Worst Batman Story of the Silver Age

There’s a fair amount of competition for the dishonor of the worst Batman story of the Silver Age. Although this time period was when I formed my affection for Batman, it is clearly the worst era for the character. Many of the Golden Age Batman stories are classics, but the SA Batman was marked by poor art (mostly Moldoff) and mediocre stories.

But I’m confident that no other story featuring the Caped Crusader could be quite as bad as Batman #147’s Batman Becomes Bat-Baby.



A word of background on this. Superman and Action had recently published stories of Superbaby, Superman when he was a toddler. Obviously the comics sold well enough that it caught the eye of Batman editor Jack Schiff. Now it should be obvious that while Superbaby was still amazingly strong, could fly, and was invulnerable, Bat-Baby would have none of these advantages.

In the story, the renegade scientist Garth (no other name) has teamed up with gangster Nails Finney. When Batman tries to catch the latter, Garth beams Batman with a ray that turns him into a baby. Due to a “flaw” in the machine, Batman retains his adult mind and strength. Never mind that Garth would have to be a pretty goofy renegade scientist to miss the enormous commercial applications of his product—suppose he could turn everybody into a teenager physically again; who wouldn’t be lining up to pay thousands?

Batman does do some exercising to get the hang of his new body, but a day later he’s ready to tackle the world in his new garb.



Yep, that'll teach those gangsters!

However, Batman still supposedly weighs only as much as a toddler, which makes this scene highly unlikely.



Mercifully they track down Garth and manage to reverse the effect.

Previous Posts on Batman & Robin:
A Salute to Batman Annual #1
The Disappearance of the Catwoman
Gay Batman?
Favorite Covers of the Golden Age: Batman #23
The Horrifying Batman Era in Covers: Detective
Batman 1957
Batman and Guns
Batman 1956
Batman 1955
Classic DC Sagas of the 1960s
The New Look Batman

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Spiderman--First Major Arc

Spiderman (no, I'm not going to use the hyphen) debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15. It was the final issue of that title. Reportedly sales of the comic were good enough that Marvel decided to grant Spidey his own magazine.

The first major story arc ran from Amazing Spiderman #1 to #19. In those issues we saw the beginnings of the themes that would dominate the decade and turn Spidey into one of the hottest characters in the comic book world.

First of all, Spidey had real world problems. For the most part, characters had been designed so as not to have real world problems. Why was Bruce Wayne a millionaire playboy? Answer: So he could go anywhere, do anything at the drop of a dime.

ASM #1 opens with a quick recap of Spiderman's origin, followed by Peter's first problem:



Money of course is a common problem. Peter briefly considers a life of crime, but can't live with the fear that he will be caught and break Aunt May's heart.

At school we encounter Peter's second problem:



Gee, lack of popularity? None of us have ever had to deal with that!

Parker meets with a booking agent and puts on a show as Spiderman. But because he is not willing to divulge his identity, he asks that the check be made payable to Spiderman. This leads to his third problem:



The fourth problem comes from a local newspaper editor. J. Jonah Jameson goes on a crusade against Spiderman, calling him a negative influence on youth.

None of his problems are resolved by the end of the first issue. In the second issue Peter realizes that he can make money by photographing himself fighting crooks. He attaches a camera to his belt, and goes into action against the Vulture, the first major villain in Spiderman's Rogues Gallery. The second issue also introduces Flash Thompson, Peter's high school nemesis.

The third issue introduces Spiderman's second most important villain: Dr Octopus. It also includes the first example of Spidey doubting himself, after being beaten in a fight by Doc Oc.

ASM #4 introduces the romance element into Peter Parker's life. Betty Brant is a perky brunette working for JJJ, while Liz Allan is a cute blonde who had actually agreed to go on a date with Peter. But with the Sandman causing problems and Peter broke, he can't keep that engagement.

The following issue has a crossover by Dr. Doom. Marvel, much more than DC, frequently had villains from one magazine crossover into another. It makes a lot of sense from a creative standpoint; why have to keep creating 10 villains for every hero, when you can just reuse a bunch that have been popular against another hero, especially when it gives you a different matchup. In the sixth issue, we meet Dr. Curt Connors, aka the Lizard. The seventh brought back the Vulture for a second battle with webhead.

The eight issue features two stories, including a Kirby short featuring a semi-serious battle between Spiderman and the Human Torch over the latter's girlfriend, Dorrie. The main story features Spiderman battling a robot.

All this time, Lee and Ditko were doing little things with the character. Peter and Betty Brant seem to be getting closer in this scene from #7:



We discover that there is some secret in her past in Amazing Spiderman #9:



This issue also introduces the handy plot device of Aunt May's fragile health, which adds to Peter's woes immeasurably over the years.

