Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #37

Wow, you don't read one of these Golden Age Batman's for awhile and suddenly the poor writing is hard to follow.

Overview: The essentials of this plot is that Batman saves a boat from being destroyed by a foreign agent. That's really all there is to that story. Batman saves a man from some mobsters who ends up turning on him because he's a sort of double agent. Then Batman foils a plot and the head Mobster Turg ends up being a Count.

Final Thoughts: This was not a good issue. Sometimes you get a story that you can follow and draw entertainment out of even bad writing. This issue was not that. This was just a rough read. The story didn't spend more than a few panels on any particular scene and the setup was just kind of silly.

I'm looking forward to the next issue as that introduces Robin into the series and then we can get into the regular Batman title.

Overall I give this book an F.

Batman: Rebirth #1

So let's dig into the series I was looking forward to the most with Rebirth... Batman. I lost interest in Snyder's run after about 30 issues. I really liked the first two arcs but then I felt like Snyder got really long winded with his storylines. I also didn't like that Snyder was trying to cram the Batman family with even more characters while DC was actively ignoring members that already existed like Stephanie Brown or Cassandra Cain.

Overview: Batman brings on Duke and is training him for a role in the Bat-Family. We also get some villainous fun as the Calendar Man was trying to release some spores to destroy Gotham.

I really want to write more about this comic but there really wasn't very much to it. It's kind of a very base overview of I guess what's going on. We see Batman bring Duke in and we get a scene where Lucius Fox restores Bruce's fortune and we're out.

Final Thoughts: There's actually a lot to say about this issue and very little of it is good.

First, the scene with Bruce and Lucius was just dumb. Bruce was doing one armed pull ups on a helicopter landing pad at the top of a skyscraper. Now, if you've seen 5 seconds of a Batman cartoon you can see why this is dumb. The point of Bruce Wayne is he is nothing like Batman. He's supposed to come across as a carefree playboy. Doing something that extreme is a good way to out himself as a potential ID for Batman or to slip and fall to his death. It really just rubbed me the wrong way and came across like the new writer Tom King doesn't get the character he's writing.

Then we get to the Calendar Man. They turned the Calendar Man into this weird guy that dies in the winter and is reborn in the spring instead of just a guy that bases his crimes on the time of the year. This change is a perfect example of what DC has been doing for the last several years with their properties. You take a character that's perfectly acceptable in their current form and then change them just because you feel like you have to tinker with something. I was really excited to see the Calendar Man and then was immediately bummed out when I saw what they did to him.

This was a real letdown after DC Rebirth #1. This felt like the same soulless writing that DC has bee subjecting me to for the last several years. Also, this was a terrible introduction for someone that wasn't up on more current Bat-book events. It felt like I was missing something plot wise the entire time and that the book assumed I had a base level of knowledge about the last few years.

I was really excited to read more after DC Rebirth #1 and after this issue I'm back to being uneasy about spending any money on the new DCU. This was just very mediocre like a lot of DC books have been since the New 52 started. I'm really hoping Batman #1 is an overall better read than this was.

Overall I give this a C for a mediocre book and a complete failure as an introduction to the Rebirth Batman.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #36

Cover Date: February 1940

Plot Overview: Batman sees a man shot and when questioned mentions something about a strange fog. The police arrive and chase Batman thinking that he killed the man. Later, Bruce Wayne ponders what he heard earlier and realizes the man meant Hugo Strange. He also finds a list of Banks in a book he took off of the man.

The scene shifts to Hugo Strange as he begins his plan. The city becomes covered in a thick fog and Strange's men use it as cover to commit a series of bank robberies. Batman uses the black book and ambushes them at one of the banks. He easily subdues the men and leaves them for the police.

Strange realizes that Batman must know where he'll strike next so he plans a trap. Batman arrives at the next place and Strange has left a whole gang of men to take him out. Batman valiantly fights the men off until one catches him with a black jack. They take him to Strange and they tie Batman up. Batman easily breaks his bonds and uses a tear gas on Strange and his men. Batman chases Strange down and after a brief fight he captures Strange and leaves him for the police.

My Take: This is of course the first appearance for Hugo Strange. He comes and goes in the Batman lore but he does have the honor of being the first recurring Batman villain. This issue is also interesting because Batman has stopped using lethal force. A few issues ago and the amount of brutality to these fights would've been much greater. It seems with the new character model that they've lightened Batman up just a little bit.

I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. The writing was a lot better than usual and the grammar didn't seem to be as clunky as it usually is. The story was pretty simple and to the point and I think that is why it was so readable. They didn't try to get clever with it and they didn't use situations that were going to be hard to show with the art or the writing. Simple seems to equal better at this point. I would say this is the first of the golden age stories that I really enjoyed on it's own merits.

