SUPERHERO SATURDAY - BATMAN '60

Let's start this Superhero Saturday post off with "Conversation Pieces"......

Harry Crane:
Draper?
Who knows anything about that guy? 
No one's ever lifted that rock.He could be Batman for all we know.
'Mad Men' 

Commissioner Gordon:

I don't know who he is behind that mask of his, 

but I do know when we need him... 

and we need him now!

'Batman'

The date for this particular episode on the Toobworld timeline was April 11, 1960.  This was determined by a 'Mad Men' Timeline fan-site due to the debut of the VW "Lemon" ad in Life Magazine.

For anyone else watching 'Mad Men', Harry's reference to Batman would have to be to the superhero in the comic books, since the TV series would not debut for another six years.  

But as my loyal Team Toobworld must have realized by now, Toby's brain don't play dat.

When it comes to Earth Prime-Time, the Caped Crusader and his sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder were already established in Gotham City by the time that first episode, "Hi Diddle Riddle", premiered on ABC.  This can be inferred by the conversation Commissioner Gordon had with Batman:

Bruce Wayne: 

Yes, Commissioner?

Commissioner Gordon: 

You'll never guess who's on the loose. 

Your old archenemy, the Riddler.

Bruce Wayne: 

Good heavens!

Dick Grayson: 

Him again!

To have such a rapport with a costumed vigilante, of whom you have no clue as to their true identity (see the Commissioner's quote at the top), that you have no problem establishing a line of communication with a private phone line....  Well, it's O'Bvious to me that Batman has been working with the Gotham City Police Department for years, perhaps even for over a decade.  (And that would open the possibility that the Superman and Batman of the main Toobworld could have worked together as well back in the 1950s... but most likely without the Boy Wonder.)

So when Harry Crane mentions the possibility that Don Draper could be Batman - even though Draper lives in Manhattan and that other "DD", the Dynamic Duo are centered in Gotham City - that means Batman has been fighting crime long enough to have established his presence on a national level, thanks to news media coverage.  

After all, battling just the Riddler alone for over a dozen times must have taken some time, let alone all the other costumed criminals he collared.

Commissioner Gordon: 

The Riddler. 

That infernal prince of puzzlers who's outwitted us a dozen times.

BCnU, Toob Believers!