Cover: Win Mortimer

Detective Comics #169

Mar 1951 · DC · 0.10 USD

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“Batman -- Boss of the Big House!”

In "Batman — Boss of the Big House!", Batman steps in as acting warden of a maximum-security prison after saving an innocent man from execution, only to find himself unraveling a mystery tied to a long-ago robbery and a suspicious last-minute escape attempt. With Bob Kane’s iconic art, Lew Sayre Schwartz’s interiors, and Charles Paris’s inks bringing the tension to life, the story unfolds in a gripping, no-nonsense tone. Win Mortimer’s cover captures the stakes perfectly, showing Batman in the midst of his new, unexpected role.

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artist Bob Kane · artist Lew Sayre Schwartz · inker Charles Paris · cover Win Mortimer

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PR $120 GD $200 GD $260 CGC 5 $700 CGC 6.5 $1099

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Full credits

artist Bob Kane

artist Lew Sayre Schwartz

inker Charles Paris

cover pencils, inks Win Mortimer

Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers

▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers

After Batman saves the life of an innocent condemned man on death row, the prison warden asks him to stick around as "acting Warden" until a new one is appointed. But he is puzzled as to why a prisoner that is scheduled to be released the next day attempts to break out the evening before. Batman figures that it may be connected to $250,000 missing since a robbery years before since the con occupies the same cell as the executed criminal responsible for the robbery.

Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).