Comic Title: Batman in the Forties TPB
Publisher: DC
Cover Date: 2004
On Sale Date: March 10, 2004 Direct Market Date March 3, 2004
Source: Previews, Vol. 14 #1 (#181)

Direct Market Date March 10, 2004
Source: ComicList, New Comic Book Releases List for Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Direct Market Date March 3, 2004
Source: Comic Shop News, #870

Cover Price: $19.95
Page Count: 192
Editor: Robert Greenberger

See Also: The Guide to Graphic Novels and Collected Editions

Title: "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate"
Pages: 6

Feature(s):
Batman (of Earth-2)

Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Bob Kane

Reprinted From:
Detective Comics #27 (1939)

Feature Character(s)

• Batman (Bruce Wayne; first appearance; last appearance in Detective Comics #33; next appearance in Detective Comics #28)

Supporting Character(s)

• Commissioner Gordon (next appearance in Detective Comics #28)

Villain(s)

• Alfred Stryker (partner in the Apex Chemical Corporation; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Jennings and two hoods (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Young Lambert and old Lambert (the chemical king; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Steven Crane and Paul Rogers (Lambert's partners; Crane dies in this story; no further appearances)

Comments:
This story features the Earth-2 version of Batman; for the purposes of this index, he will be referred to just as Batman. Commissioner Gordon and other characters who also have counterparts on Earth-1 will be referred to by just their name, but it should be noted that these are not the same characters that would later appear in the Silver Age.

Synopsis:
Commissioner Gordon receives a call telling him that Old Lambert, the chemical king, has been murdered. Gordon leaves for the crime scene bringing his millionaire friend Bruce Wayne. The prime suspect is Lambert’s son, but the boy claims to have found his father stabbed. A telephone call from Steven Crane, one of Lambert’s partners, reveals that Lambert’s life had been threatened.

Crane is also murdered by two thugs, who also steal a contract. They are confronted by a masked man on a rooftop, the Batman. Batman dispatches the hoods in short order, recovering the contract which leads him to the laboratory of another of Lambert’s partners, Alfred Stryker.

Stryker is being visited by the final partner, Paul Rogers. Rogers is knocked out and nearly killed by Stryker’s assistant, Jennings. Batman arrives in time to save the man and stop Jennings. Stryker also tries to kill Rogers to protect himself from the knowledge that he made secret contracts with the partners for control of the Apex Chemical Corporation. Batman rescues Rogers again, and knocks Stryker into a vat of acid, killing him.