Amazon.com Review
This volume collects the daily Batman strips published in 1943 and 1944, offering an introduction to one of the earliest incarnations of the caped crusader. Batman has been both a camp caricature (in the '60s television show) and a depressed sociopath (in the recent series of movies), but in this collection of stories he is every inch the hero in a world of hoods, heels, and two-bit nogoodniks. The style of these black-and-white strips, filled with dark shadows and expressionist lighting, anticipates the development of film-noir in Hollywood movies of the late forties. This collection is also notable for an early appearance by the Joker, who escapes from prison using only a nail, a cigarette stub, a wooden match, and an ordinary paper bag. How? You'll have to read the book to find out.
