WORLD’S FINEST 155 (1966)
Writers: Edmond Hamilton & E. Nelson Bridwell
Penciler: Curt Swan
A reader’s request: this was Steve’s first comic!
If another reader has a request for a Silver Age review that isn’t already part of a retrospective, let me know in the comments!
The cover is fairly typical for the time, except for the color. That is one ugly shade of orange.
Superman and Batman have just solved their 999th case (that we don’t get to see right now), so this gives Jimmy an idea: a celebration of their 1,000th case.
Maybe that number doesn’t seem that high today, since both Action Comics and Detective Comics have reached issue 1,000. But considering this is the 1,000th case they solve together, how long would it take to get there?
If they solve a case together once every month, they would need over 83 years.
If they solve a case together once every week, they would need over 19 years.
If they solve a case together twice every week, they would need over 9 years.
If they solve a case together EVERY SINGLE DAY, they would still need over 2 years and 8 months!!!
The World’s Greatest Detective © falls for it, and there’s no chance Superman won’t be a dick about it.
To honor them, representatives of many countries bring their stereotypical gifts.
Great, as if the Batcave and the Fortress of Solitude needed more junk laying around.
Batman is clearly feeling down, but Superman is busy recalling their famous cases.
Like the time that Robin turned into a giant and Superman cured him to prevent Robin becoming useful…
…to the time Batman saved him with a compass that finds Kryptonite.
I would joke that Superman would benefit from keeping the compass, but how useful can that thing possibly be? Kryptonite is EVERYWHERE in the Silver Age.
But it turns out that Batman is a phony. The one who deserves all the credit is Nightman.
Batman admits this while incriminating himself as the culprit of the greatest invasion of privacy that doesn’t involve Kandor City.
Batman’s spy drone reveals that Nightman was the one who helped Superman solve the 999th case.
The case involved some jewel thieves who hid themselves inside a hollow Moon monument…
…that was orbited by a ship model that actually orbits the monument… (WTF!?)
…and its orbit is so precise that Superman finds the jewels hidden inside it just because it alters the orbit! (double WTF?)
How petty can Batman be? He’s depressed because he just found out that Superman was cheating on him with another hero!
It’s up to Batman to figure out Nightman’s real identity!
BUT WHY!?!?
Okay, so… first clue: Nightman is terrible at shaving.
Other clues: he’s right-handed, as tall as Superman, and he knows that the Moon doesn’t have holes.
And that’s enough for the Batcomputer to provide three suspects!
As opposed to the, uhm, let’s be generous, tens of thousands of people who match the description.
But while Batman sleeps (oh, the irony!), Superman is on another potential case: a famous statue has just arrived in America.
As an Italian, I’m compelled to point out that this is a real statue in Rome.
Superman recognizes one of the delivery men, in a scene that should happen WAY more often than it actually does in his stories.
And see what I meant about the compass being useless?
Batman then investigates one of his suspects, but it turns out that the investigator is working undercover in prison.
Then he goes to his next suspect, in Mexico. I know the Batplane was already a thing, but since all the crimes solved by Nightman are in America, this seems a bit of a stretch.
Batman finds the “Mexican lawman” when investigating truly incompetent criminals.
“A good detective memorizes the shapes of ears” is now one of my favorite quotes of all time.
The World’s Greatest Detective © didn’t check if his suspect had an alibi.
Or if his third and final suspect was in the hospital.
Batman is stumped. Unfortunately, despite Robin’s reference to the iron curtain, this isn’t a story about Communist Batman.
(please tell me that story exist. I would review the hell out of it!)
But apparently this is enough to let Batman deduce the real identity of Nightman. So he calls for a meeting at the exhibit that was supposed to honor him and proceeds to… get his butt kicked by Nightman.
And “that’s the way the Batman crumbles”. What?
This isn’t the real Nightman, though. It’s a Batman-Robot that Batman programmed to kick his ass.
Also: you had the chance to call this thing “Bat-robot” and you dropped it!
The real Nightman turns out to be Batman.
You might think that this makes no sense, but remember: Superman is The Worst.
There’s showing off for no reason, and then there’s Silver Age Superman.
And so we can all laugh at how Superman made a fool of Batman and wasted everybody’s time.
He’s supposed to be laughing, but taken out of context Robin’s reaction is similar to my thoughts on this story.
Bonus: a short story by Ruben Moreira!
He’s mostly known for his work on Tarzan, but he was also the creator of Rip Hunter.
It tells the story of Captain Hercules, a circus performer with a questionable attitude towards animals.
Are we supposed to side with him? Because frankly I prefer the tiger.
The circus finds his replacement in “Major Marouf”.
Who has the impressive ability to kind of just stand there.
But it turns out that “the Major” is actually a gorilla… (!!!)
…secretly trained by Captain Hercules!
So, uhm, has Ruben Moreira actually ever SEEN a gorilla, to think that you can just give him clothes and fool everyone into thinking he’s a man?
Historical significance: 0/10
If this was their 1,000th case in 1966, by now they would be in the millions.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Slightly more than the average of the time thanks to the Batman-Robot. Not that Batman was a serious character in those years, but that’s on the higher side of his silliness.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
I’m sorry this was your fist comic, Steve. Obviously there are FAR worse Silver Age comics, but this was a bit lackluster. Still, if this was my first comic, I completely get falling in love with Superman because it teases a lot of potential.
I can’t imagine this being anyone’s first Batman, however. It doesn’t give me the idea that he’s Superman’s equal. Remember: all it took is for Nightman to solve ONE case and Batman is already considering quitting his hero career!!!
Interesting letters: the first tease of the Adam West series!
