In the Golden Age of comics, the rules had yet to be written, even simple ones like “the character’s origin goes in the first issue.” Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Detective Comics #33 awaits!

DETECTIVE COMICS #33

Writer: Bill Finger/Gardner Fox
Penciler: Bob Kane/Sheldon Moldoff
Inker: Bob Kane
Colorist: Uncredited
Letterer: Sheldon Moldoff
Editor: Vin Sullivan
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: 10 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $80,000.00
Release Date: September 30, 1939

Previously in Detective Comics: The first appearance of The Bat-Man, as he was then billed, accounted for only six pages of Detective Comics #27, focusing entirely on action and the first time Bats dropped and/or let a man drop into a vat of acid as penance for their crimes. Still, his placement on the cover of that issue (admittedly with a drawing that Bob Kane cribbed from Alex Raymond) proves that editor Vin Sullivan had high hopes for the Caped Crusader. Created as a blatant attempt to re-capture the success of Superman, Batman’s first few adventures gave us little to no clue as to what drives him to punch evil. This issue’s story rectifies that, courtesy of uncredited writer Bill Finger.
It’s kind of amazing that this origin, written during Franklin Roosevelt’s second Presidential term, less than a decade after the advent of sliced bread, is still used, almost unchanged. Thomas and Martha’s deaths in the gutters of Crime Alley (which wasn’t yet called that) for her string of pearls happen suddenly, leaving young Bruce paralyzed with horror.
Even his rumination about a “superstitious and cowardly lot” are included in this first iteration of the origins of The Bat. In retrospect, it is a little bit shocking that it took until 2015 for DC Comics to recognize Finger, the creator of this origin, the Batarang, the utility belt, et. al., as key to Batman’s success and finally give him co-creator credit. After that origin, though, Finger’s contribution to this story ends, and we’re in the hands of legendary scripter Gardner Fox, who shows us Bruce Wayne walking the streets of his hometown of… Manhattan? Yes, my friends, Batman is operating in New York City at this point, as the name Gotham City doesn’t appear until the NEXT year, in Batman #4. Wayne is caught flat-footed as a strange dirigible appears in the sky, shattering buildings and issuing a warning: They’ve come to rule the world!

Batman is not amused.
Using his keen detective skills (which is to say, flipping through the files in his Bat-Filing Cabinet), Bruce Wayne finds that a Professor Carl Kruger had recently been released from an asylum… and was an expert working on “a new-type death ray.”

Because the old-type death rays are clearly passé, you see.

Notice that, in panel one above, The Dark Knight uses his trusty “Baterang,” in only its third appearance. Barely escaping Professor Kruger’s deathtrap, Batman tracks down one, frightening the man into leading him to the criminal (including an important moment where he pulls his trusty Bat-Gun, and shoots a machine with it. This issue also features the final appearance of the original “Bat-Plane,” the auto-gyro that he famously used to battle The Mad Monk.

This all comes after Kruger shot our here in the back and left him for dead, making for three seeming demises for our hero in this single tale. Having neutralized the death ray with a chemical spray, Batman’s fourth moment of certain death (I imagine that movie serials with their endless cliffhangers might have had an influence on Fox’s story here) comes as the evil Professor whiles his plane around for the kill!
Having murdered another foe, pulp-style, Bruce Wayne enjoys a hearty pipeful of cherry tobacco and chuckles at how good it is to be a millionaire playboy. Also worth noting: The final panel’s breathless claim that “Batman appears ONLY” in the pages of this book would only be true for another few months, as his solo book would debut in April of 1940. What Detective Comics #33 does perfectly, though, is demonstrate why Batman broke out huge instead of the issue’s other feature (like Slam Bradley, Speed Saunders, or Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise) with an engaging plot, remarkably sophisticated art, and a top-notch origin earning 3.5 out of 5 stars overall.

Batman’s origin story has become as important to the character as his horned cowl, his bright-garbed sidekicks, or any Bat-gadget, and I’m honestly impressed how much of it is here, even in the first telling.

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