Detective 383 – Batman eats a fortune cookie, and the Elongated Man ends

Oh, you just know you’re in for some negative Asian stereotyping in Detective 383 (Jan. 69) from the moment you see the cover.

The story, by Frank Robbins, with art by Bob Brown and Joe Giella, does indeed open in a Chinese restaurant, with Batman and Robin reading fortune cookies.

Batman and Robin each follow separate paths during the mystery.  Robin investigates the source of the cookies, and finds a supposedly kidnapped girl, who turns out to be one of the villains.

Batman deals with the other side, finding the man in charge, and together they bust the pearl smuggling ring operating out of the restaurant.

And despite the cover, this is not nearly as bad as one would expect.

The Elongated Man story by Gardner Fox and Sid Greene that began last issue concludes here, which is the end of his run in Detective Comics.

Billy revives Ralph, and tells him of the bug he hid in the thieves car.  The car itself gets stolen by a street gang, so it takes Ralph a while, but he tracks down the jewel thieves.

At the end of the story, Ralph and Sue present Billy with a Batman detective kit, the last wish he made on the coin.

The Elongated Man’s series comes back a couple years down the road for a few issues of The Flash, but will return to Detective in the 70s.

Detective 382 – Robin cracks a safe, and the Elongated Man and the magic wishing coin

Batman and Robin get caught up in rival gangs and a manipulative arms dealer, the Armorer, in Detective 382 (Dec. 68), in a story by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella.

Both gangs keep finding their stolen loot stolen from them, and each blames the other gang.  In reality, the Armorer is selling gear to both of them that he can access, and is robbing from the robbers.

No one ever fully figures this out, but suspicions run rampant, and the two gangs set a trap for the thief.

Robin almost winds up the victim in this plan, opening the safe instead of the armorer, but Batman dives in, and the only ones killed are the gang leaders themselves.

Billy Warner, the fan who loaned Elongated Man his costume, returns in this story by Gardner Fox and Sid Greene.

He has a magical wishing coin, and everything he asks for comes true.  Ralph gets suspicious, and discovers the coin is bugged, and the ones responsible are using it to spy on his grandfather, and learn the location of his diamond.  Making the wishes come true just ensured the boy would keep the coin with him.

Ralph gets knocked out chasing the bad guys, and the story continues into the next issue, as Billy frantically tries to wake the hero up.

Detective 379 – Two Robins in danger, and Elongated Man meets Zatara

Detective 378 (Sept. 68) concludes the Frank Robbins/Bob Brown/Joe Giella story that began last issue.

Batman is alerted to both Robins in danger, and goes to rescue the one who he can tell is not the real one, taking him out of the picture, and learning that side of the plan to kill him.  Alfred dresses up as Batman and tries to rescue Dick, but fails and falls into the harbour.  Chino sees this, and thinks Batman is dead.

When Chino calls Salvo to gloat over killing Batman, Salvo and his men come to kill Chino.  Batman and Robin save the boy and captures Salvo and his men.  Robin returns home, and Chino is placed in foster care, promising to be good.

Not a great story, but a big change from the past few years.

Zatara makes his first appearance since being found by Zatanna in this story by Gardner Fox, with Sid Greene art.  He has opened a magic shop, but gets attacked by criminals who want to use his magic tricks for crime.

While unconscious, he dreams of the Elongated Man, and in doing so gives Ralph his backwards magic casting powers.

Ralph goes to find Zatara, and of course finds the crooks who attacked him, and takes them down.  Zatara wakes, and removes the powers from Ralph.  As a nice touch, Ralph was not able to use the magic well, because he found the backwards speaking too difficult.

Detective 373 – Batman vs Mr. Freeze, and Elongated Man vs the Riddler

Mr. Freeze makes his second appearance against Batman in Detective 373 (March 1968), in a story by Gardner Fox.  In the villain’s only previous outing, in a Batman story from the late 50s, he had used the moniker Mr. Zero, but the name was changed to match the tv show.

Aunt Harriet is undergoing emergency cryo-surgery, but the machine breaks down, and the heroes pursue Freeze in order to get his cold gun, which could be used for the operation.

Freeze has no interest in being helpful, and so everyone fights.  And he loses, again.

Mr. Freeze would remain a marginal Batman villain until the 90s, but does make his next appearance in a Batman issue in the late 70s.

The Elongated Man is in Gotham City in this story by Gardner Fox, with art by Gil Kane and Sid Greene.

The Riddler has sent a clue to his next crime to Commissioner Gordon, who turns on the Bat-Signal, but it’s Ralph who answers the call.

Ralph figures out the solution, and stops the Riddler from committing a jewel theft.

Batman and Robin show up at this point, and in a really entertaining ending, Batman and Ralph argue over their different interpretations of the riddle, even though both came to the same solution.

