ants fiasco was such an unnecessary space-filler. What a poorly constructed story.

I’ve read the story from World’s Finest #75. It’s OK but it’s not one I’m particularly fond of. I looked it up on Mike’s Amazing World to see if I have a reprint in my collection or if it’s something I got from the library. It’s in Batman Annual #7, which is one of the comics I keep on the nightstand because I read it so much. That I didn’t remember it’s reprinted in one of my favorite Batman reprint books should be a tip-off that it’s not a story I’m enthused about.

But sometimes I re-read these subpar Batman stories and suddenly ... I get it! I used to think Robin Died at Dawn was a dumb story. But now - and for a long time - I consider it a classic.

So I’ll give Superman and Robin another try. I’m intrigued by the Purple Mask Gang and how they adapted to the challenge of Superman when they were expecting to go up against Batman. It doesn’t seem fair.

It stands for Independent News, the distribution company owned by National/DC, and one of the biggest distributors in America at the time. I'm not an expert, but other comic companies also used them for distribution, such as EC, and most notably, Goodman/Marvel after the fiasco in the late 50s that left them without a distributor (and Independent News capped them at 8 titles a month for a decade until being sold to Cadence Industries, which owned it's own distribution company, Curtis Circulation).

Did someone say "an eccentric millionaire's hobby"?

I’m so happy to see so many ancient Batman reviews! I just wish they hadn’t all popped up when I’m kind of busy. I guess I’ll make scattered comments over the next few days on some of the subjects I found interesting.

This era is not quite a black hole for me as I’ve seen scattered stories, like Batmen of All Nations and the Brane Taylor story and the Aunt Agatha story and the Mental Giant. But there certainly are a lot of them I haven’t read and it’s nice to find out a little bit about something like The Batboy, which I only know from the cover.

One thing that strikes me - oddly enough - is that the much-maligned Aliens Attack era from a few years later seems to be a lot more interesting in general than the stories here. Maybe they decided to include more sci-fi because they were running out of ideas, especially within the restrictions of the code.

Or maybe it’s just me. Although many of them are irredeemably dumb, I like the inventiveness of the stories from the period when it was all random aliens, weird transformations and big monsters.

Here’s some of the topics I hope to tackle in the next few days:

A. The Purple Mask Gang
B. The Joker and the Penguin
C. Gotham newspapers!

Perhaps it has to do with the Comics' Code's edict that evil has to lose in the end. If the villains come back, did they really get defeated?