Detective Comics #46

In "Professor Strange's Fear Dust," Batman faces one of his earliest and most chilling threats: the sinister Professor Hugo Strange, whose sinister "fear dust" is designed to paralyze the nation's leaders with terror—setting the stage for his own rise as dictator. Written by Bill Finger and illustrated by Bob Kane, with inks by Jerry Robinson and George Roussos, this 1940 classic showcases the Dark Knight’s ingenuity in a story that blends psychological menace with the era’s pulp-inspired drama. The cover by Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, and George Roussos captures the eerie tension of the moment, a 10-cent glimpse into a darker side of the early Batman mythos.