Detective Comics #158

Detective Comics #158 (1950)
by Edmond Hamilton & Win Mortimer

Doctor Doom is so used to time travel that his first appearance pre-dates Marvel itself.

We begin at the Batcave, where Batman and Robin are bringing their one thousandth “trophy”.
That’s quite an accomplishment: even if they managed to consistently bring a trophy each night without missing a single day, it would still take them OVER TWO YEARS to reach a thousand!

There’s a surprising amount of continuity in the trophies.
I have no idea if the killer note is from anything specific (or even WTF it’s supposed to be), but the giant dice are from 1947’s Batman #44…

…the helicopter is from Batman #48…

…and of course the giant penny is from World’s Finest #30.

The mechanical dinosaur goes further back, from 1946’s Batman #35.

And it keeps on going further back: the cannon is from Batman #9, all the way back in 1942.
Even the empty case is from a previous story, Detective Comics #112.

That’s a surprising amount of continuity for 1950, but it does take up 3 pages of this 12 page story.

We finally get into the action when Commissioner Gordon calls Batman because Doctor Doom has arrived in Gotham City!!!

Even Batman is itching to prove his skills against Doctor Doom.

It is weird to see the police harass Doctor Doom, but remember that Latveria won’t be introduced until Fantastic Four Annual #2, fourteen years after this story, so technically speaking he doesn’t have diplomatic immunity yet.

I wonder if Doom thought these were magical jewels? He’ll also go after that sort of thing in his first encounter with the Fantastic Four.

And then Doctor Doom straight up jumps into the river! It could very easily be a Doombot, because that doesn’t feel like a very Doom thing to do.

On the other hand, Doom’s armor DOES contain an air supply, so this might be the real Doom.

Even in 1950 this HAD to be VERY sketchy, right? Please tell me handing out evidence to random people as souvenirs wasn’t a thing.

Little does Batman know that Doctor Doom is now hiding inside the Batmobile.

I’m not sold on this new Doctor Doom look. Skipping the cowl is a bold move, I’ll give him that, but the mask needs some serious work.
Although having that much protection on his chin might help if the Thing tries to punch him.

I don’t care much for the “Bat-God” version of Batman, but I have to give it to him: any security door that can hold Doctor Doom is quite an accomplishment.

I’m sure there was a good reason for keeping hundreds of traps and weapons just laying around, instead of deactivating them, but I can’t really think of any.

Doctor Doom is big on recycling. Who else would think of using Penny Plunderer’s greatest embarrassment to very nearly kill Batman?

Since this is 1950, obviously Batman can’t have CCTV to keep an eye on the Batcave.
But he does have the next best thing available at the time.

Doom is a step ahead, slipping inside the mechanical dinosaur. With all the robot work he’s done over the decades, how weird is it that this is the only Doctor Doom story I can think of where he’s using a robot dinosaur?

With a robot dinosaur on the loose, Robin is taken out… by an umbrella.

This is also the only comic I know where Batman is fighting a dinosaur with a helicopter to save Robin from an umbrella.

So far the trophies have included a robot dinosaur, a cannon, a sarcophagus, a giant dice machine, a killer musical note and a regular grenade.
One of these things is not like the others.

How will Batman save himself?

With a “midget mansion” made by the “pee-wee people of Tiny Town”, of course!
Courtesy of 1947’s Batman #41.

The blast has sealed Doctor Doom inside the sarcophagus, and by the time Batman manages to open it he thinks he’s suffocated.
Which means this is 100% a Doombot.

So I guess that, to this day, there’s a damaged Doombot inside a sarcophagus in the Batcave.

It’s not like it’s the weirdest thing in there.

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Doom significance: /10
We never learn why Doctor Doom wanted those jewels. Even more impressively, the fact that he showed up in another multiverse 12 years before his first appearance is never explained.

Silver Age-ness: /10
When else could anyone believe Doctor Doom dies by diving in the water?

 Does it stand the test of time? /10
What a waste for the first meeting between such iconic characters. Why even bother using Doctor Doom here? You could easily swap him with a random smuggler than never makes another appearance.

 It was a Doombot all along
How else could Doom “die” in the Batcave? The only other explanation is that this has absolutely nothing to do with Doctor Doom and it’s just a funny coincidence, but that’s a bit far-fetched.

Crazy tech
Doom is slacking off in this: other than his armor allowing him to breathe underwater, he never uses any of his gadgets. So reluctantly I have to give this to Batman’s hidden camera.