World’s Finest #81 (1956)
by Ed Hamilton & Dick Sprang
cover by Win Mortimer
The true history of Superman and Batman? You mean the previous 18 years worth of stories were *gasp* made up!?
We begin with Superman and Batman doing something unheard of in the Silver Age: doing things that completely defy logic. Wait, what?
This completely baffles the Daily Planet.
Perry didn’t really need the rest of that balloon: this is great for the entire Silver Age!
To discover why Batman and Superman are acting weirdly… well, why they are acting weirdly TODAY, really… we learn that Batman has been visited by a historian exactly from 4,000 years in the future.
I always hate it when time travelers come from EXACTLY a round number of years in the future.
And yes, the irony of me being a huge Legion fan when it’s always set 1,000 years in the future is not lost on me.
I swear in these stories Batman has the most random ways to contact Superman. Come on Bats, you can’t just phone!?!?
Basically this dude works for Wikipedia 6,000 and wants to fact check his work.
The artwork is from legendary Batman penciler Dick Sprang. Who, in addition to having a name that sounds like it wouldn’t pass the Comics Code, draws the most square Batman ever.
The impact of Sprang on Batman is undeniable, but I have a hard time taking the character seriously.
Aaaaand the historian turns out to be a colossal jackass.
I suppose that in 1956 it would’ve been a little ridiculous to think this guy would’ve gone through such lengths to confirm extremely minor details… but have you ever seen a comment war on a Wikipedia article?
Amazingly, Batman is against the idea of creating another tornado just to get rid of it! If this was the 60s, Superman wouldn’t hesitate a minute to do something like that and fix the situation in like five minutes without the slightest challenge.
Before tackling the tornado feat Superman “fixes” a few other details of his recent feats to help the historian, and then… all Hell breaks loose.
Ewww. One look at this guy’s facial expression and I need a shower.
She’s totally flirting with that sleazeball, isn’t she?
Jealous Batman is the best Batman.
So after a ridiculous scene with Batman having to fix a totally realistic planetarium in a specific way…
…we move to Superman outing some orphans. Wait, WTF!?!?
*sigh of relief*
Okay, I know I’ve disparaged Dick Sprang before, but honestly: this panel is AWESOME.
Batman was SUPPOSED to release a criminal he had already caught and just capture him again… but he just pretended to, impersonated the criminal, and made Robin dress up as Batman to lasso him. The historian didn’t really need to manipulate Batman to get this scene, I’m 99% sure this is how Batman & Robin pass their weekends.
You might have notice a sliiiight oversight in the historian’s plan. The World’s Greatest Detective needs the story to be at its last page to do the same.
But at least we learn that the historian didn’t get everything wrong.
Riveting.
Historical significance: 0/10
Much to the historian’s despair, I’m sure.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
Considering the sheer insanity of later years, this is basically nothing. Impressive that this still works with the classic Silver Age time travel rules, even though they haven’t been fully established yet!
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
The basic concept is fine but the execution is very, VERY 1950s. Batman being THIS famous 4,000 years in the future should warrant SOME reaction from him!!! It’s nothing particularly new for Superman (although not that much at the time of publication, since it’s before we learn about the Legion), but still…
Did Superman really need Batman?
The real question is, did we even need Superman for this!?
Lois is infuriatingly bad in these World’s Finest stories. It must be so tempting for Superman to just throw her into space and then claim being made temporarily evil by Red Kryptonite.