World's Finest Comics #7
July 31, 1942
"The North Pole Crimes"
A group of bandits decide that things are getting too hot for them in Gotham City so one of them with a nickname of "Angles" comes up with a new angle for racketeering. He and his men head north to the polar region of the globe and begin robbing outposts of their valuable seal furs and other goods. After each crime, they leave behind a weird looking snowman. The goods are all stored in their hideout, an artificial glacier. It's interesting to note how they show the layout of the hideout, something I always appreciated as a kid as I could imagine myself with such a hideaway.
Batman and Robin are called into investigate as the FBI is busy with the war effort. I tell you, a lot of the dialogue here sounds just like something Adam West would say in the 66 series. "They can't be interrupted in their fine work!" They prepare their costumes with heating units that will keep them warm and take a Batplane north.
Stopping over to refuel, the two encounter the gang and are doing well against them until one of the gang's planes clips Batman and Robin with its landing gear. When they come to, the gang is gone and have left a snowman behind. Batman can't figure out the point of it.
His picture is taken by Ray, a man working on a book. The two spend the night at a prospector who has a partner who is staying in a more northern part of the region. He gets a call from the partner who is shot. The four take the Batplane to his location.
It's pitch black though and Batman can't land the plane so easily. Robin jumps out via parachute and sets up a landing strip of flares for Batman. The partner was smart. Before he died, he laid out his checkers on the board, which is numbered so each could tell the other piece position. The five checkers spell out the location of a glacier. Batman, Robin and Ray get a sled with dogs in order to not be spotted as they make their way to the glacier.
But Ray is clearly not to be trusted. (Don't know why, but I saw this coming a mile away.). He knocks out the two and leaves them behind with no food. When they come around, they have no choice but to make their way on foot.
Over time, Robin starts to feel too warm and sleepy. Batman has to goad him into getting worked up and forgetting about giving in to his sleepiness. But then a new problem presents itself, the two go snow blind as the snow is so white. They can't even see the polar bear that approaches them.
The bear is killed by Cal, the prospector who followed them. They learn of another robbery in a nearby town. There, they find the snowman once again, but they also find Ray. Capturing him, he reveals he tips Angles off to potential crimes and in return, they leave him a payoff inside the snowmen they build. He tells them exactly where to find the glacier.
Batman comes up with a plan where he has the men of the community approach the glacier on ice boats while he and a camouflaged Robin sneak onto the glacier. They round up the gang with Batman having a final encounter with Angles. The criminal falls beneath the surface of the an ice lake and is gone.
