"Gotham Gang Line-Up!"
Writer: Bill Finger
Pencils: Sheldon Moldoff
Inks: Joe Giella
Synopsis: Commissioner Gordon phones the Batcave on the new Hotline phone (who wired that thing anyway? Did Bruce Wayne hafta kill a phone company employee?) but the Dynamic Duo is off having an adventure in World's Finest so his tape recorder answering machine gets the call! I think this is meant to seem pretty high end and modern, since while commercial answering machines first became available in 1949, they were hella expensive and didn't really find mass use until the mid 80s.
Anyways, Alfred listens to the message, which explains that the "Tri-State Gang" (literally just a combine of the biggest mobs in three adjoining states) is meeting somewhere in Gotham and Batman should investigate. Y'know, because the GCPD has other shit to do than look into a major organized crime meet.
Anyways, since the masters are away, Alfred figures he'll get some of the legwork done in advance by looking into their one lead on the Tri-State Gang, a guy named Paul Pardee. Alfred goes to Pardee's suburban home on a motorcycle and tails him as he leaves...
Batman and Robin get home and find a "left to follow a mobster, back soon" note from Alfred and get worried. They take the new Batmobile to Pardee's home, and then track Alfred's motorcycle using the infrared trail that it left behind which is illuminated by the Batmobile's headlights (an old-school Bat-Family trick dating back to the Golden Age!)
It leads to the "Old Gotham Prison" which has been "deserted for years". See, this is what happens when you leave old buildings like that lying around, they turn into criminal hideouts...
With the Dynamic Duo deducing that Alfred is a prisoner inside, they attempt to sneak inside, but the prison is wired with cameras being watched live by the members of the Tri-State Gang inside, who have indeed captured Alfred. Thanks to various traps set by the gangsters on the entrances, the Dynamic Duo are easily (perhaps too easily) captured, and then lined up in the prisoner line up in a panel which provides the inspiration for the Carmine Infantino cover of this issue. Which, in typical Silver Age DC fashion, has very little to do with the story at all and is mostly there for its "wtf" quality that intrigues you to buy the issue.
As is, it's merely a setting as the criminals argue which of them should have the privilege of killing Batman and Robin. Ultimately the "chairman" of their group solicits each of them to plead their case of why they deserve it most, and so each of the gangsters describe a past foiled crime in turn (including one that involves a foiled attempt to rob jewelry used in the filming of the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor Cleopatra movie, which is hilarious). Ultimately one guy wins because it was his brother who got the jailtime, so that makes it personal.
Amazingly, Batman gets to learn their ultimate scheme because he plays the "condemned man gets a last request" and the gangsters tell them they plan to steal secret buried pirate treasure that's on the outskirts of Colonial Gotham, that they learned about from an "authentic" map, but they have to do it tonight because a new building foundation is being started there tomorrow!
At which point if I was Batman I'd ask him which Nigerian prince sent the map, but since the World's Greatest Detective takes this seriously, I guess I should too. Meanwhile, Alfred's locked up in one of the cells, and hears that once the criminals will return, Batman and Robin will be executed -- while the Dynamic Duo overhear the same thing about Alfred.
The Caped Crusaders decide they need to escape, so Batman breaks out of their handcuffs because he's "mastered all of Houdini's famous handcuff escapes!" and its as simple as that. Then he unravels his wool socks to make a lasso, throws it across the hall and hooks it on a radiator, and trips the guard! They grab his keys and escape.
Meanwhile a guard comes to take Alfred to his end, but Alfred gets the drop on him and escape. Both parties reach the other's cells to see it empty and assume that they've arrived too late.
They both make it to their vehicles to head to Colonial City to stop the criminals, who are already using construction equipment to dig for the buried treasure. The Batmobile arrives first, as the Dynamic Duo races to the scene. Alfred pulls up in his motorcycle but spots the crooks about to drop a boulder on the heroes from a steam shovel -- he races over on his motorcycle to push them out of the way, and...
Alfred is crushed to death by the boulder.
