#Detective Comics 27

[comicchannel]

DC Multiverse Batman (Detective Comics #27) - McFarlane Toys

Link para compra BR: https://amzn.to/3T14FlU

Buy here: https://amzn.to/49EXGGk

[bess3714]

And that's why Bruce won't go to therapy! He's stunted his growth!

[gothamcityhistory]

Detective Comics #27

Where it all began

Cover:

This is a great cover to start things out! It's iconic!! I always love seeing the redraws of this!

I got this screenshot of the cover from the Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1 which you can tell from the fact that the words "THE BATMAN!" on the cover are black and not red like the original cover from 1939. For the rest of this post I will be using screenshots from an old digitization of the comic except for a few which I got from The Golden Age Vol 1. which I use at the end. Even though it says "64 pages of action" on the cover, The "Bat-Man" story is only 9 pages long and I will only be focusing on that. (Sorry Slam Bradley fans!) Now to get into the issue.

It starts off with this title page where they introduce the "Bat-Man" to the reader. It's very nice!

It's very strange to see him labeled at the "Bat-Man". I'm just not used to it but anyways they drop it fully Detective Comics #30. (Also note that I read it like "Bat Dash Man")

It's also very sad to see The Batman only credited to Bob Kane. Bill Finger did mostly everything and didn't get recognition for it until 2015.

Anyway, Back to the comic-

Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon are chilling out at Gordon's place when suddenly Gordon gets a call about a recent murder. They need him there right away and in the most laid-back way, he's like, "Hey, Bruce, buddy, pal, chum, they need me at a murder scene... Wanna come with?"

and Bruce is deadass like "Eh sure. Why not"

Everything was so casual in the 30s god damn.

Anyway, They rush over to the scene of the crime

and after "a thorough examination of the scene of the crime" they decide to talk to the victims son, who is the current murder suspect.

He's like, "I didn't do it, I only grabbed the knife when I pulled it out of my dad's chest!" And, weirdly, Gordon doesn't press any further on it. He's just like "Yep okay."

Also, he could've stayed alive if you didn't pull the knife out dummy. But I digress

He then responds to Gordon's question like "Dunno, Except these 3 guys"

Also the comedic timing of that- I made a joke to my friend when I first read this comic that the reason why Steve Crane was excited was because he bet Lambert a hundred bucks in 1939 dollars that the threat on his life was real- I know excited back then meant having excessive emotions but I just thought it was funny.

You sus mf. I SEE you Bruce. If that even is your real name.

I also love this panel.

After Crane gets shot the murderer/robber escapes with a piece of paper.

When Suddenly...

The Bat-Man shows up and beats the hell out of them and takes the paper. Then Gordon and the police arrive to Steven Crane's house as the Bat-Man runs away. Gordon then finds out Crane has been killed and decides to go to Paul Rogers house

Also look at my little man

He's so proud of himself.

I also love the fact that he drives off in Bruce Wayne's car from earlier in the issue. He's so silly

Meanwhile, Rogers goes to his friend's, Alfred Stryker's, neighboring Laboratory where he encounters Strykers assistant, Jennings, and gets smacked and trapped by him.

I thought this panel was hilarious.

Like Boi! What kind of guinea pigs are you experimenting with that you need to a jar that can fit a human inside and also why are you gassing guinea pigs???

He then seals the chamber but not before the "Bat-Man" enters, plugs the gas-jet and breaks Rogers out.

Speaks for itself really. Styker then finds out his assistant failed at killing Rogers and tries to kill him himself but the Bat-Man, who had hidden, jumps out and prevents the Stryker from killing Roger. The Bat-Man explains why Stryker like Velma at the end of an episode and then Stryker breaks out of The Bat-Mans hold and then

The Bat-Man straight up kills him and is like "Good."

Bro is so sus. No one acts this way. And then what's more is that Gordon is like "Man. bro is so bored all the time."

Look at my silly dressing up in his bat fursuit!!

