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Batman: The Golden Age #Omnibus #5
Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 5
A new serving of tales of Batman and Robin from the late 1940s, featuring appearances by some of their greatest foes, in the latest volume of this recut trade paperback series, BATMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE VOL. 5.
This fifth volume of BATMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE collects more of the the Dark Knight Detective's adventures from the late 1940s, including battles with evildoers such as The Joker, the Penguin and Catwoman, plus a tale in which the Caped Crusaders join Robin Hood's band of merry men.
Collects DETECTIVE COMICS #113-131, BATMAN #36-44 and WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #23-32.
This fifth volume of BATMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE collects more of the the Dark Knight Detective's adventures from the late 1940s, including battles with evildoers such as The Joker, the Penguin and Catwoman, plus a tale in which the Caped Crusaders join Robin Hood's band of merry men.
Collects DETECTIVE COMICS #113-131, BATMAN #36-44 and WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #23-32.
800 pages, Hardcover
First published January 7, 1948
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About the author
Bill Finger
647 books105 followersWilliam "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
Film and television credits include scripting The Green Slime (1969), Track of the Moon Beast (1976), and three episodes of 77 Sunset Strip.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 13, 2025
Batman in Transition: A Review of The Golden Age Batman Omnibus, Volume 5
Superman may be America’s great aspirational figure—our invulnerable, ever-righteous demigod—but Batman, in all his incarnations, has always been something far more interesting: adaptable. Unlike the Man of Steel, whose moral clarity is his permanence, Batman changes with the times. He absorbs his era, reflects it, and reemerges as something new, while still being fundamentally the same.
By the time we reach The Golden Age Batman Omnibus, Volume 5, collecting Detective Comics #113-132, Batman #36-45, and World’s Finest Comics #15-20, we are seeing precisely this process at work. The volume spans 1947-1948, an era of both cultural shift and comic book transition. The Golden Age is coming to a close. The postwar world is settling into the cautious optimism of the late 1940s. And Batman—once a hard-edged pulp avenger, then a wartime crimebuster—is undergoing another transformation: into a character built not merely for drama but for entertainment.
In these stories, the Batman of earlier years—grim, shadowy, defined by street-level crime—begins his slow march toward something more colorful, more adventurous, and, at times, more whimsical. This is Batman at the threshold of his Silver Age transformation—not quite there yet, but no longer the same figure who debuted in 1939.
A Postwar Batman: The Shifting Cultural Landscape
The world that had produced Batman’s first decade of stories was a world of necessity—a world where heroism was a desperate response to economic depression, global war, and rampant crime. But by 1947, things were changing.
The war was over. America, victorious and flush with economic prosperity, was now looking ahead, toward stability and growth. The anxieties that had once defined Batman’s world—the looming specter of war, the fear of domestic sabotage, the ever-present tension of a nation in crisis—were fading into history.
In their place, a new ethos was emerging: American optimism. The postwar boom had begun. The suburbs were growing. The Cold War had yet to fully consume the national psyche. And Batman, ever the mirror of his era, was responding in kind.
In Volume 5, we see a Batman who is less haunted, less brutal, and more of a traditional hero. He still fights crime, of course—but the crimes themselves are changing. Gone are the desperate gangsters of the 1930s or the wartime spies of the early 1940s. In their place are larger-than-life villains, eccentric masterminds, and the first hints of the almost absurdist storytelling that would later dominate the Silver Age.
This is Batman as a cultural institution, no longer just a crimefighter but an entertainer, a figure meant not merely to avenge Gotham, but to delight his audience.
The Villains: The Rise of the Theatrical Crime Lord
If Volume 5 demonstrates anything, it is that Gotham’s criminal class is no longer content with simple extortion or murder. No—they have themes now.
The Joker, by this point, is in full transformation. His early days as a remorseless serial killer have given way to something more theatrical. He is still dangerous—still a trickster, still a murderer—but his crimes are now performances. He wants Batman to chase him, wants to create elaborate set pieces, wants to turn Gotham into a stage for his own brand of operatic lunacy.
The Penguin, too, has settled into his permanent role. No longer just a clever gangster with an ornithological fixation, he is now Gotham’s aristocratic villain, a man whose vanity is as central to his character as his crimes. His criminal enterprises are less about raw profit and more about humiliating Batman—proving that sophistication, when properly wielded, is as powerful as brute strength.
We also see an increase in one-off, gimmick-based villains—figures who, while not destined for the Hall of Fame, reflect the changing tone of Batman’s world. There is The Mad Hatter, a Lewis Carroll-inspired villain whose crimes are theme-based, a prototype for the elaborate absurdity that would later define the 1950s and 60s. There is The Cavalier, a flamboyant swordsman whose very existence suggests that Gotham’s criminal underworld is no longer confined to the mundane.
