Detective Comics #27

Writer: Bill Finger Artist: Bob Kane Publisher: DC Comics Release Date: May 17, 1939 Critic Reviews: 0 User Reviews: 13
N/ACritic Rating
7.5User Rating

The very first appearance of the Bat-Man in the six-page story ""The Case of the Criminal Syndicate!"" This issue also features the first appearances of Commissioner Gordon and the revelation of Bat-Man's secret identity as Bruce Wayne.

    No critic ratings have been found for this issue.

  • 8.5

    Batman was a bit different then. The bad guy falls to his death in a chemical vat and Batman comments "A fitting end for his kind." Whoah. That's not the anti-killing Batman we know today. All-in-all, it was still pretty good. Can you imagine kids reading that back in 1939 just thinking this would be another masked good guy that time would forget? I'm sure very few, if any expected this to be the start of a Pop culture Empire or that this 10 cent book would be one of the most sought after magazine issues of all time.

  • 8.0
    Swift Planet Dec 15, 2020

    What's to say really? It's the first appearance of Batman ever and right off the bat he is delivered with full confidence. Also beginning now is my murder count for Batman, because he has changed his tune about killing over the years and that part of the character was absent from his early appearances. Murder count: 1. He kills a man by punching him into a chemical vat, and no it isn't the guy who ends up being the Joker.

    Interesting historical point of note: Batman wears purple gloves in this issue, much like in Scott Snyder's Year Zero story. The identity of Batman is also not revealed until the last panel. Apex Chemicals.

    I am going through every issue of Detective and Batman, and reviewing them. Nobody cares, but i more

  • 7.5
    Mout Jul 19, 2021

    bruce wayne and gordon just chilling and smoking. bffs

  • 7.0
    Hex Jan 17, 2023

    This is pretty good especially considering it's age. Fuck Bob Kane though.

  • packtsardines Aug 14, 2022

    clearly a very early draft for what batman would become. i mean it's the first appearance of him but it's a far cry of what he would later become. it's not particularly the best story, but then again this is the 30s and he was still a relatively new character. also it's very jarring to see the villain of the story die and batman saying "a fitting end for his kind." like holy shit lmao
    not rating this because there are other stories besides batman in this issue but i can't find the others

  • 9.0
    Gavan Aug 7, 2021

  • 8.0
    AurelQ Nov 21, 2023

  • 8.0
    Dani06 Sep 3, 2022

  • 8.0
    TheDoubleDarkness Mar 22, 2022

  • 7.5
    Psycamorean Nov 6, 2022

  • 7.0
    Sidowski Mar 15, 2022

  • 7.0
    VirusVenom Sep 14, 2020

  • 5.0
    Forza Apr 21, 2021

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