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/ Catalog / Detective Comics

Catalog ID: 70496

Detective Comics #418 And Be A Villain ; The Kingpin Is Dead

Detective Comics (1937)

Issue Number: 418
Cover Date: December, 1971

... And Be A Villain!" Batman is staking out S & D Pharmaceuticals. Suddenly, eerie laughter fills the air, as Batman is attack from behind. Batman's assailant proves both faster and stronger than the Dark Knight Detective. Wrenching the man's trench coat ...

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Issue Description

... And Be A Villain!"

Batman is staking out S & D Pharmaceuticals. Suddenly, eerie laughter fills the air, as Batman is attack from behind. Batman's assailant proves both faster and stronger than the Dark Knight Detective. Wrenching the man's trench coat off, Batman's adversary is revealed to be the Creeper. Batman ceases the fight, and offers his hand in friendship. The Creeper immediately kicks Batman off the roof. Batman is saved only by grabbing the bat-rope, still in place from when he scaled the building. Batman tends to his injuries at the Wayne Penthouse.

Batman's investigation into the fire bombing of several pharmaceutical companies has turned up one commonality, monofragilic acid. Batman suspects the bombings have been done to cover up the theft of large quantities of the chemical. The Creeper returns to the laboratory of Ishmael Yatz. Though he has failed to obtain anymore monofragilic acid, the Creeper reports that he's done away with Batman. The Creeper's mood swings from psychotic glee to heartfelt grief and remorse. He pleads with Yatz to find a cure for his condition. Yatz assures the Creeper that he is getting close to a solution.

Inexplicably, Yatz orders his assistant to attack the Creeper. Yatz states that he was merely testing the Creeper's reflexes. As the Creeper exits, Yatz confides in his assistant that the cure he will be giving the Creeper is the cure of the grave. Researching monofragilic acid, Batman learns that it can be used to modify human physicality, giving the subject enhanced strength, speed, and agility. Batman recalls that the Creeper told him that a Doctor Yatz injected him with the formula that gave him his enhanced abilities.

Yatz was murdered by foreign agents, but his son, Ishmael, maintains a laboratory on the outskirts of Gotham City. Batman dons a disguise to gain entry into Yatz's laboratory. Yatz gives the Creeper the antidote to his father's formula. In reality, though, Yatz has given the Creeper poison. The Creeper lashes out at Yatz, only to discover that Yatz has duplicated his father's formula, and given himself the same abilities the Creeper possesses. Yatz assistant moves in for the kill, but is stopped by Batman. The Dark Knight hurls the man onto a table covered with various chemical beakers.

The lab fills up with noxious smoke, generated by the intermingling chemicals. By the time Batman clears the air, Yatz and the Creeper are gone. Batman pursues Yatz to the Fantino Narrows Bridge. There, Yatz is meeting with foreign buyers for his father's formula. Out of the darkness, the Creeper attacks Yatz. Batman takes down the foreign agents. With his dying breath, the Creeper sets about to murdering Yatz. Batman slams into the two men, separating them, and rendering them both unconscious. Suddenly the Creeper's features begin to blur, until he, once again, becomes reporter Jack Ryder. The poison, mixed with Yatz' formula already in his system, has returned Ryder to normal.

The Kingpin Is Dead!

All of Gotham City has turned out for the gala premiere of the new movie, "The Stepfather". In honor of the film's setting, Gothamites have come to the premiere in period attire. Among the attendees are Police Commissioner James Gordon, his daughter Barbara, and private investigator, Jason Bard. Also in attendance are Floyd Marcus, and his bodyguard Larry "The Blimp" Cooper. The film is reputedly based on Marcus' underworld career as the former Kingpin of crime in Gotham City. Marcus dismisses any similarity the film has to his own life. Suddenly, a vintage car whips around the corner, guns blazing from the windows. Cooper shields Marcus from the gunfire, only to learn that the attack was a publicity stunt. A second vintage car trails after the first.

This time the attack is no publicity stunt. Marcus is shot down in the street. Gordon rushes to his car to pursue, only to learn that his daughter has already taken it. Gordon realizes that his daughter is pursuing the killers, in her guise as Batgirl. Barbara recognized Marcus' killer as Mike Marcus, his stepson. Barbara travels to Marcus' estate, then changes into her Batgirl costume. Batgirl searches Marcus' garage and discovers that one of his vintage cars is missing. Soon, a moving van arrives, and unloads the car in question. One of Marcus' men notices Batgirl's wet boot impressions outside the garage. Marcus pulls into the garage, then sends his men away. It is then that Batgirl realizes that Marcus did not kill his stepfather.

The Case of The Careless Caretaker

Mister Hammond has rather foolishly invested every last penny he has in a series of fish tanks. His hope is that a local aquarium will purchase the tanks from him. The superintendent, Finley, though, refuses Hammond. Faced with financial ruin, Hammond lingers as Finley feeds the piranha, for a crowd of onlookers. When Finley spies a knife at the bottom of the piranha tank, he immediately fires the caretaker, Brady. Hammond sees Brady's public firing as an opportunity. Fishing the knife out of the piranha tank, Hammond uses it to stab Finley to death.