Can't wait for next month!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sorry I basically recapped the whole story. It was very short but every panel had something interesting happening!! I definitely recommend it!!

Things I liked and found interesting!!

I found it interesting how they have text explaining the situation instead of just letting the photos do the talking.

Thought It's probably like that because they only had 9 pages to tell the story.

I liked Commissioner Gordon's fit in this issue.

It's a very nice Zebra-like suit that would allow him to fit in with the the weirdo 248 issues from now. It's just so snazzy!

I also like how Gordon takes things at face value and doesn't do some deeper thinking like how I'd assume a police commissioner would. "Well obviously he didn't kill his father. He literally just said he didn't". "I just told Bruce something amazing and he looks like he had heard it before. He must lead a boring life"

I also love The Bat-Man costume in this issue

Purple glove Batman... My beloved <3

The art in this issue is great too!! I'll pick out a few of my favourite panels to show.

Thank you all for reading my first blog post!!

Come back whenever! Rarely the same Bat-Time but always the same Bat-Blog

[stefanoavvisati69]

Batman: 85 anni di giustizia e oscurità

Cari lettori di Batman Crime Solver, è un momento straordinario per noi fan di Batman, poiché celebriamo l’ottantacinquesimo anniversario di vita del Cavaliere Oscuro. Il nostro eroe iconico, creato da Bob Kane e Bill Finger, ha segnato la storia dei fumetti, del cinema, della radio e dei videogiochi come pochi altri personaggi. Continue reading Batman: 85 anni di giustizia e oscurità

[batbabydaily]

detective comics #27: the case of the chemical syndicate

distracted & bored young socialite chap, bruce wayne, entertained by his older gentleman friend, commissioner gordon

[87ofbite]

Happy batman day! Here's a drawing I did of an old batman design from 2021

[professorambrius]

Happy Anniversary Batman

This past Sunday marked the 83rd Anniversary of the first appearance of Batman in Detective Comics 27.

[botslayer9000]

detective comics 27 liveblog

yuh

i love how commissioner gordon straight up brings his socialite friend to a crime scene because he was feeling bored. the corruption of the gcpd starts early and runs deep ig

Funniest Moment in LA Noire

what are these expressions (also i love how bored bruce wayne is its great)

THE BAT-MAN

i guess bruce wayne wasn’t rich enough for car mods back in the 30s

bonk

i swear the expressions are the best part of this comic. that and the very menacing villain who built a multiple-human-sized gas chamber to kill guinea pigs in his scientific laboratory for Reasons I Guess

the cape physics engine needs some work

remember when batman dealt with normal people who wanted to take over their partner’s chemical company but didnt want to pay for it so they killed a bunch of unrelated people

joker origin story.jpg (also that guy is definitely dead holy shit)

where did his ears go

thank you bruce wayne for the dramatic ass exit

he still looks so bored i love it

anyways this is barely recognizable as the batman of today but i do like that bruce wayne is just a really bored rich kid in this comic. good to know the brucie wayne characterization was here from the very start. also there are so many hilarious expressions

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

TD;LR Bob Kane, what a Dick

Everyone show your respects to Bill Finger

The Case of The Chemical Syndicate

DETECTIVE COMICS #27 MAY 1939 BY BILL FINGER, BOB KANE, JERRY SIEGEL, JOE SHUSTER, JIM CHAMBER AND CHARLES BIRO

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC WIKIA)

Commissioner Gordon relaxes at home entertaining his young socialite friend Bruce Wayne. Wayne asks if anything exciting has happened lately, and Gordon explains that a fellow called the “Bat-Man” is puzzling him. Gordon receives a call that chemical manufacturer Lambert has been found murdered. They have Lambert’s son in custody, whose fingerprints were found on the knife. Gordon invites Bruce Wayne to the Lambert mansion with him, and Bruce Wayne says he has nothing better to do.

