Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Writers in the Golden Age Had Serious Issues Tuesday!

It's no secret that in the early days, Batman didn't think twice about killing people. And I'm not talking about Nazis at wartime. He'd pretty much kill anyone whose face he didn't like.

Check out this portrait from Detective Comics #35:


Yup. Batman packs heat, and likes to soften a room up with lead before he actually enters it. Hope he has the right apartment!

Would you see who's at the door, dear?

Sure! Why hello, Batman, what brings you (BLAM! BLAM!) AIEEEEEEEE!


A little detectivin' from Detective Comics #39:


There's only one kind of people who will kill with a hatchet!

Um... people with access to hatchets?

Of course, this was before Batman's bad guys would obligingly leave big grins on their victims faces, or perform robberies with cats, penguins, or in the Riddler's case, just come right out and send letters to Gotham City Police Headquarters.

Here's a little lighthearted Batman tale from Detective #41:


Holy. Jumpin'. Heck. Seriously, what is that? These stories are supposed to be for children, and I'm watching a scene out of Dexter!

Man, that is seriously messed up. I'm beginning to understand why they created the Comics Code.

Oh, well. More on that tomorrow!

3 comments:

Sea-of-Green said...

Zombie fighters! Batman is talking about Zombie fighters! THAT's a person who uses a hatchet. Right?
Or a deranged lumberjack.

Dave said...

I like how Gordon is talking with his friend, "Bruce Wayne." Who's he really talking to?

LissBirds said...

My money's on deranged lumberjack.

That last panel would've given me nightmares if I was a kid. Yikes.