The legendary issue that introduced The Batman to the world.
It starts with Commissioner Gordon chatting with his friend, Bruce Wayne. A call comes to Gordon from the police department, a man has been murdered and fingerprints on the knife shows that it was the man's son. Gordon heads over there immediately, accompanied by Wayne. When they arrive, the man's son explains that when he came home he found his father stabbed to death. He picked up the knife which is why his fingerprints were on it. While still at the crime scene, Commissioner Gordon receives a call from Steve Crane, one of the victim's business partners who claims there has been an anonymous threat on his life.
No sooner has Crane gotten off the phone with police than an armed assailant shoots him and steals a paper from his home climbing out the window to the roof with the help of a partner. The "Bat-Man" knocks one unconscious and tosses the other off the roof, and retrieves and reads the document before jumping into a car and speeding off.
Meanwhile, Rogers, one of the two surviving business partners, pays a call on Stryker, the other living partner. He is admitted to the home by Jennings, Stryker's man servant, who then suddenly and unexpectedly attacks him. Jennings puts Rogers in a gas chamber. Then Bat-man arrives and breaks the chamber with a monkey wrench. Jennings sees Bat-man, and Bat-man tackles Jennings. Then Stryker arrives then tries to stab Rogers, but to no avail due to Bat-man's interference. Then Stryker tries to shoot Bat-man, Bat-man gives a punch that knocks Stryker into an acid tank. Batman responds "a fitting end for his kind.
Commissioner Gordon then talks to Bruce about this case. Gordon notes to himself that Bruce Wayne must have a boring life. Then you see the wealthy Bruce Wayne walk into the closet and come out dressed as Bat-man
Can Commissioner Gordon solve the case of the Chemical Syndicate? And who or what is this man they call The "Bat-Man"?
Stories:
- Crime Never Pays [6]
- The "Bat-Man" [1] The Case of the Chemical Syndicate (by Rob't Kane (& Bill Finger))
- Tenderfoot (by Bipo [aka Charles Biro])
- Rosati accordion comic-ad
- Speed Saunders Ace Investigator and The Killers of Kurdistan [27] (by Fred Guardineer)
- Buck Marshall Range Detective [23] Bullet Bluff (by H. Fleming)
- Spy [27] The Mysterious Murders (by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster)
- The Crimson Avenger [8] Murder on the Oceanic Line Docks (by Jim Chambers)
- Death on the Airwaves (text story by Paul Dean)
- Bruce Nelson [27] The New Orleans Mardi Gras Murder, Part 1 (by Tom Hickey)
- The Mysterious Doctor Fu Manchu! [Part 11] (by Sax Rohmer)
- Flatfoot Flannigan (by Gustavson)
- Stamp Collectors' Corner (text)
- Cosmo, The Phantom of Disguise [27] Illegal Aliens (illustrated by Sven Elvén)
- Plain Clothes Pete (by Alger [aka Russell Cole])
- Slam Bradley [27] The Murderer on Vacation (by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster)
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