WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #30 (1947)
by Bill Finger & Bob Kane
There are three distinctive features of the Batcave that generally don’t change between incarnations: the giant Joker card, the robot T-Rex, and the giant penny.
Both the card and the dinosaur are older, being both from 1946 (the former from Detective Comics #114 and the latter from Batman #35), but while everything assumes the giant penny comes from Two-Face… instead it’s from the little-known Penny Plunderer.
Think that the Golden Age origin of the Scarecrow was lame? This guy has him beat: he hates pennies because that’s all he got as tips when he was growing up.
AND because he was caught gambling with pennies.
AND because he was caught when trying to steal pennies.
So he has three very dumb reasons for hating pennies, uh? Almost like having a penny-based supervillain was a terrible idea or something.
He still manages to find some penny-themed crimes, which I guess is kind of impressive.
Bill Finger must’ve been into stamp collection.
Seriously, it took me thirty seconds to finds the Wikipedia article on this stamp, but apparently it’s a correct reference! Must’ve been harder to check in 1947 than in 2021.
Although, according to the same article, in 2021 the price for one of these varies between 40 and 1,000 British Pounds (53 to to 1,300 dollars)… they’re not THAT rare.
The artwork is on point, however, considering the original:
Batman figures out that it’s a prime target for the crime wave relevant to pennies, and see what awaits them at the exhibition!
Batman… that’s not a pun if it’s LITERALLY what you are doing!!!
Little known fact, Batman is a black belt in Obvious Pun Combat.
One of the greatest superheroes of all time, ladies and gentlemen.
Batman learns about Penny Plunderer’s hideout by one of his goons, who is promptly murdered for talking to Batman. Man in the Golden Age even the stupid villains were murderers!
Even if this was a real saying, I’m really starting to hate the word “penny”.
If you thought Batman was lame for being defeated by being hit with a bunch of pennies, Robin has an even worse outing.
Listen, Golden Age… I can accept the Joker, Penguin and Scarecrow being a physical threat to Batman. But I draw the line at Penny Plunderer because COME ON!!!
We’re still technically in the Golden Age so while Penny Plunderer is still a murderer, he can’t simply kill Batman with a gun.
Sounds legit.
How bored were rich people in 1947!?!?
Batman is on the case, but Penny Plunderer is getting too cocky for his own good.
I expected that pennies would be involved in how Penny Plunderer is defeated, because that’s how these stories work. I just hoped for the slightest hint of subtlety.
And so we end with Penny Plunderer being arrested and sentenced for murder (he’s ridiculous but he DID kill his goon for informing Batman)… and I guess a callback to the flashback about his past.
And that’s it!
Sooo… how exactly did the giant penny end up in the Batcave!?
It wasn’t a prop from Penny Plunderer, it was from the exhibition! Did they repay Batman by giving him the giant penny as a gift?
Historical significance: 6/10
The giant penny is one of the things that make the Batcave what it is… and I don’t know why!
Giant Joker card, okay, I get it: a constant reminder of the hero’s most popular villain. Fine.
Robot dinosaur, sure: it makes the scene more interesting, and who doesn’t like robots or dinosaurs?
But a giant 1947 Lincoln penny is incredibly random! Still, the fact that Penny Plunderer is rarely mentioned… and in fact a few incarnations have the penny being a memento from a Two-Face fight… lowers the score significantly.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
If you overlook that one murder, Penny Plunderer is already a fully realized Silver Age villain.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
This one is incredibly dated, from the writing style to the dialogue to the artwork.
How close is this to the modern character? 10/10
Penny Plunderer makes no other appearances in the Golden or Silver Age.
Post-Crisis, the Giant Penny was retconned into being from a Two-Face fight in 1987’s Batman #409… only to be retconned in 1999’s Batman Chronicles #18, which introduced the modern version of Penny Plunderer (who dies in the story).
This was retconned AGAIN in 2008’s “Two-Face Year One #2”: this time the penny is from a three-way fight between Batman, Two Face and Penny Plunderer… who again dies in the story.
Considering this version incorporates all elements from previous origins of the giant penny, I really hope they don’t do any further retcons about it.
Which, considering this is DC Comics, 100% guarantees they will retcon it again.
As neat as it is to see a Golden Age character still having SOME relevance, there’s really no need to keep Penny Plunderer around. He’s not that interesting, and of course if you must do a coin-based plot you just can’t beat Two-Face.
Still, if you want a bit of Batman trivia that even the most hardcore Batman files might get wrong, “which supervillain was behind the Batcave’s giant penny” is kind of funny.