Batman #3 - Story 1
October 18, 1940
"The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master"
And what a strange case it is for this first story of the third issue of Batman. It's not strange for the content, but for how the content plays out and for something that still leaves me questioning Robin's age. Let's take a look.
The story open with Batman halting an attack on Dr. Craig by a group of Cossacks (Shades of Olga!). Craig is the developer of a formula on atomic energy, something that would help either side in the war effort. Craig is scratched by one of the Cossacks during the scuffle. The scratch administers a drug which allows, Dmitri, the Puppet Master, to control the minds of the scratched.
The next day, Bruce Wayne is casually walking the streets - ok, I have to say I always find it odd that bored playboy Bruce Wayne would ever be walking the streets - when he spots a pair of the Cossacks. He follows them to a theater where they work as operators for a puppet show. He watches the show while he has Robin searching the operators room.
Robin overhears them talking about getting the formula that night and then a new rifle in development the next day. Batman goes to Craig's house where he is able to stop them. He finds that Craig has been hypnotized, but he cannot figure out how or how to break him out of it. In an interesting turn, Batman brings Craig to his laboratory (no Batcave yet) to examine him.
Dmitri makes his plans to steal the rifle. He recruits a group of hypnotized men to use in the theft from a train. Batman and Robin show up in the Batplane and are able to repel the attack, but not before Batman is scratched on the face by one of them.
With this done, Dmitri now has control of Batman. He has him rob a jewel store which the police catch him doing. Now, up until this point, Batman is looked upon as a hero by the general public, but a nuisance and a bit of an embarrassment to the police. They are shocked to see Batman committing the act.
As Batman is making his way with the loot, Robin sees him and confronts him about going out on his own without telling him. Batman smacks Robin who is at first hurt, but then realizes something is wrong with Batman. With one punch, he knocks him out. And then, in something I again question whether Robin is 13 or 14 years old, he carries Batman home over his shoulder.
We cut to a panel that says "moments later" when clearly it had to be longer as Batman enters the home of the Puppet Master and proceeds to subdue him. It turns out it had to be some time later as Robin used shock treatment on Batman to bring him out of the spell. So a 13 or 14 year old kid figured out to administer shock treatment, off panel, to a grown man. One would assume he did the same thing to Craig. Batman makes it a point to not only turn over the culprit to the police, but he wants to make sure his name is cleared. Batman is slowly but surely coming out of the darkness he was in in the first ten stories and is more concerned with how the public views him.
