Detective Comics #36
January 4, 1940
(Professor Hugo Strange)
Another issue starts out with no title which is disappointing as this issue has two distinctions. First, it's the first appearance of what would be a recurring villain in the series. When one thinks of Batman villains one usually thinks of Joker, Penguin or Catwoman, but we still have a ways to go before their premieres. Batman's first member of his Rogue's Gallery was Hugo Strange. The second distinction is that here, we see that Batman is starting to be better known to the inhabitants of what one assumes is still New York City at this point.
The story opens with Batman returning home after a night patrol when he sees a man jumping out of a speeding car. He is shot and left behind. He dies in Batman's arms, his last words being "Strange and Fog". Batman runs off as the police arrive, so the man's murder is attributed to him. The problem is, the man was FBI and carried a notebook filled with the names of locations as well as the name of an engineer.
Strange's plan is to create a dense fog that will cover the city. With it, Strange and his men can commit any crime without being seen. Gordon even becomes frustrated as his police department is helpless.
Batman finds that the first two names on the list were targets of the gang. He plans to greet them when they take on the third name in the list.
That night, Batman surprises the gang. His demeanor when he fights them is changing. When he first started, Batman only spoke when spoken to or when he was working something out. Now, as he fights, he seems to be having fun as he makes the quips we're used to seeing in comics today. He rounds up six members of Strange's gang, enfuriating the man. I'm not as familiar with Strange as I am other members of Batman's Rogues Gallery, but I was always under the assumption he was a smaller man. Here, he is shown to be strong. He even later manages to fight on Batman's level.
Batman's second encounter with Strange's gang ends in a way we're starting to also see as a pattern in the comic. Batman is doing well until he is caught off guard and knocked out by a club.
He is brought to Strange who has Batman hung by his wrists as Strange lashes at him with a large whip. He only gets one lick in though as Batman breaks his bonds and the two get into a brawl.
Batman knocks Strange out and then searches the hideout where he finds the engineer who was forced to help Strange create the device that created the fog. the two disable the device and Strange finds himself behind bars, vowing revenge.
A final cap on this story is that Batman's name is cleared of the murder of the FBI agent and folks in the city are saying Batman is a hero. Mind you, this is the first issue in which the villain is put behind bars and not killed either directly or indirectly by Batman.