When they arrive at the crime scene, young Lambert insists he is innocent. The lad explains that he arrived home early and saw his father lying on the floor. When he entered the library, he saw a figure escaping out the window. He pulled a knife out of his father’s back, and his father’s last word was “contract.” Lambert’s son recalls that his father had three associates, Alfred Stryker, Paul Rogers, and Steve Crane. Steve Crane calls Gordon on the phone. Lambert told Crane that he had received a death threat the previous day. Crane has received a similar death threat, and asks for police protection. Bruce Wayne decides to go home, and Gordon rushes over to the Crane residence.

Steven Crane is killed by a gunman who enters through the window. The thug and his partner steal a paper from Crane and climb onto the roof. They are confronted by a figure they recognize as the Bat-Man, standing in the moonlight. The Bat-Man punches the first thug out, then grabs the second one in a headlock and throws him off the second-story roof. He grabs the paper and escapes as Gordon is pulling up. The GCPD try to arrest the Bat-Man, but they are unable to catch him. Gordon learns that Crane has been murdered, and moves on to the next business partner. The Bat-Man smiles when he reads the paper he stole, and drives off in his automobile.

Paul Rogers visits the laboratory of Alfred Stryker, having learned of Lambert’s death by news broadcast. Stryker’s assistant Jennings clubs Rogers over the head and ties him up. Jennings explains that he will lower a gas chamber over Rogers and kill him the same way he puts animals to sleep. Jennings leaves to activate the gas. The Bat-Man leaps into the room through an open transom. The Bat-Man grabs a wrench and dives inside the gas chamber before it closes.

He plugs the gas jet with a handkerchief, and busts through the glass with his wrench. Jennings returns and tries to pull a gun on the Bat-Man, but the Bat-Man punches him in the face really hard. Alfred Stryker enters and demands to know what happened. When Rogers explains that Jennings tried to kill him, Stryker pulls out a knife to finish the job. The Bat-Man is hiding in the shadows, and he grabs Stryker from behind to stop him. The Bat-Man explains to Rogers that they were all partners in the Apex Chemical Corporation. Stryker had made secret contracts with all of them to pay them a sum of money each year until he owned the business. He grew tired of waiting and decided to kill them so he wouldn’t have to pay. Stryker breaks out of the Bat-Man’s grip and pulls a gun on him. The Bat-Man punches Stryker so hard in the face that Stryker breaks through a railing and falls into a tank of acid. The Bat-Man remarks that this is a fitting end for his kind, and leaves via transom. Rogers tries to thank the Bat-Man, but he is already gone.

Later at his house, Commissioner Gordon relates this story to Bruce Wayne. Bruce remarks that this is a lovely fairy tale, and leaves. Gordon thinks to himself that Bruce Wayne is a nice young chap, but he seems to lead a very boring life. Bruce returns home to Wayne Manor, where it’s revealed that he is in fact the Bat-Man.

CONTEXT

There is a lot of bad blood behind this creation, so stay with me and we shall go through this…

So the legend says that Bob Kane created Batman when he was a minor and with the help of writer Bill Finger they did the story that was published in Detective Comics. And that is just a legend.

It’s hard to tell if Kane was a minor when he signed his contract to National. He was born in 1915, and that would make him 20 at the time National/Wheeler-Nicholson started the business. We know for sure he wasn’t the “creator” of Batman.

Comics historian Ron Goulart has referred to Batman as the “creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger”. Bill Finger said this about Bob Kane:

Kane had an idea for a character called ‘Batman’, and he’d like me to see the drawings. I went over to Kane’s, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of … reddish tights, I believe, with boots … no gloves, no gauntlets … with a small Domino Mask, swinging on a rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign … BATMAN.

Finger offered such suggestions as giving the character a cowl instead of the domino mask, a cape instead of wings, adding gloves, and removing the red sections from the original costume. He later said his suggestions were influenced by Lee Falk’s popular The Phantom, a syndicated newspaper comic strip character with which Kane was familiar as well, Finger named the character Bruce Wayne after Robert Bruce the Scottish Patriot.

