YMMV / Detective Comics #27

• Common Knowledge: While rightfully lauded as Batman's iconic debut, many people forget that it was not a solo comic and Bats' tale was just one of many included in the issues early anthology format. Not helping is that the rest of the comics content is only sporadically reprinted in contrast to the multiple reprints given solely to the part with "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate".
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This wouldn't be the last time a foe of Batman would fall right into a vat of acid, and it's implied that it later created one of his most iconic foes, The Joker. One of the retellings of "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" even ran with this by having a new twist where Stryker becomes The Joker.
  • Just try reading the opening text about The Bat-Man battling the "evil forces of society" without thinking about the infamous "We live in a society!" meme.
  • The villain of the story is named Alfred Stryker. The loyal butler himself wouldn't be introduced until a few years later.
  • Wouldn't be the last comic with a villain whose surname is Stryker either.
• It Was His Sled: Given its been over 80 years since the comic debuted and the Dark Knight is such a cultural icon, even people with only the faintest knowledge of "The Bat-Man" would know well ahead of time that Bruce Wayne is the real identity of Batman.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Lets face it, have you read (or cared to read) anything from Detective Comics #27 besides "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate"?
• Once Original, Now Common: In the 80 years since the comics debut, the bar has been raised so high for superhero comics in both story content and art that it can be rather hard to appreciate just how unique of a comic Batman's debut was in its inception (the superhero was already rising as a novel idea in the late 30's, but a superhero detective without superpowers was even more novel for the time) especially since the story is a very basic detective tale and the artwork is rather crude compared to what would come later in the Batman series.
• Serial Numbers Filed Off: "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate!" is actually a pretty blatant copy of a The Shadow storyline called "Partners of Peril" that was released a few years earlier.
• Signature Scene:
  • The panel of Batman confronting two crooks on a rooftop.
  • Batman killing Stryker by punching him into a vat of acid.

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