Batman 121-130 Writers

Jerry Coleman wrote a lot more Superman stories for Mort Weisinger than Batman ones for Jack Schiff, but he did write Batman with Superman for Schiff in most of the heroes' World's Finest team-ups from late 1959 through 1962. Coleman's work calls attention to itself with the sound effects Whammp and Whapp, ones not used by the other Batman writers in this period.

Batman 121-130 Writers

Feb/59	121	The Body in the Bat-Cave	Bill Finger
		Crime Rides the Rails	Finger
		The Ice Crimes of Mr. Zero	Dave Wood
Mar/	122	Prisoners of the Sargasso Sea	Finger
		The Cross-Country Crimes	Finger
		The Marriage of Batman and Batwoman	Finger
May/	123	The Secret of the Everglades	Finger
		The Joker's Practical Jokes	Finger
		The Fugitive Batman	Finger
June/	124	The Invisible Batman	Finger
		The Return of Signalman	Finger
		The Mystery Seeds from Space	Wood
Aug/	125	The Secret Life of Bat-Hound	Finger
		King Batman the First	Finger
		The Last Days of Batman	Finger
Sept/	126	The Mystery of the 49th Star	Finger
		The Menace of the Firefly	Finger
		The Batman Lighthouse	Finger
Nov/	127	Batman's Super-Partner	Jerry Coleman
		The Second Life of Batman	Finger
		The Hammer of Thor	Finger
Dec/	128	The Interplanetary Batman	Finger
		The Million Dollar Puzzle	Finger
		The Batman Baby	Finger
Feb/60	129	The Web of the Spinner	Finger
		The Man from Robin's Past	Finger
		Merriweather Jones—Crime Prophet	Coleman
Mar/	130	Batman's Deadly Birthday	Finger
		The Master of Weapons	Finger
		The Hand from Nowhere	Finger

Writer: Batman 131-140

I'll repeat the story editors gave of Bill Finger: he was forever cadging advances but had a real hard time producing scripts.

Oh, so? Not in these issues, he didn't.

On the art side, Sheldon Moldoff did almost as many stories in this run, spelled only on the pencils of stories 131/2 and 133/1, by Dick Sprang, and on the cover of 135 by Dick Dillin.

This run begins Alfred's stories of the second Batman and Robin team and introduces Bat-Girl. Batwoman, Bat-Hound, Bat-Mite, and the Joker appear. There are a few alien and transformation stories. Superman makes an appearance and Green Arrow is mentioned.

Batman 131-140 Writer

May/60	131	The Dog That Betrayed Batman	Bill Finger
		The Case of the Deadly Gems	Finger
		The Second Batman and Robin Team	Finger
June/	132	The Martian from Gotham City	Finger
		The Three Faces of Batman	Finger
		The Lair of the Sea-Fox	Finger
Aug/	133	Crimes of the Kite-Man	Finger
		The Voyage of the S.S. Batman	Finger
		Batwoman's Publicity Agent	Finger
Sept/	134	The Rainbow Creature	Finger
		Batman's Secret Enemy	Finger
		The Deadly Dummy	Finger
Nov/	135	Crimes of the Wheel	Finger
		The Return of the Second Batman and Robin Team	Finger
		Menace of the Sky Creature	Finger
Dec/	136	The Case of the Crazy Crimes	Finger
		The Town That Hated Batman	Finger
		The Challenge of the Joker	Finger
Feb/61	137	Robin's New Boss	Finger
		The Bandit with 1,000 Brands	Finger
		Teacher from the Stars	Finger
Mar/	138	Batman's Master	Finger
		The Simple Crimes of Simple Simon	Finger
		The Secret of the Sea Beast	Finger
May/	139	The Blue Bowman	Finger
		Island of 1,000 Traps	Finger
		Bat-Girl	Finger
June/	140	The Ghost of the Joker	Finger
		The Charmed Life of Batman	Finger
		The Eighth Wonder of Space	Finger

Writers: Batman 141-150

Bill Finger is the main Batman writer at this point, but not the only one. The sound effects Whapp or Whammp, and the spelling "Aaah" instead of "Ahhh," among other indications, show Jerry Coleman scripting. I had assumed Finger wrote all the Bat-Mite stories in Batman and Detective until I saw "Batman and Robin's Magical Powers"; Coleman, as I'd seen earlier, wrote Bat-Mite in a couple of World's Finest team-ups with Mr. Mxyzptlk.

The expression "Jumping Jonah" appears in the three stories I've attributed here to Arnold Drake. See also, among others, the splash page of "Captives of the Alien Hunter" in Challengers of the Unknown 25, April-May/62. The "Ayeee" in "The Deadly Curse of Korabo" is another clue to Drake.

Except for 148/1 and 150/3 (pencils by Jim Mooney and inks by Sheldon Moldoff), art is by Moldoff, penciller, and Moldoff and Charles Paris, inkers on different stories. Dick Dillin pencilled the covers of  143 and 150.

