Detective Comics #27

Detective Comics (1937-2011)

by Bill Finger, Bob Kane (Artist)

The very first appearance of the "Bat-Man" in the six-page story "The Case of the Criminal Syndicate!" This issue also features the first appearances of Commissioner Gordon and the revelation of the Bat-Man's secret identity as Bruce Wayne.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Dc Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

7 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 17, 1939

About the author

William "Bill" Finger was an American comic strip and comic book writer best known as the uncredited co-creator, with Bob Kane, of the DC Comics character Batman, as well as the co-architect of the series' development. In later years, Kane acknowledged Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation. Comics historian Ron Goulart, in Comic Book Encyclopedia, refers to Batman as the "creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger", and a DC Comics press release in 2007 about colleague Jerry Robinson states that in 1939, "Kane, along with writer Bill Finger, had just created Batman for [DC predecessor] National Comics".

Film and television credits include scripting The Green Slime (1969), Track of the Moon Beast (1976), and three episodes of 77 Sunset Strip.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[فؤاد]

^_^
اولین کمیک بتمن! اولین حضورش در مجموعه "کمیک های کارآگاهی" که بعدها به اختصار دی سی نامیده شد.
طراحی شده توسط باب کین و بیل فینگر، با اقتباس از یک فیلم صامت وحشت، که مردی با لباس خفاشی نقش منفی داشت و قاتل داستان بود.
و با الهام از زورو، مرد ثروتمندی که روزها خودش رو جوانی عیاش و بی دست و پا جا میزنه، تا شب ها با شنل و نقاب سیاه، عدالت رو اجرا کنه.
و همین، و همه چیز. (:

[Sophia]

The very first original story of the "Bat-Man"! It was a funny, short comic strip that allowed me to understand just how much Batman has grown and developed over the years.
I liked reading this comic.

[Gavin]

I read this earlier As freebie online, for Batman 75th Anniversary. I love that it is issue 27...that's my number! Also nice to see Bill Finger get credit instead of Bob Kane.

For what it created, this book is invaluable.

[Raghav Bhatia]

The very first appearance of Bat-Man ever. How is it?

Underwhelming. Cartoonish.

But it has a charm going for it. I'm glad he caught on, because today he is the GOAT.

[Davidus1]

Really enjoyed this! Feels like reading history. Too many negative reviews of the older comics. Those reviews are naive. We owe gratitude to the early authors of these comics because we wouldn't enjoy the great modern comics without this history. Recommend and enjoy!

[Brandon]

Giving it 5 stars only because it’s the debut of Batman. Other than that, it’s a middling comic. But it’s the first Batman comic so it automatically gets 5 stars.

[Mayra Morales]

PUM 💥 PUNCH 👊crack

[Rayjan Koehler]

Awesome

A classic Batman story i got to read free from amazon.

Definitely worth reading this book from before my time, and i will definitely read this classic again and again!

[jd]

hijo q son esos trajes a cuadros 🥀

[Luis Rivera]

It has some very good comic strips, but obviously the one that stands out the most is the Batman one, and there are a couple of others that are passable, but two that aren't very good.

[scribble]

Suuuch a cool facsimile.

[Chris Greensmith]

"The amazing and unique adventures of THE BATMAN!"

[Michelle Bacon]

Classic

The original Batman comic book series by Bill Finger are short story panels of Batman helping Commissioner Gordon solve the crimes in the city of Gotham. The comics are old but still a joy to read after all these years.

[Nina]

Wow, the original 1939 Batman was quite a dark, unattractive character, especially compared with the 1938 Superman. He's a rich aloof playboy, and there's no ambiguity that he's a vigilante with no loyalty to democratic justice. The victims he saves or avenges are his fellow wealthy chums; he has no interest in exposing the criminals to public justice; and no regrets when he kills a bad guy ("A fitting end for his kind."). Whereas 1938 Superman's battles are to expose and bring to justice villains whose victims are the public and the traditionally oppressed - the corrupt Senator, the wife-beating husband, the lynch mob, the exploitative landlord. The two original Superheroes really are completely different characters who stand for very different values.

