Detective Comics
Entry updated 6 April 2026. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1937-current). DC Comics. 1,106 issues to date (as of the "April 2026" issue, published in February that year). For the main focus of this entry (1937-1953), artists included Henry Boltinoff, Lee Harris, Bob Kane, Jack Kirby, Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Shuster; scriptwriters included Otto Binder, Henry Boltinoff, Bill Finger, Gardner F Fox, Edmond Hamilton, Jack Kirby and Jerry Siegel. Initially 68 pages, it gradually reduced until (from #177, 1951) 36 or 44 pages were the norm, becoming 32 pages from #1090 (2024); though, aside from special issues, there were some temporary increases, such as #481-#495 (1978-1980) being 68 pages. Early issues had 8 long strips, but as the page length declined and the focus was increasingly on Batman, these eventually reduced to 1 or 2 with the title becoming Batman Detective Comics from #700 (1996), after having been Detective Comics featuring Batman for a while beforehand.
Detective Comics #1 was published in 1937 and the title reached #881 in 2011, before DC Comics (which took its name from the initials) relaunched with issue #1 in the same year, though reverting to the original numbering with #934 (2016). It is the longest-running DC comic, though Action Comics has had more issues, and is best known for introducing Batman (in #27), with Robin arriving in #38; from #301 (1962) issues would typically be dominated by a long Batman story, often accompanied by a "back-up strip" – usually a non-Batman story (though the aforementioned longer issues had more strips). Filler material (brief strips or short text pieces) is not considered here.
This entry discusses Detective Comic's non-Batman series during the era where Batman was but one of its many strips (1937 to the early 1950s), then surveys the "back-up" strips for subsequent years. For Batman himself see the Batman. Among the major Batman Villains who made their debut in that era were Hugo Strange (#36, February 1940), Clayface (#40, June 1940), The Penguin (#58, December 1941), Two-Face (#66, August 1942), The Riddler (#140, October 1948) and Firefly (#184, June 1952); two obvious omissions, The Joker and Catwoman, first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940).
Early issues' strips were straightforward crime stories until #20 introduced The Crimson Avenger, a masked and red-caped Superhero using a gas gun (see Weapons) to render foes unconscious. His Chinese servant Wing becomes his costumed sidekick from #59. Genre elements are only occasional: "Zombis" appear in #23 and behave like Zombies: their origin is not explained, though the presence of an evil Scientist is suggestive. #42 has the red-robed "greatest master minds in crime and science – we intend to rule the world, starting first with this country"; when our hero is trapped in a well he uses his gas gun to turn his cape into a balloon which lifts him to the top. In #44 he gets a more traditional superhero costume and has to deal with a Mad Scientist who kidnaps people to experiment on (the object of these experiments is unexplained). In #50 another scientist invents a Ray which can destroy any known material. The Crimson Avenger's last appearance is in #89.
#60 introduces another superhero, the "modern as television" Air Wave, who – using Technology – is able to "harnesses the mighty radio powers of the atmosphere", picking up distant conversations. Something like the magical law of contagion seems to apply with metal: for example, in #68 a bullet shell enables his device to link to the gun that fired it and overhear its bearer's conversations. In #65 evil scientist Professor Gurn builds himself Powered Armour to fight Air Wave ("If your own body is weak build yourself a robot one"). In #130 Air Wave creates a radio-controlled Automaton of himself. His sidekick is Static, a parrot of above average intelligence (last appearance #137). Robotman appears in #138, having previously been a regular in Star Spangled Comics. When Paul Dennis was murdered by criminals a scientist encases his brain in a Robot body powered by cosmic rays (see Cyborgs) and he now fights crime. His usual appearance is almost Android-like, though he has telescopic arms and can produce two extra pairs if need be; he can also wear plastic flesh and pass for human. Sometimes other robots turn up, including the self-explanatory Robotcrook (#150); sometimes they are people pretending to be robots, such as Robotgirl (#177) (last appearance #202).
The Boy Commandos (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, debuting in #64) are a multinational gang of young teens who are the company mascots of a World War Two commando troop; they continue to have adventures after the war. Tales with genre elements are rare: for instance, in #95 they face a remote-controlled animatronic dragon and #135 finds a scientist planting mini television cameras to gather information to aid crimes. But #139 has "Dr. Z Future Criminal": here the criminal scientist of that name uses his Time Machine to escape five centuries into the future. The Boy Commandos follow and find an advanced civilization, formerly crime-free, but with Dr Z having reprogrammed many of their giant robots to attack cities. At the end comes a suggestion that the adventure might have been a delusion created by the time machine (which would perhaps justify the otherwise weak resolution) (last appearance #150).
