World's Finest Comics #20

October 26, 1945

"King of Coins"

We've had a good run so far of comic stories and this one manages to keep the run going. It seems as first like a routine enough story as Batman and Robin help a coin dealer who has a collection of treasure maps. He is in a wheelchair so he cannot travel the world to see if the treasures are buried where they are supposed to be. He sends two men off who do discover one of the treasures, but they are discovered by a crook named Lucky and his men.

With one treasure recovered, Lucky decides to rob the dealer of his others and proceeds to travel into the jungle in search of it. Batman and Robin capture them and return to the dealer with the gains, which Batman thinks is odd because every coin looks newly minted.

And they are, because the gold was stolen and melted down to look like ancient coins by the dealer, who is a criminal himself and can walk! Up until this point, I wasn't as engaged with the story, but I loved the twist as he manages to capture the two and prepare to smother them in melted gold.

They, of course, escape and route his plans, but it's that twist at the end that saves this story and elevates it to World's Finest status. Very nice indeed.

Next up, we return to the radio waves as Batman once again helps Superman out with a "Search for Kryptonite."