Batman #3
Batman #3 marks the pivotal moment when Selina Kyle — who had debuted as a nameless, unmasked cat burglar in Batman #1 and returned in #2 — put on an actual cat mask for the first time, completing the visual transformation into the character the world would come to know as Catwoman. The story 'The Batman vs. the Cat-Woman' also crystallized the defining romantic tension at the heart of their relationship: Batman deliberately lets her escape, smiling to himself afterward — a dynamic that has driven nearly every depiction of both characters since. Equally notable, the issue is also the first in the young Batman series to not feature the Joker, signaling that Finger and Kane were consciously building a rogues' gallery beyond a single villain. The cover composition — Batman and Robin charging toward the reader — was considered so emblematic of the Golden Age Dynamic Duo that it was homaged in the opening credits of the 2016 animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.
In "The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master," Batman faces his most unnerving foe yet—a master manipulator who uses hypnotic control to turn the city's citizens into his puppets. Written by Bill Finger and illustrated by Bob Kane, with inks by Jerry Robinson and George Roussos, this 1940 classic sees the Dark Knight battling both a cunning criminal and his own compromised mind, all while protecting the Army's secret weapon, the Voss Rifle. The cover, penciled by Bob Kane and inked by Jerry Robinson, captures the eerie tension of a man in control of another's will.
In "The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master," Batman faces a sinister foe who wields mind control to manipulate others—and now has his sights set on the Army's top-secret Voss Rifle. As the Caped Crusader battles the Puppet Master’s eerie influence, he must reclaim his own will while racing to prevent a dangerous theft.
In "The Ugliest Man in the World," Batman faces a man whose face has made him an outcast—rejected by society not for his actions, but for how he looks. Now driven by years of scorn, he turns his pain into a campaign of revenge against the very people who once turned away from him.
In "The Crime School for Boys!!" from Batman #3 (1940), the Dark Knight faces a chilling new threat: a secret institution where young boys are trained in the art of crime. With no time to waste, Batman must infiltrate the school and stop its dangerous lessons before it's too late.
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All four stories in this issue were scripted by Bill Finger, with pencils credited to Bob Kane and inks by Jerry Robinson and George Roussos (backgrounds and lettering); the cover was penciled by Kane and inked by Robinson. Whitney Ellsworth, DC's editor on the Batman title at the time, personally wrote the one-page 'The Batman Says' public-service text piece illustrated by Jack Burnley — reflecting the editorial awareness that a comic aimed partly at children carried a social responsibility. The issue carries a cover date of September 1940 but was published on October 18, 1940, fitting the quarterly publishing schedule that governed the first five issues of the Batman solo title. Bob Kane had by this point already begun bringing in studio assistants, with Robinson moving from inker to a more prominent artistic collaborator — a working arrangement that would define the look of Golden Age Batman.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: September 1940; on-sale date: October 18, 1940 — the third issue of Batman's self-titled solo series, published quarterly by DC (then Detective Comics, Inc.).
- First appearance of Catwoman in a cat costume: after debuting as the unmasked 'Cat' in Batman #1 and returning in Batman #2, Selina Kyle dons a full cat-head mask for the first time in the story 'The Batman vs. the Cat-Woman' — making this her third appearance overall and her first in any kind of costume.
- First appearance of the Puppet Master (Dmitri), a hypnosis-based villain introduced in 'The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master' — he does not recur after this issue.
- The issue contains four stories, all scripted by Bill Finger: 'The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master,' 'The Ugliest Man in the World,' 'The Crime School for Boys,' and 'The Batman vs. the Cat-Woman.'
- Art credits: pencils by Bob Kane, inks by Jerry Robinson, with George Roussos on backgrounds and lettering; the cover was penciled by Kane and inked by Robinson. The one-page 'The Batman Says' public-service piece was written by editor Whitney Ellsworth and drawn by Jack Burnley.
- This is the first issue of Batman's solo title to contain no Joker story — the previous two issues had each featured the character.
- Detective McGonigle, a bumbling police foil for Batman, appears in two stories in this issue and is never seen again in the comics.
- The cover composition has been reprinted and honored across decades: it appears in Batman #200 (March 1968) and the Catwoman story 'The Batman vs. the Cat-Woman' has been reprinted in Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 1 (1992), The Batman Chronicles Vol. 2 (2006), Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (2016), and Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1 (2016). The cover itself was homaged in the opening title sequence of the 2016 animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Detective Comics #45 (1940), Action Comics #31 (1940), Detective Comics #46 (1940), Action Comics #32 (1941), Detective Comics #47 (1941), Batman #200 (1968), The Golden Age of Comic Books #[nn] (1977), Batman: The Dark Knight Archives #1 (1992), The Batman Chronicles #2 (2006), Batman: The War Years 1939-1945 #[nn] (2015), Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus #1 (2016), Catwoman: A Celebration of 75 Years #[nn] (2016), Batman: The Golden Age #1 (2016), Batman: The Bat and the Cat: 80 Years of Romance #[nn] (2020), Catwoman - Anthologie #[nn] (2021), Batman Arkham: Catwoman #[nn] (2023)
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