Like that Atom issue we saw a while back, this is part of a haul of some binged-up older books: from 1965, Batman #177, featuring "Two Batmen Too Many!" Written by Jack Schiff, art by Sheldon Moldoff; and "The Art Gallery of Rogues!" Written by John Broome, pencils by Sheldon Moldoff (as Bob Kane) and inks by Sid Greene. (Credits from the GCD.)
The cover proclaims "The Prize Puzzler of the Year! 'Two Batmen Too Many!'" That's...overhyped, just a bit. Batman straight gaslights a numbers runner turned jewel thief, with a scam involving a shaman's clay effigies coming to life, one big, one little, both in the image of Batman. To his credit, the thief isn't completely snowed by this, and manages to turn the tables on "Big Batman" and "Little Batman," really the Elongated Man and the Atom! Then Batman and Robin beat the gang up, which seems like they probably could have just done in the first place.
The second story, "The Art Gallery of Rogues!" involves publicity seekers and an art scam, but also includes the Alfred Foundation, since this was from a brief stretch when Alfred was dead! It's also not great. In fact, if I'd had to guess, I would've thought this issue was from ten years earlier. Still, a fun little find, that I didn't mind getting on the cheap.
Man, that first story seems Batman just out and out feels like fucking the guy big time. Was this some kind of thing where Ray and Ralph just happened to be in Gotham, and Batman was all like "Hey, wanna' help me prank this low-level criminal? It'll be fun"
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