DETECTIVE COMICS #27

Publisher: Detective Comics, Inc. | Writer: Bill Finger | Artist: Bob Kane

COVER PRICE: $10 | CURRENT ESTIMATED VALUE: $1.5 TO 4 MILLION (DEPENDENT ON CONDITION)

Retro Review

artists and writers putting their own spin on the tale. In a 2014 New 52 reimagining of the story, writer Brad Meltzer implied that the criminal who fell into the acid, Alfred Stryker, would become the Joker. All I know is that Gotham would be a great deal safer if they installed secure handrails and lids on their chemical vats.

Even after eighty plus years Detective Comics #27 is still a wild read. As was the norm in the infancy of comics, Batman was just one of several characters with stories throughout the issue. Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster contributed “Slam Bradley” and ‘Spy” tales to the anthology book. The infamous cover to the issue showcased Batman in all his Golden Age glory. Oddly enough, as the cover proudly presented ‘Batman’ as the star of “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate,” his name is repeatedly hyphenated throughout the book as ‘The Bat-Man.’ The hyphen was undoubtedly meant to invoke a gothic horror feeling but was dropped by the time Batman #1 in 1940. The first few panels introduce us to friends Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon (no first name given). Gordon gets a phone call detailing a recent grizzly murder and leaves to investigate, allowing his buddy Bruce to inexplicitly tag along out of feigned boredom. Many of the key elements that we love 9.5/10 about Batman are introduced in this milestone issue such as Batman’s alter ego remaining a mystery. In fact, readers weren’t informed until the last panel of the story that Bruce Wayne is Batman (gasp). If you’re a fan of Batman’s ‘no-kill’ rule, you’re going to be in shock because not only does Bats kill, but he does it with glee - flipping one criminal off a roof and another into a vat of acid while remarking that it’s a “fitting ending for his kind.” “The Case of Chemical Syndicate” storyline was revisited on several occasions with