Hammond then contacts the police to report the murder. Hammond pins the crime on the caretaker. Detective Arvin Steinmetz, though, immediately sees the hole in Hammond's story. Hammond claims he saw Brady reach into the piranha tank and grab the knife to kill Finley. Steinmetz points out that Brady, in his role as caretaker, would have known better than to stick his bare arm into a piranha tank. Catching Hammond in an obvious lie, Steinmetz accuses Hammond of being the killer. Hammond confesses his guilt, and is tried and sentenced for the crime.

"The Case Of The Terrified Tenderfoot!"

This story was originally published in Dale Evans Comics #1 (September-October, 1948). A plot summary for this story can be found on that issue page.

Detective Comics (1937)

Publisher: DC Comics

Volume Description

Detective Comics is a DC Comics monthly American Comic Book published since 1937, focusing on detective stories. One of DC's signature titles; the title featured early talents such as Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff, Jerry Robinson and Bill Finger. Detective characters, such as Slam Bradley and the Crimson Avenger, were featured monthly in its early days. As of issue # 27, the title became best known for the introduction of the Superhero Detective, The Batman, who eventually became the main feature. The title has also featured the debuts of Dick Grayson, James Gordon and many of Batman's villains and supporting cast, as well as other DC characters.

For Post Flashpoint volume 2, refer to Detective Comics.Origin

Detective Comics was the brainchild of National Allied Publication's owner, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. His first two titles were called New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 and New Comics #1. New Fun, often referred as New Fun Comics #1, was published in February 1935. It became the first comic to contain all-original material, instead of combining newspaper comic strips and the comic-strip style material. New Comics #1, also published in 1935, was retitled twice to become Adventure Comics. Adventure Comics was revived in 2009, by Geof Johns, using Conner Kent's Superboy incarnation as the main story, and the Legion of Superheroes as the back story.

Wheeler-Nicholson, published a third and final title, named Detective Comics. It was scheduled and advertised to be published on December 1936, however, it premiered on March 1937. During that year, he became indebted to Harry Donenfeld, who was a printing-plant and magazine publisher. This forced Wheeler-Nicholson to take Donenfeld on as a partner so that he could publish Detective Comics #1, through a new publishing company, called Detective Comics, Inc. The first owners of Detective Comics, Inc. were Wheeler-Nicholson and Harry Donenfeld's accountant, Larry Liebowitz. Liebowitz and Donenfeld would later force Wheeler-Nicholson out a year later.

Detective Comics #1 featured stories using the hard-boiled detective genre, which was popular around that time. Some of the better known characters in this publication were Slam Bradley, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster before they created the Superman character, Ching Lung, an asian character who was a villain; and Speed Saunders along with other characters. The debut cover was created by Vin Sullivan, who was the publication's first editor.

Issue #27 of Detective Comics is historically famous because this was the first appearance of Batman, then known as "The Bat-Man", as a comic book character. This issue was published in May 1939. Batman (created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger), will later become the star of the publication. His sidekick, Robin (created by Jerry Robinson), was introduced in issue #38, published in 1940. The publication also had several back stories, including "The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdell", featured in issue #225, which introduced Martian Manhunter as a character.

In the 1970s and the early part of the 1980s, the publication showed an expanded format which featured solo adventures of some members of the Batman Family like "Robin: The Teen Wonder" and "Batgirl". It also featured "Tales of Gotham City", which told stories of the ordinary citizens of the famous fictional city. Due to the declining sales of Detective Comics in this period, DC was heavily considering canceling its namesake franchise in place of the much more popular Batman Family in a wave of cancellations called the DC Implosion. However, over the protestations of the comic creators, this series was saved and the other was merged into this one, which resulted in a format change for the series from issue #481 onwards.

In Bruce Wayne's absence, Batwoman was featured in Detective comics between issues #854-863. Currently, the book stars Dick Grayson as Batman, as well as Commissioner James Gordon.

Collected EditionsClassic Batman and ArchivedBatman: A Celebration of 75 Years (#27, 83, 211, 216, 327, 359, 395, 442, 474, 574, 633, 711, 757 and 821)Issues #27-50 are collected in Batman Archives, Vol. 1.Issues #51-70 are collected in Batman Archives, Vol. 2.The Joker: A Celebration of 75 Years (#64, 168, 180, 475, 476, 726, 741, 826)Batman Arkham: Two-Face (#66, 68, 80 & 513)Issues #71-86 are collected in Batman Archives, Vol. 3.Boy Commandos by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Volume Two (#74-83 & 85)Issues #87-102 are collected in Batman Archives, Vol. 4.Issues #103-119 are collected in Batman Archives, Vol. 5.Issues #120-135 are collected in Batman Archives, Vol. 6.Issues #136-154 are collected in Batman Archives, Vol. 7.Batman: The TV Stories (#140, 230, 341, 346, 359)Batman: Arkham - The Riddler (#140, 142, 377, 822 & 837)Batman: The Dynamic Duo Archives, Vol. 1 (#327-333)Batman: The Dynamic Duo Archives, Vol. 2 (#334-339)

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Detective Comics #418 And Be A Villain ; The Kingpin Is Dead

Issue Description

Detective Comics (1937)

Volume Description

Status: Not in Collection