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Title: BATMAN No. 26
Publisher:DC [Indicia: Detective Comics, Inc.]
Date Published: December, 1944-January, 1945
Description: CGC certified: Fair/Good (1.5). Off-white to white pages. Grader notes: "Tape cover; tape spine; tape top staple; cover tanning; creasing to cover; pieces out to cover; spine roll." Provenance: The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION.
 
CGC Census: 248 graded copies (220 Universal, 6 Qualified, 1 Signature Series, 21 Restored).
 
GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. A 0.5 sold for $150 in 9/20.
 
Credits: Cover: Jerry Robinson. Scripts: Don C. Cameron, Jack Schiff, Joseph Greene. Art: Dick Sprang (signed as Bob Kane), Jerry Robinson.Bat-cyclopedia: "In December 1944-January 1945 Batman and Robin match wits with the Cavalier, and visit the mysterious LOST MESA pueblo. Another text for this period describes the battle pitting BRANE and his young companion Ricky against the Saturnian warlord Fura." — Michael L. Fleisher, The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Vol. 1: Batman. Macmillan: 1976, p. 118.
 
Details: Batman finally captures the Cavalier, the gentleman bandit who managed to elude the Caped Crusader in their previous encounters. * In the year 3000 A.D., a descendent of Bruce Wayne's named Brane, together with his young chum Ricky, revive the legend of Batman and Robin, and overthrow the tyrannical warlords of Saturn who have conquered Earth. * Batman and Robin discover the Lost Mesa, a hidden Pueblo civilization, and help the natives to defeat a pair of crooks and a villainous medicine man named Mordu.
 
Batman's Money Magic: Batman kiboshes the Cavalier, a fellow rich guy turned adventurer for whom the Caped Crusader has expressed a grudging admiration. Money and class play a definite role in Batman's escapades: "There is a widespread tendency, among nerds and normals alike, to dismiss the impact of Bruce Wayne's billionaire status on the idea of Batman. But of course that wealth is Batman's true superpower. Its narrative function, in any Batman story, is to turn the flatly impossible into the vaguely plausible. It works, essentially, as magic." — Glen Weldon, The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. Simon & Schuster: 2016, p. 3.The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION comprises over 40,000 comic books, including a copy of every single DC comic published for retail sale from 1934 to 2014. The collection was amassed by British music producer Ian Levine over the course of several decades, and it's been hailed as the single greatest collecting accomplishment in comic book history. This collection served as the basis for former DC Comics president Paul Levitz's monumental book 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, published by Taschen in 2017. PBA is proud to present this epic collection in a series of themed sales over the next two years. To join the DC Universe Collection notifications list, contact pba@pbagalleries.com.
Enjoying PBA's Batman sale? A very small number of softcover and limited edition hardcover auction catalogues are available for purchase. The catalogues are fully illustrated, thoroughly researched, and make excellent reference works for Batman fans. To order a copy, or to inquire about consignment opportunities, contact Ivan Briggs, PBA's Director of Comics: ivan@pbagalleries.com.