On the cover, Batman battles the Mongols from last issue. Inside, he battles his first truly memorable (and long lasting) opponent.
"Professor Hugo Strange"
Writer: Bill Finger
Pencils: Bob Kane
Inks: Jerry Robinson
Synopsis: On routine patrol, the Batman sees a man pushed out of a moving car and shot. He listens to the dying man's last words, "strange fog", but is chased by the police who arrive on the scene and assume the Batman was responsible.
Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce deduces that the man was not talking of a strange fog, but rather of a fog caused by a man named Strange, Professor Hugo Strange! If you want to know how he deduced it, it was basically as I just described. Apparently, Bruce already knows of Professor Strange as a "scientist, philosopher, criminal... and greatest organizer of crime in the world", to which he adds "little is known of him". Okaaay. Also, Bruce took a notebook off the dying man, which includes a list of locations and names him as an agent of the FBI. Bruce vows to clear Batman's name of the FBI agent's murder and solve the mystery of the fog.
Meanwhile, Professor Hugo Strange is ruminating evilly in his evil high chair in front of his evil fireplace when one of his minions reports on the death of the G-Man. Strange is worried about about the interference of the Batman, and decides to step up the timetable and begin tonight.
The next night the whole city is blanketed in a fog "such as one would find only in England", which results in numerous robberies taking place and the police being unable to pursue the criminals due to the thick fog.
At home, Bruce hears a radio report about the robberies, whose locations match those on the list, as well as a side story about the kidnapping of a prominent electrical engineer. Bruce begins to put the pieces together....
Strange's gang make a move to rob the Sterling Silver Company, but the night watchman turns out to be The Batman in disguise! The Batman explodes into a whirling dervish and pretty much destroys the gang before making a getaway. With the news of Batman's interference, Strange decides that he must concentrate on keeping the Batman out of his schemes, and decides to cut up his hand with glass to accentuate the point.
When Batman shows up to the next plae on the list, he is forced into a trap and cornered by several men. The next two pages are an epic battle as the Batman tries to take on all the men at once, but is finally overpowered.
At Strange's lair he ties Batman up and whips him with a lash he had hanging on the wall. Okay, Doc.... whatever floats your boat. The Batman escapes by flexing his muscles and snapping the bands holding him (hawt?) and then gassing his enemies with a pellet from his utility belt. However, Strange is crafty enough to avoid the gas and gets Batman in a chokehold. But Batman is stronger and socks Strange out and ties him up.
With the villain dealt with the Batman discovers the giant machine powering the artificial fog, and the kidnapped scientist who created it. The machine creates artificial lightning that causes condensation in the air, generating the fog. The two of them turn off the machine and save the city. The Batman is praised by the media and people of the city, while Hugo Strange is imprisoned at the State Penitentiary, vowing escape and vengeace.
My Thoughts: Wow! Now, that was a story! This is probably the first really spectacular, memorable, cohesive Batman story. Gardner Fox tried to reach great heights with his Monk and Dirigible stories but fell short due to bad plotting. Finger here keeps things down to earth while still creating a large scale, impressive foe for Batman to face and a devilishly clever criminal scheme for him to destroy. Professor Hugo Strange is the first Batman villain to really catch on -- he'll appear in two more Golden Age stories before being retired however, before being revived by Steve Engelhart in the Bronze Age, and becoming a popular alternative Modern Age Batman villain. In this tale, he is less of the quirky psychiatrist/geneticist he'll be in those stories and is basically presented as a modern age Professor Moriarty, which at this point was a great villain characterization for the Holmesian Batman.