The heroes go nuts, beat up the crooks, use a bulldozer to push them into the pit they were digging and wait for the cops to show up. Then Batman picks up Alfred's lifeless body and they go home. As Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, they arrange his funeral. Bruce wishes for the world to never forget Alfred's sacrifice, so he starts The Alfred Foundation, a charitable organization housed in a skyscraper in downtown Gotham, that will "contribute to the betterment of all mankind".And then someone arrives at the door of Wayne Manor. Who could it be? Why it's Dick Grayson's completely unknown-to-this-point Aunt Harriet Cooper! Yes, when she heard Alfred was dead she rushed straight over to come take care of Bruce and Dick and watch over their health and pamper them and treat them as little boys! And she doesn't know their secret identities! This will cause some complications!! Woooaaaah!
~~~~
Thoughts and Analysis: Wow. It's a bit hard for modern comics readers I think to really appreciate how utterly shocking this issue must have been for readers in 1964. For one thing, comics will still firmly under the grip of the Comics Code Authority, and were still firmly aimed at an age range of about 8-12 year olds. So for a major character like Alfred, who'd been around for 21 years at this point, which considering Batman had been around for 25 basically means forever, to be killed off, firmly and definitively with no goofy Silver Age workaround in the last two panels, well, it must have been a huge shock. I mean it's just there, Alfred is dead. And the other part of "characters didn't die all the time back then" was the collolary that characters didn't come back to life if they'd been killed. For anyone reading this book in 1964, Alfred was dead. It's not even a ploy to boost sales -- they don't even mention or tease or hype it on the cover at all! And trust me, hyping teases on the cover was the Silver Age's whole deal. So why did this happen? Well the scuttlebutt I always heard was that Julie Schwartz had Alfred killed because here in 1964, ten years after the accusations were first made, DC was still worried about the insinuations that Batman and Robin were in a pedophilac gay relationship. Now, back in 1956 DC had introduced Batwoman and Bat-Girl as chaste romantic interests for the boys to combat these rumours, but Schwartz had ditched them alongside Bat-Mite, Bat-Hound and all the other silly stuff with the New Look relaunch.
So the idea was that if Bruce and Dick were being looked after by a maternal caretaker instead of a male servant, then y'know, clearly they can't be gay because they've got Dick's Aunt living with them and cleaning up after them!
Personally, I don't buy it. I have a different theory about why Aunt Harriet was introduced. Let's see, she doesn't know their secret identities, meaning they have to sneak around getting in and out of the house, and she overmothers them to a comedic extent. Hmmm, what other comic book character, perhaps someone in a really popular series from a competitor, does that sound like??
The Art: I get that the division between Carmine Infantino and Sheldon Moldoff on these comics was a contractual arrangement (Sheldon Moldoffn working for Bob Kane gets Batman and every second Detective Comics issue) but it does feel odd that with Infantino being the leading artistic force on the New Look and this being such a significant issue, that it's Moldoff on art duties. That said, Moldoff continues to improve his game, developing more and more as he stretches his muscles beyond the awful carboard Bob Kane impersonation he's been doing for years. There are some really effective and dramatic close-ups in the issue, which helps with the emotional nature of the story.
The Story: So, while it's a significant story, I can't really say it was a good one? In an age where Marvel Comics is starting to do full issue stories that really give plots and characters room to develop and breath, maybe Schwartz should have considered nixing the Elongated Man story in this issue for once, because 15 pages makes this story rushed and run on coincedence and happenstance. I mean, I could talk about the fact that the criminal plotline is complete nonsense, and how Alfred's death is a super sudden left turn. That in itself could be argued as a plus or minus, shock value versus significance, but then we spend like four panels on our heroes' reaction to it before BAM Aunt Harriet shows up and things get wacky! Somewhere in there Bruce establishes a charitable foundation, which is actually the third major status quo change in this comic, and actually the longest lasting -- Bruce Wayne becomes a philanthropist and has something to actually do in his life. He runs a charity hoping to help society in his civillian life as much as he helps it as Batman. Puts his money where his mouth is. It's a big shift in how his character is portrayed and it's a sidenote in the whirlwind ending of this book, which is structured as just a standard adventure for a long time and then BAM! twist ending. It kind of works, kind of doesn't -- but overall I just feel like maybe it could have had more impact if DC was copying things like story structure from Marvel rather than character types. Oh, and one last thing...
