“The Horde of the Green Dragon”

The promised Monster Men are still nowhere in evidence, and despite the previous issue referencing cover this issue already feels retrograde. TW for awful racism.

Like “The Case of the Ruby Idol” it relies on cheap racist ‘exoticism,’ while presenting Batman as the white savior who liberates Gotham’s Chinese citizenry from themselves and their ‘enslavement to opium’. That’s to say nothing of the art itself.

Which is a shame all the greater because elsewhere in the book Kane (and possibly Jerry Robinson) are starting to lean into a more confident stylization.

Panels like this almost feel like moments from the animated series.

We’ve gone back to a mundane crime plot with stock serial villain caricature and it feels as if the tonal shift from #38 is still setting in. Half the book Batman goes it alone and later scenes with Robin’s buoyant lightness clash with earlier brutal in-panel violence like this.

Even the worst Batman issues don’t completely let us down though!

For instance, in this issue we are gifted with this panel of Batman adorably dressed up to go visit a friend!

Will it be a slumber party? Will they talk about boys?

Alas, no. It is just more racism. The character of Wong makes his second appearance, having placed an ad in the paper to get Batman’s attention. He quickly enlists Bruce to fight the the Green Dragon opium trade.

Batman does do his cute little diagonal thing though.

And there’s neat little murder mystery flourishes like this.

Wong dies not a page later to the Green Dragon “hatchet men.” This issue actually appears to be drawing on the real life “Tong Wars,” which continued in New York until 1933. I am not well versed enough about this period or this history to offer great analysis, so…

…subsequent notes are offered as highly provisional. First, these issues completely ignore long histories of oppression of Chinese immigrants by the US through systematic anti-Chinese legislation, eg: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Widespread “yellow peril” xenophobia, exclusion from many forms of work, and the threat of white violence contributed to the development of so called “Chinatowns.” Responding to organized crime in this context is obviously much more complicated than depicted here.

Chinatowns are as much as anything a symbol of solidarity against racism, but were treated as places of “human degradation” to quote one government document. Tong gangs, for example, may actually extort local residents but also provide immigration support or other community care. Like any gang culture it is extremely humanly complicated. It is telling that the kidnapping “victims” of the Tong in this issue are in-fact two “millionaires,” exactly those who are likely complicit in institutional racism in service of capital.

Batman is not really depicted espousing racist ideas or views himself, say for instance as he is in the ’43 serial, in which he celebrates Japanese internment. And actually, aside from Gordon, Wong is the only character I remember Bruce calling a “friend” so far. But the comic also positions Batman as the white hero who saves the Chinese from themselves, and I think this is key to how the broader racist dynamic operates. This kind of propaganda directly deflects attention away from a systemic racism that engineers poverty, exclusion, and violence, and then uses the conditions it has created to justify its own racist policies.

I’m hoping Batman will move away from this kind of racist content, and I think he will. But I also know a longstanding criticism of Batman is his maintenance of the status quo specifically by not addressing the systematic/institutional conditions that create the phenomenon of “crime” in the first place. What is “crime” exactly? If Batman is limited to fighting “crime,” he is inevitably a tool of the state. For such a quest against crime to even be intelligible requires an acceptance of a worldview of domination ensconced in the status quo and its systems. I think this must be where the “Batman is just beating up the mentally ill” criticism comes from. And admittedly, it has roots!

Even the recent Matt Reeve’s movie makes this same criticism. Its answer seems to be: Batman must turn away from venting his own unmet needs onto others in rage and turn to offering others the care and protection he never received himself. It is a movie in which he comes to ask, what is a responsible use of power? If you’ve seen it, you probably agree The Riddler’s criticisms are fundamentally right! But his conclusion is wrong.

But unless Batman and his authors acknowledge that so called “crime” is often a response, honestly, to unmet needs for shelter, material security, connection, comfort, witness, and meaning, it cannot genuinely humanize anyone or offer them their fundamental and entire dignity, which is the only pathway to genuine transformation. And indeed, Batman’s eventual prohibition on killing is at root an acknowledgment of an irrevocable human dignity beyond himself and a refusal of a certain kind of power over other people.

At least Batman was out there with this 50s PSA designed to encourage the welcome of war refugees??

Okay, onto to the goofs!

Another blackjacking!

More silhouettes for the shadowheads. This one’s appeal will likely intersect with the Batman-emerging-like-a-human-blanket-from-the-corner-of-the-panel fandom.

Batman’s hit rate with quips is 50/50 at BEST.

A little hint of the ol’ bloodlust.

“Well doggone!”

One final panel at the end of the book to really drive home the racism. 😦 And also, the second issue to end with an utterly demonic facial illustration. Good lord.

God, this issue was exhausting. And honestly, I feel like there’s oceans more to say here. Batman #1 is up next, with some MAJOR firsts, including: The Joker, Cat-Woman, and the return of Hugo Strange. But as Batman becomes more outlandish he also becomes more psychological, less realistic and less obviously political. So there is a real sense that by avoiding the questions, Batman as a book forfeits serious potential for what it can accomplish.

But we do get a teaser for one of my FAVORITE early Batman stories though to close it out!

Originally tweeted by Weird Batman of the Golden Age (@GoldenAgeBats) on June 17, 2022.