The Art: Big news this issue is the arrival of inker Jerry Robinson. With this addition the basic Golden Age team of Kane/Finger/Robinson is formed and it is this team that will create and shape the most enduring Batman stories of the era. Robinson's inks provide a kind of gritty, sketchy, tactile quality to the art, and really gives Kane's art a boost into a great kind of pulp-art quality. It's a huge improvement over even Sheldon Moldoff's inks and makes the art almost a joy to look at rather than a chore. Another stand-out feature this issue is Kane's character design for Hugo Strange, with his bald, misshapen head, round spectacles and bad-guy goatee, I think that this unique design became part of why people remembered Hugo Strange over other Golden Age villains. There are some great panels in this issue, including a really cool one of Batman's silouhette in the fog.
The Story: Finger manages a great feat here, which is giving Batman a powerful and effective villain while avoiding plot holes and nonsensical plotting. His story is much better written and clearly stated than past efforts, and only contains two small holes -- the first of which is that if the fog prevents the cops from following crooks, would it not also stop the crooks from escaping? The other is that Batman vows to clear his name of the G-Man's murder, which he never does. On top of everything, there are subtle changes to the characterization of Batman in this story. The city begins to regard him as a legendary fighter of crime, rather than a weird creature of the night --- also, Batman's silent, grim-faced determination has been subtly replaced with a more jocular, devil-may-care attitude, as Batman mocks the criminals he fights and jokers with them -- a precursor of the "bad puns" that would characterize the Silver Age Batman. End decision: great story, great issue.
Notes and Trivia: First appearance of Professor Hugo Strange, beginning of the Finger/Kane/Robinson team,
The Batman battles the Duc D'Orterre on the cover, but he won't appear in this month's story (or ever again), because Gardner Fox is out and original Batman co-creator is back in with a far more down to earth story.
"The Case of the Ruby Idol"
Writer: Bill Finger
Pencils: Bob Kane
Inks: Sheldon Moldoff
Synopsis: While Bruce Wayne is visiting Commissioner Gordon (not seen since #28), a man named Weldon drops in. Weldon is a collector of curios and recently bought a ruby Hindu idol from a man named Sheldon Lenox. However, the idol is that of the (fictional) Hindu god of destruction, Kila, and Weldon receives several notes threatening his death and the death of Lenox.
Gordon decides that this needs investigating and heads off to see Lenox. Bruce decides to come along, because he might "write a story about it" (?). However, when they arrive, a car full of turban and loincloth wearing "Hindus". They shoot out Gordon's tire, preventing a pursuit. Then they stab Lenox and toss his body into the water before escaping. The police search the river for Lenox's body and fail to find it.
Meanwhile, a couple of hoods (Joe and Mike!) decide to rob the idol from Weldon, and it also attracts the attention of an oriental named Sin Fang. Both groups decide to make their move when Weldon asks the police to stop guarding the idol. Bruce figures that whoever wants the idol will make a play for it now, and heads out as Batman.
When he arrives he stops the two hoods easily, but is taken out by the suddenly arriving gang of Hindus. They swipe the idol and escape. At that moment a bunch of guards/police officers of the kind we were told two pages ago weren't protecting the idol burst in and try to arrest Batman for stealing it (despite the fact that he clearly doesn't have it). He beats them up and escapes out the window.
The Hindus are escaping, so the Batman gets in his high-powered roadster (now a dark blue one-seater sports car) and follows them to Chinatown where they sell the idol to the maliciously named Sin Fang, a dealer in curios. Hrmm.... To find out more about Sin Fang, Batman pays a visit to Wong, the "unofficial mayor of Chinatown. Wong is a good and honorable man and trusts Batman because he recognizes Batman is a hero. He dutifully informs the Batman that Sin Fang is in reality a fence for stolen goods.
When the Batman visits Sin Fang, the oriental appears to be surprised that the ruby idol was stolen, and offers to return it to Batman. It is, of course, a trap and our hero is attacked by giant Mongol guards. Of course, the Batman promptly dispacthes them, stabbing one through the heart with a sword. Sin Fang apologizes and explains that they thought the Batman was an intruder, given his masked face. He then gases the room with mustard gas. Luckily, Batman has a gas pellet on his belt that neutralizes the effects when mixed. Sin Fang apologizes for the bad plumbing in the house and then drops Batman down a trap door to his death!