The art was pretty solid. The new Batman is a nice change of pace and the characters in general aren't as ugly as they were. The action sequences were also very good looking and I could actually tell what was going on.

I'd give this a solid C.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #35

Cover Date: January 1940

Plot Overview: A man comes to see Commissioner Gordon. He received a ruby idol and has been receiving threats. One thing leads to another and a car cash later and a bunch of Hindus bump a body in the river. Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and follow the Hindus to a man named Sin Fang after they steal the idol.

Fang puts Batman through a series of death traps but he thwarts them all. Batman catches Sin Fang unmasking to reveal the man who they had thought killed earlier. The man pulls a gun but Batman hits him with the idol and the man falls out of the window to his death.

My Take: A couple of notes here. The artist style of Batman changed in this issue. He now looks a lot more like the classic Golden Age Batman that people know him by. He has blue in the costume and has the more classic cape.

This story was okay. There were a lot of grammatical errors and that was distracting. The story was pretty straightforward and simple. It was a very cliched story and I felt like I had read similar stories 5 or 6 times throughout my life. I would say compared to the other stories so far that this was one of the stronger ones. It still had a lot of the writing flaws but the story was interesting enough this time to overcome those flaws.

As far as the art. The book has really lost the mood that it had in the early issues. That creepy vibe has just faded from the book. The people in the stories are starting to look better and various other items as well. Batman is more stylized now and I think he looks better overall. It's a weird combination. It's more stylized but it's lost some of the crude charm that it had. It will be interesting to see what direction the art takes over the next couple of issues.

I'd give this a D+.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #34

Cover Date: December 1939

Plot Overview: Bruce Wayne encounters a man with no face and then a woman that is scared for her life. After things settle down, they explain that this man is trying to get money from them and even burned off the man's face. Bruce tells them he can't help and then later visits them as Batman.

Batman drops in on the man but is captured. They place him on this giant wheel to hopefully kill him or drive him mad. Batman escapes the wheel and ends up in this garden where the plants all have faces. Meanwhile the woman and the faceless man are captured. The faceless man is placed on the wheel and cries out for help until Batman saves the day.

The villain escapes but Batman chases him down in his Bat-plane. Batman and the villain struggle until Batman causes him to crash. Batman saves the girl as the bad guy crashes to his death.

My Take: This was a rough one to get through. It was really poorly written and the concepts were pretty ridiculous. It's really a shame too, I had hopes for some improved writing after the last issue seemed to read more coherently than previous issues had. This was a major step backwards. The writing seemed worse here than in any of the other issues.

Storywise, I didn't care for this. The faceless man was dumb and not believable. They burned his facial features off. Okay... it looked like someone took an eraser to your face. The plants with human faces were also never explained. It was just this weird little aside to the whole storyline.

Speaking of that part. Batman is in that weird garden and the bad guy has the girl and faceless guy captured. How freaking long was he sitting there getting creeped out by a bunch of plants. Seems it might take awhile to track down and capture your enemies. Batman seemed like he was loafing a bit in this issue. He could've wrapped things up quick but NOOOOOOOOO... he has to hot dog it and almost get the innocents killed. The recklessness of youth I guess.

This is a straight F.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #33

Cover Date: November 1939

Plot Overview: This issue opens with the telling of Batman's origin. You've probably seen this reprinted before so I'll gloss over it. The real story begins as the town is attacked by a group calling itself the Red Horde. Bruce is on the scene and helps a few of his fellow citizens out.

Later Wayne reads that Professor Carl Kruger has been released from a mental institution. Wayne theorizes that Kruger might be behind the attack. Dr. Kruger has a Napoleon complex which of course means he's dressing himself up like Napoleon and planning to conquer the world.

Batman unsuccessfully confronts Kruger and barely escapes with his life. Batman then decides to focus on the minions of Kruger. One unwittingly leads Batman to their base. Batman tries to destroy the death rays but Kruger shoots him in the back. Kruger appears to kill Batman with a death ray but it's quickly revealed that Batman switched places with one of the guards.

An aerial battle follows and Batman manages to cause Kruger to crash into the bay killing him.

My Take: This issue was really up and down. For the first half, I was really impressed as it seemed the writing had really improved with this issue. Then it all fell apart. The part where Batman switched places with the guard made no sense. It, literally, was impossible due to how the book presented it. That really took me out of the issue and it made the good points of this issue a little harder to stick with.