Batman 141-150 Writers

Aug/61	141	The Crimes of the Clockmaster	Jerry Coleman
		The Race of Death	Bill Finger
		Batwoman's Junior Partner	Finger
Sept/	142	Batman's Robot-Guardian	Finger
		The Crimes of the Ancient Mariner	Finger
		Ruler of the Bewitched Valley	Finger
Nov/	143	The Twice-Told Tale of Batman and Robin	Finger
		The Blind Batman	Arnold Drake
		Bat-Hound and the Creature	Finger
Dec/	144	The Alien Feud on Earth	Finger
		The Man Who Played Batman	Drake
		Bat-Mite Meets Bat-Girl	Finger
Feb/62	145	Hunt for Mr. 50	Finger
		The Tiniest Villain in the World	Finger
		The Son of the Joker	Finger
Mar/	146	Batman and Robin's Magical Powers	Coleman
		The Secret of the Leopard Boy	Finger
		The Deadly Curse of Korabo	Drake
May/	147	The Plants of Plunder	Finger
		The Secret of Mystery Island	Finger
		Batman Becomes Bat-Baby	Finger
June/	148	The Alien Force Twins	Coleman
		The Boy Who Was Robin	Finger
		The Joker's Greatest Triumph	Finger
Aug/	149	The Maestro of Crime	Coleman
		The Invaders from the Past	Coleman
		Batman Tunes In on Murder	Coleman
Sept/	150	The Secret behind the Stone Door	Finger
		The Girl Who Stole Batman's Heart	Coleman
		Robin, the Super Boy Wonder	Finger

Writers: Batman 151-163

This is the Batman run that ends when the New Look takes over in #164.

One difference between Bill Finger and Dave Wood in a number of their scripts is that Finger calls Batman the caped crime-fighter and Wood calls him the cowled crime-fighter. Another is that Finger does not use "Great gosh" or "Great grief" as Wood does.

The art on these stories is by Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris, with one exception: Moldoff inks himself on "Bat-Girl—Batwoman II" in #163 (one of Alfred's imaginary stories of the future).

Batman 151-163 Writers

Nov/62	151	Batman's New Secret Identity	Bill Finger
		The Mystery Gadget from the Stars	Jerry Coleman
Dec/	152	Formula for Doom	Finger
		The False Face Society	Finger
		Memorial to an Astronaut	Finger
Feb/63	153	Prisoners of Three Worlds	Finger
Mar/	154	Danger Strikes Four	Finger
		The Amazing Odyssey of Batman and Robin	Finger
		The Strange Experiment of Dr. Dorn	Finger
May/	155	Batman's Psychic Twin	Dave Wood
		The Return of the Penguin	Finger
June/	156	The Secret of the Ant-Man	Finger
		Robin Dies at Dawn	Finger
Aug/	157	The Villain of the Year	Wood
		The Hunt for Batman's Secret Identity	Finger
Sept/	158	Ace—the Super Bat-Hound	Wood
		Secret of the Impossible Perils	Finger
		Batman and Robin—Impostors	Wood
Nov/	159	The Great Clayface-Joker Feud	Finger
		The Boyhood of Bruce Wayne, Jr.	Finger
Dec/	160	The Mystery of Madcap Island	Finger
		The Alien Boss of Gotham City	Wood
Feb/64	161	The New Crimes of the Mad Hatter	Wood
		The Bat-Mite Hero	Wood
Mar/	162	The Batman Creature	Wood
		Robin's New Secret Identity	Wood
May/	163	Bat-Girl—Batwoman II	Finger
		The Joker Jury	Finger

Batman Writers: Detective 301-326



"I must be a creatue of the night..."

This is Batman's best period for me, the one in which I first read him. It didn't hurt to have the original writer still working on the character. The Clayface and Cat-Man series where each story built upon the earlier ones, the Dr. No-Face and Flying Bat-Cave stories, didn't disappoint in the rereading.

The stories I've read now for the first time are just as good. "The Bizarre Batman Genie" stands out—it uses the strange-transformation trope of the period to turn the second half into a Robin/Bat-Girl story when Batman becomes an antagonist.

"Targets of the Alien Z-Ray" in #305 is the only story in this run to use the sound effects Kwoom and Crzzzz and the creature roar "Rawwwr" that Arnold Drake, and not Bill Finger or Dave Wood, employs.

Batman in Detective 301-326—Writers

Mar/62	#301	The Condemned Batman	Bill Finger
Apr/	#302	The Bronze Menace	Finger
May/	#303	Murder in Skyland	Finger
June/	#304	The Return of Clay-Face	Finger
July/	#305	Targets of the Alien Z-Ray	Arnold Drake
Aug/	#306	The Wizard of 1,000 Menaces	Finger
Sept/	#307	Alpha, the Experimental Man	Finger
Oct/	#308	The Flame-Master	Finger
Nov/	#309	The Mystery of the Mardi Gras Murders	Finger
Dec/	#310	Bat-Mite's Super-Circus	Finger
Jan/63	#311	The Challenge of the Cat-Man	Finger
Feb/	#312	The Secret of Clayface's Power	Finger
Mar/	#313	The Mystery of the $1,000,000 Treasure Hunt	Dave Wood
Apr/	#314	Murder in Movieland	Finger
May/	#315	The Jungle Man of Gotham City	Wood
June/	#316	Double Batman vs. Double X	Wood
July/	#317	The Secrets of the Flying Bat-Cave	Finger
Aug/	#318	The Cat-Man Strikes Back	Finger
Sept/	#319	The Fantastic Dr. No-Face	Wood
Oct/	#320	Batman and Robin—the Mummy Crime-Fighters	Wood
Nov/	#321	The Terrible Trio	Wood
Dec/	#322	The Bizarre Batman Genie	Wood
Jan/64	#323	The Zodiac Master	Wood
Feb/	#324	Menace of the Robot Brain	Wood
Mar/	#325	The Strange Lives of the Cat-Man	Finger
Apr/	#326	Captives of the Alien Zoo	Wood