There were occasional sf elements in other strips; besides such McGuffins as stolen secret formulas, these included #23's "Spy" strip (featuring Bart Regan of the US Special Service) where leading Americans are murdered by a "super-scientific fiend" who has an associate sneak into their homes and sew buttons onto their clothes: the scientist's invention "sends out jarring murderous waves to the radio-vibrator concealed within the button", causing a heart attack. In #38 news reporter Red Logan discovers a scientist committing murders to steal blood for use in his experiments to bring the dead back to life; neck marks are made so that Vampires would be suspected. #43's Cliff Cosby ("young America's hero") tale the costumed Skull seems to have a skull for a head, making him a Supervillain. In #44 Cliff is shipwrecked, and from a footprint deduces he is on an "Island of Vampires", then meets Doctor Banzor who is surgically turning people into vampires. Additionally, #17-#28 had reprints of a 1930/1931 newspaper strip serializing Sax Rohmer's The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu (1913).
A strip entitled "Impossible – But True" began in #155, and concerns Roy Raymond, who hosts a tv show of that name. He investigates scientific impossibilities (see Scientific Hoaxes), frequently genre related, to discover how the trick was done – often with criminal motives, making him a scientific detective. Examples include: an Invention that seems to show the future (see Time Viewer) in #157; a land of giant insects in #162, the trick being contact lenses that make distant objects seem large; and an "electronic age reducer" (see Rejuvenation) in #167. Others are faked to lure crooks with the criminal potential of a mind reader (see Psi Powers) in #155 or Antigravity devices in #163. Occasionally the devices would be real, such as a scientist's "atom compressor" that actually shrink people to the size of a doll (see Miniaturization in #159. In #198 Roy is abducted by a Martian and taken to Mars), he escapes and tries to persuade his Martian equivalent (Mars also having a show entitled "Impossible – But True") that he is a genuine Earthling, not an attempt to promote the current movie The Man from Earth. He fails, but manages to return to Earth (the possibility that this journey never happened is mooted, but not resolved). The series eventually became known as Roy Raymond TV Detective, its last appearance being in #292.
Detective Comics' other strips in this era were very much overshadowed by Batman, though Kirby's artwork often made the Boy Commandos strips stand out (he drew most though not all of them); they would soon get their own, very successful comic. Other superheroes had their moments, but suffered from typically facing mundane criminals; certainly Robotman seems wasted in this respect. "Impossible – But True" had some interesting tales. Aside from the Fu Manchu reprints, other Yellow Peril plots were common in the early issues; though sidekick Wing was shown to be quick-witted, his depiction was an Asian caricature (see Race in SF).
Subsequent sf strips were Martian Manhunter (#225-#326) and Aquaman and Aqualad (#293-#300) – Aquaman had debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (1941) and Aqualad (see the Aquaman entry) in Adventure Comics #269 (1960). With the departure of Aquaman and Aqualad the comic was down to two long strips per issue (save for specials and those periods when the pagination increased). After the end of the Martian Manhunter's run (1964) these back-up strips included The Elongated Man – who first appeared in The Flash #112 (1960) and possessed stretching abilities due to a fruit concentrate from Yucatán (the creators were apparently unaware that DC already owned the rights to the very similar Plastic Man but deny being influenced by that character); Batgirl (see the Batman entry); Robin-centred stories; private detective Jason Bard; Hawkman; Black Lightning, wearing a belt whose Technology gave him superpowers and who first appeared in Black Lightning #1 (1977), making him DC's first black superhero with their own comic (see Race in SF); and Green Arrow, who was sometimes joined by the Black Canary – not the one who appeared in Flash Comics #86 (1947), but in Justice League of America #75 (1969), usually said to be the former's daughter.
After a period without back-up strips (#568-#747, 1986-2000), these returned and initially featured police and private detectives: The Jacobian and Josie Mac had Psi Powers, whilst Slam Bradley was a veteran of Detective Comics #1-#152 (these being non-genre tales); subsequently the back-up strips were additional Batman stories, miscellaneous Gotham tales, brief runs of other DC characters including Poison Ivy; Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth, The Question (see below) and Two-Face; occasionally there was no back-up strip. The 2011 new series had four #23's (numbered 23.1, 23.2, 23.3 and 23.4) whose single stories did not feature Batman but supervillains Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow and Man-Bat instead, each with their name overwriting the "Detective Comics" logo and with the issue identified as #1 (for example: Poison Ivy #1). #25 reverted to Batman, but both tales in #26 centred on Commissioner James Gordon. Subsequently, issues usually contained only a single Batman story (though #1000, with 100 pages, had 11 Batman strips), until a return to 40-44 pages (#1034-#1089, 2021-2024) when back-strips reappeared, some featuring The Question once again: the character (real name Vic Sage) had originally been created by Steve Ditko, first appearing in Charlton Comics' Blue Beetle #1 (1967), though in his DC iteration he is a Zen Buddhist rather than Ditko's Objectivist vigilante; when dying he passed his identity to ex-Gotham police detective Renee Montoya, and it is her version of The Question that appeared in Detective Comics. Back-up strips departed when the pagination fell to 32 from #1090 (2024). [SP]
see also: Neal Adams.
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