Number 813

The "First" Batman

Tattered, worn, battered, torn...Detective Comics #235 rests in a comic book bag in a box in my basement. I lost the cover eons ago. This comic is one I bought in the summer of 1956, just after my ninth birthday, when I took my 50¢ allowance to the drugstore for my weekly ration of comics and a candy bar. I was knocked on my keister by this story, written by Bill Finger and drawn by Bob Kane's ghost, Shelly Moldoff. I didn't know about Finger or Moldoff at the time, obviously. It was the first time I'd seen Batman's origin, and I was impressed. Detective Comics #235 is one of those comics I treated shabbily as a kid with repeated re-readings and mishandling until it ended up like this.

Batman was a favorite character of mine. In 1956 I was considered the neighborhood expert. "Does the Batman fly?" asked my neighbor, Bobby. "No," I said, "Not unless Superman carries him." That was what passed for expert.

This is one of the books I'll keep until they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. Not that anyone else would really want it, being in the poor-minus condition it is. Just so you can see how bad it is, I've scanned it without cleaning it up.

I haven't read any Batman comics in a long time, and no recent stories. When I quit reading I felt that too many hands were working over the character, writing and rewriting the legends.

This beat-up old comic book is a sentimental favorite of mine, as you can probably tell.

"The First Batman" has been reprinted several times. According to the GCD, it's been reprinted in these places:

Batman (DC, 1940 series) #255 (March-April 1974)

Batman Annual (DC, 1961 series) #4 (Winter 1963)

Best of DC, The (DC, 1979 series) #2

Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, The (DC, 1988 series) #nn [1]

Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, The (DC, 1989 series) #nn [1]

Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, The (Warner Books, 1989 series) #nn

My additions to the list:

Batman: Secrets Of The Batcave (2007)

Batman: The Black Casebook (2009)