WC: DETECTIVE COMICS #349

This was the latest issue of DETECTIVE COMICS that I wound up with in my 1988 Windfall Comics purchase, where I bought a box of close to 150 Silver Age comic books for $50.00. And it represents a bit of a quantum leap forward from the earliest one that was in that purchase, the strongest difference across this span. Editor Julie Schwartz’s New Look had breathed new life into the series, and it felt modern at that point, rather than like a relic of n earlier time. This particular issue sports a cover by Joe Kubert, one of the relatively few super hero covers he did during this period, and one of the few Batman ones. Stylized as it was, it carried a lot of impact. Also worth a mention are the “Go-Go Checks” that DC had added to the tops of all of their books during this time, so that they could be more easily detected on racks choked with super hero product. This worked both ways, though, as Marvel-hungry fans in particular could easily avoid looking at any title so adorned. I will say that this cover all around feels more like a Marvel one of the era, with its many excited bits of copy, the way the figures monopolize the space, and the fact that it’s a bit more overtly action-oriented.

He was still working uncredited at this point due to DC’s agreement with Batman co-creator Bob Kane, but editor Julie Schwartz made no secret of the fact that superstar artist Carmine Infantino was drawing every other issue of DETECTIVE COMICS at this point. And indeed, this story doesn’t carry a Bob Kane signature block or any credits at all. It features the second appearance of Blockbuster, a relatively new face in Batman’s line-up of villains, and one that seems to owe a bit of inspiration to the Incredible Hulk. While many of Batman’s enemies were clever criminals who attempted to outwit the Dynamic Duo with puzzles and traps, Blockbuster was a supremely-powerful brute who simply wanted to smash Batman with his powerful fists. The story was written by Gardner Fox, who’d had a long association with Batman dating back to the character’s fourth or fifth stories.

Fox opens this story with an extended flashback to the first Blockbuster adventure, which took place four issues earlier. He reveals along the way that the man-brute survived his seemingly deadly plunge into icy waters by taking refuge in an underground cave far from Batman’s notice. Now, after several months, Blockbuster has resurfaced, dogged in his simple-minded obsession to destroy the Caped Crusader. But because Bruce Wayne had once saved his life before he became Blockbuster, the creature held no enmity towards him–so Batman attempts to halt his rampage by unmasking, and so calm the Blockbuster down. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work out well, as magically, Batman’s cowl leaps up and affixes itself to his face, causing Blockbuster to go berserk once more.

A brief pause here for an absolute litany of house ads. First off is this one for the second SHOWCASE appearance of the Spectre, the revival of that Golden Age character.

One for the contemporaneous issue of BATMAN, which helpfully explains the joke inherent in the story’s title, Ridder on the Move.

The Direct Currents listing of other available DC books, which was DC’s answer to the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins checklist that did the same thing. The copy-writer tried to channel some of Stan Lee’s effervescent personality into these write-ups, but it all comes across as slightly tone-deaf.

And a full page ad for the latest 80 Page Giant, this one doubling as a regular issue of ACTION COMICS and devoted to Supergirl. ira Schnapp did all of the typography here.

Then at last we’re back into the story, as Blockbuster’s renewed attack gives Carmine an opportunity to channel a little bit of Jack Kirby’s power and fight choreography. His work isn’t quite as impactful and dramatic as the typical Kirby fight, but it had a wonderful elegance to it. Blockbuster beats the living hell out of Batman, and it’s only by mimicking the voice of the man-brute’s criminal brother, whom he remained devoted to, that Batman is able to get him to stop and wander away, saving his life. With no explanation for how his cowl came back onto his face by itself, Batman and Robin instead rig up an alternate approach for when they next meet Blockbuster. They create a set of make-up that will become visible when Robin shines a particular wavelength of light on Batman’s face, causing him to resemble Blockbuster’s brother. Then, Batman can command Blockbuster to turn himself in. But when the Dynamic Duo goes to try this, they are suddenly attacked by objects from all over the scene, and Robin is unable to prevent the special flashlight from being destroyed.

Once Blockbuster has kayoed Batman, a shadowy figure places the Caped Crusader into a device that will cause him to age and mummify in minutes. But this cloaked figure is no more immune to Blockbuster’s rage than anybody else, and so before he can finish off Batman, he finds himself on the receiving end of the Blockbuster’s attack and driven off. While this is happening, Batman is able to break free of the mummifying device by coating his hand with hard calcium–and this same calcium-encrusted hand has enough additional force behind it for the Masked manhunter to lay Blockbuster low with a single blow. So Blockbuster is turned over to the scientists at the Alfred Foundation in the hopes that they can cure him. But the true villain, the shadowy figure, remains at large. This is the Outsider, a secretive foe whose true identity was shrouded in mystery, who had been bedeviling Batman for some time. He’d been puling the strings behind the scenes the entire time, but it all came to nothing. Batman was still alive. The mystery of the Outsider would continue on for some time longer.

Next comes the Batman’s Hot-Line letters page, in which editor Julie Schwartz is totally transparent concerning Carmine Infantino’s work on the series. This letters page contains correspondence concerning the first Blockbuster story, and it also includes a letter that makes a (correct) guess as to the identity of the Outsider. The response makes it seem as though Schwartz himself hasn’t definitively decided upon the Outsider’s true identity at this point, though the fact that his answer also mentions that Alfred, while dead in the comics, will be appearing in the upcoming BATMAN television program, would seem to tip his hand that he and Gardner Fox have found their way to resurrect the character in the comics as well. It’s a bit surprising that Julie printed this letter given how al of this would work out in just a few months.

The back-up slot in DETECTIVE COMICS had been given over to the Elongated Man ever since Schwartz had taken it over. Julie had introduced the ductile detective in the pages of THE FLASH several years earlier, but here Ralph Dibny and his wife Sue got teh opportunity to shine as headliners. Also given an opportunity here was artist Carmine Infantino, who was allowed to ink his own pencils on this strip. Typically, Carmine’s rendering was considered too scratchy and impressionistic for the important front-facing assignments, where he’d be inked by guys like Joe Giella and Murphy Anderson, who would smooth out his harsh edges and make his work more polished and presentable. But Carmine could cut loose on the Elongated Man stories and nobody much cared.

This subscription advertisement touts the second issue of TEEN TITANS, and is almost aggressively unhip in its language. This was the sort of thing that made DC’s books feel a bit stale to the more plugged-in members of their young audience. it felt like middle-aged men trying to speak in the slang of the next generation and getting it completely wrong in an embarrassing manner. But DC did a lot of this during the 1960s.

One of the shticks of the Elongated Man stories was that he and Sue were world travelers, and so they’d encounter mysteries requiring the Elongated Man’s intervention all across the country. In this one, after he and Sue attempt to go fishing in Lake Cherokee only to find the Lake dried up, they spot a man who fishes a key out of the dry lakebed. Intrigued, Ralph follows him to the home of a wealthy rich eccentric, which the key-recoverer is attempting to loot. Ralph gets waylaid by some of the owner’s security measures and trapped in a vault at one point, but he’s able to catch up with the crook and recover the stolen goods. Like the lead story in the issue, this one was also penned by Gardner Fox