The first menace I saw Batman and Robin tackle was not the Joker, not the Penguin, not even the Signalman. It was a Kraal.
And it was a formidable threat — a three-in-one monster from outer space, in fact.
In Detective Comics 277 (March 1960), an interplanetary exploratory space ship crashes near Gotham City, freeing a “jigsaw creature” that can split itself into three huge, independent entities.
“Separately, the three kraals are extremely dangerous,” noted comic historian Michael L. Fleisher. “One feeds on electrical energy and shoots ‘bolts of electricity’ from its hands, another has an ‘aura of flame’ about its body and feeds on heat, and the third absorbs large quantities of water — but once united into a single being the three kraals become quite harmless.”
Acting as the voice of tolerance and reason, Batman saves the injured alien explorer from a lynch mob.
“Stop it! There’ll be no mob rule here … not while I can help it!” Batman proclaims. “Listen to me! I know you’re angry, but that’s no excuse for mob violence! Every man has a right to speak — so let’s hear what the alien has to say before you judge him!”
The alien gives Batman an instrument that emits a signal that draws the creatures together, thereby enabling him to “solve the puzzle.”
The issue’s storyline was no doubt suggested by the contemporaneous jigsaw puzzle fad.
An inexpensive pastime, jigsaw puzzles became a craze during the Depression of the 1930s, and saw a revival of interest after World War II on into the 1950s.
Jigsaw puzzles were created by London cartographer John Spilsbury in the 1760s as a tool for teaching geography. He mounted a map on wood and cut it into pieces.
The Jigsaw Menace from Space left me with the impression that this “Dynamic Duo” could handle anything that came their way, despite their lack of super powers. And so they could.
Four months later, World’s Finest 110 gave me the thrill of realizing that the Dynamic Duo regularly teamed up with Superman, opening up a whole new universe of colorful possibilities.
I recall my 5-year-old self being fascinated by the blues, grays, reds, yellows and greens of Batman and Robin’s costumes in contrast to Superman’s familiar primary colors.
And of course they all wore capes — the ultimate fashion statement, as far as I was concerned. They were as wonderful as wings.
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