IF DICK HAS HAD A MATERNAL AUNT THIS ENTIRE TIME, WHY THE HELL DID HE BECOME BRUCE WAYNE'S WARD AFTER HIS PARENTS DIED?? Wouldn't that have only happened if there was no one to take care of him? His parents were travelling circus acrobats and he's had an Aunt this whole time? Who we've never seen, but knows he lives with a millionaire in Gotham City?? Wouldn't she have gotten custody of him then?? It makes NO SENSE and makes me UPSET.
Notes and Trivia: Death of Alfred, establishment of the Alfred Foundation charity organization, first appearance of Aunt Harriet Cooper
This is the first "New Look" issue of Batman, and the first New Look issue featuring the New Look itself (the yellow oval) on the cover. It's art by Sheldon Moldoff, but as cover art goes it's already a million times more dynamic and exciting than the Silver Age madness of the previous month's cover.
"Two-Way Gem Caper!"
Writer: France Herron
Pencils: Sheldon Moldoff
Inks: Joe Giella
Synopsis: Bruce hears Dick singing and playing music in his room, and can't stand it. Dick is supposedly singing folk music (folk rock was really popular in 1964), but like, he's singing about Doc Holliday and plucking a bass? I don't think the creative team knows what folk music is.
Bruce is like, WTF, so Dick explains that folk singing is really popular nowadays, and that a folk group called the Hootenanny Hotshots is playing in Gotham tonight, and that Bruce has been too busy Batmanning to notice these things. Apparently the Hotshots let local talent play with them, so Dick has been practicing.
Bruce harrumphs at this and then decides to show Dick what he's been busy with. First up, the staircase down to the Batcave has been replaced by an elevator hidden by a secret panel. Next surprise, the old Batmobile has been replaced by a new model -- an open-top sports car Batmobile with a half-bubble canopy. It's the first major Batmobile re-design in about ten years. Bruce takes the time to explain to Dick that sports cars are the trend nowadays, "small, manueverable jobs!"
There's also a new tunnel out of the Batcave -- in a classic Batcave cutaway panel, we see the old barn exit has been abandoned, replaced by an automatic door (operated by remote electronic control! Wow-ee!) designed to be camoflouged as a cliff wall, which has a private road leading onto the highway. It's insane how excited Robin is by this. He calls it a neat electronic gimmick. He's freaking out over a garage door opener, essentially. Like - Robin, you invented a device that could see through lead last month!!
But I digress. Meanwhile, a bus transporting the Hootenanny Hotshots, drawn as two cowboys and two barbershop types playing a fiddle, bass guitar, acoustic guitar and double bass (I think the creatives think folk is country?) is driving to Gotham, but a random dude puts up a Bugs Bunny ass "detour" sign to get them off the road because them arriving in Gotham would "spoil everything" in his carefully laid plans.
He's a crook, see, and he's made a Plan A and a Plan B for everything, but he didn't figure on a "last minute" appearance of the Hotshots at a show in Gotham Square at the exact time his job will be pulled. So last minute that Dick has been practicing for weeks...
Anyways, the bus hits the detour sign and the crook gets on board claiming to be the Gotham Hootenanny Greeting Committee and that he'll be guinding them into town.
Then the Batmobile hits the same detour sign and Batman's like "this ain't right", and Robin knows this is the route the Hotshots are taking because he's an uber-fan. Batman spots bus tracks in a dirt road and they follow, while the Hotshots bus has been taken out by tire trap the crook laid ahead of time.
With the bus stopped, the crook gets off, announces out loud that this was all according to plan, and runs off into the woods! Batman and Robin pull up and run after him, but he traps them in "a network of strong wires painted like brush" that work like a Chinese finger trap, because again despite the Hotshots performance being last minute enough that he couldn't plan his job around them, he could still plan the detour, the tire trap, this elaborate bush ruse, etc. He escapes in a car. It's 7:15 so the Hootenannys are going to be late for their 8:30 show for sure, so he's gonna be a million dollars richer after the job!
Batman and Robin escape the trap off-panel thanks to the Hotshots and then drive to Gotham.