And then there is Two-Face, making what would, for a time, be his final Golden Age appearance. By 1948, DC Comics—concerned about the increasing scrutiny of comic book violence—was quietly retiring its most psychologically unsettling characters. Two-Face, with his grotesque duality and deep psychological scars, was deemed too dark for the era of light entertainment that was about to emerge. His disappearance from Batman comics for over a decade is a reminder of just how much the storytelling was changing.
Robin’s Role: The Evolution of the Dynamic Duo
If Batman is becoming less dark, then Robin is becoming more essential.
By Volume 5, Batman is no longer a lone figure of vengeance. His adventures—virtually all of them—are co-adventures, with Robin by his side. The stories are structured around their teamwork, their chemistry, their ability to outsmart criminals not just through strength, but through ingenuity.
Robin, far from being a simple sidekick, is now a co-lead—a character who carries much of the humor, much of the optimism, and much of the relatability that keeps Batman from feeling too detached from his audience.
And therein lies the great shift: Batman is no longer a figure of fear. He is a hero now, fully and without question—a figure who stands not in the shadows, but in the light, battling villains not as an act of personal vengeance, but as a responsibility.
The Art: Dick Sprang and the Cartooning of Gotham
Visually, Gotham is no longer the dark and brooding city of 1939. Under artists like Dick Sprang, Gotham is big, bold, and unmistakably exaggerated. The skyscrapers are taller. The Batmobile is sleeker. The action sequences are grander, more cinematic.
Sprang’s Batman is athletic, powerful, and confident. His Gotham is not just a city; it is a stage, a playground for elaborate crimes and even more elaborate escapes.
This is not noir anymore. This is something larger, something more colorful. This is the beginning of the Silver Age aesthetic, the first hints of the Batman who would eventually find himself facing aliens, time travel, and interdimensional chaos.
Final Verdict: The End of the Golden Age, The Beginning of Something Else
The Golden Age Batman Omnibus, Volume 5 is a transitional document. It is the moment when Golden Age Batman ends and something else begins.
It is the last moment before the 1950s Batman, the last moment before Batman’s world is reshaped by censorship, the Comics Code, and the encroaching expectation that superheroes should be wholesome first, thrilling second.
This volume is not grim. It is not cynical. It is fun, energetic, bold, and brilliantly entertaining. It is Batman fully embracing the fact that he is now a part of pop culture, not just pulp fiction.
Final Thought: Why This Volume Matters
One closes this book with the realization that Batman is, above all, a survivor. He does not fade. He does not grow obsolete. He simply adapts.
And in a world that is always changing, that is why Batman will never disappear.
As well he shouldn’t.
Superman may be America’s great aspirational figure—our invulnerable, ever-righteous demigod—but Batman, in all his incarnations, has always been something far more interesting: adaptable. Unlike the Man of Steel, whose moral clarity is his permanence, Batman changes with the times. He absorbs his era, reflects it, and reemerges as something new, while still being fundamentally the same.
By the time we reach The Golden Age Batman Omnibus, Volume 5, collecting Detective Comics #113-132, Batman #36-45, and World’s Finest Comics #15-20, we are seeing precisely this process at work. The volume spans 1947-1948, an era of both cultural shift and comic book transition. The Golden Age is coming to a close. The postwar world is settling into the cautious optimism of the late 1940s. And Batman—once a hard-edged pulp avenger, then a wartime crimebuster—is undergoing another transformation: into a character built not merely for drama but for entertainment.
In these stories, the Batman of earlier years—grim, shadowy, defined by street-level crime—begins his slow march toward something more colorful, more adventurous, and, at times, more whimsical. This is Batman at the threshold of his Silver Age transformation—not quite there yet, but no longer the same figure who debuted in 1939.
A Postwar Batman: The Shifting Cultural Landscape
The world that had produced Batman’s first decade of stories was a world of necessity—a world where heroism was a desperate response to economic depression, global war, and rampant crime. But by 1947, things were changing.
The war was over. America, victorious and flush with economic prosperity, was now looking ahead, toward stability and growth. The anxieties that had once defined Batman’s world—the looming specter of war, the fear of domestic sabotage, the ever-present tension of a nation in crisis—were fading into history.
In their place, a new ethos was emerging: American optimism. The postwar boom had begun. The suburbs were growing. The Cold War had yet to fully consume the national psyche. And Batman, ever the mirror of his era, was responding in kind.
In Volume 5, we see a Batman who is less haunted, less brutal, and more of a traditional hero. He still fights crime, of course—but the crimes themselves are changing. Gone are the desperate gangsters of the 1930s or the wartime spies of the early 1940s. In their place are larger-than-life villains, eccentric masterminds, and the first hints of the almost absurdist storytelling that would later dominate the Silver Age.
This is Batman as a cultural institution, no longer just a crimefighter but an entertainer, a figure meant not merely to avenge Gotham, but to delight his audience.
The Villains: The Rise of the Theatrical Crime Lord
If Volume 5 demonstrates anything, it is that Gotham’s criminal class is no longer content with simple extortion or murder. No—they have themes now.
