Batman Detective Comics, First Batman Comic No. 1

Last month the first Batman comic, Detective Comics No. 27 or Batman comic No. 1 from May 1939 sold for a new record price for a comic book. Batman Detective Comics, Batman comic 1 was a very fine 8.0 copy and sold for $1,075,500 by Heritage Auctions three days after Superman Comic 1 sold for a cool $1,000,000. Yes it was huge week for comic investors. In the clash of the superheroes Batman beat Superman for now!

It was a "very fine" issue originally priced at 10 cents. This put Batman back in the limelight and comic books up there in the collectible investments department.

There are only one hundred copies of Action Comics #1 in existence with only two copies graded at 8.0 or higher by CGC. Another significance of Superman comic 1 is it was the advent of the superhero in our lives.

The Batman Comic 1 was only one of two CGC 8.0 copies known to be in existence. There are no copies graded higher by CGC. Batman Detective Comics experience huge demand from vintage comic book collectors.

Batman ’s first appearance (Batman comic 1), sold for a record $1,075,000 last month on Thursday February 25. Incredibly this beat the first Superman comic book, Action Comics No. 1 or Superman Comic 1 being sold for a record by ComicConnect for One million. Superman had the record for only three days after it almost tripled the previous record price for a comic book. The previous record was $317,200 paid for a 6.0 copy of the same Superman issue, Action Comics No. 1. This copy of Batman Comic 1 was graded 8.0 by CGC.

Not a bad investment it was reported by Associated Press, that the seller of the Batman Comic 1 originally bought it for $100. Impressive!

Detective Comics No. 27 (May 1939) or Batman comic 1 in the first Batman story, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," marked the first appearance of Batman (as "The Bat-Man") and was the forerunner to his own comic book series. Batman was the result of the success of Superman in Action Comics. Editors of National publications, which evolved into DC Comics, sought more superheroes for its titles.

Subsequently Bob Kane created “the Bat-Man”. Kane’s collaborator on the issue was Bill Finger who remembers; "Kane had an idea for a character called 'Batman', and he'd like me to see the drawings. I went over to Kane's, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of … reddish tights, I believe, with boots … no gloves, no gauntlets … with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign … BATMAN.”

Finger’s collaborations saw Batman’s domino mask become a cowl, gave him gloves and a cape instead of having wings. He also removed the red sections from the original costume. Finger said he Bruce Wayne also came from Bill Finger; "Bruce Wayne's first name came from Robert Bruce, the Scottish patriot. Bruce, being a playboy, was a man of gentry. I searched for a name that would suggest colonialism. I tried Adams, Hancock … then I thought of Mad Anthony Wayne. “

In later years Finger also said he was influenced by The Phantom comic book by Lee Falk. The Phantom was a super hero who wore a full body suit and mask.

Like Super man contemporary popular culture of the 1930s shaped Batman’s personality. Collaborator Bill Finger said, "Batman was originally written in the style of the pulps." Kane noted especially the influence of the films The Mark of Zorro from 1920 and The Bat Whispers from 1930. (Finger cited The Shadow and Sherlock Homes as helping him devise Batman’s character.

Kane wrote of Finger's contributions to the creation of Batman in his autobiography.

“One day I called Bill and said, 'I have a new character called the Bat-Man and I've made some crude, elementary sketches I'd like you to look at'. He came over and I showed him the drawings. At the time, I only had a small domino mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said, 'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and take the eyeballs out and just put slits for eyes to make him look more mysterious?'

At this point, the Batman wore a red union suit; the wings, trunks, and mask were black. I thought that red and black would be a good combination. Bill said that the costume was too bright: 'Color it dark gray to make it look more ominous'. The cape looked like two stiff bat wings attached to his arms. As Bill and I talked, we realized that these wings would get cumbersome when Bat-Man was in action, and changed them into a cape, scalloped to look like bat wings when he was fighting or swinging down on a rope. Also, he didn't have any gloves on, and we added them so that he wouldn't leave fingerprints.”

Incidentally Robin was not introduced to us until Detective Comics No. 38 (April 1940) being billed as "The Sensational Character Find of 1940" on the cover).

Batman Detective Comics, Batman comic 1 was the basis for countless more comic strips, graphic novels, songs, TV miniseries, movies, Oscars and all sort of tribal ensigns. Have you seen the Bacardi Rum Bat for example? No doubt there are plenty more. I for one can't wait to read Batman Comic 1 and the rest of the comic series on iPad.