Cut to the Gotham Square Museum Grand Opening, at 8:22. Mr. Dabblo is inspecting the displays to ensure his "Golden Aztec Pyramid" (drawn exactly like an Egyptian pyramid) is safe. Oh, and Mr. Dabblo is the crook, and you can totally see where this is going, yeah?
The guards assure Dabblo that his pyramid is just as safe as the million dollar Pearl of the Orient sitting right beside it. The security system is that stuff just sits out in the open on shelves, but an alarm goes off if you remove it. Which is... yeah.
Anyways, then at 8:30 exactly a jet mechanism in the pyramid, which is rigged, goes off and the pyramid lifts up and the alarm goes off and the guards are like "what?" and look that way and Dabblo grabs the pearl and runs off in the other direction. Yeah, that was his brilliant scheme.
So the whole reason he needed the Hotshots out of the way was so he could make a clean getaway from the Square, which would be too full of people and traffic stops during a concert. Except, the concert isn't cancelled, just late, so shouldn't those people still be there? How late did people show up for concerts in the 60s? No one in the audience would know the band was going to be late, it's not like they'd have some form of instant communication!
So, the Batmobile is just getting into Gotham now, which means Wayne Manor is either over forty-five minutes drive away in a sports car (49 miles away if Batman is driving the highway speed limit), or else if Wayne Manor is 14 miles outside Gotham like the TV show says than the Dynamic Duo drove into town at like 18 mph. Either way it's nuts. But whatever, they see the Bat-signal and so Batman reveals the final update to Robin -- a direct hotline phone to Gordon's office, where the Commissioner reveals the GCPD has thrown up a dragnet and blocked all the streets.
Batman stops by some cops, assuming they have Dabblo cornered because there's only one area he can be in. The cops have assumed that too, but they can't find Dabblo -- the warehouse doors in the area are all locked and the fire escape is too high to climb! So Batman uses his rope to pull the ladder down, climbs up it with Robin, assuming Dabblo must have pulled the ladder up behind him. Somehow that did not occur to the GCPD.
Dabblo is on the roof of the building across from the one Batman and Robin have climbed to the top of -- Batman tracks him because his shoes melted tracks into the tar at 9:00 in the evening (so it's like 130 degrees F after dark in Gotham??), but when Batman swings across the gap on his rope towards Dabblo, he is shot by an electric shock from a TV antenna Dabblo picks up (????) like in the cover. Robin swings down to rescue him and by the time they've climbed back up the building, Dabblo is gone.
Robin is like "how do we track him?" and Batman's like "hmmm, this TV antenna" and determines its a "neat electronic gimmick" like the Batcave door opener, points it at the floor and it opens a trapdoor right to Dabblo's fence!!
Dabblo's all like "shame I had to get rid of my pyamid to get this pearl" (wait, so the pyramid was legit??) and then Batman and Robin punch him and the fence and its over. Dabblo has one last trick on his sleeve -- he touched the pearl with his greasy fingers so it's ruined now! Except Batman just wipes it with his cape.
Then Bruce and Dick go to the Hotshots show.
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My Thoughts: So after last month's issue of 'Tec introducing the artistic changes of the New Look, it was up to this issue of Batman to debut the story changes -- namely, a bunch of tech updates to Batman's schtick. An elevator, a new car, and the Batcave entrance and hotline phone familiar to us now from the TV show. They are all hilariously introduced as if they are cutting edge stuff, when Reed Richards and Tony Stark are inventing way crazier shit over in Marvel comics. France Herron was 46 when he wrote this and it feels like, with the "hey, have you heard of these newfangled sports cars and other electronic gimmicks?" dialogue.
This is a really rough piece of work because its two guys in their forties being tasked with updating this twenty-five year old character to appeal more to modern kids of the 60s and they just have no idea. Bruce comes off as a total square, they have no idea what folk music in 1964 is, and are just guessing at instruments. It's hilarious.
The Art: The art is so weird. Because Moldoff is under orders to make things more modern looking, but also under orders to maintain the "Bob Kane drew this" charade. So if you're a character like Dabblo, you're really well rendered and have great shadowy inks from Giella. But if you're Batman or Robin or Gordon, you look pretty close to on model to how you've always looked. Moldoff has followed Infantino's lead in aging up Dick and modernizing his hair, and softening Bruce's chin, and the heroes are drawn a little bit less like cardboard cutouts, but it's still a weird style blend. Still miles better than how Moldoff drew in the "old look".