But, the writing was a little better in this issue. It flowed as a story better than previous issues have. I didn't feel like I was forcing myself to push through the book. I am kind of curious to see how Superman reads from this time period now. I wonder if the writing is as bad as it can be in Batman. I'm guessing that it probably is.

I was so-so on the art this time. It didn't seem to set the mood that previous issues have. It felt kind of generic and rushed. There was also a point where Batman got hit in the head with a gun and you really couldn't tell from the art that it happened.

Overall, I'd give this issue a D for some up and down writing and for some less than stellar artwork.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #32

Cover Date: October 1939

Plot Overview: Batman approaches a carriage that he thinks is carrying the Monk but instead finds a woman named Dala. Dala ends up being a vampire and bites Julie Madison, fiancee to Bruce Wayne. Batman confronts her and she begs for her life. She pleads fear of the Monk and Batman vows to take care of him.

The Monk captures them and hypnotizes Batman. He also summons Julie to his castle. With Julie present, the Monk reveals that he is going to toss Batman into a pit of werewolves. Batman misses a chance to escape but uses his gas pellet to knock out the wolves. Batman finally escapes using the Batarang. Batman finds a silver statue and melts it into a silver bullet. He finds the Monk and Dala and shoots both with the bullet. Julie is freed from the Monk's power as a result.

My Take: There wasn't a lot to the conclusion of the Monk storyline. My main issue with this part is that the writer's seemed to confuse vampire's and werewolves repeatedly in the story. It wasn't a deal breaker or anything but it was annoying enough to take me out of the story.

I felt the art was pretty strong in this issue and they seem to have improved that a lot over the last several issues. The writing was better overall in this issue too. They went for a little more visual storytelling and that helped overall as it cut down on the clunky writing. There were still a few random things happening though. It really just feels unrefined and really shows why comics were considered kids fare at the time.

I strangely don't have the nostalgia for the second half of the Monk storyline like I do for the first half. That's going to effect the grading of this one so...

I give this a D+ overall.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #31

Cover Date: September 1939

Plot Overview: While Batman is doing his nightly patrols he comes across Julie Madison, fiancee to Bruce Wayne, as she is about to kill some random man. Batman saves the man and then snaps Julie out of her trance. He takes her home and tells her to tell her fiance Bruce Wayne what has happened. Bruce Wayne takes her to a doctor and he recommends a boat voyage to Hungary. Bruce realizes that the man himself is in a trance but plays along anyway.

Bruce sees Julie off and then becomes Batman. Batman reveals his new Baterang and the Batgyro. He flies the Batgyro to the ship and has Julie explain her plight to them. Just then, the Monk appears and tries to hypnotize Batman. Batman breaks away and uses the Baterang and then makes his escape.

Batman follows them and then searches Paris for Julie. He finds her only to be attacked by a gorilla. Batman escapes only to fall into a net left by the Monk. The Monk tries to lower the trapped Batman into a pit of snakes but Batman makes his escape. Batman chases the Monk but is captured in a cage. The Monk reveals that he is going to feed Julie to werevolves. Just then a rope lowers the gorilla down to finish him off. Batman evades the gorilla and climbs up the rope to safety.

Batman finds Julie and takes her away on the Batgyro. He vows vengeance as the issue comes to a close. Be here next week for the exciting conclusion to this story.

My Take: This story has a very special place in my heart. Around the time the first Michael Keaton movie came out my parents bought me a copy of the first volume of the Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. I was a huge fan of the Superfriends and the Adam West Batman series at the time and this was my first chance to read Batman comics. This story with the Monk was actually the first Batman comic I had ever read. I carry a lot of nostalgia for this story.

As far as the writing and the art. I find the art to be really good in this story. It's moody and it's creepy and that's just the thing you want for the story that's being told. I also found the art on the regular people to be better than in previous issues. They had been really hit and miss on the art up until the last issue. The writing is again really clunky and the story doesn't exactly make sense if you take it word for word. Batman immediately running after the Monk hypnotized him was a little silly. It wasn't really explained well and you kind of wonder at face value why he just ran off. He could've at least grabbed Julie and ran.

I did enjoy the fact that his felt more like a Batman story than a rip off of some episode of the Shadow. Though there was an episode of the Shadow that used a gorilla in a similar manner as this issue did. But I don't know which came first on that front.

I'd give this a solid C- due to my personal nostalgia for it and the fact that the story isn't too awful.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #30

Cover Date: August 1939

Plot Overview: Bruce Wayne opens a newspaper and learns that a man has died under mysterious circumstances. He determines that only Dr. Death could be behind this. Bruce visits the widow of the deceased man and learns that Death was holding them up for ransom. She says that they only have jewels. Bruce heads off and returns to the scene as Batman and lies in wait.

