1st Batman

[Howard Cohen]

"The BATMAN" is a 1943 15 chapter serial from Columbia Pictures. The Batman was played by Lewis Wilson with Douglas Croft as Robin. Serials were played before the main feature as a way to keep people coming back every week. In the serial, the main character would be in serious trouble, like hanging off a cliff, as the chapter ended. To see if the hero survived, you had to come back next week. This scenario repeated itself until the last chapter. This serial was taken from the comic books of May 1939. 

"The serial's storyline involves the Batman, a secret U. S. government agent, attempting to defeat the sabotage schemes of Japanese agent Dr. Daka operating in Gotham City at the height of World War II. Serving Daka are his traitorous American henchmen." 

The above information was taken from Wikipedia. If you want to know more, look it up. You can find the serial on YouTube, I did  

[Greg Myers]

[Dragline]

Over the last few years I've been collecting Batman pretty fiercely. I can tell you that it is single handedly the most fought over title on eBay. Prime examples go for well over guide prices with graded examples getting nuts at times. While key issues are always in demand, late Golden Age and early Silver are especially HOT.