The Joker, by this point, is in full transformation. His early days as a remorseless serial killer have given way to something more theatrical. He is still dangerous—still a trickster, still a murderer—but his crimes are now performances. He wants Batman to chase him, wants to create elaborate set pieces, wants to turn Gotham into a stage for his own brand of operatic lunacy.
The Penguin, too, has settled into his permanent role. No longer just a clever gangster with an ornithological fixation, he is now Gotham’s aristocratic villain, a man whose vanity is as central to his character as his crimes. His criminal enterprises are less about raw profit and more about humiliating Batman—proving that sophistication, when properly wielded, is as powerful as brute strength.
We also see an increase in one-off, gimmick-based villains—figures who, while not destined for the Hall of Fame, reflect the changing tone of Batman’s world. There is The Mad Hatter, a Lewis Carroll-inspired villain whose crimes are theme-based, a prototype for the elaborate absurdity that would later define the 1950s and 60s. There is The Cavalier, a flamboyant swordsman whose very existence suggests that Gotham’s criminal underworld is no longer confined to the mundane.
And then there is Two-Face, making what would, for a time, be his final Golden Age appearance. By 1948, DC Comics—concerned about the increasing scrutiny of comic book violence—was quietly retiring its most psychologically unsettling characters. Two-Face, with his grotesque duality and deep psychological scars, was deemed too dark for the era of light entertainment that was about to emerge. His disappearance from Batman comics for over a decade is a reminder of just how much the storytelling was changing.
Robin’s Role: The Evolution of the Dynamic Duo
If Batman is becoming less dark, then Robin is becoming more essential.
By Volume 5, Batman is no longer a lone figure of vengeance. His adventures—virtually all of them—are co-adventures, with Robin by his side. The stories are structured around their teamwork, their chemistry, their ability to outsmart criminals not just through strength, but through ingenuity.
Robin, far from being a simple sidekick, is now a co-lead—a character who carries much of the humor, much of the optimism, and much of the relatability that keeps Batman from feeling too detached from his audience.
And therein lies the great shift: Batman is no longer a figure of fear. He is a hero now, fully and without question—a figure who stands not in the shadows, but in the light, battling villains not as an act of personal vengeance, but as a responsibility.
The Art: Dick Sprang and the Cartooning of Gotham
Visually, Gotham is no longer the dark and brooding city of 1939. Under artists like Dick Sprang, Gotham is big, bold, and unmistakably exaggerated. The skyscrapers are taller. The Batmobile is sleeker. The action sequences are grander, more cinematic.
Sprang’s Batman is athletic, powerful, and confident. His Gotham is not just a city; it is a stage, a playground for elaborate crimes and even more elaborate escapes.
This is not noir anymore. This is something larger, something more colorful. This is the beginning of the Silver Age aesthetic, the first hints of the Batman who would eventually find himself facing aliens, time travel, and interdimensional chaos.
Final Verdict: The End of the Golden Age, The Beginning of Something Else
The Golden Age Batman Omnibus, Volume 5 is a transitional document. It is the moment when Golden Age Batman ends and something else begins.
It is the last moment before the 1950s Batman, the last moment before Batman’s world is reshaped by censorship, the Comics Code, and the encroaching expectation that superheroes should be wholesome first, thrilling second.
This volume is not grim. It is not cynical. It is fun, energetic, bold, and brilliantly entertaining. It is Batman fully embracing the fact that he is now a part of pop culture, not just pulp fiction.
Final Thought: Why This Volume Matters
One closes this book with the realization that Batman is, above all, a survivor. He does not fade. He does not grow obsolete. He simply adapts.
And in a world that is always changing, that is why Batman will never disappear.
As well he shouldn’t.
August 31, 2019
Still my favorite era of the Caped Crusader. This opens in 1946, and as it progresses I can see the trends that would make the 1950s an unpopular era with many Bat-fans (I'm not one of them). We have Batman make his first trip offworld to fight crime on another planet and several time-travel trips (the best being one in which Bats tries to clear one of his own ancestors of being a highwayman). Catwoman, Joker and Penguin are more formulaic in their crimes, and we get the first of the long string of one-shot gimmick villains we'd see in the coming years (the Match, Lucky Star, the Human Key).
That said, the Big Three villains are still fun, there are some great human interest stories, and I've already ordered Vol. 6.
That said, the Big Three villains are still fun, there are some great human interest stories, and I've already ordered Vol. 6.
August 23, 2025
1946-8 gems include Penguin pies Gordon, Jokermobile & Jokergyro debut, Dynamic Due join the Merry Men, a cartoon drives Penguin back to crime, Lafayette leads a Washington-Lincoln-Franklin crime spree, Man in the Iron Mask executed by lightning, Penguin sets loose black hens on Robin’s red tunic, Commissioner Vane axes the Batsignal, Batman II, Catmobile, & Shiner debut, Dynamic Duo on Mars, & cowgirl Catwoman, 4 Horsemen of Crime, Silas Wayne, Club Saturn, Underworld Surgeon, Match, & Human Key debut
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews