Will the Bubble Burst for the Boy Wonder?!!

In the early 1940’s as Batman and Robin soared in popularity, Jerry Robinson was one of the great early Batman artists that worked with Bob Kane.  This cover of Detective Comics #70 by Robinson features Batman rescuing Robin from a bathysphere as the air rapidly escapes from the undersea trap.  The cover is taken from the Batman & Robin story in this issue, “The Man Who Could Read Minds!”  In this story, a performer named Carlo suffers an accident that allows him to read the minds of others.  Carlo decides to use his powers to pursue crime and is soon pursued by Batman and Robin.  By reading their thoughts, Carlo quickly learns the secret identities of our heroes, and threatens to expose them to the world if they try to stop him.

Nevertheless, despite the risk the Dynamic Duo know that they must stop Carlo.  They pursue the criminal to a waterfront location, where Robin is knocked into the bathysphere where he plans for Robin to slowly suffocate under the sea.  Batman escapes the trap, defeats Carlo and rescues Robin in the nick of time.  During his fight with Batman, Carlo is gravely injured and falls into the sea.  After he washes ashore, and with his last bit of strength, he writes in the sand “Batman is really Bruce Wayne”.  In a twist of fate, and just before the police discover his body, the tide rises and washes away Bruce’s name, keeping his secret identity safe.  Another thrilling adventure for our heroes!

Expert commentary provided by our good friend and comics expert, Bill Jourdain.   Thanks Bill!