Some Good, Some Bad
This Batman story had as many downs as it had ups for me.
Batman, who has only appeared in a handful of stories at this time, has gone from being seen as a myth by the police, to an outright antagonist in their eyes by this issue. It's not surprising, he's also at his most vigilante-ish here. He's shown in the splash image holding a smoking pistol, and while he doesn't actually use a gun during the course of the story, he does end up killing one attacker, and punching a cop. Given that I'm a fan of the darker version of Batman, this is the welcome part of the story.
The story deals with an explorer that brings a carved jewel idol back to civilization, only to receive threats from the cult of the idol's god. This was a pretty common story in the 40s - The Adventures of Superman radio show, for example, used that same story line more than once. Which brings me to the downside — just like the portrayal of Batman, this story is a relic of its era — nobody bothers to stop and consider the fact that the idol was stolen from it's rightful 'heathen' owners to begin with? Of course, that's pretty much a subtlety compared to the ethnic caricatures that populate the issue - no less than three ethnic groups, Hindus, Chinese & Mongols are depicted in pretty stereotyped light here.
Ultimately, it's one of the more fast paced, crime/action-oriented stories by Bill Finger, which makes it a nice change of pace from the more gimmicky, sci-fi/fantasty Gardner Fox stories of the past several issues.
