Detective Comics #35
December 7, 1939
"The Case of the Ruby Idol"
1939 comes to an end with a very strong entry in the adventures of Batman. We open with Bruce sitting in Gordon's office. We haven't seen Gordon since Detective 27. Considering how some things are introduced in this series and never seen again, like Bruce's doctor, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that Gordon was a one-off for the introductory story. To see him here some nine months later is a nice touch.
The two are interrupted by a dealer in curios named Weldon who purchased a statue made of pure ruby in the form of a Hindu god, Kila. He and the person he bought it from, Lennox, are being threatened by followers of the god, who want the statue returned.
Gordon and Bruce head to Lenox's to check on him and find he has been captured by a group of Kila's followers. A car chase ensues, where the devoted stab Lenox and dump his body in the river. The body is never recovered and Gordon insists on round the clock protection for Weldon and the statue.
The story gets the attention of the underworld and an unfortunately drawn man named Sin Fang. As time passes, Weldon calls off the protection and that is when Batman steps in. Sure enough, he finds several thugs of the underworld trying to break into the glass enclosure protecting the statue without tripping an alarm. Batman is able to take them out, but he is brought down by one of the devoted. When he comes to he has to escape from the approaching police.
He follows the car of the devoted and sees it pulls up to Sin Fang's business located in Chinatown. Batman decides to learn about this person from the unofficial mayor of Chinatown, Wong. Wong too is drawn as a stereotyped caricature of the time. He tells Batman that Sin Fang is a dealer of stolen goods.
Batman decides to confront Sin Fang directly by playing naive asking for the statue as someone of Fang's reputation wouldn't want to deal with something so dangerous. He fends off an attack by guards and accepts Fang's explanation that they were surprised at the sight of Batman. He then finds himself trapped in a room filling with mustard gas that he neutralizes with a gas vial from his belt. He again acts innocent of what is happening, but falls into another trap - a pit filled with water. He stops himself by grabbing a pipe and climbing out.
He walks in on Lenox, who is removing the makeup from his guise as Sin Fang. In the first bit of deduction for the series, albeit weak, Batman knew it was Lenox as the body was never recovered. He hired people to play the devoted and faked his death. He tries to shoot Batman, but falls to his death when he is knocked over by the thrown idol. Another death on Batman's slate.