[Roman Colombo]

I started the year with this for two reasons. One--I've never read it. But also, it's Batman's 80th year, so I want to fill my year up with Batman.

Also, this was kind of brilliant. It's a 7-page story, very simple, and introduces a character with a lot of mystery and, for the time, counterintuitive to what superheroes were (bright and colorful). He is the antithesis to Superman. The first anti-superhero. And comics were never the same again.

[Alayne]

3.5

Es muy básica y simple la historia, además de bastante cortita, pero es la primer aparición de Batman, y me gustó.

[Mateus _ snw]

A Detective Comics n° 27 é famosa por ser o quadrinho de estreia do Batman, escrito e desenhado por Bill Finger com o auxílio de Bob Kane.

Eu gostaria de tecer alguns comentários sobre a obra pois recentemente a comprei em Fac-Símile, um formato que emula a revista como ela era exatamente na sua época de lançamento, e que experiência foi ler esse tipo de obra quase nove décadas depois, onde seu formato já estaria em tese datado se comparado aos quadrinhos contemporâneos.

Uma das coisas que mais me impressionam sobre o formato é que as revistas eram lançadas como um embrulhado de pequenas histórias dentro da magazine, cerca de 3 páginas para personagens estreantes, 1 ou 2 para um personagem de histórias cômicas que normalmente ficava entre as mais sérias como uma espécie de respiro para o leitor, e cerca de 6 páginas para personagens mais relevantes até então.

Enquanto eu lia a obra eu praticamente vislumbrei seu período de lançamento, imaginar um pai indo a banca de jornal pagar 1 centavo pelas notícias da semana e lá estava por algumas moedas a mais a nova Detective Comics do mês, que ele provavelmente levaria para o filho em casa após o trabalho.

Sinceramente, mesmo que sejam poucas páginas para cada história, é ai que mora a imaginação, ler 3 páginas desse tal Batman e passar um mês inteiro imaginando novas aventuras do personagem até ter uma nova revista em mãos era o maior estímulo criativo para a cabeça de uma criança da época.

E mesmo que sejam apenas 3 páginas, a história é bem amarradinha, com um aspecto Noir e Gótico, com aquele ar de violência olho por olho das revistas pulp.

Mas vale ressaltar que as outras história também preenchem bem a revista, apesar do lançamento e a minha compra ser sim por conta do Batman e eu tenho que admiti que me diverti muito até a última página.

Destaques para Speed Saunders que tem rimas visuais utilizando a sargeta do quadrinho, o Vingador Escarlate que apesar de ser uma cópia do Sombra ele banha as páginas com sua capa vermelha deixando o quadrinho bem vivo, e O Espião que é de autoria de Jerry Siegel e Joe Shuster, os criadores do Superman, que por sinal tem a história mais divertida.

Hoje a Detective Comics é só a revista backup do Batman e da Bat-familia, e eu entendo que é o que vende, mas como seria interessante se a DC Comics e o mercado de quadrinhos no geral voltasse a publicar 60 páginas de diferentes histórias dentro do Gibi, assim como eles fazem em edições comemorativas da revista ou em especiais de fim de ano, isso não só revelaria novos autores mas também permitiria a própria empresa ganhar novos personagens e porque não curtas interpretações das suas já consagradas patentes? Enfim, sinto saudades de uma época que não vivi.

Essa é provavelmente a melhor iniciativa da Panini com os super-heróis desde a ideia das Sagas que contam suas histórias de forma mais cronológica e bem organizada, só acho que o preço ainda é um pouquinho azedo para um quadrinho barato de grampinho, mas sinceramente se essa coleção continuar reunindo momentos clássicos da era de ouro e prata é um tesouro para fãs de Gibi.

