Funeral for a friend! Wait, we’re too early for that? Oh, well, it still fits…
Detective Comics #39, cover date May, 1939, features the exact same creative team as the previous issue and, for better or for worse, it shows. The cover is fairly solid, all things considered, with a decent action scene of Batman and Robin versus a pair of crooks. The background fades to a solid color, however, which raises the question of why they bothered with any background at all? That said, it’s not a bad cover, just not a great one, either.
The interior art is on the higher end of Kane’s abilities, but only really shines when Robinson’s inks are allowed to take center stage. There’s a truly beautiful panel of Robin approaching an old schooner at the pier, and the shadows permeate every crack in the ground in such a satisfying way, and that’s entirely down to Robinson’s inks. When Kane’s pencils and inks have a greater influence, the art is fairly sketchy and uninteresting. Kane still doesn’t really get movement, and some shots just give me the feeling of photos of the old Kenner Star Wars action figures. Very stiff, with limited articulation. It doesn’t help that Kane’s depictions of Chinese men is in incredibly poor taste (though surprisingly the sole Chinese woman we see does not appear to be a caricature – make of that what you will, I suppose).
Finger’s script is solid, as well. This twelve-pager is a sort of sequel to Detective Comics #35, as we return to Chinatown to confront a new criminal organization. And yes, the first death of the series comes in the form of Wong, Batman’s first ally and the mayor of Chinatown. I think it’s unfortunate that Finger decided to kill the character off – he essentially sacrificed Batman’s first supporting character outside of Gordon for some shock value and to raise the stakes. Some things never change, it seems. On a more positive note, Finger continues, briefly, to separate Julie and Bruce. She actually appears for a panel of this issue and laments that Bruce is positively dull compared to Batman. This is a common trope in superhero fiction, of course, but it’s interesting that Fox did not include it at all in his brief run with the character. Given what happens next issue, though, it makes a lot of sense that Finger would want to continue to divide Bruce and his fianceé.
So, is this issue good? Yeah, I’d say it’s a solid Batman story, albeit with some flaws. Is it a must-read? Absolutely not.
The Batman's Library 