Detective Comics #38: 1940’s Batman and Robin

What is Detective Comics #38’s About?

Since you already saw a blog article about Detective Comics #475, then you should not wonder how the 38th edition existed. Of course, it came before the 475th edition. But if you just stumbled upon this article before seeing that one, then congratulations! This 38th edition was published on March 6, 1940. It’s been a while indeed – 84 years to be precise! It has a lot of stories inside, including Batman and Robin, Bart Regan, Red Logan, The Crimson Avenger, and so many others. The main focus, however, is Batman and Robin.

List of Stories in Detective Comics #38

The stories that we can read in this edition are as follows:

Batman and "Robin the Boy Wonder"
Bart Regan, Spy: "The Electrical Assassin"
Red Logan: "Dr. Hydkil"
The Crimson Avenger: "The Phoney Jewel Robbery"
Speed Saunders: "The Kidnaped Singer"
Steve Malone: "The Gambler's Protector"
Cliff Crosby: "At the Arctic Circle"
Slam Bradley: "The Big Fire"

Synopsis of Detective Comics #38

Even though there are a lot of stories, we will only discuss the story of Batman and Robin here. This is actually where they first met and when Bruce Wayne first took Dick Grayson under his care. Dick was a part of the Flying Grayson, a family of acrobats that worked for a traveling circus. During one of the shows, John and Mary, Dick’s parents who were also the performers, were “accidentally” killed during their performance. Dick found out that they were murdered by Blade and Tony Zocco, but before he had a chance to call the police, Bruce Wayne was there.

One might think that Bruce was there to help Dick immediately, but no. Instead, he took Dick under his care, trained him to be a crime-fighter, and gave him a new identity along with a supersuit. Dick became Robin, the Boy Wonder. He also started becoming Batman’s sidekick, and alongside this, they finally attempted their revenge against Zocco who killed Dick’s parents.

Eventually, the two managed to track down Zocco and his gang, which had yet to stop committing crimes. They were about to destroy a skyscraper construction site, but Batman and Robin managed to stop this gang before it was too late. A video of Zocco killing one of his men taken by Robin was given to the police, and Zocco was arrested. After this, Dick vowed to be Batman’s eternal partner.

Detective Comics #38 Characters

Of course, the main protagonists of this story would be Batman and Robin. Aside from that, the main antagonist would be Zocco and his men. The supporting characters are Dick’s parents, John and Mary Grayson, and then we also have Mr Haly the circus owner.

Detective Comics #38 Locations

The story was mainly set in Gotham City, but there were three important locations. The first location would be Haly’s Circus, where everything went down. The second location would be the Wayne Manor, where Bruce took care of Dick and taught him everything to fight crimes. The third location would be the construction site, where Batman and Robin fought Zocco and won.

Other Stories

We also have some other interesting stories – not just Batman and Robin! There are Bart Regan who fought a scientist that developed a machine to hit targets with lightning, Red Logan who fought Dr. Hydkil who was semi-vampire (but not exactly a vampire), The Crimson Avenger against some insurance fraudsters, Speed Saunders and a kidnapped singer, Steve Malone against some gamblers that were protected by the city officials, Cliff Crossby and his heroic acts in the Arctic Circle, and Slam Bradley helping people from an apartment building on fire. So many other interesting stories, and definitely worth checking out!

Detective Comics #38 Artists and Writers

They had different artists and writers for each story, but for Batman and Robin, we have Bill Finger as the writer, Bob Kane as the penciler, Jerry Robinson as the inker and letterer, and Whitney Ellsworth as the editor. The cover was made by both Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson. And not only did Whitney Ellsworth edit the comic, he was also the executive producer of this edition.

Have you read Detective Comics #38? Or did you never hear about it before? Let us know in the comments, and receive a small gift.