Luckily, Batman grabs a hanging pipe and swings back up out of the trap door. Sin Fang thinks Batman is dead and gloats to himself that he can keep the Ruby Idol all to himself. He then removes make-up and other costuming accoutrements to reveal himself as... Sheldon Lenox!! Batman bursts in on him and explains that he figured out who Sin Fang was earlier.
Batman explains it thusly, "You needed money and made a deal with Sin Fang to cut up the ruby. You made use of the destruction legend it was supposed to have and wrote those notes. You hired those fake Hindus. Staged your death and then ahd the ruby stolen!" Lenox reveals he quarelled with Sin Fang over the money and killed him, assuming his identity because he could speak Chinese.
Lenox pulls a gun and the Batman throws the idol at him, knocking him out a high window to his death.
My Thoughts: With the return of Bill Finger we get a return to the gritter, more pulp-like Batman, with stories that seem like they could've come from The Shadow and the pen of Walter Gibson. This story is the first in a series Finger did in Detective Comics about Batman dealing with crime in Chinatown, with the assistance of Mayor Wong (and who says the Golden Age lacked continuity?). However, this particular story suffers from some pretty big plot holes, pointing to a somewhat rushed composition. If Lenox just wanted to sell the idol for money, why the elaborate plot? He already had sold it to Weldon at the start of the story. If he killed Sin Fang, who can he know sell the idol to so it can be cut up? It just doesn't hold up to examination. However, at least it explains the extremely ethnically inaccurate portrayal of the Hindus.
The Art: It's frankly amazing seeing Bob Kane's art here compared to a scant eight issues ago. His Batman character looks much different and the entire style and composition is far more dynamic and bold. The overall style is very pulp and very entertaining. In many ways Kane's art saves the reader from thinking about the holes in Finger's story by carrying the action in an exciting and fluid way.
The Story: As noted above, Finger brought Batman back down to earth with smaller, more realistic stories, but with an entertaining pulp sensibility. However, Finger's story has a bad plot hole and feels rushed. It's not as completely baffling as Gardner Fox's piece last month, but it could still use improvement. Also, Finger needs to find a way to make his Batman stories feel more unique and less like rip-offs of the Shadow if he wants the feature to continue successfully.
Notes and Trivia: Batman's car is now a dark blue roadster. First appearance of Wong, unofficial mayor of Chinatown. First time Batman battles oriental crime.
Batman Body Count: At least 11 by this point.
This month's cover is the last Detective Comics cover to feature a character other than Batman until #854 in 2009. (DC nerds can correct me on this if I'm wrong). And even then, Batman's still got a logo above the title. Also, this is the last Bat-tale written by Gardner Fox before the return of original scribe Bill Finger next issue, for reasons that will soon become apparent.
"Peril in Paris"
Writer: Gardner Fox
Pencils: Bob Kane
Inks: Sheldon Moldoff
Synopsis: According to Fox, Bruce has just seen his fiancée Julie off from Paris after rescuing her from the Monk, meaning #34's story takes place before #33 (while the cover depicting #34's story will appear on #35 -- scheduling errors are a bitch, huh?) Anyways, Bruce is still wandering the streets of Paris, when he spots a man who resembles an old friend of his. However, he is mistaken when he finds it is in fact a MAN WITH NO FACE. So, in what way did he resemble Bruce's old friend?? Somehow, the FACELESS Man can talk and see, and apologizes to Bruce for startling him.
Meanwhile, a blonde woman in a hotel has been marked for death by the leader of the Apaches, the Duc D' Orterre. (The Apaches were a French gang in the 30s, not to be confused with the Native American tribe). The woman flees her room and jumps into a taxi also carrying Bruce Wayne! She gets a dagger thrown at her and the two of them flee back to the hotel (what?) where it turns out that the FACELESS Man is the woman's brother, Charles Maire. Turns out the Duc D' Orterre is after his sister, Karel, after she turned down his advances at a masked ball. As a retaliation, he burned Charles' face off with a ray.