In the tenth issue, Betty gets involved with some minor crooks; apparently she borrowed money from a loan shark. By the end of the story she has disappeared, including leaving her job. Spidey finds out where she's gone in the following issue, in which, to his shock, she picks up Dr. Octopus when he is released from prison. We learn that she's doing it to protect her brother, a lawyer who made the mistake of gambling over his head and now must do the bidding of the crooks. Unfortunately, while Spiderman is battling the hoods, a stray bullet kills Betty's brother. Betty irrationally blames it on Spiderman, unknowingly driving a wedge between her and Peter Parker.

The next two issues featured solid battles with Doc Ock and Mysterio. Amazing Spiderman #14 introduced Spiderman's biggest enemy, the Green Goblin. And we pretty quickly see that the Goblin is unlike many of Spiderman's other foes. He starts out determined to destroy Spiderman, while the others have only gotten angry at him when he starts foiling their crooked schemes.

He plots to get Spiderman to agree to appear in a movie featuring himself and the Enforcers, a fighting trio that had battled Spidey in ASM #10. Of course, Spiderman thinks it will simply be fake fighting, but the Goblin and the Enforcers are planning on battling for real. But their plan goes awry when it turns out that the cave that they are fighting in also contains the Hulk, who battles both sides. The Goblin escapes.

ASM #15 and #16 were mostly one-offs featuring Kraven the Hunter, a new villain, and the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime, who had previously battled the Hulk. The latter also featured an early crossover by Daredevil into ASM.

The Green Goblin appeared again in ASM #17. Flash Thompson has started a Spiderman Fan Club and everybody's going to show up to demonstrate their support for Spidey. But the Goblin arrives as an uninvited guest, and he battles the wall-crawler. The crowd at first enjoys the fight, assuming it's all an act. But at a crucial moment, Spiderman overhears somebody on the phone saying that his Aunt May has had another heart attack and is in the hospital. He runs away from the battle, but fortunately the Human Torch is there to convince the Goblin to leave.

This issue also introduces (on the telephone) Mary Jane Watson. In a long-running gag, Peter would often hear of this wonderful young lady that Aunt May wants to fix him up with, but they never quite seemed to meet.

In the next issue the town is buzzing with the news that Spiderman has turned yellow. It's apparently confirmed, when he ducks a fight with the Sandman in front of a crowd. The Bugle of course publishes the news prominently and worse still, he finds out that Betty is dating another young man. In a fit of anger, Peter resolves to give up web-slinging. But then he finds Aunt May out of her wheelchair and walking about. She gives him a little spine-stiffening here:



Of course, this little pep speech results in Peter resuming his career as Spiderman, and in the following issue he strikes back in convincing fashion.

The themes and plot devices explored during these issues would recur many times over the years. Betty Brant blamed Spiderman for her brother's death; Gwen would blame him for her dad's; Harry for his father's; and Ned Leeds for Gwen's. His romances would continually be threatened by his Spiderman identity. His Aunt would always get sick at inconvenient times. And he would often contemplate giving up crimefighting.

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But Eddie Rolfe Stopped Supporting Them

(Welcome fellow Fred Hembeck fans!)

Here's an unfortunate pairing. From the letters column in Superboy #92:



And the cover of the very next issue:



So if Fred Hembeck's looking for somebody to blame the great price rise of 1961 on, Eddie's probably the culprit. Because we all know an editor would never lie to his readers!

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Luthor's Evolution

Superman was not blessed with terrific enemies during the Golden Age. For various reasons (most likely Captain Marvel), Superman began to take on a more whimsical tone during the 1940s. Some of that may have been due to the limitations of story-telling for a character so overwhelming in his power that it became difficult to imagine him being seriously threatened. Remember, these were the days before Kryptonite.

He did have a few recurring villains, but all of them had something in common: They depended on guile and trickery: the Prankster, Toyman, and Wolfingham were all conmen at heart. Luthor was slightly different; he was a throwback to the mad scientist villains of the movie serials, but even he was usually behind the scenes until well into the story.

It was never quite explained why Luthor was so mad to destroy Superman; we were led to believe it was simply a mania. Then came Adventure #271. This was Luthor's second appearance in the 1960s in a comic mag, but at the time it was his first ever appearance chronologically going by Luthor's age, because he appeared in a Superboy story.

In the story, Superboy befriends the teenaged Lex (first time the given name is mentioned) and they become fast pals. But when Superboy rescues Luthor from a misguided science experiment, it is too late to save the young man's hair. Now we know why Lex Luthor is bald, and in an irrational outburst, he blames Superboy for the whole incident and vows revenge.