The Story: In case you couldn't tell from the synopsis, the story is completely insane nonsense. Why are the Hotshots involved, other than pandering to kids' interests? Wouldn't a big concert be helpful because attention would be drawn away? Is Dabblo... is he legit? Is he a crook? Did the Gotham museum do no background checks on this guy? Did he just walk in and say "Hey, I have an Aztec pyramid that looks like the mini Egyptian pyramids you'd buy in a tourist gift shop, can I show it in your museum?" And they were like "cool." Was it coincedence or to plan that the GCPD cornered him off in an area of town where his fence already was? And also, why is this the two-way gem caper? The story tries to justify it by saying that Dabblo has a plan A and B for everything, but... that's not what two-way means? And then when he does the doublecross by ruining the pearl, he says that's two-way as well. Did two-way just... mean something different in 1964?
This story is awful.
Notes and Trivia: First elevator to the Batcave, first hotline phone to Gordon, new Batmobile, new disguised rockface Batcave entrance/exit,
"Batman's Great Face-Saving Feat!"
Writer: France Herron
Pencils: Sheldon Moldoff
Inks: Joe Giella
Synopsis: This story introduces the Mystery Analysts Club of Gotham City, which are clearly being set up to be a thing. Like maybe a regular back-up strip or something. Either way, its a cute if nutty idea: It's a club that solves really hard mysteries and the criteria for membership is you have to solve a really hard mystery, and then the existing membeship votes anonymously. If there's one negative vote, it's better luck next time.
The membership consists of Professor Ralph Vern, apparently a forensic scientist; Art Saddows, an investigative reporter; Kaye Daye, a mystery writer of the "mystery writer who also solves real mysteries" trope; Batman; and Comissioner Gordon of all people, which makes me wonder why these people are amateur mystery analysts and not just on GCPD payroll, but okay.
A private eye named Hugh Rankin wants to join, claiming he has solved Gotham City's greatest mystery: what Batman looks like with his mask off! (I'd argue that his identity is more important than his appearance, but perhaps I'm splitting hairs)
Rankin's brought in a dummy under a sheet that he claims shows the true appearance of Batman, and he'll reveal it to gain club membership. There's some chatter about the ethics of doing this, but Batman says he's cool with it.
Rankin pulls the sheet off and reveals Batman.... is a middle aged balding guy!
How does Batman react? He pulls off his mask to reveal... Rankin is right! Batman is a middle aged balding guy! Since none of the club members can identify him, he's just some guy, Batman considers his secret identity safe, and they vote on Rankin's membership. But there's one no vote, and Rankin is denied!
Cut to Bruce Wayne telling Dick Grayson the story, where obviously Bruce was the no vote since Rankin didn't get the mystery right! But then, how did Bruce manage to disguise his face to look like Rankin's dummy? Flaaaashback time....Batman and Robin had been patrolling rooftops looking for the Trapeze Ten gang, when they spot them ziplining over to a building to rob an insurance company. But goes to swing over to the other building, but Rankin tackles him out of nowhere, saving the Caped Crusader from a hail of machine gun fire by a gangmember set up as a spotter on another roof. Rankin explains he's been tailing the Trapeze Ten as well, for some clients, and knows their operating patterns and knew there would be a sniper. Batman's all "yeah, well, uh, I knew that too, so I totally didn't need 'saving'" in a totally dickish response, and heads off to capture the Ten.
After the police show up, Rankin is still patting himself on the back to Batman, who wonders "wait, where's Robin?". Turns out the Boy Wonder, who's maybe 13 at the youngest and 15 at the oldest in these comics, was totally shot in the leg by that gunner! Robin's like "yeah, nbd, I'll be fine" but they take him to hospital and the doctor's tell him he's gotta stay off his feet for a while.
Okay okay, hold up, so a masked middle school age boy is shot in the leg by criminals, is taken to hospital, and not only does no one need to unmask him or record his true identity, but he's going to be fine after a few weeks bed rest? Wow, Gotham's gotten way too acclimitized to Batman and Robin, clearly.