[Damián Lima]

Uno tiene que imaginarse la cosa en su contexto: año 1939, al borde de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, un día común en Yanquilandia, un pibe se acerca al puesto de historietas, compra su revista favorita, la Detective Comics, que suele incluir historias de sus personajes preferidos, tales como Speed Saunders, Cosmo, Buck Marshall, Larry Steele, entre otros, y se encuentra, en este #27 de Detective Comics, con una novedad: la portada anuncia las aventuras de un nuevo héroe, the Batman, el hombre murciélago. ¿Qué habrá sentido ese niño? ¿Habrá intuido de alguna forma todo lo que significaba ese detective disfrazado de murciélago? ¿Habrá pensado: ¡esto es ridículo!, ¡esta payasada no va a durar ni dos números!, ¡no se puede ni comparar a mi favorito, Speed Saunders!? ¡Vaya uno a saber! Quisiera poder leer esta historieta con esos ojos vírgenes, descartando la infinita producción de cultura popular y masiva que desencadenó Batman, como si las innumerables historietas, las películas, las series, los juegos, los artículos coleccionables, y todo lo demás, nunca hubieran existido, como tampoco existen los de Speed Saunders. ¿Cómo sería esa lectura de esta primera aparición de Batman? ¿Qué produciría la historia de este vigilante encapuchado que se enfrenta a las trompadas a una banda de criminales de la industria química, y del cual se revela hacia el final que no es otro que Bruce Wayne, amigo y confidente del Comisionado Gordon? Sea como fuera, ni sus creadores, ni los impresores de Detective Comics, ni ese pibe que compra la revista en el puestito y la lee secretamente en su cuarto, se imaginarían el fenómeno cultural en el que se iba a transformar ese hombre disfrazado de murciélago, ese primer Bat-Man.

[cauldronofevil]

Well, I did stop reading the origional Batman series at BATMAN #17. They were starting to jump the shark more often than not. I’d still love to read some of the earlier issues i never got to read as a kid - but maybe not that early.

So I thought I’d try Detective Comics. As much as I am tempted to read about Slam Bradley who was so cool in the Catwoman series, but those comics are 68 pages each! And there is 27 of them before you get to Batman!

The Case of the Chemical Syndicate I’ve already reviewed. I gave it 5 stars and didn’t even realize it was a reprint!

[Robert]

Sitting there before the beginning of Glass Onion, I pulled this up on the DC app on my phone. I've read it before, but it seems I never documented it here. So, here goes.

Classic!

This is the first Batman. We see that Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne are friends having a chat. Gordon is informed that the CEO of a chemical company has been murdered. He goes to investigate and brings Bruce with him.

While there word that a second murder of a previous partner in the chemical company takes place. Batman discovers a piece of paper. He deduced that another former partner is behind all this.

Batman settles the score as that partner ends up in an acid bath thus dying at the hands of Batman. So much for a no-kill superhero out of the gate.

Batman is regular sized if not a bit small here in the first issue.

[David Caldwell]

The first "Bat-Man" story

Yes, they did use quotation marks around his name every time in this story. I enjoyed seeing how Batman has changed over the years. Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon are sitting around smoking when a call comes in about a murder. The Commissioner asks Bruce if he wants to tag along to the crime scene. Batman is much simpler in his approach to things. Not ropes to swing on, he uses a common handkerchief to clog a pipe, and a wrench to smash his way out of a trap. I am still confused why they would a man sized globe to gas guinea pigs. Finally, Batman just says the bad guy deserved the fate of falling into a vat of acid. Still, it was fun seeing the first appearance of Batman.

[Jason]

Detective Comics #27
"The Case of the Chemical Syndicate"

Ohhh yeah, the beginning of The Bat-Man, and EEESH what is this first design, hooof its rough!



The story is pretty simple, someone is going around murdering ex business partners and surprise, its one of the other partners! The Bat-Man solves this one pretty quick.



Overall a meh story, he has lot to live up to with the type of Superman stories we got already at this point in 1939.

[Joni]

Es muy difícil no contextualizar este cómic fundamental para la historia del noveno arte. En un tiempo donde las publicaciones costaban diez centavos de dolar y traían varias historias de distintos personajes, fijos o rotando, casi siempre de tinte detectivesco o sheriff versus forajidos, sin pudor a la hora de retratar a chinos y rusos como el origen de todo mal.
Visto hoy la mayoría son historias cutres mal dibujadas.

