Batman #4
Batman #4 quietly accomplished something that would ripple through every Batman story published in the eight decades since: it gave the Dark Knight's city its name. Writer Bill Finger coined 'Gotham City' in this issue, anchoring Batman's world to a fictional metropolis that has since become one of the most culturally recognizable settings in all of popular fiction. The same issue also contains the earliest explicit articulation of Batman's code against killing — Robin is directly instructed to use only the flat of a sword, and never to kill with any weapon — cementing a moral principle that defines the character to this day. As the fourth installment of the quarterly series and the Joker's fourth consecutive appearance, it also deepened the rivalry between Batman and his greatest nemesis at the very moment that rivalry was still being invented.
In "The Case of the Joker's Crime Circus!", Batman faces a chilling new threat as a ruthless young criminal named Jimmy McCoy rises through the underworld, only to be abandoned by his own gang and hunted down by both police and fate. Written by Bill Finger and brought to life by Bob Kane’s bold artwork, with inks by Jerry Robinson and George Roussos, this 1941 classic captures the grim edge of early Batman tales. The cover, penciled by Bob Kane and inked by Jerry Robinson, perfectly frames the story’s dark, high-stakes atmosphere.
In "Blackbeard's Crew and the Yacht Society," the immortal pirate Blackbeard commandeers an exclusive yacht, turning it into a floating fortress of plunder. Batman and Robin board the vessel not to fight, but to dive into the mystery—swabbing decks and unraveling a nautical enigma that defies time itself.
In "Public Enemy No. 1," Batman faces off against Jimmy McCoy, a ruthless young criminal whose rise from street bully to crime boss is as swift as it is brutal—only to be abandoned by his own gang, pursued by the law, and left to die in the shadows. The story unfolds with stark realism, tracing the fall of a man who thought power would save him, not destroy him.
In "Touchdown for Justice," Batman—both Gotham’s masked protector and a star player on the city’s football team—finds himself kidnapped just before a crucial game, with his absence rigged to ensure a rigged match and massive profits for gamblers. With time running out and the stakes higher than ever, the Caped Crusader must outwit his captors from the sidelines.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Batman #4 was produced by the same compact creative team responsible for the title's launch: writer Bill Finger, penciler/credited artist Bob Kane, and inker Jerry Robinson, with George Roussos contributing additional inking — all working under editor Whitney Ellsworth (credited in the indicia as F. W. Ellsworth). The book was published by Detective Comics, Inc. while the Batman title was still on its original quarterly schedule; it would not shift to bimonthly publication until issue #6. Finger's decision to name the city 'Gotham' reportedly came from spotting the name 'Gotham Jewelers' in a New York City phone book, after he had already considered and discarded names like 'Civic City,' 'Capital City,' and 'Coast City.'
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: December 1940; on-sale date: January 15, 1941; published by Detective Comics, Inc. under editor Whitney Ellsworth.
- First use of the name 'Gotham City' in any Batman comic, coined by writer Bill Finger — a landmark world-building moment corroborated by multiple sources including Wikipedia's Gotham City article and the Batman Wiki.
- First appearance of the Ha-Hacienda, the Joker's booby-trapped mansion headquarters (here called simply 'The Haunted House'); the lair was not officially named 'Ha-Hacienda' until The Joker #1 (1975) by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick, and Dick Giordano.
- First explicit statement of Batman's no-kill, no-guns code of ethics: Batman tells Robin, 'Use only the flat of your sword, Robin! Remember, we never kill with weapons of any kind!'
- First appearance of the Gotham Gazette (the city's newspaper) within the Batman title.
- Contains three stories: 'The Case of the Joker's Crime Circus,' 'Blackbeard's Crew and the Yacht Society,' and 'Public Enemy No. 1 Starts Jail Sentence' (the DC Universe Infinite listing also notes a fourth short, 'Victory for the Dynamic Duo').
- The Joker's 'Crime Circus' story — in which the Clown Prince uses circus performers to case and rob the homes of Gotham's wealthy elite — was reprinted in Limited Collector's Edition C-25 (1974), The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told (1989), Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 1 (1992), and Batman Chronicles Vol. 3 (2007).
- Creators: Writer — Bill Finger; Pencils/cover — Bob Kane (with Jerry Robinson); Inks — Jerry Robinson and George Roussos; additional art credits include Henry Boltinoff, Lou Paige, and Raymond Perry per GoCollect's credits panel.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition #C-25 (1974), The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1988), The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1989), The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1989), Stacked Deck: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1990), Batman: The Dark Knight Archives #1 (1992), The Batman Chronicles #3 (2007), Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus #1 (2016), Batman: The Golden Age #2 (2017)
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