Follow

    Batman #1

    Batman » Batman #1 - The Legend of the Batman: Who He Is and How He Came To Be; The Joker released by DC Comics on Q2 1940.

    Short summary describing this issue.

    The Legend of the Batman: Who He Is and How He Came To Be; The Joker last edited by aphillips17 on 03/01/24 09:15PM View full history

    1. The Legend of the Batman: Who He Is and How He Came To Be - One night, while walking home from the theater, the Wayne family is robbed at gunpoint. When Thomas Wayne tries to intervene, he's shot in the chest. To stop her wailing, the criminal shoots Martha as well. The grisly crime is witnessed by the Wayne's only son, Bruce, who swears to avenge their deaths by spending his entire life "warring on all criminals"!
    2. The Joker (The Joker's first appearance) - Radio broadcasts are interrupted by a strange voice claiming to be "The Joker". The Joker warns that at precisely midnight he will kill Henry Claridge and steal the valuable Claridge Diamond. That night, true to his prophecy, and despite a police cordon about the man, Henry Claridge falls dead, his face contorted in a devilish grin, and the Claridge Diamond has disappeared, replaced by an imitation. But that is just the beginning of the Joker's murderous crime spree, and as the most precious jewels in the world are stolen one after another, and the body count continues to mount, both the criminal underworld and crime fighters Batman and Robin set their sights on taking the Joker down!
    3. Professor Hugo Strange and the Monsters - When Professor Hugo Strange escapes from prison, he and his henchmen promptly kidnap an asylum full of mental patients. Strange experiments on the mad men, turning them into giant man-monsters which he then releases on the streets of Manhattan to wreak havoc. Can Batman defeat both Strange, and his monstrous creations?
    4. The Cat (Catwoman's first appearance) - The society pages are abuzz with news of wealthy Mrs. Travers' yacht party. The media reveals that the hostess will be wearing a necklace valued at half a million dollars. Batman figures the party will be the target of every crook in town, but he's preoccupied with another case, so he sends Dick Grayson undercover aboard the yacht as a steward. Grayson discovers a number of suspicious characters aboard, and learns of a plot to steal the necklace by a mysterious character known only as 'The Cat'. But before he can act, the necklace is stolen and then the boat is boarded by still more would-be thieves. Can Batman and Robin stop a ring of heavily armed thieves, and solve the mystery of the Cat?
    5. The Joker Returns - Less than two days after his imprisonment, The Joker combines two chemicals, each retrieved from a secret false tooth, to form an explosive compound which he uses to escape. Once on the loose, the Joker resumes his M.O. of pre-announcing his kills via radio, beginning with the Chief of Police. True to his word, at the appointed hour, Police Chief Chalmers is dead. His revenge satisfied, the Joker thereafter returns to his usual murder-robberies, each broadcast by radio in advance, making the police look like fools and enraging and frightening the populace. But Batman has a plan of his own.
    sizepositionchange
    sizepositionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    bordersheaderpositiontable
    positionchange

    User reviews Add new review

    5 (2)
    4 (3)
    3 (0)
    2 (0)
    1 (0)
    4.6 stars

    Average score of 5 user reviews

    WHY SO SERIOUS? 0

    By The Angry Comic Book Critic  Okay I'm back from vacation and it's been a while since I've done any classic reviews so I thought I'd do one of my all time favorites from the golden age. The One. The Only......BATMAN #1. This book has it all action, murder, and the 1st appearance of the greatest villain ever to grace the pages of comics I'm talking about the big one, the Clown Prince of Crime, The Harlequin of Hate, the Jester made famous by such greats as Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill and of cou...

    3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

    Possibly the Greatest Comic Book of the Golden Age 0

    In the spring of 1940, less than a year after his first appearance in Detective Comics, Batman finally got his own comic. And what a first issue it was! In this one issue was a re-telling of Batman's origin, the return of his nemesis Hugo Strange, the first (and second) appearance of the Joker, and the first appearance of Catwoman! That's a lot of bang for your buck - or your 10¢, as the case may have been.The Legend of the Batman - Who He Is and How He Came To Be, is a brief, flawless, two pa...

    3 out of 4 found this review helpful.

    A must-read for Batman enthusiasts, but... 0

    It's fascinating to explore the origins of a beloved character. Many of the characters and ideas introduced in this issue became cornerstones of Batman's mythology, and the fact that they persist to this day is something to marvel at. However, in other ways, this Batman is a stranger, because one of his core, ethical and moral principles has not yet been established (i.e., this Batman injures people severely with little concern, and sometimes kills). This first issue is stylized, obviously, a...

    1 out of 1 found this review helpful.
    See all user reviews

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.