DETECTIVE COMICS 29 (1939)
by Gardner Fox & Bob Kane
We’ve met the first Superman villain, but who was the very first Batman supervillain?
Let’s meet Dr. Death, and to give you an idea of how old this is… this is Batman’s THIRD story ever published. We haven’t even learned Batman’s origin yet!
Not that you couldn’t tell by yourself that this is really, REALLY old stuff.
Little known fact: before the bat-signal, you could contact Batman through the press.
Or really “the Bat Man” as he’s called now.
How does he have a secret identity after this!? Even in 1939 there HAD to be someone checking to see who would show up, right!?
I have to say that the very earliest Golden Age Batman stories don’t seem to have aged as well as the Superman ones. At least he has a head start with getting the looks right.
The original Batmobile left something to be desired.
The days before the grappling hook gun were pretty heavy.
This early Batman could be very goofy sometimes, but damn if he couldn’t sell you the atmosphere.
Some goons try to stop him, but this is years before Batman’s aversion to guns is even mentioned.
Considering I mostly cover the Silver Age, I’m used to panels filled to the brim with captions and thought balloons; the restrain of this comic is quite refreshing, although it’s also kind of hilarious to see every single panel explaining what is absurdly obvious.
The Bat Man manages to escape by throwing an ever-present smoke pellet, and proceeds to jump off the window with a rather goofy pose.
Unlike the Human Torch and Superman he can’t break through the wall, but this continues the Golden Age war against doors.
“How did you shoot yourself?”
“I do funny things sometimes.”
“Oh Bruce Wayne, you’re so silly!”
Back to Dr. Death, who has been getting no screen time despite being behind everything.
The picture of the next victim has a tiny skull & bones symbol, plus the word DOOMED.
Dr. Death, master of confused marketing!
I don’t know what I find the most hilarious in this sequence. That the murder weapon is blowing pollen, that Bruce Wayne can both assault and save the victim in daylight (with a handkerchief!), or the fact that the potential victim doesn’t even get a single line of dialogue.
I have to say I’m not exactly impressed with Dr. Death’s security measures.
I would not put past this early Batman to just strangle the henchman.
Dr. Death might not have looked like a supervillain at first, but he does have a trapdoor that he uses while laughing manically.
Dr. Death tries to murder the Bat Man with a vial of flammable chemicals, but… I’ll let the captions explain.
And so the Bat Man lets his first supervillain die in a fire.
I originally thought I would only review Detective Comics #29, but since that ending is so abrupt it’s not really a complete story. Dr. Death returns in the very next issue.
DETECTIVE COMICS 30 (1939)
by Gardner Fox & Bob Kane
cover by Fred Guardineer
The cover has absolutely nothing to do with Batman, but this was still an anthology book.
It’s been a week since Dr. Death died (the irony!), and Bruce Wayne is busy with his favorite Golden Age activity: reading the papers.
The Bat Man investigates, and I continue to be impressed by how much of this early imagery will be carried over in the following decades.
Also it turns out that Dr. Death is, in fact, very much alive (the irony!).
And he continues to be just terrible with security.
The world’s greatest detective, ladies and gentlemen.
Also he kills a man by breaking his neck with an awkward kick. (!!!)
Still, he does track the stolen jewels to the man who he deduced is working for Dr. Death.
Or is he???
And that’s how Dr. Death is finally captured.
Historical significance: 0/10
Only the most diehard Batman fans have any idea whatsoever that Dr. Death is a thing.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Saved from a 0/10 by that goofy pollen weapon and the it-was-probably-a-cliché-even-back-then trapdoor escape.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
The scenes with Batman lurking around in the night hold up surprisingly well! Everything else, though… the writing is rather weak, the action is awkward, and generally speaking the story is extremely generic. I can give it some slack for being the THIRD story, but when you compare it to the earlies Superman stories… this is more style than substance.
How close is this to the modern character? 0/10
For Batman’s original supervillain, Dr. Death has a very weird history!
These are the ONLY two Golden Age stories featuring Dr. Death. He won’t be brought back until Batman #345 in 1982. That’s a 43 year gap between appearances!!!
And then he won’t appear AGAIN for another 21 years, until 2003 and Batgirl, of all series.
He’s still around. Weirdly enough, his current look is more 30s than his actual 30s looks.
