Tag: robin

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Batman The Golden Age Volume Four

This is a review of Batman: The Golden Age Volume Four, written by Bill Finger with art by Bob Kane and published in the 1940’s. Read my reviews of the first three volumes here, here, and here. In this volume, we have Two Face’s origin story, along with appearances by Catwoman, The Scarecrow, and The Penguin. The Joker appears so often he should be given billing on the strip: Batman, Robin & The Joker has a nice ring to it!

There are also the usual thugs, fifth columnists, and gangsters, which is where we see the interesting stories. Batman’s Rogue Gallery always gets top billing, but with tales not featuring weirdo villains the creators need to come up with an angle. Thus, we have stories about the two feuding brothers whose father is killed by a bad guy, a tearjerker about the kindly neighborhood druggist, and the boy who wants to be Robin, but is hampered by the fact that he’s way too stupid to be Robin.

My personal favorite issue features Batman and Robin splitting up. Batman tells his young ward their partnership is dissolved and throws his Robin picture in the trash. A devastated Dick Grayson leaves to become a hobo – I don’t recall if he has a bindle over his shoulder, but I sure hope he does. Turns out that evildoers threatened Robin, which is why Batman decides to go it alone!

After Batman is captured and sealed in a room, a ‘la Edgar Allen Poe, Robin returns – and is captured. The thugs have a brainwave and unseal the room, which allows Batman to beat the crap out of them, and the Dynamic Duo are reunited, with Robin having no hard feelings at all. Nothing dysfunctional about that relationship!

I must say a few words about the deathtraps. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, movie serials were very popular. Serials appeared in chapters, with every chapter ending in a cliffhanger, usually involving the female lead being tied up. The same thing happens in Batman stories of that time period. The Dynamic Duo are captured, usually by being whacked over the head. Instead of killing them, the thugs put them in deathtraps. If you think about it – which you shouldn’t – there is no reason for this. Why tie someone up and shove them in a car loaded with dynamite, when you can shoot them in the head and drop them into Gotham harbor?

This is a fun read recommended for fans of golden age comics and Batman completionists.

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World’s Finest Silver Age Volume Two

This is a review of World’s Finest Silver Age Volume Two. You can read my review of the first volume, here. These aren’t the worst comics I’ve read by any means, which isn’t the same thing as saying they’re good. I plowed through them because I bought both volumes on sale at the same price.

If you want to see Batman, Robin & Superman team up in sci-fic inspired scenarios from the Silver Age, then this volume is for you. A few examples: Superman loses his memory and becomes the chief of a lost Indian tribe. A man with a salad colander on his head (i.e., a crackpot inventor) gains super-powers/uses an invention to torment the Dynamic Trio (there are many variations of this story). After making a million dollars, Batman becomes a big spender, buying looney inventions that don’t work. Superman makes a new friend, a bizarre little alien that goes berserk when it’s not around him. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk duke it out! Red kryptonite makes Superman behave strangely! Aliens of all kinds: invading earth, kidnapping Batman & Robin, asking the Dynamic Trio for help!!!

If this all sounds good, then by all means buy this volume. If it doesn’t, you’ve been warned.

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Batman The Golden Age Volume Three

This is a review of Batman The Golden Age Volume Three. You can read my reviews of Volumes One and Two here and here. Batman’s adventures continue in this volume. The Penguin makes his first appearance and evades capture three times. The Cat also appears, which is great because she’s an interesting character who adds something different to these stories.

But the real guest star of this volume is The Joker, who is basically in every other issue. The best Joker – er, Batman – story involves the Clown Prince turning himself in to the authorities and being tried and executed for his crimes. Luckily, the Joker just happens to have a serum that can raise him from the dead, if it’s injected within fifteen minutes of his death. Thus, the Joker is reborn with a clean record. Citizen Joker, lol.

I give this creative team props for consistency. All the stories so far have been one-shots, which can’t be easy. The downside is that they all blend. You’d think at some point the thugs that capture Batman would just put a bullet through his head rather than tie him up and put him in a deathtrap, which has been spoofed ad infinitum in the 1960’s Adam West Batman series, but no dice.

This is the first volume I’ve read where the creative team might break the fourth wall. Weird stuff happens, highlighted by a bizarre spanking scene. The other standout is the strange relationship between Batman and the Joker. There’s a point in most of these stories when the Joker has Batman in his power, but apparently he relishes capturing and putting Batman into deathtraps more than killing him. The Clown Prince has no such compunctions about murdering Robin, whom he almost kills – I think it’s twice – so far.

Entertaining for Batman fans, but don’t read more than two or three issues in one sitting.