Dirigible of Doom!

 

cover art by Bob Kane

Detective Comics #33 (November 1939) is significant in that it includes a two-page origin for Batman, written by Bill Finger. We, though, are going to jump ahead to the entertaining (if clumsily titled) story "The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom," written by Gardner Fox. The art is credited to Bob Kane, with Sheldon Moldoff drawing the backgrounds.

Gotham City has always seemed like a dangerous place to live, but it becomes a particularly unpleasant locale when a scarlet dirigible flies overhead, hitting the city with a death ray that crumbles buildings and kills thousands.

Batman checks his files and discovers a mad scientist named Kruger was recently released from an asylum. He heads for Kruger's home and overhears the madman making plans to conquer the world with his three lieutenants. They plan another attack on Gotham, in which they'll loot banks to get the funds to build more dirigibles.

It's a nice touch to have Kruger--a man with a Napoleon Complex--resemble Napoleon.

Batman steps in, but gets knocked out. He escapes just before Kruger blows up the house. Having overheard the names of Krugar's lieutenants, he finds and confronts one of them, panicking the guy into heading to Kruger's secret airbase.

Hiding the Batplane in an artificially generated cloud, Batman sneaks into the base. With gas bombs and a pistol (Golden Age Batman had no problem with packing a gat), he knocks out a lot of the bad guys and destroys all but one of the death rays. But then he's apparently shot and killed by Kruger, who plans to disintegrate the body with his death ray.

But Batman was wearing a bullet-proof vest and is faking death. He knocks out a guard and switches places with him. So Kruger disintegrates the guard thinking he's Batman. (Golden Age Batman not only packed a gat--he could be pretty ruthless when necessary.)

Batman heads home and whips up a chemical that will protect the Batplane from the death ray. When Kruger attacks Gotham, he's ready for a dogfight. He eventually rams the dirigible with his plane, bailing out in the nick of time. 

Kruger tries to get away in small plane, but Batman hits him with a gas pellet. The plane crashes and Kruger is killed. 

It's a fun story--loosely plotted but flowing along at a pace that overlooks its lack of storytelling logic. Over the past three weeks, I think we've found that Golden Age, Silver Age and Bronze Age Batman were all skilled detectives, unfazed when bizarre dangers (death rays, robot monsters or sudden teleportation to another planet) hits, and able to plan or improvise as needed. G.A. Batman was willing to use deadly force; S.A. Batman is the most easy-going;  and B.A. Batman is arguably the most well-rounded in terms of characterization, but all of them justify their existence by starring in entertaining SF/Detective stories.

Next week, Blackhawk tangles with a band of brutal outlaws.