 

 

Detective 369 – Robin leaves Batman for Batgirl, and Elongated Man and the lover’s lantern

Gardner Fox’s story in Detective 369 (Nov. 67) is basically a re-write of “The New Team of Superman and Robin” from a late 50s issue of World’s Finest Comics.  The art is by Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene.

Both stories begin with the three heroes in action.  Batman falls into a swamp in this story, and Batgirl notices something is wrong with him.

The earlier story had homoerotic elements in the relationship of the three men; this story brings it out even more, with Batman’s jealousy over Robin spending time with Batgirl.

In the end it’s all a plan to save Batman, who had contracted swamp fever.  Batgirl and Robin knew he would not agree to rest, so tries to keep ahead of him and protect him until he collapsed.

The story concludes with a cameo by Catwoman, setting up her appearance in Batman, her first time in either of these books since the mid 50s.

Neal Adams does the art on Gardner Fox’s Elongated Man story in this issue.

Sue Dibny buys a “lover’s lantern, ” said to be able to reunite lovers when its lit.  It gets stolen, and Ralph winds up pursuing two different sets of thieves.

It does eventually lead two lovers together (aside from Ralph and Sue), but despite Adams art, this story is kind of weak.

 

Detective 368 – the Wonder Crimes, and Elongated Man teams with the Atom

The story in Detective 368 (Oct. 67) pits Batman and Robin against a gang attempting to commit crimes that reflect the seven wonders of the ancient world.  Because committing crimes just isn’t enough for them.

Gardner Fox, Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Giella are the creative team.  It takes Batman and Robin a while to figure out the logic behind the unusual crimes in odd locations.

Once Batman figures out the connection to the wonders, he is able to figure out the location of their next crime, and they round up the gang.

Elongated Man and the Atom team up against Chronos in this Gardner Fox story, with art by Gil Kane and Sid Greene.

Ralph and Sue are in Ivy Town, and Ralph stops to get his watch fixed, only to discover the Atom trapped in the gears of a clock.  He helps free him, and learns of the Atom’s fight against Chronos, who vowed vengeance on him and the watch maker after being defeated by them in the Atom’s book.

While the Atom ditches Ralph to go after Chronos, Ralph follows anyway, coming across a gang of hoods intending to steal from Chronos.  Ralph rounds them up, and though the two heroes smile at each other, you have to wonder about the Atom’s brush off.

Detective 355 – Batman vs the Hooded Hangman, and Elongated Man meets Zatanna

Such a powerful cover for Detective 355 (Sept. 66). The actual story, by John Broome, Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Giella, is acceptable, but the Hooded Hangman is clearly a one-shot villain.

The Hooded Hangman is a successful pro wrestler, whose identity is unknown.

One night, responding to an alarm, Batman sees the Hangman running from the scene, and they fight.  Batman realizes the Hangman was innocent, but there in order to fight.  He knocks Batman out, and almost succeeds in removing his mask before others show up and he flees.

After some more fighting, Batman recognizes the bruises on the newscaster’s face as ones he would have left on the Hangman. I always laugh envisioning a newscaster on the air with massive bruises, as if nothing was wrong.

So Batman gets into the public fight Hangman wants, and allows himself to be defeated and unmasked, because he has made himself up as the newscaster.  Tables turned, and the newscaster is exposed as the Hangman.  End of story.

As I said, definitely a one-shot villain, but such a compelling cover.  I believe it to be the inspiration behind the creation of Bane.

Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino share this story, the penultimate chapter in Zatanna’s quest for her missing father, which had run through a number of DC comics.

Ralph gets involved when he sees stolen jewels flying through the air, and is unable to stop the thieves flying with them.

It turns out Zatanna was responsible, trying to find the last artifacts she was looking for.  Zatanna pretends not to know the thieves are thieves, but she was working with them, and desperate, so I’m pretty sure she is lying about that.  At any rate, she helps Ralph round them up.

Zatanna then prepares to cast a spell that will take her to another dimension in search of Zatara.  Ralph offers to help, but she insists she will do it alone.

As it turns out, in her next appearance, in Justice League of America a few months down the road, she does call on Ralph, as well as the other heroes she encountered on her quest, for help.

 

Detective 351 – Cluemaster debuts, and the Elongated Man’s old costume gets stolen

Great cover for the debut of the Cluemaster, in Detective 351 (May 1966).  The story itself, by Gardner Fox, with art by Infantino and Greene, gives the largest role to Aunt Harriet that the character will ever get.

The story opens as she accidentally discovers the elevator to the Batcave.  She even goes down and explores it.  She hints to Bruce and Dick about her discovery, but they have already covered their tracks.  She spends the rest of the story trying to prove they are Batman and Robin.

Meanwhile, the heroes are dealing with the Cluemaster.  He’s basically the Riddler, except his clues are not in the form of riddles.And though Batman and Robin do not realize it at first, he is also seeking the Batcave, and the secret of their identities.