Bruce regrets he cannot help them as himself, but he changes into Batman and announces he will stop the Duc - essentially revealing his secret identity to them.
The Batman drops into an open sewer and is promptly captured by the Apaches. The Duc places him on an elaborate death-trap called the Wheel of Chance -- the Batman is strapped to a big wheel and will either be flung off the wheel by inertia and killed, or driven mad by its unceasing spinning. Through sheer strength the Batman breaks through the straps but is flung through an open trap door into the Duc's garden!! (???)
The garden is full of flowers. Flowers with human, female faces. I'll repeat that one more time - human, female faces. The Batman wonders if he is going mad and frankly so am I. The Duc's men capture Charles and Karel, and Charles is strapped to the wheel. One of the flowers asks Batman to save them (?!?!) and tells the Batman how to escape the Garden.
The Batman rescues Charles from the wheel, who tells him that the Duc has escaped in a car with Karel. The Batman follows in his Batplane (again, still drawn as a Bat-gyro) and quickly overtakes them. The Batman leaps onto the moving car, beats up the Duc, this somehow incapacitates the driver and it careens off the road and crashes while the Batman leaps onto the Batplane's rope ladder and escapes.
Later, Charles and Karel thank the Batman despite the fact that we never saw the Batman rescue Karel from the car (she must've jumped out sometime during the struggle with the Duc but this was never stated or shown). Despite their gratitude, they express their wish to know the Batman's secret identity, but he declines. Even though he pretty much gave it away earlier. FLASHBACK: "As myself, I cannot help you", says Bruce Wayne, exiting the room. The Batman enters and offers his assistance. Face. Palm.
My Thoughts: What the fuck, Gardner Fox?? No, what. the. fuck? What is this story? What were you on this month? Where does this come from? The faceless man was weird enough, but where the hell did the human-faced flowers that can talk (and beg Batman to rescue them, but he never does) come from?? The first time I read this story I really had no idea what to make of it. This may possibly be the most bizarre Golden Age Bat-story of all time. Definitely Black Casebook material -- I wonder what Grant Morrison ever made of this one, if he ever read it? No, but seriously -- What the fuck?
The Art: Well, the art is certainly memorable, I guess. Kane's faceless man isn't on par with Chester Gould or Steve Ditko, but it's still a goddamn faceless man. The Duc D' Orterre looks unique, with a thin head, devil's peak hair, weird eyebrows, etc. The human/flowers are just bizarre and disturbing and... WHAT THE FUCK??
The Story:
I cannot repeat this enough times: what the fuck, Gardner Fox? Where is this coming from? This story is like the ultimate hodgepodge of all the weaknesses of the last five Gardner Fox stories -- a plot that runs all over the place with no real sense of direction, massive leaps of logic and numerous plot holes, unexplained weirdness, bad villain characterization, forgotten plot points and just pure what-the-fuckery. Seriously, it's like a Golden Age Grant Morrison story without the pretension, good writing, or sense. I just don't even know what to make of it. If it wasn't for the seriously weird human-faced flowers I would chalk it up as just a failed, badly written pulp pastiche and leave the faceless man as just a "don't think too hard" Golden Age quirk. But SERIOUSLY, Gardner Fox -- flowers with female, human faces, begging to be rescued (but who never get rescued). WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT???
Notes and Trivia: Last Batman story by Garnder Fox before the return of Bill Finger. Obviously someone realized that Fox's stories, while imaginative, where just poorly written and plain old too weird for Batman. When Finger returned, he would restore Batman to his more urban based settings, but retain Fox's innovations of larger-than-life villains.
Batman Body Count: At least 9 by this point
Even though there's technically only one Batman story in this issue, the first two pages are completely removed from the main story and (according to DC) is written by a different scribe. This prologue is also vitally important to the Batman mythos, so I am going to discuss it separately.
