It wasn't Robin who changed Batman

In addition to Batman's letting the Cat go in the third story in Batman #1, something else weird happened. While fighting a second gang of jewel thieves, Batman pauses to make the strange statement above. It's odd because he's alone on a boat with just the crooks and Robin.

Obviously, Batman's breaking the fourth wall here and he does it even more directly after Robin wipes the floor with the bad guys.



I thought that was interesting, but not as much as the Bat/Cat relationship, so I wasn't going to mention it until I got to the fourth and final story in Batman #1 (again by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson). It's a second Joker story that picks up two days after the first one and doesn't shed any new light on the Joker or his motivations, but it does have this extra panel at the very end.



This was 14 years before Seduction of the Innocent was published, but clearly DC was not only aware of their young audience, but also catering directly to them. It wasn't that Robin toned down Batman's grimness, it was that Robin and the lighter tone were both inspired by younger readers.

That's not nearly as much fun to think about as possible in-story explanations, but when Batman's directly addressing the children in the audience, it's not possible to ignore.

Bat meets Cat

The third story in Batman #1 (by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson) features Batman letting Robin fly on his own solo mission, at least for a while. Batman reads about a yacht party where a famous emerald necklace will likely tempt criminals, but he has "another job to do first" and sends Robin ahead to work undercover as a steward. Batman promises to catch up later.

Robin discovers a note that suggests the Cat, a famous thief is after the necklace, but he doesn't make much headway in his investigation before Batman shows up. It's Batman who uncovers the Cat's disguise and reveals her to be a beautiful, nameless woman.

Of course in hindsight we know that her name is Selina Kyle (and her nom de guerre will eventually morph into something more familiar), but she's still a mystery in this story. One thing that's already present though is the sexual tension between her and Batman. She comes on to him as soon as he catches her, but he rebuffs her because they work on different sides of the law. It's probably right to assume that she was just playing him, but if that's so, her plan - shockingly - works!

As Batman and Robin carry her towards shore in Batman's speedboat (it's not pimped out enough to call it the Batboat just yet), the Cat leaps overboard to escape. Robin tries to jump in after her, but Batman foils the attempt by pretending to clumsily bump into the kid. Robin isn't fooled and Batman barely tries to cover it up. The story ends with Batman mooning over the Cat, trying to remind himself that he's engaged to the woman from Detective Comics 31 and 32. I don't know how Bruce Wayne eventually breaks up with Julie, or even if it's shown in the comics, but it's interesting to think that Selina Kyle may have had something to do with it.

What to make of his letting her go though? She didn't actually hurt anyone, so that somewhat excuses his giving vengeance a break, but what kind of example is he setting for Robin? I've speculated that Robin's presence has made Batman question how violently he attacks criminals, but there's a huge leap from that to just letting them go. Batman's clearly thinking with a different part of his body from his brain.

Much as Batman hates to take human life...

A couple of things about this Man Monsters story from Batman #1 (by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson):

First, it was originally intended as a Detective Comics story. At the end of Detective 37, a panel showed Batman facing a couple of giants and declared that "Next month, huge, terrifying Man-Monsters stalk the streets." What next month actually brought, however, was the Sensational Character Find of 1940: Robin, the Boy Wonder. DC bumped the Man Monsters story, so it ended up in Batman #1, which - like the Superman solo series - was an anthology comic in its early days. The Man Monsters story also featured the return of Hugo Strange, who created the beasts to use as a distraction while his henchmen robbed banks.

The second thing worth pointing out in the Man Monsters story is this:



First of all, Batman has never shown any reluctance for taking human life in his stories so far. In fact, he punches Hugo Strange out of a tower window less than an hour before this scene takes place and follows it up by lassoing one of the Man Monsters around its neck and hanging it from the Batwing.

Secondly, if Batman did hate killing, why mount a machine gun on the Batwing? Clearly Batman has no issues at all with taking human life, but he apparently feels the need to justify it to himself. Which makes me wonder some more about Robin's influence on him.

This story was obviously written before Robin's introduction, but its publication after Robin adds an interesting element. Is Batman starting to feel remorse over killing so many bad guys? Does the responsibility of raising Robin make him rethink his tactics? It hasn't changed his behavior yet, but this may be the first step in that direction.

Batman, Robin, and 'the path of righteousness'

Detective Comics #38 (by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson) is famous for being the first appearance of Robin, the Boy Wonder. Young Dick Grayson is usually credited with having a lightening effect on Batman's grim quest for vengeance against all criminals, and there's evidence from this issue that the boy's impact was immediate, though very limited at first.

After Batman agrees to train the boy, the two of them take a crime-fighting oath that includes the words, "never to swerve from the path of righteousness." That feels like an important addition to Batman's mission. It's not enough just to make criminals pay for their misdeeds, Batman also begins to see the importance of maintaining a personal code. He doesn't define "righteousness," but that he even includes it as a concept may be significant.



Eventually, "righteousness" may include a prohibition on taking lives, but not right away. In fact, Batman and Robin's ultimate plan for avenging the death of Robin's parents involves entrapping the main bad guy and photographing him as he murders one of his men. Not only do Batman and Robin not try to save the henchman (Batman implies that the thug is the one directly responsible for the Graysons' deaths, but presents no evidence of it), they manipulate the mob boss in order to make sure that the henchman is killed.

Batman may see the need to raise Dick more morally than the way Bruce Wayne developed, but it's not an easy or quick transition.

Happy Valentine's Day from the batcave à trois