The two plotlines converge when the traps Cluemaster and Aunt Harriet have laid wind up exposing each others traps, so Bruce and Dick have plenty of time to figure out how to outwit both.

And sure, Cluemaster is left in the dark, but the film they create for Aunt Harriet is hardly a solution, showing her that Batman and Robin do indeed have a cave under the mansion, and are in contact with Bruce and Dick.  That’s just bound to create bigger problems later on.  Or would, if Aunt Harriet hadn’t been such a marginal character.

As for Cluemaster, it took until the 90s for this character to come to life.  He has a number of cameos before that, the next one in a Batman comic from 1968.

It’s just Fox and Infantino on the Elongated Man story in this issue.  Ralph has plans to donate his old costume to the Flash Museum in Central City, but discovers that it has been stolen.

It turns out his costume has retained some of its elasticity, and is being used, basically as a giant rubber band, by a clever crook, to facilitate his escapes.

Old vs new for the climax, and of course Ralph wins.  The Flash has a cameo at the end of the story, as Ralph and Sue present the costume to the museum.

Detective 350 – The Monarch of Menace debuts, and Elongated Man helps Green Lantern

Another Joe Kubert cover for Detective 350 (April 1966).  He makes the Monarch of Menace look like a far more interesting and dangerous foe than the story by Robert Kanigher, Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Giella has him be.

Batman tells Robin about a foe from his past, from his days before taking on a sidekick.  The Monarch of Menace was a mob boss Batman was never able to capture.  His costume included a cape that gave off a choking gas, an electrified sceptre, and a crown with hypnotic gems.

The story jumps to the present, and to the emotionally abused son of the Monarch, forced by his father to dress as a jester.  He steals a spare Monarch outfit from his father, to go on a crime spree himself and show what he can do.

It’s Robin who spots him, and captures the boy, who doesn’t know how to work the costume devices well enough.  I do like the way the story parallels the generations.

With some time to study the costume, Batman preps defenses against the weapons, and plays on the Monarch’s ego, broadcasting the capture of the son as if it were the real Monarch.  When the father comes out to face Batman, he is quickly defeated once his weapons are neutralized.

The Monarch of Menace returns in a Batman story in the early 80s.

The Elongated Man comes to the aid of Green Lantern in this Gardner Fox story, with art by Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene.

Realizing the Hal has lost his memory of being Green Lantern, Tom Kalmaku turns to the only publicly known hero, Ralph Dibny, for his help.

Ralph stops a robbery at Ferris Aircraft, but that’s incidental to the story.  Ralph helps Hal regain his memory, and the loss is explained as the result of exposure to a nebula.

I don’t buy that for a second.  See, this is Ralph’s birthday, and though Sue presents him with a new costume as a present, I believe this whole tale was a birthday mystery that she arranged.  All it required was for Hal to pretend to lose his memory, and Hal is best buddies with Barry Allen.  Sue could easily have contacted Iris, and got her to get Barry to enlist Hal in the deception.

No one will ever convince me otherwise when it comes to this story.  Not even if Gardner Fox crawled out his grave to deny it.

Detective 347 – the Bouncer debuts

Detective 347 (Jan. 66) takes an interesting, if not wholly fulfilling direction towards the end of the Gardner Fox/Carmine Infantino/ Joe Giella story.

The story begins by introducing the Bouncer, a thief who has developed an outfit made of a highly “bounceable” substance.  Considering the year this was released, I’m sure most of the readers associated it with “flubber.”

Essentially, the bad guy is a skinnier version of Bouncing Boy, with criminal tendencies.  Batman doesn’t have too much trouble taking him down.

But wait!  Lo and behold it’s Gardner Fox, musing over a possible different resolution to the story, one in which Batman dies.

And then we get to see this alternate ending, with Batman getting shot.

Robin tries to hunt down the Bouncer, but the killer is captured by…Batman?  The story ends with the Batman and Alfred of Earth-2 coming to live on Earth-1.  In other words, if Batman died, nothing would be any different, except Alfred would be back.  Which just left me wondering why even bother telling this story if that’s going to be the resolution.

The Bouncer would return in a story in the early 80s.  Also worth noting is the appearance of the Earth-2 Alfred.  Usually, he is shown as the “fat” Alfred, the way he appeared originally, rather than the skinny version.

Far more clever is the Elongated Man story in this issue, also by Fox and Infantino, with Greene on the inks.

A radio disc jockey, and then an artist, both claim to have been robbed by a man who took their money and then tore it up.

Ralph decides to make Sue and him bait for the crook, and they go around town spending lots of money – but the next victims turn out to be actors.

When Ralph finally does get robbed, it’s by men who simply want to steal their money, not tear it up.

Ralph figures out that there really is no money hating thief at all.  The crimes never occurred, the victims simply were making it up to draw publicity for their ventures.