"Legend: The Batman and How He Came to Be!!"
Writer: Bill Finger
Pencils: Bob Kane
Inks: Sheldon Moldoff
Synopsis: Thomas Wayne, his wife, and son, are walking home from a movie when a mugger holds them up for the wife's pearl necklace. He shoots Thomas Wayne when he tries to defend his wife, and shoots the wife when she tries to call for help. He does not shoot young Bruce Wayne, who vows to spend the rest of his life warring on all criminals. To this end he becomes a master scientist and athlete, but needs a disguise to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. At that instant, a bat flies through the window, and Bruce Wayne becomes the Batman!
My Thoughts: These two pages finally give an origin and reason for the Batman character. DC says they were written by Bill Finger, so they must've been scripted separately from Gardner Fox's main story and then inserted as a prologue once available. These two pages manage to set Batman completely apart from the rest of the growing number of costumed heroes in comic books at the time. Most heroes, such as Superman, fought criminals simply because it was the "right" thing to do with their powers, but as Batman had no powers, there needed to be additional motivation, and this tale offers a powerful explanation for why an otherwise normal person would dress up like a bat and fight crime. The origin story is so strong, so tragic, dramatic, and iconic, that it has remained virtually unchanged for seventy years. Only the details are missing in this initial version -- Mrs. Wayne's name (Martha), the movie they were seeing (The Mark of Zorro), the name of the criminal (Joe Chill). These two monumental pages lay the foundation, tone, and inspiration for almost every incarnation of the character for the rest of his history, giving a near operatic backstory for comicdom's most determined crime fighter.
The Art: Frankly, as some of the most reprinted art in Batman territory, Bob Kane's art here is quite iconic and well-recognized. The frame of young Bruce crying, making his vow, lifting a massive dumbell over his head one-handed, sitting in his study in contemplation, and finally, silhouetted against the moon as the Batman, are all frequently copied and homaged. For these reasons and others, it has to be considered fairly spectacular art. Moody and perfect. Kane himself would revisit these panels in 1941's "The Origin of Batman" to frankly lesser results.
The Story: If indeed Bill Finger wrote these words, he's a genius. Even if he HADN'T written the first Batman story, or created the characters of Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon, or helped design Batman's costume, the writing of Batman's origin alone would justify calling him the co-creator of the character, so essential has this story become to the character's psychology and history. This simple story and motivation is so powerful that it has been copied and re-used with variations for a variety of later superhero characters (such as the Punisher, whose origin is kind've a reversed Batman).
Notes and Trivia: The motherfucking Origin of Batman!!!
The second story in this issue is another large-scale, pulp-style epic by Gardner Fox, and his third attempt to create a memorable Batman villain (and most failed).
"The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom"
Writer: Gardner Fox
Pencils: Bob Kane
Inks: Sheldon Moldoff
Synopsis: Bruce Wayne is strolling through downtown Manhatten (not yet Gotham) when a large futuristic dirigible is sighted in the sky. It emits a ray with proceeds to level most of the city. Thousands are killed. The perpetrators announce themselves as the Scarlet Horde.
Returning him, Bruce checks his files and concludes the madman in charge is one Professor Carl Kruger, who suffers from a Napoleon Complex and developed a new kind of "death-ray".
The Batman sneaks into Kruger's home, where the mad doctor is meeting with his lieutenants. His Napoleon complex is interpreted literally -- he is dressed and styled exactly as Napoleon, and his lieutenants wear Napoleonic uniforms. They announce that the Scarlet Horde has an army two thousand strong, but just as Kruger is announcing no one can stop him, in enters the Batman! Kruger escapes however, after rigging the house to explode. The Batman narrowly escapes, and trails one of Kruger's lieutenants to the docking bay of the dirigible.
The Batman sneaks inside the compound and destroys all but one of the death-ray machines. He is about to smash the last one when Kruger enters the room and shoots him. He instructs a guard to watch the body while he fetches the death-ray machine to use it to kill the Batman. He returns and explains the machine works by combining ozone gas and gamma rays. He then fires at the limp body, which disintegrates.
