Batman 1943 - Chapter 10
September 17, 1943
"Flying Spies"
As always, you can check out what writer Jim Beard and I thought of the chapter in our podcast. The player is attached here. But here are a few other thoughts I had as I rewatched it for the blog.
Good Lord, another long drawn out recap of the cliffhanger. I get it was well played out, but it is clear that this is filler as you could have condensed the fight and allowed for more plot, especially since all Batman did was roll away.
Mind you, when we get to Batman returning home, he speaks briefly to Alfred before he and Robin head to the Bats Cave. I have to admit, that look at the moment of him standing there and he really looked like Batman to me.
One thing we never talked about on the show was how the Americans were led to work for Daka. They were part of a group called the Friends of the League of the New Order. This was a group that even held recruiting drives. It's a shame this wasn't played up in the serial more, perhaps even having Batman infiltrate a drive meeting. Despite everything that Daka says about America, there were still Americans who would fall for that nonsense. Then again, look at Americans today. The more things change...
And Chuck White makes his return as Bruce tries to get back in the gang's good graces after the debacle the day before. It's funny how Wilson is a much larger man than most of Daka's men. We don't get that sense of scale when he's Batman, but as he walks off as Chuck White, you can see he looms over them.
I don't think Jim and I caught it the first time around, but when Chuck travels with one of Daka's men to the boarding house, the taxi driver is Alfred. Nice way to keep tabs on Bruce.
This is the only chapter of the serial where we see Daka leave the safety of his headquarters in order to check out Chuck White. He tells his man to give Chuck a chance.
