World’s Finest #97 (1958)
by Bill Finger & Dick Sprang
cover by Curt Swan
What if Superman cared more about his career as a journalist than anything else? That’s not what this story is about, but really, what if?
We begin with Professor Milo having built a computer that is so great at predictions that it may as well be from Dream Girl’s planet.
You know this is an EARLY Silver Age story because Lois doesn’t ask the computer how to make Superman marry her. Instead she wants a scoop on famous criminal The Condor.
I just love 50s and 60s stories when computers are basically oracles.
When Bill Finger writes a story, you can reliably expect the story to feature a giant-sized household object (like Jimmy Olsen and giant toys). But this time the only giant feature is an enormous telescope at an observatory, in an admittedly cool action scene.
Batman ALSO loses the criminals because Robin slips (????), but just as the computer predicted he prevails thanks to a lightning strike.
Superman captures other criminals by… doing THIS instead of just grabbing them.
Okay, so you’re a criminal and you just learned that a scientist built a computer that can predict the future with 100% certainty. Do you:
A) Ask him to predict where you can buy a winning lottery ticket
B) Ask him any other way to get very rich very quickly
C) Ask him how to get rid of Batman and Superman
D) Ask him literally anything else
E) Ask him how to get Batman and Superman stop investigating your gang
The computer’s response is a doozy. By alerting the police to rob the hideout of a DIFFERENT bank robber…
…it turns out that Batman has been bribed!!!
Holy giant font, Batman, how big is that headline!?!?
I’ve made fun of the Daily Planet’s gigantic headlines before, but THAT has to be a record!
For contrast, I’ve looked for giant headlines in real-life newspapers and nothing comes even close!!!
Now, if this was the Batman of Bob Haney’s stories, he would probably just sit this one out.
But he’s being written by his co-creator, so he’s going to be Batman about it!!!
Speaking of the Haney stories, apparently while his Batman was wildly out of character, his Commissioner Gordon was on point. We even learn the extended version of the Gordon Doctrine:
Step 1: call Batman
Step 2: if Batman doesn’t show up, call Superman
Step 3: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Even though Superman is like “aww, do I have to?”…
…he eventually agrees, and exposes the Batcave’s location!
And so Batman is exposed as Scott Forest.
Wait a minute…
Maybe the problem is less the Gotham Gazette having giant titles and more the citizens of Gotham being SERIOUSLY near-sighted.
All of this proves that Professor’s Milo computer really is infallible, and we finally meet The Condor… who disappointingly enough is just a guy in a cowl.
Even the Owl has a better claim to HIS codename!
And so we have the twist of the story, which… I have to admit I didn’t see coming.
Of course all the predicted disasters were secretly arranged by Superman…
…and Billy Forest is just a regular dude. Shockingly enough this his only appearance! You would think “guy who can pretend to be Batman to save his secret identity” would be more useful.
And The Condor is revealed to be… the guy who barely appeared in a couple of panels.
Soooo… the story is over, right? Well, there’s still a page and a half, so SUDDEN KRYPTONITE!!!
I sure am glad we kept that threat for a whole three panels.
As it’s often the case, I have to ask: was this REALLY the best way to trap the bad guys? Seriously?
Historical significance: 0/10
Completely forgotten.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Nothing too crazy for DC at the time, but in any other era it would be a complete waste of time.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Truth be told, it’s not half bad! Superman’s plan is unnecessarily convoluted, but the twist is well executed. A surprisingly nice outing, if you account for the writing style of the time. You basically would have to re-write every scene, but the basic idea still kind of works.
Did Robin actually do anything? Not really
He’s around. And I have to assume he slipped on purpose in that scene, but it’s not officially stated.
Did Superman really need Batman? The comic says yes
But considering how easy it was to dupe the henchmen to follow whatever the computer said, would cornering The Condor be THAT hard?