Some of you are probably already aware I have an (un)healthy obsession with Batman. If you don’t, read this, it will become abundantly clear. Regardless, I’ll pretty much take any excuse to celebrate Batman so when I heard today was “Batman Day” I decided I needed to do a little research.
Most people claim today is “Batman Day” because it supposedly marks his very first appearance in comics. But not everyone is in agreement on that. Detective Comics #27 may have a May 1939 date printed on its cover but similar to how they are published today, comics were printed and sold a month or two ahead of their “publishing” date.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a great deal of hard fact I could find about the release date. DCIndexes.com lists April 18, not the 25, as an “approximate on sale date.” And while it’s a very thorough website, it’s not run by Warner Bros. or DC.
So, is April 25, 1939 the date Detective Comics #27 hit the newsstands? The DC Nation Facebook page (as well as the DC Comics page) seems to think so. Earlier today they posted this, “On this date in 1939, DC Comics introduces its second major superhero in Detective Comics #27. Batman becomes a legend.” But even posters there, as well as the DC message boards, are questioning the validity of the date.
Perhaps that’s because Batman #1 was in stores April 25, 1940. And the best proof I can find for that is this advertisement for the comic that ran in Detective Comics #39.
But, that being said, the general public consensus seems to be that Detective Comics #27 was released on April 18, 1939 and not on today’s date. I don’t have the DC Archives edition with Detective Comics #27 in it so I’m not sure if that has any mention of the true date but I’m open to hearing what you guys have to add to the debate. Just don’t go quoting Wikipedia on me.
Either way, it looks like we may need the Detective himself to figure this one out.
April 25th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
I feel like a heathen for not having known this day. I am not worthy to look upon the Mantle of the Bat. D’:
April 25th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
‘This is a small reproduction of the cover’ seems hilarious now – it’s actually mindblowing to think the kids reading that ad were in at the beginning of the industry I love.
April 26th, 2011 at 2:18 am
I’d actually been doing some research on this myself, trying to pin down when Detective #27 and #33 (the origin) actually came out, but I haven’t reached a more definite conclusion either.
April 26th, 2011 at 8:26 am
I vote for Batman week, from April 18-25th; that way, you’re covered no matter what and you get an entire week to celebrate the Batman!!
April 26th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
I concur. Batman Week needs to happen.
Batman Day, at the very least needs to be a national holiday. The day off from work, just to read comics and watch movies and cartoons.
Unfortunately, the people I work for are a cowardly and superstitious lot… So that’s not happening. Next year I’ll just call in sick.
Too bad The Dark Knight Rises probably isn’t opening on that day next year.
January 14th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
they came out 6 mos ahead of time in those days so it would be more like jan 18