Bruce Wayne est un milliardaire orphelin qui a vu ses parents se faire assassiner sous ses yeux à l'âge de sept ans. Depuis cet événement tragique. grimé en chauve-souris. il n'a de cesse de combattre le crime dans les rues de Gotham, sous l'identité secrète de Batman. Pour l'accompagner, il a pris sous son aile un autre orphelin, le jeune Dick Grayson, et ils vont former le célèbre dynamique duo ! Ensemble, ils s'apprêtent à affronter ce que la cité corrompue de Gotham a engendré de pire en matière de criminel : le Joker ! This volume collects the daily Batman strips published in 1943 and 1944, offering an introduction to one of the earliest incarnations of the caped crusader. Batman has been both a camp caricature (in the '60s television show) and a depressed sociopath (in the recent series of movies), but in this collection of stories he is every inch the hero in a world of hoods, heels, and two-bit nogoodniks. The style of these black-and-white strips, filled with dark shadows and expressionist lighting, anticipates the development of film-noir in Hollywood movies of the late forties. This collection is also notable for an early appearance by the Joker, who escapes from prison using only a nail, a cigarette stub, a wooden match, and an ordinary paper bag. How? You'll have to read the book to find out.