March 1952: The Planet of the Batmen

In DC comics, you just never know when you’re going to run into Batmen.

Captain Comet did in on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter in his exploit The World of Flying Men (Strange Adventures 18, March 1952).

The story begins with a political rebellion on the asteroid Thule. In medieval and classical literature, “ultima Thule” was a metaphor for anyplace beyond the borders of the known world (you don’t see a lot of comic books making casual Latin references today, but John Broome did).

“Dark Siders” are fomenting a rebellion against the princess Dorianna by accusing her of witchcraft, causing her to retreat in despair to her long-time secret hideaway.

Like the boy Tarzan, Dorianna had discovered the remains of a wrecked vessel — in this case, a space ship — and used the materials there to teach herself English.

“I’ve played here all alone so many times that I’ve even learned this odd language,” she says, reading a children’s book while sorting through the puzzling wreckage. “C-A-T spells ‘cat’ — but what is a cat?”

Idly pressing a colored button, Dorinna accidentally activates an emergency beacon that flashes a red light in the lab of Prof. Zackro on Earth.

“Great Sol!” Zackro exclaims. “It’s the distress signal from Dr. Harkovy! I’d given up all hope of hearing from him these last 15 years! It may mean that he and his wife and child are still alive!”

Because the red light was meant to signal trouble on Harkovy’s trip to Mars, Captain Comet and Zackro set out in the Cometeer to follow the distress signal, which leads them not to Mars, but to the asteroid and Dorinna in distress.

Rescuing the princess from a net cast by the bat-winged Dark Siders, Captain Comet uses his telepathic powers to sense the Batmen’s weakness. The Man of Destiny informs the king that he needs nothing more than a mirror to stop the flying army, and uses it to reflect the sun into the Dark Siders’ sensitive eyes and drive them away.

Dorinna turns out to be the lost daughter of Harkovy and his wife, and returns with Comet and Zackro to Earth. But first, the superhero helpfully uses his force field technology to permanently seal off the light side of the asteroid from its dark half.

Even in 1952, winged batmen and birdmen were a long-time pulp adventure staple, familiar from such sources as Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon newspaper strip and the 1936 Republic serial Darkest Africa starring Clyde Beatty.