Dan Jurgens, Mike Perkins, and Mike Spicer give us a pulpy Batman tale that takes place in 1939. This a Batman without the gadgets, without the Batmibile, and without Alfred. He does have purple gloves, a scrappy fighting style, and detective training.
1939s Gotham is still dealing with the fallout of the Great War and the rise of fascism. Most of the police are dirty, and the depression has a grip on the city, and someone is brutally killing the city’s elite. This issue begins with Commissioner Gordon inspecting the crime scene of a councilman.
When the mayor is attacked, the Bat-Man reveals his presence and defends the politician from monstrous brutes. After the battle, Bat-Man uses his detective skills to find a fingerprint of one of the brutes. Bat-Man brings the evidence to the Commissioner, who isn’t entirely trustworthy of the vigilante.
The fingerprint leads to a dead man, a criminal who was given the chair at Blackgate prison. Realizing that something fishy is going on at the prison, Bat-Man heads to Blackgate to stop the current execution. Bat-Man is able to free the inmate, but the guards force the hero onto the chair as it’s activated.
This issue has a lot of setup, mostly establishing the real-world events of the 1930s. This is necessary for those who aren’t history buffs or don’t know a lot about the years before World War 2. A pulpy Batman tale in the year the character was created is right up my alley. I don’t know if we’ll see any alternate takes on existing Batman villains or if we’re getting something new. The pulp nature of this book was a draw for me, but the fact that Dan Jurgens was writing this book made it a must buy. I loved both the story and the art here, with Perkins’ art being a perfect match to the setting and tone of 1939 Gotham. I can’t wait for the next issue!
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