Batman #28 - Story 3

February 14, 1945

"Shirley Holmes, Policewoman!"

We're treated to a story showcasing another aspect of police work. This time, it's the policewoman. The concept of a policewoman was an oddity for much of the 20th century. Even 66 Batman featured the character Policewoman Mooney in a Catwoman episode. Sadly, while this is a police showcase story and it does show how our policewoman here, Shirley Holmes, can be an effective officer, she's quickly reduced to girl hostage.

The basic gist of the story is Alfred attempts to help Holmes when it appears she is being accosted by a man in the park. But she is able to take him down with a flip. Alfred is impressed and informs Batman and Robin who decide she would be the best decoy to suss out who is running a ring of rackets in town.

She quickly proves her worth to the head of the organization, a man known as the Count, by telling about her scam with oysters and fake pearls in restaurants. We've seen this scam before in an Alfred story. I guess it was something that was common back then.

But things quickly go south when she successfully proves her worth to the gang as Alfred sees her on the street and calls out to her. He is knocked out and she is taken back to the scammers' hideout. She fortunately is rescued by Batman, Robin and Alfred and her only contribution is to judo flip one of the men. That's what lets the story down. In the end, she has to be rescued by Batman and Robin. We've had police stories before where Batman and Robin were peripheral to the story, but here, they are front and center simply because we are dealing with a policewoman.

We'll wrap up our look at Batman #28 with the fourth and final story tomorrow, Citizens!