Batman #3: Crushing on The Cat

A "strange case," ugly = evil, and winning nascent criminal youth to the side of truth and justice with a boys' club: the three other stories in this issue that I will not be focusing upon.










Most Amusing Panel Prize (so many to choose from in this issue): 

An early sign that hazing at Fraternities has always been hazardous:

"What you got there, Tyler?"

Oh, it's a hypo "filled with a lot of drugs I mixed together haphazardly. I'll pretend to inject it into Carlson!"

Muwahahahaha... Surely nothing bad will come from that. Har, har, har.




I have chosen to focus on The Cat story from this issue because I cannot get over how the Cat-Woman's first appearance as the "Cat-Woman" (and not just "The Cat") includes having an actual Cat-head mask. (A cat-head with no neck, mind you.)

Surprising Details (there's nothing really surprising here):

As one might expect from a story written in the 1940's and featuring a female "villain," gratuitous evidence of male chauvinism abounds. (Heck, even Commissioner Gordon succumbs to a bout of male rage at the idea of a woman eluding the apparently all-male police force.)

Taking the stereotypical trope associating women with "cat-fighting," Cat-Woman threatens to "scratch out" the eyes of the duper who has double-crossed her in a diamond heist.

As Batman reluctantly (and apologetically) resigns himself to turning the Cat-Woman into the police for her part in the crime, she performs the perfect feminine escape technique of thanking Batman with a kiss (and a shove) as she makes a speedy exit.

Batman is not too broken up over this slight to his own masculine crime-fighting capacities (I'm not sure if this makes him more sexist or less, but I'm going with less), much to Robin's dismay.

Batman doesn't seem to mind that a she has "beaten" a him, though Robin seems to think that there may be a double standard at play.

Batman's romantic ardor is reciprocated as Cat-Woman imagines Batman taking over the wheel (quite literally) and going "for a ride" with him "like any other boy and girl."

(Granted, Batman has seen her out of her disguise three times now, but she still has no idea who he is under that cowl, but reciprocity nonetheless.)

Final Notions:

Despite the historical gender-baggage on Cat-Woman's shoulders, I still find her a strong female character even in these earliest issues. She works (she takes jobs as a criminal, yes, but it's still work); she is independent (and relies on no man for her subsistence), and she is tough and scary to those who have crossed her (righteous, even, in her threats to scratch them).

There is good reason why Catwoman and Lois Lane have been enduring icons of comic book women. They are complete women on their own heroic adventures. Their stories intersect with those of their male counterparts, but there is a very real sense that their stories continue on even outside the presence of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Clark Kent/Superman.

Series: Batman (1940)

Issue #: 003

Copyright: DC Comics

Cover Date: Fall 1940

Cover Price: 10¢

Page Count:  54 pages

Print Release: 24-July-1940

Digital Release: 25-May-2011

Writer:	Bill Finger
Penciler:	Bob Kane
Inkers:	Jerry Robinson; George Roussos
Colorist:	None Listed
Cover Art:	Bob Kane; Jerry Robinson
Source Links:	comiXology / Comic Vine / Wikipedia
Story Titles:	“The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master”; “The Ugliest Man in the World”; The Crime School for Boys”; “The Batman vs the Cat-Woman”

A Bird, a Card, and a Cat (Detective #38 & Batman #1)

Detective Comics #38 and Batman #1 appear to have been released in the same month in 1940, and they introduce three major players to the Batman Universe: Robin (Dick Grayson), The Joker, and Catwoman.

The story introducing Robin in Detective Comics is but 12 pages of the mag (which has several other noirish stories in it). Issue #1 of Batman, on the other hand, has four complete Batman stories, two starring The Joker, one with Hugo Strange (a villain who has appeared in Detective Comics in an issue I don't own), and one with The Cat (Catwoman).

Most Amusing Panel Prize:

Somehow, the Batman gets The Joker to stab himself?

Constructing a parallel origin story for Batman's first sidekick, Dick Grayson, was a masterful choice. Many excellent questions about the nature of grief and vengeance and heroism have come from young Robin joining Batman on his mission to fight criminals like those responsible for the deaths of both sets of their parents.

(However, "exterminating them" may be a bit heavy-handed in its approach.) (Also, the English teacher in me is dismayed that Batman uses the exact same language as the narrator in this panel.)

Surprising Details:

What surprised me most about the introduction of the Joker is how punny Batman is in these early issues. I thought bad puns were a vestige of the 1960's TV show, but apparently they make their appearance way earlier in the history of Batman.

In this issue, both Batman and The Joker deal pun after pun related to a deck of cards (the signature of The Joker's imagery).

Criminal monologue-ing has also had a lengthy history in comics, it seems, as Batman invites his first recurring villain, Dr. Hugo Strange, to explain his crazy plan (which Hugo is more than happy to do).

(His crazy plan involves turning escaped lunatics into giant monsters whom he intends to let loose on the public as a distraction so his men can "loot the banks.")

Horribly sexist and tacky, Batman's first encounter with Catwoman (in which he wipes off her disguise as an old woman) simply creeps me out: "Quiet or Papa Spank!" UGH.

Plus, she employs her notoriously stereotypical "feminine wiles" to try to enlist Batman into becoming her partner. Who's surprised?

In fact, the only redeeming quality in the pair of panels below is the humor created by the juxtaposition of Robin's dialogue with his obliviousness to the interchange between Batman and "The Cat."

In the first issue of his self-titled mag, Batman also expresses (for the first time in my comic collection) a reluctance to kill, even though he asserts he will kill if "necessary."

I find the concept of the sacredness of life (typically phrased as "human life," but all life fits, too) to be central to my understanding of superhero-ing.

What typically separates the "good guys" from the "bad guys" is the moral culpability they feel at the loss of life caused by their efforts to attain their goals.

Final Notions:

It is cool to know that the fundamentals I have picked up about these characters in the Batman Universe (from modern renditions and pop culture) can actually be found in the source texts themselves.

Regardless, these early issues are a bit of a chore to slough through. I may have to hit warp speed so I can get to some material that will make for better reading (especially for those earnest enough to read my blog).

Series: Detective Comics (1937)

Issue #: 038

Copyright: DC Comics

Cover Date: April 1940

Cover Price: 10¢

Page Count: 59 pages

Print Release: 21-February-1940

Digital Release: 17-August-2012

Writer:	Bill Finger
Penciler:	Bob Kane
Inker:	Jerry Robinson
Colorist:	None Listed
Cover Art:	Bob Kane Jerry Robinson
Source Links:	comiXology / Comic Vine / Wikipedia
Story Title:	“Robin the Boy Wonder”

Series: Batman (1940)

Issue #: 001

Copyright: DC Comics

Cover Date: Spring 1940

Cover Price: 10¢

Page Count: 54 pages

Print Release: 28-February-1940

Digital Release: 25-May-2011

Writer:	Bill Finger
Penciler:	Bob Kane
Inker:	Jerry Robinson
Colorist:	None Listed
Cover Art:	Bob Kane Jerry Robinson
Source Links:	comiXology / Comic Vine / Wikipedia
Story Titles:	“The Joker”; “The Giants of Hugo Strange”; “The Cat”; “The Joker Returns”