Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 6, 2020 | 1 comment

ROBIN WEEK PROLOGUE: It’s the Boy Wonder’s 80th birthday!

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Welcome to the ROBIN WEEK PROLOGUE. For the complete index of features celebrating the Boy Wonder’s 80th anniversary, click here.

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If you’ve clicked on this post, it’s probably 99 percent certain that you have read Robin’s debut story in Detective Comics #38, which came out March 6, 1940 — 80 years ago today.

Thing is, it’s almost as unlikely that you’ve ever seen the inside of that historic issue, because an original would cost you a mint and it’s never been reprinted in full before.

Until March 11, that is, when DC releases the Detective Comics #38 Facsimile Edition:

Bob Kane pencils, Jerry Robinson inks

See, Batman #1 has been reprinted in full before — including ads, backup features and whatnot. Same with Detective Comics #27. But Detective #38? Nope. Previous reprints have only included stories.

In any event, given the nature of this particular Facsimile Edition, we’re especially pleased to give you an EXCLUSIVE INSIDE LOOK — with story pages, sure, but also a collection of advertisements and a neat little text feature.

It’s the perfect prologue to ROBIN WEEK, which kicks off in full on Sunday. (Click here for much more on that.)

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First, check out a selection of story pages, by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson:

And now for a handful of ads and features — including a look at DC’s “Big Six” in 1940:

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A few thoughts:

— This is the first DC Facsimile Edition to reach all the way back to the Golden Age. We’ve seen plenty of Detective and Batman, but it’s been all Silver and Bronze Ages since the line launched in 2019.

— If I have one quibble, it’s that DC didn’t go all the way and print the issue in its original, larger Golden Age dimensions. But hey, you can’t have everything.

— The back-up stories include the Crimson Avenger and Slam Bradley, among others, by the by.

— The Facsimile Edition was originally to be published on the same day as the one-shot Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1. But that celebratory anthology has been delayed until March 18. Either way, you can click here to check out the groovy final decade-tribute covers.

— Standard Price Comparison: The Overstreet Price Guide to Batman (click here) pegs a Near Mint copy at $152,000. The Facsimile Edition? $3.99.

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MORE

— The ROBIN WEEK Index of Features. Click here.

— Dig the Final Versions of the ROBIN 80th ANNIVERSARY Variants. Click here.