BATMAN #63 (1951)
by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz & Bob Kane
cover by Lew Sayre Schwartz & Bob Kane
Typically in this period, the cover either has nothing to do with the story or at most it’s replicated in a smaller scale on the teaser page.
This time the teaser page IS the cover with additional narration! Very weird.
To be fair, the Killer Moth story is the third one in the book.
We begin in prison. While other inmates dream of their life upon their eventual release, the future Killer Moth dreams of Batman.
His plan is actually interesting: by pretending to be a rich millionaire, he’s unwillingly replicating Batman’s secret identity!
Can we really be sure the Batcave has a different origin?
And now, ladies and gentlemen, behold the glory of Killer Moth!!!
Killer Moth is FANTASTIC.
Not only is costume is the worst thing you’ll ever see, not only his car is even more disgusting… but his plan is to become THE BATMAN OF CRIME.
Despite his looks, Killer Moth is not completely idiotic: fist of all, only HE can see the Moth Signal.
But also HE’S PACKING.
But come on, this is Batman we’re talking about. He’s going to figure out immediately what’s going on, right?
The world’s greatest detective, ladies and gentlemen.
Remember when ONE person flying was a big deal?
But surely the Dark Knight can beat the Worst Dressed Human In History, right?
Honestly at this point I wonder if Batman is into this stuff. He should really talk to Wonder Woman.
Killer Moth has Batman drive him to the Batcave. However Robin has managed to escape and is communicating to Batman through a receiver on his bat-belt.
However it turns out that Killer Moth’s antennae are not just there to look stupid, they’re actually functional!
This leads to a confrontation on the bridge (with an unexpected use of creative perspective), but unfortunately the comic just runs out of pages and basically ends.
Well that was anticlimactic!!!
Historical significance: 6/10
Killer Moth ends up being a recurrent villain in the Silver Age, but his real claim to fame in this period is being the villain in the very first Batgirl story.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
The Moth Signal! The Moth Cave! The Moth Mobile!
Does it stand the test of time? 2/10
There are some noteworthy moments… the Moth Signal only working for Killer Moth and highlighting the usefulness of a gun… which he never actually uses.
How close is this to the modern character? 8/10
Killer Moth remains relatively unchanged throughout the Silver Age. After Crisis, for whatever reasons his civilian name is changed to Drury Walker.
His Silver Age silliness is initially intact.
He’s not particularly active, and in fact he’s been utterly overshadowed by Firefly, who began as Killer Moth’s sidekick before graduating to full time villain.
While Killer Moth has never been able to distance himself from the Silver Age silliness, Firefly has moved from being THIS:
…to THIS:
But while making Firefly menacing by turning him into an insane pyromaniac, the attempt to make Killer Moth serious was turning him into a moth-man with the awful name Charaxes:
That embarrassment was eventually killed off.
A couple of new guys have taken up the mantle, but I haven’t read a single comic with them. Judging by their looks, at least something of the original must remain.
Special mention to the Killer Moth appearing a couple of times in the Teen Titans cartoon: despite having basically nothing from the original and being a FAR more successful villain, he still inherited some of the goofiness of the original.