Bob Kane said (and I quote): 

“Bill Finger was a contributing force on Batman right from the beginning… I made Batman a superhero-vigilante when I first created him. Bill turned him into a scientific detective.”

Finger wrote both the initial script for Batman’s debut in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) and the character’s second appearance, while Kane provided art. Artist Bob Kane negotiated a contract with National Comics, the future DC Comics, that signed away ownership of the character in exchange for, among other compensations, a mandatory byline on all Batman comics (and adaptations thereof). Finger’s name, in contrast, does not appear as an official credit on Batman stories or films, even the comics he wrote in the 1940s and 1950s.

To make Bob Kane more of a controversial figure, when Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were looking for allies against the way National Comics was treating them, they went to Bob Kane, who betrayed them and at the same time re-negotiated his contract (as, like it was mentioned before, it wasn’t legal).

There is a documentary named “Batman & Bill”, that chronicles how Bill Finger created a legend and died penniless and forgotten, and how Finger’s heirs, along with writer Marc Tyler Nobleman, finally righted this wrong. It also shines a light on the systemic injustices in Golden Age and Silver Age comics publishing, in which many other brilliant creators were shafted. 

The documentary’s most compelling when it focuses on the relationship between Kane and Finger, two men who couldn’t have been more different. Kane, who died in 1998, was a brash, boastful figure, one who saw his creation—and its popularity—as an extension of himself. A classic showman, he greeted fans wearing sharp suits or Bat-cowls, sold original oil paintings of Bats (which the documentary claims were painted by other artists), and wrote a grandiose autobiography. Even when he wasn’t around fans, he preened; the documentary makes much of archival footage and audio recordings of Kane extolling his own genius. Bill Finger, on the other hand, obsessively researched weird facts, and kept a giant notebook full of scraps and notes that he could use in the next Batman comic—information gleaned from riding the bus for hours on end, staring out at the city and recording what he saw. Batman’s tragic backstory sprang from his own dark imagination, as did most of the hero’s other defining traits, and even feverish gimmicks like having Batman fight on giant typewriters or dodge giant pennies. But that creativity came with isolation: He made only one appearance at a 1965 convention, and did almost no interviews.

So yes, these days DC found a loophole (I suppose) and even though they still add the byline of “Created by Bob Kane”, they modified it to “Created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger”. I understand this was agreed by the Kane estate.

I think this Ty Templeton comic pretty much encapsulates the Batman created by Bob Kane…

REVIEW

A small synopsis for the other features I am following here. Crimson Avenger is dealing with a mysterious gambling-related murder. Bart Regan is trying to prevent the assassination of all the partners in a company (almost like the Batman story). And Slam Bradley is looking for his federal agent friend who went missing in Switzerland.

Of course the main attraction here is Batman, but I should put some emphasis on how the other features are changing and getting a bit more serious.

The Batman story has been remade several times, so this is not my favorite version of it. However, it is amazing that so many details of the Batman we know today are there already. And it feels too obvious for us, but the reveal at the end that Bruce Wayne is Batman may have been a mind-blower at the time.

I could go on and on about the many things in Batman’s style, but there are too many sources you can check about those.

Happy 80th anniversary, Batman!

I give the stories a score of 8

[martyrbat]

detective comics #27 (#627 reprint)

[ID: Batman against a lime green background. He grabs a villain's wrist from behind, causing their knife to fall from their hand as they cry out, “Ohh! My hand~!” Batman frowns disapprovingly at them attempting to stab someone. END ID]

[balu8]

Brian Bolland: Batman

1977 British Comic Art Convention convention booklet

Source: Michael Lovitz (comicartfans)

Batman reading Detective 27 - 1977 Comic Convention illo, in Michael Lovitz's Covers Comic Art Gallery Room (comicartfans.com)

[ftm-megamind]

imagine 50 year old david coming home to his roommate of the past 35 years jack kelly just to find him curled up in their shared bed reading the first detective comics. "what the hell are you doing you have work at 6," david asks. "speed saunders..." jack mumbles and doesn't even look up at david

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 27

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “The world will look up and shout, ‘Save us!’ And I’ll whisper, ‘No.’”

