Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 6

Batman: The Golden Age #Omnibus #6

by Bill Finger

Batman's adventures from the late 1940s are collected for the first time in this new hardcover omnibus series, continuing here with BATMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE OMNIBUS VOL. 6!

A comprehensive collection of the Dark Knight's Golden Age adventures from some of the creative titans of the comic book industry! In these tales from the late 1940s, the Dynamic Duo continues to fight crime as they encounter villains including Two-Face, The Joker, the Penguin and more! This new Omnibus hardcover also includes the debut appearance of the Riddler, a retelling of Batman's origin and an unusual tale in which Batman and Robin reenact the story of Frankenstein.

Collects DETECTIVE COMICS #132-149, BATMAN #45-54 and stories from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #33-41.

Genres: Batman, Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels

786 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1949

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

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the fact I own every Batman story from the 1940s is kind of amazing. And this volume is good too (usually "if you like this kind of old comic" YMMV boilerplate). We have the Joker, the Penguin and the debut of some guy called Riddler, but only a couple of Catwoman yarns. There are a few one-shot gimmick villains such as the Pied Piper (no relation to Flash's foe), the Mad Hatter (it would be years before he came back) and the Gong, several time-travel tales (my least favorite) and the debut of Vicki Vale, much more interesting here (a go-for-broke photojournalist) than the Lois Lane secret identity snoop she became in the 1950s. Oh, and Batman finally has a showdown with the man who killed his parents.
This remains my favorite Batman era.

[Ihsan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Batman is blackmailed into tomfoolery in "The Case of the 48 Jokers!"

This volume collects every Batman story published between March 1948 and November 1949, a period that marked Batman's 10th anniversary in comics. Behind the scenes there were important personnel changes.

The first section of volume 6 contains the final stories written by Don Cameron, one of DC's best 1940s writers. After he left editor Jack Schiff scrambled to find writers to take his place, sometimes with mixed results. We still don't know who wrote nearly half of the stories in this book--they're credited to "Unknown." Fortunately Batman's hard-working co-creator Bill Finger was still onboard and he's responsible for most of the other stories. The most famous is "The Origin of Batman," still the best-ever story about Batman finding his parents' killer; rarely has poetic justice been so brutal.

The other stories fall into several categories. Some are noirish postwar "crime does not pay" tales (like "Killer For Hire" by Edmond Hamilton) where crooks pay the wages of sin. Others are mysteries and human interest tales involving ordinary people. Carrying on a Golden Age Batman tradition, there are also time travel stories: The dynamic duo go back to renaissance Italy, viking Scandinavia, and medieval Baghdad; they meet Leonardo da Vinci, Henry "Bloody" Morgan, and Marco Polo. Last but most important come the costumed super-villain capers, featuring the Joker (he pops up in almost every other issue), the Penguin, Catwoman, and Two Face (he makes only one appearance, and an atypical one). This volume also features the introductions of the Riddler, the Mad Hatter, and that Lois Lane knock-off Vicki Vale.

The art is less varied in this volume. Jerry Robinson had left Batman and Win Mortimer was now only doing covers: their contributions are much missed. Fortunately Dick Sprang, the greatest Golden Age Batman artist, was still at work and is well represented here. The other artists are less distinguished. Jim Mooney's art is competent but bland; you can tell he'd rather work on a less stylized comic. The remaining stories are crudely handled by Bob Kane himself and his ghost Lew Sayre Schwartz (Kane drew Batman and Robin, Schwartz everything else).

If you're mostly familiar with modern Batman comics, you'll need to approach the Golden Age with different expectations. The tightly plotted 12 page stories in this book were meant as escapist children's literature (not "dark" soap operas for middle-aged men with the minds of 14-year-olds). The writers and editors weren't concerned with the repercussions of time travel because they were focused on giving Batman incredible arenas to romp through. Similarly, the super-villain stories are in the spirit of children's hi-jinks: the villains tell Batman to come out and play by leaving clues daring him to guess their next crime, which is inevitably based on a clever gimmick or theme. Batman and Robin puzzle it out and tussle two to three times with the bad guys before sending them to prison, which is nothing more than a time-out before the next round of play (when the villains inevitably escape).

This collection then is Golden Age business as usual, and I wouldn't have it any other way. However, there are hints of the sci-fi/fantasy elements that would overtake the strip in the next decade (invisibility elixirs, shrink rays, mermen). At other times the new writers lean too hard on whimsy (as in "The Wonderful Mr. Whimble"). This volume also contains another novelty: a real-life "Guest Star," bandleader Kay Kyser.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

1948-9 gems include da Vinci was the original Bat, Penguin throws a penguin at Bat, Bat becomes Frankenstein, Joe Chill, Wolf Brando, invisible Joker, Ling Ho, Vicki Vale & Mad Hatter, & Riddler debut, Harvey betrayed by his butler, Riddler in a hall of mirrors, Penguin kidnaps a talking penguin, Mad Thinker frames Alfred for Bruce’s murder, Tiger Shark debuts, “Hairpin, Hoe, Hacksaw, Hole”, Prof. 0 debuts, Joker caught in a giant record player, Treasure Hunter & Gotham Ghost debuts, Bat punches a gorilla, 48 Jokers, Gotham Goblin debuts, & Bat punches a condor