Batman: The Golden Age, Vol. 2

Batman: The Golden Age #2

by Bill Finger, Bob Kane (Artist), Jerry Robinson (Artist)

American popular culture has produced few heroic figures as famous and enduring as that of the Batman. The dark, mysterious hero who debuted in 1939’s DETECTIVE COMICS #27 as the lone “Bat-man” quickly grew into the legend of the Caped Crusader. After his landmark debut and origin story, the Dark Knight was given many seminal elements including his partner in crime-fighting, Robin, the Boy Wonder, and such adversaries as the Joker, the Penguin and Scarecrow.

This second volume of BATMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE collects the Dark Knight Detective’s early adventures from BATMAN #4-7, DETECTIVE COMICS #46-56, WORLD’S BEST COMICS #1 and WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #2-3.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Batman, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

413 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 2017

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

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supersleuth, Archavenger of crime, foe of the underworld... this is The Batman! A dark-mantled fighter who seems to dwell in night itself and whose fame as a scourge of evil has become almost legendary. Assisting the Batman in his unceasing battle against crime is a boy... not an ordinary boy, but Robin, the Boy Wonder! Little wonder it is then that every campaign against crime has resulted in complete victory for the Dynamic Duo!

I'm just going to expand on my review of Batman: The Golden Age, Vol. 1 here. For more information, see that review.

Things have changed in this omnibus. For one thing, you can see Finger starting to institute the "Batman doesn't kill people (on purpose) rule" with varying degrees of success. Batman only kills three men in this omnibus, that's 1/3 of his kills in the first omnibus. So, you know, he's trying to cut back. Finger also keeps having Batman frequently remind us (and Robin) that he never kills with or carries a gun. You can see someone is influencing Finger to clean things up and make things bit more child-friendly.

Another author's ploy which gets used here is villains saying, "Don't shoot Batman! It'll draw the cops!" This, of course, is not because it is going to draw the cops, but because the author needs an excuse for the villains to fight Batman in hand-to-hand combat. There still are occasional guns, but Finger uses this ploy often.

This particular omnibus also surprised me because there were touching and endearing comics in here. The comics as a whole are becoming more civic-minded. Beyond that, there were just some plot threads in here that I think were more emotionally moving than in Volume One. There's even a comic in which Batman is a complete mensch to a woman, something we are not used to seeing from Bruce/Bats. This omnibus also goes out of it's way to illustrate lots of political corruption, and explains the evils of turning to crime a lot. Rather than being turned-off by this, I more or less enjoyed it even if it was a bit cheesy at times. Besides the comic which features Bruce/Bats engaging in mensch-behavior, I also want to note that when Julie Madison breaks off her engagement with Bruce Wayne he is an absolute sweetheart about it, and gets extra points from me.

Fourthly, Batman loves Robin. Bruce/Bats isn't a man who shows a lot of emotions. Any kind of emotions. But if he thinks Robin has been injured or killed, he flips the fuck out and goes on murderous rampages. These reactions and the sole comic in which Bruce/Bats surprisingly mensches up and fixes things for a woman endear me to what is otherwise a cold, indifferent character. The love and concern Bruce has for Dick is very apparent in this volume. You could see what Batman is doing might be horrible on some level - training a child to fight and kill, being proud of and encouraging his naturally violent and adrenaline-loving nature. But on the other hand, we see what happens to kids in Gotham with no parents or living in poverty. They turn into criminals and often die at a young age. So I have to think that even though Bruce's... "parenting" methods are highly questionable and at times disturbing, he's provided Dick with a much better future than he'd have otherwise.

The omnibus also insists on referring to Dick as a 'schoolboy' and talking about 'homework' even though I see ZERO evidence that this kid attends school of any kind.

Every single beat-cop in Gotham is Irish-American. I don't know if this is a reflection of the times (early 1940s ) or what.

This omnibus reminded me of various other fictions at various times. The movie AI. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And James Bond. But I guess no plot is 'new,' right? Everything has been done and certainly Finger was writing before the invention of all three of these things.

Again with the mysteries - these are presented like actual mysteries which Batman has to 'solve.' It's a lot like Scooby-Doo, and sometimes just about as serious. :p Batman isn't just some growling dark figure who enjoys terrifying, beating, and interrogating criminals and making them beg for mercy. He's also a detective. This is different than the recent films IMO.

There's mild sexism and racism in this book. I've certainly read worse, but it is definitely noticeable and can be annoying. I can ignore it for this fun slice of history, but I want to mention it.


TL;DR - Surprisingly fun and gripping. More enjoyable IMO than the first omnibus. Perhaps Finger is getting better at writing as he goes along. Definitely worth checking out if you have an interest in either Batman or early comic books.

Just as the Batman had earned his name from his garb, so did another figure gain his... a figure suggesting a ghastly, deliberate mockery, like death taunting life... You must already know who this grim jester is.. it is that killer-clown, that mirthful menace known as The Joker!

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice collection of the rare and expensive Batman stories. They a re a different but somehow familiar read for the character. Recommended

[Nate]

You don’t scare me with your melodramatic threats!

Batman and Robin fight mobsters, pirates, jokers, and witches in this volume of Golden Age stories. As I mentioned in my review of this first volume, I’m impressed by how strongly Batman is defined from the start, and these stories add more to his world. This collection in particular features a surprising amount of emotional moments and characterization. And not only for Batman, but one-off side characters too.

We all know Batman is a determined crime fighter. But his seemingly happy-go-lucky attitude in the Golden Age detracts from how he will stop at absolutely nothing to bring criminals down, even when faced with deadly odds and painful barriers. In the first Golden Age volume, when Batman experienced a setback, there wasn’t a sense of struggle on his part. He got right back up to fighting and hurling insults and puns at the bad guys. Narrative tension was lacking. And that’s why the instances in this collection when Batman is visibly struggling make for compelling drama.

The first story sees Batman facing off against Hugo Strange’s cronies. He’s beaten unconscious and discarded in a side room, only to wake up and saunter over to apprehend them. Batman is clearly angry but also in pain, as Finger writes, “Years of rigorous athletic training have enabled the Batman not only to resist but to recover from the brutal beating that would have mortally injured most men!” He contacts Robin with instructions before setting off for Strange, who is about to escape. In a climactic fight, Strange whacks Batman in the shoulder with a hammer, shocking and numbing him. But Batman just keeps going, pushing through the pain until his foe is defeated. Because he’s Batman, dammit.

A few times we see Batman flustered when Robin is in trouble. In one story, pirates tie up Robin and make him walk the plank as Batman curses them out. He wastes no time throwing the pirates off him to jump into the water and save his partner, not before diverting a bloodthirsty shark. Later on, as Robin investigates a crime on his own, he’s knocked unconscious and left in a room to bleed out. Thinking Robin should have reported back by now, Batman rushes to the scene. In a heartbreaking image, he picks up the unconscious and bleeding Robin, crying and fretting that his friend has died (he later comes to). It’s scenes like these that show Batman has real emotions, carried by an unflagging sense of justice.

But it’s not just Batman who has strong character moments. “Public Enemy No. 1” from Batman 4 is the tragic tale of Jimmy McCoy, who falls into a life of crime after his father dies and he just want to make a buck. We see Jimmy’s life play out: organizing his own mob, imprisonment, eventual release, conflict with a new mob, all leading up to dying alone in gutter after being gunned down. Batman and Robin are minor characters in this story. “Crime Does Not Pay”, “Murder on Parole” and “Suicide Beat” have similar stories of humanizing criminals. I hope to see more.

There are also some notable firsts in this collection. In Batman 4, the urban jungle where Batman and Robin wage their war on crime is officially named… Gotham City. It was previously unidentified (possibly New York?) but needed a name. And Gotham City is a great name. Batman and Robin are also referred to as “The Dynamic Duo” for the first time in Batman 4. Bill Finger, who writes all the stories in this collection, includes that namesake in most of the issues after. I think it’s a great tagline and it’s certainly stood the test of time.

The batmobile is officially introduced. Batman and Robin previously drove around in a regular red car. Now, to match the batplane, they have a vehicle that looks like an actual bat whooshing down the street. Yes, it’s kind of ridiculous. But it looks cool, and like a lot of elements Kane and Finger introduced, it has undeniable staying power.

Another first is Batman’s rule of no killing. Batman killed in the first volume, or at least had no regret when criminals died. Now, he specifically instructs Robin, “We never kill with weapons of any kind” (a few villains still die on their watch though). I was wondering if Batman was going to be killing criminals throughout the Golden Age, so I was surprised to see this come as early as it did.

Aside from reappearances of Hugo Strange, the Joker, and Clayface, the most prominent rogue that appears in this collection is Scarecrow. His motives to steal money are not unlike all the thugs Batman and Robin fight. His backstory and methods are interesting though: a psychology professor, he internalizes insults from colleagues (they shun him for his scarecrow-like appearance) and uses his knowledge of fear to enact revenge. Curiously, Hugo Strange employs a similar tactic in Detective Comics 46. Strange unleashes a “fear dust” over the city, causing people to cower or lash out (not unlike Scarecrow and Ra’s Al Ghul’s plan in Batman Begins, come to think of it). And that’s what I like about these collected volumes: picking up threads like this. You really get to peek into the development process of characters and plotlines by reading the issues in close succession.

Then again, reading these volumes in one go makes the stories blur together. The plot structure is basically the same. And let’s be honest, a lot of the stories are forgettable. But it’s also fascinating to see the characteristics of Batman and his world take form. From the moments of emotion and character development, it’s obvious the creators care about Batman’s world and his stories.

Stray observations:

Bill Finger uses comics to teach lessons to readers. Lots of them end with declarations like, “And that’s why you should stay out of crime, kids!”

Batman and Robin fight pirates not once but twice in these stories. The first time is against Blackbeard and his buccaneers (really gangsters in disguise). The second is against modern day pirate smugglers lead by Hook Morgan.

My favorite new villain is The Clock Maker, who believes people that “kill time” are murderers, and kills them with exploding clocks.

Nearly every Joker story so far ends with him falling off a building or cliff, with Batman and Robin assuring themselves it’s the last of him. His next issue starts with a recap of how he survived.

In “Public Enemy #1”, someone references The Penguin Club. I’m hoping we’ll see Penguin soon.

The police’s negative opinion of Batman and Robin is more defined here. Batman himself says, “The police aren’t exactly too fond of my slightly different way in fighting crime!” Although Batman is made an honorary member of the police department by the end of the last story.

Bruce’s fiancée, Julie Madison, breaks it off because he isn’t doing anything about his career (little does she know!). Bruce, bless him, is a gentleman about it.

Robin uses rocket skates in one instance and it’s as wonderful as you’d expect.

No Catwoman here. I’m hoping she’s reintroduced in the next volume.

Batman acknowledges that he makes a bad pun in “The Case of the Three Devils”. The pun is about devils.

Though most of stories fall into the crime genre, a few buck the trend: Joker’s story in Batman 4 is flat-out horror, and “The Stone Idol” in Detective 56 is a supernatural western. These genres must have been popular at the time.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another delightful romp with The Batman through the Golden Age. Even then, Batman had the best stories.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished reading The Golden Age Batman Vol. 2 by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, and George Roussos. Back when I first started reading Batman, in 1966, it would have been unthinkable to be able to obtain access to the stories published 25 years before. Now, 81 years after the character was created, it's not difficult to find most of his comic book appearances collected in various books. This volume collects 32 stories originally cover dated in 1941.

I love to be able to watch the ways iconic characters developed before they became fixed in popular culture. Batman had only picked up Robin the Boy Wonder seven months before the first story in this book. He and Robin worked outside the law, running away from police whenever they were encountered, until the last story in this book, when Commissioner Gordon made them honorary members of the force. Many villains are killed (or in the case of the Joker, apparently killed) during fights with the Dynamic Duo, sometimes accidentally, and sometimes with clear intent.

There is no Wayne Manor - Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are described as living in an apartment, upgraded to a suburban house. The Batmobile makes its first appearance here, originally colored red with no special markings before becoming dark blue and with the giant Bat head on the grill. The Batmobile is introduced. There is no Batcave yet - but there is an old barn with a secret tunnel connected to Wayne's home.

Bill Finger finds ways to vary the standard formula of crime, fights, mysteries, and wrap up. The art, especially as Jerry Robinson is responsible for more and more of it, is especially fascinating. So many shadows, so much black ink in many panels, an exuberant approach to fight scenes with bodies flailing all over the panel, some interesting backgrounds and layouts. Now, I have to decide if I want to go back and see how it developed to this point, or proceed into the next volume and see how fast it gets to the Batman we all knew growing up.

[L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman continues to fight crime with his two fists more than anything, while we're supposed to overlook all the times he "borrows" someone else's car when the Batmobile is not available. In this collection he deals mostly with forgettable mobsters, although Joker and Scarecrow do drop in once in awhile. (Who knew that skinny old Scarecrow could give Batman a run for his money?) World War II has started but for now it is still Over There, with the Caped Crusader encountering the Fifth Column here on home soil. Like other comic book heroes of this era, the Dark Knight sees nothing wrong in endangering the life of a child. Not only does Batman continually send Robin off on lethally dangerous missions, at one point Bruce Wayne is driving halfway across the country to Texas and makes Dick Grayson hide in the trunk of the car the entire way. Dude!

[Tom Maseth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume covers Batman issues #4-7, Detective Comics #46-56, World's Best Comics #1 and Worlds Finest Comics #2-3. Although there are a few fights with the joker and the Scarecrow's first appearance in WF #3, most of these stories are Batman and Robin fighting common criminals. Some rather nasty people. The stories have a pulp noir feel to them but are interesting to see the character development and evolution of the Dynamic Duo. The stories also show interesting facts (at least to me) about Bruce and Dick. For instance, they lived in an apartment before moving to Wayne Manor. Also the evolving attitude of acceptance from Commissioner Gordon.

[Nathaniel Seagraves · Rating 5 out of 5]

After some big reads these collections of Batman from his first few comics from the 1940’s and so on has been really good! It’s a bit grueling, but not as graphic twisted like the newer editions, of course this is coming from someone who only grew up with the Batman movies and not the comics. After a long book, it’s nice to do short sweet comics to cleanse my palate for the next big read! Highly enjoyable read and quite a few have a moral at the end, I believe to teach kids how to not be in gangs and do evil.

Curious at what turning point did Bob Kane or DC decide to make Batman edgy or dark…I guess I have to keep following to find out lol.

[Arianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the earlier stories in this volume immensely, as I found them to be incredibly creative and even more unhinged than the ones contained in the previous book. Later, the stories become somewhat subdued as it seems like writers are settling into a routine. There is a bigger focus on gangsters, fraudsters and thieves with fewer supernatural threats and colorful villains. Bruce Wayne is still a charming, easygoing jackass, but at least he's not constantly smoking the pipe.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An in between era for me

The dark grimy vibe of the crude early comics makes way for a more dynamic mood, with Robin in tow. There's a smattering of ww2 propaganda about fifth columnists. There are some clever, twisted stories, but the starkness of the early days is gone and the zaniness of the silver age only has occasional precursors.

[Luis Escobedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories improve by time

Volume 2 stories feels like an improvement over volume 1, there are some really interesting stories even by present time's standards.

I would recommend every Batman fan to give it a shot. When you red these stories you actually come to understand the worries, the hopes and the problems that people had at that point in history.

[Sienna Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOOP WOOP! 60th book I’ve read this year! I know some people don’t count comics as books, but I feel like if it’s a full collection of comics, I can let it slide… I also know I don’t technically HAVE to be reading the old Batman comics, but it’s good to see the og stories of some of the most popular villains!

[Rachel Oberlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Look Into The Past

Reading these comics is like looking into the past. You see the hand drawing of each block and the story line that they came up with that was relevant for the time period. These were to entertain and maybe give a child a moral to live by. It doesn't hurt that they're fun to read!I can see why they lasted so long. These are different from today's Batman.

[Seanbob Reagalbeagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to read these golden age comics with my kids.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very early Batman stories. Some are dated. But, there are several early Joker stories as well as the first appearance of the Scarecrow.

[Lser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty fun read, this comic also contains the first appearance of the Scarecrow, one of the main enemies of Batman!

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This like the first installment was wonderful introducing the Joker and scarecrow and other great villains batman faced over the years I loved every page of it and would read it again and again