Luthor's character continued to evolve throughout the 1960s. In a memorable series, he became the hero of the planet Lexor. In Superman #164, Luthor decided to have a showdown with Superman, but smartly challenged the Man of Steel to a duel on a planet with a red sun. They started with a boxing match, which Superman won after a rope-a-dope strategy. Then they made their way into an alien city. Luthor was able to take advantage of his skill with machines and science to assist the aliens and was proclaimed a hero. When Superman comes along to continue their duel, Luthor initially wins, but then gives up. Why? Because he wants to help the people of the world who have adopted him to find water, but there is none on the planet. Only Superman can save them by sending a mountain of ice to the planet. In the end, Superman shows Luthor that the inhabitants of that planet have constructed a statue to him.

Luthor pays a brief visit to Lexor in Superman #167, in which he meets an attractive woman named Tharla. When he returns to Lexor the following issue, Tharla has changed her name to Ardora. He continues to experiment with the alien machines while wooing Ardora. Meanwhile Superman arrives and finds himself oddly compelled to steal rainbow crystals that the citizens of Lexor are presenting to their benefactor.

Lex discovers a super-power producing ray, and decides to take a secret identity as the Defender. In a hilarious bit, Ardora suspects Luthor of being the Defender; echoes of Lois Lane! But although Lex captures Superman, once again he is convinced he must free the Man of Steel in order to save Lexor. The rainbow crystals turn out to have an effect on people, lowering their intelligence level.

But Lex cannot just let Superman go, so he creates some red Kryptonite that will steal Superman's powers temporarily and heads to Earth to capture his nemesis. By a fluke, Luthor is sent back into the past, to San Francisco 1906. He becomes the editor of the Daily Planet in that city. Superman finds out that Luthor's there via a "psycho-locater" built by the scientists of Kandor, but when he travels back in time, he somehow doesn't realize that his boss is Lex, under some muttonchop whiskers.

Lexor is barely mentioned in the second half of this story. Luthor is eventually caught, and Ardora is left wondering what happened to her boyfriend.

She finds out in Action 318-319. Luthor returns to Lexor after escaping prison. He is obsessed with the knowledge that Superman will eventually come after him. Sure enough, Superman finds him and during a fight, apparently accidentally kills Luthor. Superman is put on trial for his life. Fortunately, he is able to escape long enough to prove that Luthor had not died, that he'd just slipped into a temporary coma with the aid of a pill. Superman is set free, but Luthor remains behind on Lexor, still the hero of his world.

I was unable to locate the next adventure in the series, because the next time we see Lexor mentioned in Action #333, Luthor is in jail, further angered at Superman because he had revealed to Ardora that Lex was actually a famous criminal. Looking at the GCD for appearances of Luthor in the 1960s, we can see that Luthor appeared in Superman #173, #175 and #179 in between Action #319 and #333, as well as a couple appearances in Superboy and Adventure, and two in World's Finest, but none of these seem to be the story in question. Anybody know what I'm missing?

Update: Found it. In between the stories in Action #319 and #333, Luthor appears in Jimmy Olsen #87. He, Brainiac and the Legion of Super Villains get trapped on the Devil's Island of Space. Then, in Action #332, he escapes from that prison planet. Superman, realizing he may be hiding on Lexor, arranges with some scientists to be teleported to that planet for a five-minute period. While there, he accidently discovers a hiding place where Luthor has hidden mementos of his criminal exploits. Ardora discovers him and:



Interesting; shiny disks that contain lots of data. Of course, Ardora is horrified to learn that the man she loves is pure evil (although she seemed quite ready to murder Superman only a page before). But she still loves Lex despite his criminal past.

The rest of the story concern's Luthor's attempt to drive Superman crazy, by saving his life time after time. In the end, though, Superman figures out the diabolical plot. However Luthor escapes to Lexor with Brainiac, apparently just avoiding being hit by an object thrown by Superman. However, the object was not aimed at Luthor and Brainiac, but at Ardora:



This series does a good job of humanizing Luthor. The story of Ardora and Luthor was largely dropped after this, at least in the Silver Age, although it would appear again much later, as it turned out Ardora had borne Luthor a son.

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Spin the Wheel of Justice

Lexorian "Justice"



Okay, day before the trial we spin the wheel of fortune and whoever gets picked defends the evil criminal Superman for murdering the wonderful Luthor. Lexor is not Krypton, but this is creepy DC scientofascism nevertheless.

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Talking Inanimate Objects

This was something DC got into in the late 1950s and early 1960s, whereby some inanimate object or other would tell "its story". Here are just two examples from Wonder Woman #86 and #88 (1957).





These are not even the worst examples; far more execrable was a series called "Tales of Kryptonite", where a chunk of that metal would narrate a story complete with pleas for Superman to stay away before he gets hurt. Extreme silliness.

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Early Relevant Comics Part II

This one's a little outside the Silver Age (1952), but I had to post it anyway:



Plastic Man as Minuteman?

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