Consume All Media! Batman: "Chapter Nine: The Sign of the Sphinx"

Joe Heath is a big fan of comic books and watching things in order. So they made this spreadsheet containing every serial, short, film, television episode, commercial, motion comic, and web series based on a comic book. Now they're watching them all. Previously, Joe watched the eighth chapter of Batman. This time, they continue with the ninth.

Batman: “Chapter Nine: The Sign of the Sphinx” - 16:20 (Available on Archive)

Release date: September 10th, 1943

Luckily, nearly everyone makes it out of the explosion okay. Batman and Robin even snag a henchman, Marshall, and put him in their camper trailer.

Changing back into their regular clothes, Bruce and Dick tell Linda they missed everything because they got hot and took a nap on the side of the road. Then Linda tells them that Colton is dead.

RIP, you wild secondary character. You will be missed. (Also, Bruce and Dick definitely had to know Colton had died in the explosion, but they still decide to crack jokes about taking naps and act like fools in front of Linda. You really have to know when to drop a bit, guys.)

Back at the Bat’s Cave, the kidnapped henchman Marshall does not appear to be intimidated by all the bats hanging around. Batman and Robin leave him alone for a while and he finds a convenient phone (The Bat’s Phone?) in the cave wall.

In the crime lab, Batman and Robin see the numbers Marshall dials mirrored on an overly large device hanging on the wall.

“Holy connection fees, Batman! He’s making a long-distance call!”

Batman calls the number and finds out it belongs to the Sphinx Club. He decides to go undercover and creates the greatest disguise of all time. Say hello to Chuck White, common criminal.

After testing out Chuck on a thoroughly disgusted Linda, Bruce heads to the Sphinx Club.

The disguise doesn’t work super well, because everyone there assumes Chuck’s a cop. They go to frisk him and Robin chucks a brick through the window, knocking out the lights. To be even more extra, he shines a light (The Bat’s Signal?) into the building.

They all run off to chase after Robin as Chuck sneaks away and changes into Batman.

A fight breaks out on the docks and someone drops a gangplank on Batman.

Every episode ends with a little preview of the next chapter and they keep trying to fool me into thinking that Batman is dead and everything is up to Robin now. Batman’s death by gangplank has to be the least convincing of these moments.

Should you watch it, though? The bizarre phone device is wonderful and seems like an early example of the kind of comical props we’ll eventually see in the 60s Batman series. Also, I absolutely love Chuck White. Lewis Wilson seems to be having more fun as this character than he does as Bruce or Batman. The fight on the docks isn’t half bad either!

Tune in next time for Batman: "Chapter Ten: Flying Spies" (Available on Archive.)

A version of this article was previously published on The Dipp.

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