However! The Batman had switched places with the guard, and narrowly escapes yet again. At Wayne Manor, Bruce coats the Batplane (still drawn as a Bat-gyro) with a special chemical, and flies it at the dirigible in a suicide run. The two collide and explode, but the Batman parachutes away just in time (Phew! Losts of close calls this issue!) He is pursued by Kruger in a bi-plane but manages to get on the wing of the plane and hit Kruger with a gas pellet. Kruger is knocked out and crashes in the water, while Batman gets away.
The radio reports that the body of Kruger was recovered (implying his death) while the Batman remains at large...
My Thoughts: Ho-boy is Gardner Fox trying to get a lot out of this one. This issue is a cinematic spectacular, like some high-budget movie serial mixed with a fantastical pulp adventure. It's really over-the-top for Batman, and reminds me of the James Bond style adventures that Denny O'Neil would put the character in when he battled Ra's al Ghul in the seventies. In addition to delivering an over-the-top, action-packed, exciting adventure, Fox is clearly making a covert jab at Adolf Hitler, through the character of Carl Kruger, a German with a Napoleon complex who wishes to conquer the world. Before the US joined WWII in 1942, comic books couldn't actively attack or deal with Hitler or the Nazi party, even though the predominantly Jewish writers and artists very much wanted to have their heroic characters strike back at the facist anti-Semite. Therefore, a lot of super-hero stories from this era had their heroes punching out Hitler surrogates from fictional European countries.
The Art: Bob Kane improves with every issue and here his renderings of Wayne, Kruger, the Batman, and the destruction of Manhatten are quite dramatic and well-done. He takes to Gardner Fox's cinematic storytelling quite well and really helps lead the reader along in what is, to be blunt, a fairly ridiculous outing for the Batman. However, Sheldon Moldoff's inks are not as good as last month, perhaps because this story is less dark and moody than Batman's fight against the Monk. Luckily, Kane's linework has improved enough that he doesn't have to hide in Moldoff's inks as much.
The Story: Gardner Fox apparently likes his stories big -- he must've seen a good movie serial the weekend he wrote this. However, the fast pace of the story works to its detriment. Downtown Manhatten is leveled and thousands are killed, yet this really has no impact on the rest of the story. The Scarlet Horde suddenly has two thousand members -- there is a feeling they come out of nowhere. Additionally, the Batman takes down only the dirigible, Kruger, and the death-ray machines, doesn't that leave the rest of the army still out there? It feels like we're only reading the climax of a story, removed and tried to make stand on its own. If this story where given a Modern Age re-telling, it would probably be spread out over six issues and given more thought and depth. So I realize its somewhat beside the point to criticize a ten-page Golden Age story for feeling rushed and unexplored. Again, an example of how writers in the Golden Age produced more story on a regular basis than comic writers today. On another note, unlike his last two villains, Fox would not attempt to bring Kruger back next issue, instead leaving him dead. However, just like his last two villains, he would be brought back by Gerry Conway in 1982 (was this all Conway did on his Batman run???), renamed as Colonel Blimp (rofl).
Notes and Trivia: First and final Golden Age appearance of Dr. Carl Kruger, second time Batman uses a gun,
Batman Body Count: 7, plus however many may have been on the dirigible
Well, our cover isn't as memorable as last month, but it does feature Police Chief Hitler throttling a Tommy Gun wielding Clark Gable.
Bad jokes aside, we continue with the Batman's pursuit of the mysterious Monk in the wilds of Hungary...
