Knights of Knavery

It's funny to think that in the Golden Age, Batman's villains rarely teamed up. Especially considering how often the Joker appeared, it's amazing that he only teamed up with the Penguin once. But this is a great story with fun dialogue, and it is perfectly drawn by Jack Burnley and Jerry Robinson. According to the Grand Comics Database, the full credits are as follows:

Don Cameron (credit by O'Hearn) (Script)
Jack Burnley (verified by Jack Burnley) (Pencils)
Jerry Robinson (verified by Jack Burnley) (Inks)
? (Colors)
George Roussos (verified by Roussos) (Letters)

This story, from Batman #25 (Oct-Nov 1944) has only been reprinted, as far as I know, in Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Villains #2 (Vol. 1 Sept-Oct 1972) and in "The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told" collection. The current volume of The Affordable Batman (Batman Chronicles #6), includes Batman #10 and #11. So, this story won't turn up until about Volume 13.

This story is responsible for making Batman my favorite superhero in the 70s...at least until I got my hands on those Ditko Spider-Man pocketbooks.

Here is "Knights of Knavery":

 

Hold That Were-Tiger!

Mixing genres is always fun...and superheroes and horror tend to work well together.

This is a great formula from the Golden Age. You have two characters that are great friends, but then some circumstantial evidence points to one of them as a killer, and the other friend is immediately suspicious. Then after everything is ultimately cleared up, there is one or two panels at the end where they make up and return to status quo...apology accepted!

You have to wonder about the whole "wisdom of Solomon" thing sometimes. Here, Cap's logic runs something like this: The killer were-tiger can talk, therefore he must be Mr. Tawny the talking tiger. Correct logic would more likely be: If Mr. Tawny is a tiger that talks, then there are possibly more tigers that talk. A better basis for his suspicion could have been the fact that Tawny is likely the only known tiger running loose in the city.

Anyway, here's Captain Marvel versus the supernatural beastie from Captain Marvel Adventures #142 (March 1953):