Detective Comics #339-341

Detective Comics #339-341

Originally released in 1965

Written by Gardner Fox (#339), John Broome (#340-341)

Art by Carmine Infantino (#339, 341), Sheldon Moldoff (#340)

For the past few days, I've been reading comics that are justifiably angry about the state that the world (and America in particular) is in, and are fairly up-front about that fact.  Today, I went through the list of Detective Comics issues that were available and picked one with a silly cover. (in this case, Batman holding a gorilla over his head and saying that, if this gorilla touches the ground, then Gotham City will be destroyed)  At first, I thought this was some sort of hostage situation, like a supervillain strapped a bomb to a gorilla to keep Batman occupied so they could make a getaway, but the reality is even stranger than that.

A man named Willy Hewitt goes to the police station, demanding that he should be arrested for a recent theft.  As the man is scrawny and the theft was caused by someone ripping a safe open with their bare hands, the police don't take him seriously.  He goes on to explain that, due to his uselessness in any physical activity, he studied bionics, which in this story is taken to mean that he can create a device that transfers the traits of any animal to himself. (so he can get the speed of a cheetah or the jumping prowess of a kangaroo)

When he tries giving himself the strength of a gorilla, this backfires somehow, giving him the gorilla's strength but also giving the gorilla his intelligence.  This also allows the gorilla to control Willy's actions somehow, but only while the gorilla is awake.  When the gorilla wakes up, Willy leaves the jail only to come face-to-face with the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin.

Batman's superior experience grants him the victory, so naturally, the gorilla (Karmak) aims to take that experience for himself.  The opening of the book describes Batman as the Masked Manhunter, though at first glance, I read that as the Martian Manhunter and thought that this gorilla had faced J'onn J'onzz before, so now I'm disappointed that Martian Manhunter doesn't have a super-intelligent gorilla as a villain. (at least, not that I know of)

The abilities granted by Willy's machine wear off after a few hours, though the time seems inconsistent. (Willy loses his super strength, but the gorilla keeps its intelligence beyond that point)  The gorilla makes a monkey out of Batman, ambushing him in a museum (where he internally rants about how he will get revenge on humans by stealing the things that the value, like the jewels in a museum) and using the machine to gain Batman's intelligence and fighting skills.

Using the brilliant strategic mind of Batman, both Batman himself and Karmak the gorilla come up with plans to defeat their opponent.  Batman coats his gloves in a type of anesthetic to render the gorilla unconscious, while the gorilla's plan is more extreme - he straps a bomb to his chest which remains active as long as he touches the ground.  If it explodes, the bomb will destroy Gotham City and kill every man, woman, and child in it, while leaving Karmak completely unharmed somehow.

Naturally, this leads to the cover image with Batman having to hold the gorilla over his head or else Gotham will explode! (Robin isn't tall enough to help, so he just cheers Batman on)  The day is eventually saved, and Batman tells Willy the problem that led to all of this: he didn't work with others. (the whole message kind of comes out of nowhere, and ignores the fact that this guy invented a device that could have countless uses in just about every field, even if the abilities that it grants are only temporary)

Each issue also has a shorter story focusing on the Elongated Man, though it seems like the hearts of the creators aren't quite in it compared to the Batman stories.  It's kind of funny that the stories about Batman (the detective without any powers) are creative and fantastical (involving super-intelligent gorillas and inanimate objects coming to life) while the stories about the Elongated Man have him taking on ordinary gangsters and dealing with counterfeit money.

Issue 340 involves a mysterious villain known only as the Outsider, who is never shown and only talks to Batman and Robin through the phone.  Somehow, he's gained the ability to turn Batman and Robin's gadgets against them, though only for a short while before the gadgets dissolve into dust.  There's an explanation for how he can do this, but it's nonsense.

This ability extends to the Batmobile, leading to the Batmobile chasing Batman and Robin down (and even up, as it drives up a wall to try and get at Batman).  The caped crusaders don't seem particularly broken up about the Batmobile turning into dust moments later.

Batman determines that the dust counteracts the Outsider's control over nearby devices, and leaps into action to prevent a museum robbery that the Outsider orchestrated, though they're still no closer to discovering his identity (though the Outsider could be a woman), and there's seemingly nothing stopping the Outsider from doing this plan again.

Issue 341 switches focus to a more familiar foe, the Joker, as he plans robberies based on classic film comedians (Charlie Chaplin, for example, though only characters are named rather than actors) as part of a grander scheme to rob a millionaire who's obsessed with those kinds of movies.

While I don't recognize most of the comedians mentioned, it's an entertaining issue, and funnily enough, the Joker's getaway plan is foiled because he didn't anticipate that the Batmobile has... a car alarm. (though I'm guessing they were nowhere near as commonplace in the sixties as they are now)

The third Elongated Man story has a newspaper editor claiming that his son (who travels a lot for work) is the Elongated Man in a convoluted scheme where the editor just assumes that the Elongated Man is aware of every crime everywhere and will investigate when a town called Powderkeg is being held hostage with a bomb. (the simple solution of simply calling or writing to the Elongated Man, whose identity and address are public knowledge, is brought up, though they could never get ahold of him)

While I don't know if I'll be able to find too many other covers that involve a superhero meeting a gorilla that's doing something unusual (which would be a shame), these issues made for a nice change of pace.  By my understanding, a common method of writing these comics (at least for DC) was for someone to come up with an eye-catching cover and write the story to explain how this happened; I love how, even though I anticipated that the events leading up to the cover of issue 339 would be strange, they were even more bizarre than I ever could have guessed.