"Batman Versus the Vampire, Part Two"
Writer: Gardner Fox
Pencils: Bob Kane
Inks: Sheldon Moldoff
Synopsis: We begin with a spectacular drawing of the Batman by Bob Kane. It's mysterious and brooding and memorable, sure to influence the look of Batman in the works of artists such as Neal Adams and Bruce Timm. The Batman is tracking a carriage through the wilds of Hungary. (Editor's Note: By the time this story was written, Transylvania was located in Romania, but for years the home of Dracula had been within Hungarian borders). The Batman gases the occupant of the carriage, only to find it is a mysterious woman. He brings her back to the hotel where he is keeping Julie Madison. He keeps both in the same room, standing watch, but in the middle of the night the woman, Dala, awakes, sleepwalking, and knocks the Batman out with an Academy Award before escaping. When he awakes the Batman examines Julie to find two small marks on her throat -- the sign of the vampire!! Luckily, Dala hasn't gotten far (the yard of the hotel) and the Batman swoops down and captures her. He comes to the conclusion that Dala and the Monk are vampires and must be destroyed, but Dala pleads with the Batman that she is but a pawn and will help him to destroy the Monk.
The Batman leaves Julie behind and departs with Dala for the Monk's lair in the Bat-gyro, which is now called the Batplane, although it is still drawn as an autogyro. However, the Batplane is caught by a large silver net and pulled to the ground, as Dala has betrayed our hero to the Monk. The mad Monk puts the Batman under his mind control and leads him to the castle seen on last month's cover. He also telepathically wills Julie to them (they must not have been far away because she walks the whole way!). Julie sees the Batman under the Monk's control and exclaims "His eyes are suffering, but he cannot move!", which is actually pretty horrifying. The Monk threatens to put Batman into the Den of Wolves, and exclaims that soon Julie will be a werewolf like him and Dala.
But... I thought they were vampires???
Nuts to that, because the Monk transforms into a wolf before the eyes of Batman and calls a pack of wolves to a pit that he has placed the Batman in. However, the Batman gases the wolves and escapes by attaching his silk cord to his Baterang and roping a column above the pit and climbing out.
He finds Julie safe asleep, and then makes himself silver bullets by melting down a silver statue. In most stories, silver bullets are what kills werewolves, but occasionaly they kill vampires as well. Here they are said to kill vampires, but then the story seems to be confused on which Dala and the Monk are.
The Batman finds the vampires' tombs and shoots them with the silver bullets, killing both. Julie declares herself forever grateful to the Batman and they fly back to America.
My Thoughts: Part two continues on from last month in similar fashion, although the structure is more linear and less confused than in part one. Things flow logically forward, and we get more and better interaction between Batman and the Monk, although there is still no direct confrontation between Batman and one of his enemies. The introduction of the Dala character allows for a nice betrayal moment, but like with the Dr. Death story the climax is much too fast and sudden. Still, it's a fine, neat wrap-up to Batman's first two-part tale.
The Art: Once again Kane and Moldoff deliver very good work. Kane's become very good at delivering the Batman in spectacular poses, using his cape for good dramatic effect, while Moldoff's inks create the spooky, moody atmosphere necessary for both the Batman and this story in particular. The page illustrating the Batman's fall into the wolf pit is particularly well done and a great example of sequential art.
The Story: Gardner Fox's writing is certainly a lot better than the last three months, but the main nitpick this time is that he can't seem to decide if the Monk is a vampire or a werewolf or if both are the same thing. Certainly there has always been some overlap in the legends -- sometimes silver bullets kill vampires, and Dracula was said to be able to transform into a wolf -- but the confusion really causes the story to lose harmony. At the end of the day its a pastiche of old horror movies with Batman added, and would've been more than exciting for the children reading, who would not have cared about such distinctions. Also, Fox is to be praised for delivering the first really memorable Batman villain, a large improvement over Dr. Death -- although like Dr. Death the Monk would not reappear until a 1982 Gerry Conway story.
Notes and Trivia: First time Batman is seen to use a gun, first mention of the "Batplane", final Golden Age appearance of the Mad Monk
Batman Body Count: 6, if you count the destruction of the undead as a kill
On the cover, Batman battles the Mongols from last issue. Inside, he battles his first truly memorable (and long lasting) opponent.