The scene shifts to a bandaged up Dr. Death and his new minion Mikhail. Death sends Mikhail to steal the diamonds from the widow. The widow stumbles upon Mikhail during the robbery but Batman attacks him and saves the day. Batman gives the knocked out Mikhail the diamonds so that he can follow him to Dr. Death.

Batman follows Mikhail to a pawn broker and then to an apartment. Batman knocks Mikhail out with gas and then searches the place but can find no trace of Dr. Death. Mikhail breaks up and Batman proceeds to break his neck in the fight. Batman confronts the pawn broker and unmasks him to reveal Dr. Death. Batman leaves him for the police as the issue ends.

My Take: The art seemed better in this issue for whatever reason. I enjoyed the mood of the night as Batman traveled about. I also enjoyed the story more than the last time. Don't get me wrong though. The writing is still choppy and brutal. I just found it to be amusing despite the obvious flaws in it.

Again, the biggest thing to me in these early stories is the violence and the fact that Batman kills the bad guys without a second thought. As I've said previously, these stories read a lot like the Shadow radio program from the same era did. Honestly, if you had to choose between reading these or listening to the Shadow, I'd tell you to listen to the Shadow. It has the same vibe as these stories but it has better writers working on it.

Another early Batman story down. Nothing special as far as a story goes. It was a fun little romp but I doubt I'll remember much about this story in a few weeks.

I'd give this story a C- for keeping my interested despite the glaring flaws in it's execution.

Batman and Robin #16

Bruce Wayne as Batman is back. Together with Dick and Damian they take out all of the minions of Dr. Hurt. Bruce goes after Hurt while Dick and Damian go to take out Pyg. Dick and Damian take out Pyg by turning his minions on him. Hurt on the other hand lures Bruce into one of the prisons by using Alfred as bait. Batman escapes since he built the prisoner. He pounds on Hurt a bit and Hurt claims that Bruce can't best him.

Hurt escapes as Bruce chooses to save Alfred instead. Hurt comes across the Joker and slips on a banana peel. Joker proceeds to bury him alive. Damian disarms the nuke that the Joker had set up in previous issues. The issue ends with Bruce revealing the new Batman Inc. and publicly states he's been supporting Batman for all of these years.

My Take: I'll admit it right here. I've enjoyed JLA and Seven Soldiers by Grant Morrison. I've pretty much hated everything else he's ever touched in the last decade. I hated his run on New X-Men and I can't recall anything else he's done off the top of my head. I had been enjoying this until he went back to the R.I.P. stuff. I felt R.I.P. was a poor storyline and that the only person that really enjoyed it was... Grant Morrison.

I didn't really enjoy this issue. The art was all over the place as I think three artists had to work on it to get the book out on time. Sometimes I don't notice but it was really jarring in this issue. It ranged from really good to below average throughout the issue.

I don't find Thomas Wayne/Dr. Hurt to be a particularly compelling villain. Morrison has set him up as this big bad that might be the devil himself. He's just a boring deus ex machina to me. He's really a symbol for what has been wrong with Morrison's run on Batman. He takes these obscure little Silver Age characters and then shoves them down our throat as being an important part of the Bat-verse, see also Knight and Squire.

The story wasn't awful or anything. It flowed better than the last issue did. It just wasn't of any real interest one way or the other. Bruce is back... whoop-de-do I guess.

This kicks off having like 6 Bat titles a month. I'm not so thrilled for that. I think DC would be better served to keep it to 3.

I'll give this a C for a boring story with solid writing execution.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #29

Cover Date: July 1939

Plot Overview: Dr. Death and has minion Jabah plan a trap for Batman. They put an ad in the paper for Batman to see and when he arrives Jabah shoots him in the shoulder. Batman escapes with the help of gas. Dr. Death is not pleased with this outcome but sends Jabah out to kill another doctor.

Bruce Wayne manages to save the man and follows Jabah back to Dr. Death. Batman chases Dr. Death and as a result Dr. Death is killed in a fire.

My Take: That was a really short review of the plot but there really was barely anything to this week. There was literally an entire page of Batman climbing a wall. So this issue was 10 pages of a lot of filler and a little bit of plot.

What can I say about this issue? It was bad, brutally bad. It was poorly written, unoriginal and just not worth your time. If you want good stories in this vein, go find the Shadow radio show from this era. It's better written and it has Orson Welles doing the early episodes.

