Detective Comics #38

Issue Details

Synopsis

ROBIN THE BOY WONDER When the owner of a traveling circus, named Mr. Haly, is confronted by thugs, they ask Mr. Haly to pay a "fine", but He refuses to pay and as a result, his bestselling attraction, the Flying Graysons, are killed "accidentally" while performing that night. The Graysons' young son, Dick, overhears an incriminating conversation between Blade, the killer, and his employer Boss Zucco. Dick plans to call the police, but Batman, who has attended the show as the millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, takes in Dick Grayson, instead of immediately pursuing the thugs. Batman trains Dick, already an excellent acrobat, how to become a crime-fighter. When a period of training is over, Dick is given a red, green, and yellow costume and adopts the identity of Robin, the Boy Wonder. Dick debuts as Batman's sidekick, and the Dynamic Duo hunt down the extortion gang, and their leader, Boss Zucco. Zucco's new plan is to demolish a skyscraper construction site (the Canin Building), but Robin and Batman defeat the gang in a dangerous battle on the high girders, during which Robin uses a sling to knock one thug off a steel beam and kicks a second gunman off another girder. Zucco is recorded by Robin in the act of pushing Blade to his death and this evidence is given to the police, leading to Zucco's conviction for murder. In the end, Robin vows to be Batman's partner against crime. THE ELECTRICAL ASSASSIN An insane electrical scientist develops a machine that can hit targets with lightning. Bart Regan puts him out of action, and the War Department takes control of the lightning machine. DR. HYDKIL Dr. Hydkil is insanely seeking to use the blood of living people to resurrect the dead, and commits a series of murders which are made to appear like vampire attacks. Red Logan investigates, and puts an end to Hydkil's menace. THE PHONEY JEWEL ROBBERY Some gem thieves and some insurance fraudsters co-operate to defraud some insurance companies out of a lot of money. The Crimson Avenger finds out about this racket and shuts it down. THE KIDNAPPED SINGER THE GAMBLER’S PROTECTOR A gang of gambling racketeers are being protected by corrupt city officials, including the police commissioner, until District Attorney Steve Malone takes them down. AT THE ARTIC CIRCLE Cliff Crosby and Dr. Broussard go exploring in the Arctic Circle. They encounter a traveling tribe of African people, who have got a serum that protects them from the cold. Cliff fights a cobra, and a polar bear, the jaw of which he breaks with his bare hands. Cliff also helps sort out a tribal problem about who is the rightful king of the tribe. Everybody parts on friendly terms. THE BIG FIRE While on their way to a wrestling match, Slam Bradley and Shorty Morgan overhear a police radio call which leads them to an apartment building fire. There they encounter the building's janitor, valiantly rescuing residents, and dash inside to look for more of them. Shorty has some bad luck rescuing one frightened tot, and they both are trapped inside a very large refrigerator. Slam looks for him, and finds them just in time. But then they hear young crippled Tommy Crane on an upper floor; he can't jump so Slam and Shorty do a ladder-climbing, rope-swinging, window-smashing, skylight-climbing rescue, and along the way they find some evidence indicating how the fire got started. Also, Slam gets his hands cut up quite badly on some broken glass. After all the residents are rescued, based on the evidence from upstairs, Slam accuses the janitor of starting the fire; the janitor pulls a gun on him, confirming that suspicion, but Slam and Shorty take him down and turn him over to the police. Afterward, the grateful firemen rush Slam and Shorty to the wrestling match, in a firetruck.