Pero Contemplando que se apuntaba a infantes de hace casi un siglo atrás, entonces es lógico el impacto causado y la relevancia que cobró con el tiempo.
Interesante como mínimo.

[Bruno Meissner Sosa]

Bem colorido e de arte bem característica da Detective Comics. A história é bem simples, com toques leves de mistério e investigação. De ritmo rápido, as ilustrações são acompanhadas de narrações que reforçam o que acontece em cada cena.
Alguns personagens importantes já estão aqui presentes, embora sem passado. Batman aparece pela primeira vez como um ajudante da Justiça, ainda que ele mesmo não seja nacional da terra legislativa e, é possível ver que, desde o princípio, o personagem rejeitou o emprego de armas de fogo. Ainda assim, a depender das circunstâncias, Batman pode ser letal em seu combate ao crime: ele mesmo acaba matando um criminoso, logo em sua primeira HQ, após, em legítima defesa, proferir um soco contra o bandido que acaba caindo em um tanque de ácido, culminando em sua morte. E Batman julga por conveniente o fim daquele malfeitor.

[Matthew Kelm]

I thought it a good idea to look at how this story began more than 75 years ago. Though this story is very dated, it is quite an original idea that has stood the test of time. A lot of the dated things about it have to do with the nascence of the medium as to anything else. The way they do exposition in the background has changed a lot over the years, and the art styles can paneling have become much more dynamic, so it is really hard to compare to current day comics. It would be like comparing baseball players from different eras. It is very hard to compare Babe Ruth and Miguel Cabrera.

[Ivonne Cruz]

Es sorprendente como un par de páginas contienen la esencia completa de Batman. Ya hay un Batimóvil (aunque un carro bastante normal), las desapariciones repentinas del murciélago, Bruce Wayne (su alter ego y no al revés) siendo aburrido y bastante promedio. No es una historia complicada ni con demasiadas vueltas, pero el espíritu de aventura es innegable y ratifica que antes de la tecnología, el dinero y las habilidades para pelear, el superpoder de Batman siempre ha sido ser un detective.

Ahhh, me voy a divertir mucho con esta colección. 💜

[Daniel]

So weird but a product of its time.

Paraphrase of the beginning: "Someone's been murdered. How exciting! Want to come along?" "Sure, Jim. Maybe it'll help with my boredom."

I don't know if it was common for a police commissioner to bring along friends to crime scenes but there it was. Fortunately, "Bat-Man" (written that way, including quotation marks) was on the job, solved the murder and laughed when the perpetrator died.

It's interesting for its historical value but, in my opinion, wasn’t a good story.

[Terry]

First Batman story, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate.”

A little dated by comparison to todays incarnation of Batman, but it all started with this story. What’s not to love. Bad guys, murderous plots, a disinterested Bruce Wayne, Commissioner Gordon at peak Gordon, and Batman punching a dude into a vat of chemicals. It’s all chef’s kiss really. Totally enjoy going back and reading Batman stories from the forties and fifties, we’ve come a long way. It’s nice to read a throwback and see how this world and it’s characters evolved.

[Devin Wilson]

A surprisingly sure-footed first appearance for Batman, given what I've seen from some other superheroes' first appearances, which are understandably just not as fully-developed as they ultimately will be.

By comparison, we already see Batman's somewhat callous (if somewhat inconsistent) willingness to BASICALLY kill a guy. Like, he's already the deluded maniac that we sort of know him to be, if we're honest.

I can't say the illustrations aren't a little awkward (though charming). I can't say the story is especially deep. But it all works just fine.

[Dillon]

IN THE DEEP DARK LAIR OF THE “BAT-MAN…”

(Not a quote from Batman’s first appearance but is appropriately campy and sensational)

Fun little investigative thriller that lacks anything recognizable about the character other than superficial aesthetics like Commissioner Gordon existing and Bruce Wayne dressing up as Batman. Or well…. Bat-Man in this comic. There’s no motive as to why he dresses as Bat-Man, and he even kills the first villain he encounters!! Obviously a relic of the past, but important in just how impactful it wound up being in popular culture.