DC’s latest facsimile is my favourite sort – not a famous first edition, or an origin entry, but a seemingly random issue of a long-running series. Which means I get to play detective – what’s so special that this comic gets a second life?
The cover is certainly eye catching, a Curt Swan and Stan Kaye illo showing a lumbering Norse god threatening a cowering Dynamic Duo. Could the nearness of this 1959 issue to Marvel’s Mighty Thor debut in a 1962 Journey into Mystery be the reason for the facsimile reprint? Thor co-creator Jack Kirby’s last Challengers of the Unknown work for DC appeared at the same time as this Batman comic, so he likely saw it.
The story that goes with the cover is the third in the issue, with two supporting features to whet the appetite.
First off, it’s ’Batman’s Super-Partner’, a common early Silver Age trope.
Who is the superhero?
As it turns out, Bruce and Dick’s fretting about Alfred’s suitability for the life heroic proves fair as, at the announcement of the winner of the Gotham City Globe Cryptogram Contest…
You will be astonished to hear that the Joker is apprehended, Alfred’s powers are lost and all is once again well with the world.
I loved this eight pager written by Jerry Coleman; usually these mystery hero stories hold out on us until the end but here the delightfully wacky Eagle is unveiled on page 4 and we can relax and enjoy the hi-jinks. The Joker is a bit player, but he looks great under all-star artists Dick Sprang and Charles Paris. And it was unusual for Superman to be namechecked in a non-World’s Finest comic.
But you know what? He actually appears in the next story, ‘The Second Life of Batman’, as Batman and Robin’s inventor pal Prof Carter Nicholls has something new to show them.
What’s that you say, it’s just Bruce in a Superman suit, and in an imaginary scenario at that? Aha, but over the page.
The real imaginary Superman!
Despite the presence of the Man of Steel, the Blue Bat gets away. If only there was a detective around.
Ingenuity and athleticism soon see the Blue Bat – whose identity we never learn – off the streets. And the moral of this story?
‘There’d always be a Batman!’
Holy ‘To Kill a Legend’! I wonder if Bill Finger’s story was an influence on Alan Brennert before he wrote his classic Detective Comics #500 story. Maybe this is why Batman #127 has been given the facsimile honour?
Look at that moody final panel, Sprang and Paris really put in the effort there, and it’s not like the rest of the story doesn’t look lovely. And above it, the iconic image of Batman, hiding behind his cape.
Finally, the finale, ‘The Hammer of Thor’. The latest bad guy in town isn’t the usual gangster or alien.
You’re a mean one, Mr Thor. Really though, a Norse god in North America? The Masked Manhunter isn’t having it.
Following another encounter with Thor, Batman and Robin see Mr Meke again, and he tells them how his makeshift Mjolnir was recently hit by a meteorite and began to glow. As he tells the tale, a thunderstorm breaks out and Mr Meke comes over all Viking.
A meek little fella transforms into the God of Thunder. Hmm.
Cue one more desperate battle against the overpowered berserker, but this time Batman has enough knowledge to end the threat…
‘The Hammer of Thor’ is a cracking tale from Finger, and it was surely seen by either Kirby, Stan Lee or Larry Lieber before they came up with their version of Thor, whose alter ego was timid, lame Dr Don Blake. Drawing this strip is Sheldon Moldoff, DC’s number one Bob Kane ghost artist, who makes the action scenes sing. The Thor design is fun, the backgrounds exemplary and the storytelling superb. In an issue with three fine tales, this one really does deserve the cover spot.
As was true with all DC books of the time, the issue also contains a lettercol and a couple of funnies by Henry Boltinoff, one a little darker than the usual likes of Peg, L’il Pete and Cap’s Hobby Hints.
Then there are the ads, selling the classic bodybuilding course, toy soldiers and ‘popular patriotic and religious mottoes’. And of course, we get a public service announcement spotlighting the neato things school teaches. Plus, a significant house ad.
So, has Batman #127 been given the facsimile treatment because of Thor, a rare Superman cameo or for anticipating one of the most beloved Batman stories of all time?
It could be because, start to finish, it’s simply a wonderfully entertaining comic by master craftsmen.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 