Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Batman, crime comics

"The Bat" Inspired Lone Wolf of Boston in Exposed #1, at Auction

Claiming to be inspired by the play The Bat, which spawned movies influential on Batman, masked robber James Walters terrorized 1925 Boston.

The Exposed title from D.S. Publishing lasted nine issues from 1948 to 1949 and contained a mix of high-profile murderers from throughout true crime history that often tended towards the brutal end of the true crime comic book spectrum.  Interestingly, two issues of the series caught Fredric Wertham's attention in Seduction of the Innocent with what he interpreted as "how to commit crime" diagrams. A short but memorable crime comic series that was part of a publishing line known for such titles, the series gets off to a historic start in issue #1, chronicling the exploits of 1860s bank robbing legend George Leonidas Leslie and the shocking series of 16 murders by William Burke and William Hare, who subsequently sold the corpses of their victims in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1828.  But perhaps most interesting story in this debut issue is the little-remembered 1925 case of the Lone Wolf of Boston.  It's a fascinating group of stories that makes the series a stand-out Pre-Code Crime series, and there's a CGC 5.0 copy of Exposed #1 (D.S. Publishing, 1948) up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions.

Dubbed the "Lone Wolf" and the "Boudoir Bandit" by Boston newspapers, James E. Walters terrorized Boston in early 1925 with a number of high-profile robberies targeting (often wealthy or otherwise notable) women.  Masked to conceal his identity, Walters would break into their apartments, tie them up in their bedrooms, and then leisurely ransack the place for valuables while talking to his victims for hours and sometimes helping himself to food and drink from the kitchen. Some newspaper reports claim that he sometimes left the police taunting "Still the Lone Wolf!" messages in soap on the victims' bathroom mirrors. The Lone Wolf created a media uproar and a Boston police manhunt in the early months of 1925.

Walters was caught in part due to the analysis of a fingerprint found at one of the crime scenes, which he would later claim that he purposefully left to taunt the police.  Upon his capture, the thief gave a full confession to the police and the media.  In perhaps his most interesting claim from a modern perspective, Walters asserted he had been inspired by seeing the play The Bat, a story about a mysterious masked thief of that name, who leaves calling card messages at the scenes of his crimes.  The play debuted on Broadway in 1920, written by Mary Roberts Rinehart and based on her 1908 novel The Circular Staircase.  The play's successful run led to the films The Bat (1926) and The Bat Whispers (1930), which are considered influential on the creation of the character Batman.  Walters pled not guilty by reason of insanity but was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

The cover of Exposed #1 appears to be very loosely inspired by the James E. Walters saga as well.  Walters' 19-year-old wife Irene is portrayed in news reports as a naive young beauty from whom Walters "cleverly concealed his depredations." Exposed had some unusual true crime cases throughout this well-executed series, many of which were overlooked by other Pre-Code crime era titles.  The title gets off to a strong start with Exposed #1 (D.S. Publishing, 1948) and there's a CGC 5.0 copy up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions.

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