Detective Comics #128
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDetective Comics #128 is a representative example of the late Golden Age anthology format that sustained DC's flagship title between major character milestones — the same 44-page package that had launched Batman nearly a decade earlier now juggled five distinct features under one cover, demonstrating how the anthology model kept readers engaged across superhero, teen-humor, war-adventure, and crime genres simultaneously. The lead story, 'Crime in Reverse,' spotlights the Joker deploying an unusually cerebral con — boasting of crimes already committed rather than telegraphing future ones — a storytelling inversion that foreshadows the more psychologically layered villain writing that would define later decades. The issue also illustrates the cross-pollination between DC's superhero and humor lines: the presence of Buzzy Brown, DC's answer to Archie, inside a Batman-headlined book underscores how the publisher tried to hold onto the widest possible readership during a period of genre uncertainty in American comics.
In "Crime in esreveR!", the Joker, freshly locked away by Batman and Robin, makes a chilling promise: he’ll commit every crime in reverse. With Paul Cooper’s art and Ray Burnley’s inks bringing the twisted twist to life, this 1947 classic from DC delivers a clever, off-kilter mystery that flips the usual detective formula on its head—just as Dick Sprang’s iconic cover captures the Joker’s sinister grin in perfect, inverted style.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By October 1947, Detective Comics was already a decade old and operating in a well-worn editorial rhythm under DC's (then National Comics Publications) anthology format. Dick Sprang, who had become the dominant Batman artist of the postwar era, provided the cover — a Joker-featuring image consistent with his bold, cartoon-inflected style. The Boy Commandos feature was still being produced with Jack Kirby and Joe Simon's involvement, though the war-era patriotic energy that had originally powered that strip was fading in the postwar market. The issue's stories were produced by DC's reliable pool of in-house talent, and the back-matter included a Charles Atlas advertisement, a commercial fixture in DC comics throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover dated October 1947; part of Detective Comics Volume 1, the series that gave DC Comics its name and has remained in continuous publication longer than any other DC title.
- Cover art by Dick Sprang, featuring the Joker — Sprang was the primary Batman artist of the postwar Golden Age period.
- Lead Batman story is 'Crime in Reverse,' in which the Joker announces crimes he has supposedly already committed rather than ones he intends to commit, a reversal of his usual telegraphing behavior; Batman and Robin ultimately apprehend him.
- The issue also contains Boy Commandos (with Jack Kirby and Joe Simon credited), Air Wave (Larry Jordan), Slam Bradley, and Three-Ring Binks features, showcasing the full-anthology format typical of the title at this time.
- Percy Clearwater makes an introduction (first appearance) in this issue, per Grand Comics Database and eBay listing annotations.
- Buzzy Brown, DC's teen-humor character created by George Storm, appears as a crossover feature; Buzzy debuted in All Funny Comics in the winter of 1943–44 and had carried his own title since 1944 — his appearance here is a guest slot, not a first appearance.
- A Charles Atlas advertisement appears in the issue; Charles Atlas ads ran as a near-constant fixture in DC comics across the 1940s and 1950s, making them a defining part of the Golden Age reader experience.
- The Batman story from this period of Detective Comics was later collected in the hardcover Batman Archives Vol. 6, which reprints stories from February 1947 through May 1948.
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Reprinted in Batman Archives #6 (2005), Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus #5 (2018)
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