Number 27 is…Rorschach, from Watchmen.

A lot of you are probably surprised to see a character as iconic as Rorschach – arguably the most famous character from one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, “The Watchmen” – so low in the ranks. Well, trust me, as iconic as Rorschach is, there’s a good reason I place him where I do, but we’ll get to that in a bit. For now, let’s focus on the character himself.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock nowhere near a book-and/or-magazine-vendor since the mid-80s, then the chances are good you’ve at least heard of “The Watchmen.” This was the arguable masterpiece of English comic book writer Alan Moore. This man is something of a strange legend in the world of comics, responsible for such titles as “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” “V for Vendetta,” and “From Hell,” as well as being the author of “Batman: The Killing Joke.” However, many agree that when you hear his name, “Watchmen” is the first of his works that seems to come to mind. This graphic novel was a hyper-dark deconstruction of the superhero genre as a whole, and set the groundwork for a lot of comic book stories that would come after it. The idea of “superhero deconstruction” has sort of become a sub-genre within itself, to be honest, and while parody and satire of the genre did exist long before Moore whipped up this piece, “Watchmen” is almost universally agreed to be the place where the idea of taking superhero fiction and giving it a psychological and sociological bend, and showing that superpowered beings in the world aren’t necessarily the end of all problems, became REALLY popular.

The main protagonist of “Watchmen” (at least ostensibly) is Rorschach. Most of the characters in Moore’s book were based on pre-existing comic book characters, sort of blending original elements with older concepts to create recognizable figures and play off of established tropes. Rorschach is sort of a conglomeration of Batman, the Shadow, the Question, and a much lesser-known character called Mr. A. The story of the graphic novel focuses on Rorschach – real name Walter Kovacs – trying to solve the murder of his former superhero teammate, the Comedian. The adventure grows increasingly more bizarre (and thoroughly messed-up on MANY levels) as Rorschach uncovers a vast conspiracy and plots to commit mass slaughter, leading to many of the former Watchmen banding together again to try and figure out how to stop the chaos. Without going into too much detail, for those who don’t know already…yeah, it doesn’t exactly go how Rorschach – or, indeed, anybody – really planned. Rorschach is a fine sleuth, and the visual design of him – a noir-style detective’s getup combined with a bizarre, shifting inkblot mask – is certainly one of the most striking in all of comics, many would argue. However, what truly stands out about Rorschach is his philosophical viewpoint: Moore created Rorschach as a sort of satire on the strict objectivist policies many of the characters I mentioned earlier notoriously had. These were characters who seemed to see the world in a strictly black-and-white perspective, where good is good, bad is bad, and there’s basically no gray moral ground in-between. He does what he feels is right based on this ideal, but the problem is…that’s a REALLY hard ideal to put into practice in the real world without seeming like a complete idiot or semi-psychopathic. Rorschach’s steadfast nature, his determination to stick to his ideology, is both his greatest asset and his greatest failing: it’s an asset because it’s what allows him to get through as far as he does and keep focused on the case at hand. But it’s his greatest failing because his inability to cope with the gray area, and reason out anything beyond his basic, fundamental viewpoint, leads to a lot of personal problems, and ultimately to his own downfall. This is actually why Rorschach ranks as low as he does. To put things in the simplest terms possible: while I love the deconstruction and homages present in Watchmen, I feel like I prefer other takes on these concepts more, and I also prefer some of the characters that inspired Rorschach over the Watchmen's chief sleuth himself. Still, he's more than worthy of placement in the Top 31: when I think of comic book detectives, he's one of the first I imagine.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 26!

CLUE: “Truth brings closure.”

[eliah]

lol get socked

[batbabydaily]

detective comics #27: the case of the chemical syndicate

golden age batman kill count = 1

[pandamonium2861]

Happy birthday Batman!!!