World's Finest Comics #271 [Direct]
(September 1981)

DC, 1941 Series
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Volume
41
Price
1.00 USD
Pages
52
Indicia Frequency
monthly
On-sale Date
1981-05-26
Publisher's Age Guidelines
Approved by the Comics Code Authority
Indicia / Colophon Publisher
DC Comics Inc.
Brand
DC [bullet]
Editing
Len Wein (credited) (editor); Mike W. Barr (credited) (associate editor)

Issue Notes

On-sale date from copyright registration.
This issue has variants:

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents)

Superman and Batman / cover / 1 page (report information)

Pencils
George Pérez
Inks
George Pérez
Colors
?
Letters
Gaspar Saladino

Job Number
C-676
Genre
superhero
Characters
Batman [Bruce Wayne]; Robin [Dick Grayson]; Superman [Clark Kent]
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Cover includes background of earlier World's Finest covers by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.

The Secrets Behind "The Secret Origins of the Superman/Batman Team" (Table of Contents: 1)

text article / 1 page (report information)

Script
Roy Thomas (credited)
Letters
typeset

Indexer Notes

Introductory text article on inside of the front cover.

The Secret Origins of the Superman and Batman Team! (Table of Contents: 2)

Superman and Batman / comic story / 48 pages (report information)

Script
Roy Thomas (credited); Jack C. Harris (credited) (contribution); E. Nelson Bridwell (credited) (contribution)
Pencils
Rich Buckler (credited)
Inks
Frank McLaughlin (credited)
Colors
Carl Gafford (credited)
Letters
John Costanza (credited)

Job Number
J-7218 ?
Genre
superhero
Characters
Superman [Clark Kent] (Earth-One, also as Superboy in flashback); Batman [Bruce Wayne] (Earth-One, also as the Flying Fox in flashback); Robin [Dick Grayson] (Earth-One); Superman [Clark Kent] (Earth-Two); Robin [Richard Grayson] (Earth-Two); Lois Lane; Jimmy Olsen; Perry White; Steve Lombard; Atoman [Heinrich Melch] (villain, Earth-Two, introduction, alias Henry Miller); Dr. Melch (villain, Earth-Two, introduction, in flashback); Dr. Teufel (villain, Earth-Two, introduction, in flashback); Zoltan (villain, Earth-Two, introduction, in flashback); Lana Lang (in flashback); Professor Nichols (in flashback); Powerman (robot, in flashback)
Reprints
Keywords
Earth-One; Earth-Two

Indexer Notes

Roy Thomas tries to piece together all the previous "first meetings" of the pair. The stories referenced include:

¤ Adventure Comics [DC, 1938 series] #253 (October 1958) (Robin travels back in time and meets Clark Kent/Superboy; this is established as being the earliest encounter).
¤ World's Finest Comics [DC, 1941 series] #84 (September-October 1956) (Clark Kent/Superboy meets an unnamed teen trying to uncover his secret, discovering as an adult that it was Bruce Wayne).
¤ Adventure Comics [DC, 1938 series] #275 (August 1960) (Clark Kent/Superboy meets Bruce Wayne, who uses the alias the Flying Fox to fight crime).
¤ Superboy Spectacular [DC, 1980 series] #1 (1980) (Clark Kent/Superboy meets Bruce Wayne at the regional high school baseball championship).
¤ World's Finest Comics [DC, 1941 series] #94 (May-June 1958) (Superman meets Batman and Robin for what they all believe is the first time; it is established that their memories of their earlier encounters had been erased through hypnosis).
¤ Superman [DC, 1939 series] #76 (May-June 1952) (Superman and Batman learn each other's secret identity on a vacation cruise).
¤ World's Finest Comics [DC, 1941 series] #71 (July-August 1954) (Many months after their previous encounter, Superman and Batman begin having regular team-ups).

Note: This story omits the meeting between Superboy and Bruce Wayne, who is seeking revenge as the Executioner, from Superboy [DC, 1949 series] #182 (February 1972).

Atoman is based on the character from the Superman radio program, introduced in "The Atom Man" storyline which ran from October 11 to December 3, 1945. Teufel debuted earlier in the "Der Teufel's Atomic Pistol" storyline which ran from September 11 to September 27, 1944. This story is assigned to Earth-Two.

Zoltan is based on the character from the Superman radio program, introduced in "The Mystery of the Waxmen" storyline which ran from February 28 to March 15, 1945. This story is assigned to Earth-Two.

The footnote on page 18 incorrectly references "New Adventures of Superboy", it should say "Superboy Spectacular #1". The footnote on page 33 incorrectly references "World's Finest Comics #200", it should say "World's Finest Comics #71".

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 3) (Expand) /

The Answer Man; Daily Planet / in-house column / 0.4 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 4)

Hembeck / comic story / 0.2 page (report information)

Script
Fred Hembeck
Pencils
Fred Hembeck
Inks
Fred Hembeck
Letters
Fred Hembeck

Genre
humor; superhero
Characters
Green Arrow; Black Canary

#76 Jose Delbo (Table of Contents: 5) (Expand) /

DC Profiles / in-house column / 0.4 page (report information)

Volume 81 Issue 7 - June, 1981 (Table of Contents: 6) (Expand) /

Daily Planet / in-house column / 1 page (report information)

Editing
Related Scans
Series Information
Table of Contents
  1. 0. [no title indexed]
    Superman and Batman
  2. 1. The Secrets Behind "The Secret Origins of the Superman/Batman Team"
  3. 2. The Secret Origins of the Superman and Batman Team!
    Superman and Batman
  4. 3. [no title indexed]
    The Answer Man; Daily Planet
  5. 4. [no title indexed]
    Hembeck
  6. 5. #76 Jose Delbo
    DC Profiles
  7. 6. Volume 81 Issue 7 - June, 1981
    Daily Planet
This issue was modified by, among others
  • Chris Boyko
  • Nick Caputo
  • John Censullo
  • Peter Croome
  • Jerry Hillegas (R.I.P.)
  • Bob Hughes
  • Donald Dale Milne
  • Mike Nielsen
  • Antonio Pontes Junior
  • Tony R. Rose
  • Per Sandell
  • Steven Tice
  • Jim Van Dore