Though a constant in the D.C. Universe for more than fifty years, Batman, perhaps more than any other comics character, has existed in a constant state of change. The character's origin story, one of the most well-known in pop culture, has not even proven immune to re-imagining with this fall's Batman R.I.P. storyline. That being said, some may cry foul and error at the cover image above depicting Batman happily manning a machine gun while Robin feeds ammo dutifully, as any young ward would. Interestingly enough, Batman began his comics life using a gun. In his early adventures in Detective Comics and the first several dozen issues of the Batman series, the Dark Knight frequently used guns of various sorts, even having a vehicle-mounted machine gun attached to an early model Bat-Plane. So, it should not be surprising that with the American war effort against the Axis powers in full swing in 1943 that the Bat would frequently be shown, at least in cover art, as fighting in the same style as the US soldiers on the front line and encouraging those on the home front to buy war bonds. In this case, it is the classic lines of cover artist Jack Burnley that portrays the Dynamic Duo happily doing their part for the war effort, capably shilling for war bonds and fighting the forces of facism at the same time.
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