This is just a mess. The art is bad, the writing is clunky and poorly executed and the stories have no real value on a literary level. I can see why comics were seen to be as child fodder around this time. I really don't know what else to say about it. It's so bad that it's hard to even point to specific things in it that were wrong. This issue actually made me regret deciding to do this feature on this blog. I really hope this gets better soon.

Some points of interest in this issue. Batman has a utility belt now. He stored some gas pellets in his belt in this issue.

This gets an F for being a throughly awful experience from start to finish.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #28

Cover Date: June 1939

Plot Overview: Bruce Wayne disguises his voice as Commissioner Gordon's to get information on a recent string of jewel robberies. Later that night Batman arrives on the scene. He takes out one of the criminals and then throws the other one off the side of the building. Batman stops and reaches for the jewels just as police arrive on the scene. Batman makes his escape to the surprise of the police.

Batman reveals that this was part of his plan. He wants to make the criminals more careless and easier to spy on. Frenchy Blake is the head of the gang and Batman spies on them as they plan the next robbery.

This time Batman easily foils the robbery and catches both criminals. He calls in Gordon to pick them up and then heads after Frenchy. He ties Frenchy to a rope and hangs him out of a window until he agrees to confess. Frenchy writes his confession and then tries to attack Batman. Batman hits him a few times and Frenchy surrenders. Batman drops Frenchy off at the police station and the issue ends with Commissioner Gordon reading a letter from Batman.

My Take: This was an okay read despite the glaring flaws with it. The grammar is really clunky and the art isn't the greatest thing in the world. I think that's a product of the time. They had 6 pages to tell a story and the artistic ability was limited. So the clunky grammar seems to show up as they have to describe the situation.

The original Batman is interesting though. He kills without question and he's in a weird spot. He's this horrible creature of the night but he seems to also be a little sarcastic and willing to smile. Again, the amount of violence in this issue is pretty jarring. For as primitive as the art is, they really seem to capture the devastating consequences to the violence that Batman uses. It's very gritty in that sense.

With all that said. I actually enjoyed the story. It was a quick read and I enjoy seeing early stories of iconic characters like this. It wasn't groundbreaking and it wasn't even really good. It was just a fun little piece of nonsense to start my Saturday off with.

I'd give this issue a D+.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #27

Cover Date: May 1939

Plot Overview: Bruce Wayne is visiting Commissioner Gordon when Gordon has received a call. A man is dead and the man's son's finger prints are on the knife. Gordon and Wayne arrive on the scene and the son swears he didn't do. He explains that he found his father stabbed to death and pulled the knife out. He reveals that his father had three former business partners. A man named Steve Crane calls and says that he too has been threatened. Bruce Wayne excuses himself out of boredom at this point.

The scene shifts to Steve Crane after the phone call. A man shoots him and steals a piece of paper. The man meets a cohort on the roof when the Batman attacks. He ends up throwing one man off of the roof and disappears. Gordon arrives on the scene and we see the Batman driving somewhere else.

One of the other partner named Rogers has gotten worried and gone to see the remaining partner Stryker. Stryker's assistant attacks Rogers and puts him in a gas chamber. Batman arrives just in time to save Rogers. Batman and the assistant battle until Stryker arrives on the scene. He reveals that it was him all along. Batman saves Rogers again and explains that Stryker was killing them off so he could take control of the company and not pay out the money. Stryker tries to pull a gun on Batman but Batman hits him and he falls into a vat of acid. Batman finds it a fitting end.

Later, Commissioner Gordon is relating the tale to Bruce Wayne and Wayne calls it a fairy tale. Gordon muses that Wayne is a nice guy but has no interest in anything. The issue ends with Bruce Wayne revealing himself to be the Batman.

My Take: What's striking about this issue is the violence connected to it. The early scene with the stabbed man shows his corpse with the knife still in. They really don't pull any punches with the violence in this. The action is brisk and brutal. Batman doesn't do anything fancy, just whatever gets the job done at the moment.

The story itself was pretty bland. It read like any radio episode of the Shadow from this time frame. There wasn't anything overly original about it either. The art was also pretty basic and bad in this.

I find this issue interesting for a lot of reasons. I think people would be shocked to not see Batman's origin story in his first appearance. I also think that people would be stunned by the violence and how Batman has no real issues with killing people or letting people died. The final part that I don't think people realize is that this was just a six page story. Golden Age comics never just feature a single comic story. They usually featured 4-6 stories inside. Comics were a lot bigger then. This book was probably 80 pages if you add in advertisements. They only shortened comics and went to one story later on when they were trying to keep costs down without raising the cover price.

There you have it. The first appearance of Batman. Join me next week for more Batman fun.

I'd give this issue a C+ for purely historical reasons. The story is very forgettable and the art is not good at all.