Anyway, Dick's all "I know *this* part of the story, Bruce, I was there! What has this to do with anything else?" and Bruce is like, "You don't know because you weren't there for the next part!" and man everyone is kind of a smarmy dick in this story.
Returning to the flashback, Batman asks Rankin to join him in taking down the rest of the Trapeze Ten (who I guess are just the Trapeze Six now?). Their next job is swiping a case of diamonds away from a diamond courier waiting for a helicopter on a building rooftop, but flying to him in a helicopter and doing barrel of monkeys manuever to grab it from him without coming low enough to land!
Batman goes after the gang's helicopter, but again a spotter on another roof shoots a flare up into Batman's eyes. But! He's rescued once again by Rankin, who throws his hands over Batman's face, because again Rankin knew the gang's tricks ahead of time. Batman and Rankin run down to ground level to pursue the helicopter, which lands by an abandoned subway tunnel entrance.
Batman notices some flakes of pliable wax fall down through the eyeholes of his mask, rubbed off from when Rankin covered Batman's face. Odd.
Anyway, they pursue through the tunnels, which the gang floods, as it's used as a drainage duct to the bay. Rankin knew they would do this and brought a breaing apparatus, but Batman's already got one in his belt.
They swim after the gang and catch them by hoisting Rankin up onto a ledge (he braces himself on Batman's head as Batman gives him a boost to the ledge), and then Rankin dropping a net on them when they run past. Seriously, straight up Looney Tunes level crime fighting here.
Anyways, back in the present, Bruce quickly explains to Dick that he figured out Rankin was scoping Batman out the whole time to try and get his secret identity -- using his "expert sense of touch" to judge his weight and figure when he tackled him, using a wax impression of his face when he covered his eyes, and feeling the shape of Batman's "bald" head when he got the boost. But after the wax bit, Bruce figured out the scheme and *intentionally* disguised himself as the bald guy before the final bit of the adventure.
So in other words, Rankin got what Batman looked like right for all intents and purposes, but Batman had cheated Rankin by disguising himself, then voted Rankin out of the Mystery Analysts because he was wrong on a technicality. Batman's kind of a dick, huh?
~~~~
My Thoughts: So in one way this was more enjoyable than the first story this ish, because it actually at least kind of makes sense. But it's really hard to get through these Silver Age DC "what about my secret identity?" stories because they almost always involve the character acting like just huge smarmy assholes throughout. I mean the whole point of this story is that only Batman knows Rankin is wrong, and Rankin is only wrong because Batman sabotaged him. But as far as everyone else in the Mystery Analyst club knows, Rankin was totally right, so someone just voted him out for pure spite (and like, probably still Batman, y'know?).
The Art: Some really nice work in this story. Joe Giella swaths everything in moody patches of black, giving some nice shadow work to this story, helping restore a little bit of a sense of Batman as a creature of the night. It doesn't go all the way though, since the Caped Crusader himself is still rendered in bright colours, with the only shadows being the ones on his face and cape that are so ubiquitous they may as well be painted on. It also continues to be jarring to see Sheldon Moldoff continue to draw regular people very well rendered and Batman and Robin still in a faux-Kane cartoony style. Makes them really stand out in an odd way.
The Story: Like the first story in this issue, France Herron has given us an "and then" story instead of a "because" story. It's better organized that "Two-Way Gem Caper", but it's still a story that seems to change direction a lot and leave some weird unexplored threads in its wake. Like, I feel like Robin getting shot in the leg would be a huuuuge deal in a modern story, but here it's just brushed off like it's nothing. And it also feels like it's being hinted throughout the story that like maybe Rankin is a member of the gang? Because every time he knows what they're gonna do before they do it? And maybe that's why Batman is a dick to him, to foil him somehow? But no, that never really develops into anything. Rankin just wanted in this club and Batman cockblocked him.
Personally, I don't buy it. I have a different theory about why Aunt Harriet was introduced. Let's see, she doesn't know their secret identities, meaning they have to sneak around getting in and out of the house, and she overmothers them to a comedic extent. Hmmm, what other comic book character, perhaps someone in a really popular series from a competitor, does that sound like?? 
