Summary

• Serialized stories became popular in 19th Century England as industrialization caused a rise in the literacy rate.
• "The Most Dangerous Game" has inspired countless riffs in TV, movies, and comics, including five times Batman faced similar hunts.
• Batman faced villains like Professor Milo and the Stalker in deadly hunting games, showcasing his resourcefulness and survival skills.

In the latest Drawing Crazy Patterns, where we spotlight five recurring themes in comics, we examine five times that Batman was being hunted in a riff on the famous short story, "The Most Dangerous Game."

The 19th Century was notable for an increase in the literacy rate in both England and the United States, and as a result, there was a growing demand for literature for "common folk" to read, especially as industrialization caused commuting to work to start being a thing. People need something to read on the trolley, for instance, and so trashy cheap literature became very popular in England. These cheap serialized stories would become known as "penny dreadfuls," for the fact that they cost a penny and were, you know, dreadful. At the same time that these stories were serialized, however, there were also MORE expensive literary magazines that would serialize more respectable, but still, ultimately popular fiction (these would typically cost essentially twelve times as much as the Penny Dreadfuls).

The magazine Collier's was notable in the first half of the 20th Century for serializing stories in its pages. Collier's had a very popular serialized series of Fu Manchu novels by Sax Rohmer beginning in 1913. Collier's also did short stories, as well. In 1924, Richard Connell wrote "The Most Dangerous Game," about a big game hunter who falls from a yacht, and ends up on an island, where he is hunted by a Russian aristocrat. It became one of the most popular short stories ever, and has been adapted into a number of films, but has also become so popular that TV shows, movies and comic books have also done RIFFS on the story. Here are five times that Batman was caught up in riffs on "The Most Dangerous Game."

The first "Most Dangerous Game" riff had a lasting impact on Batman lore

In 1946's "Dinosaur Island" in Batman #35 (by Bill Finger, Paul Cooper, and Ray Burnley), Batman and Robin agree to test themselves against a dinosaur theme park as part of a competition (they agree not to use any weapons). A bad guy, though, takes over control of the park, and uses the robotic dinosaurs and other robots to try to lethally deal with Batman and Robin (as part of a plan to take over the crime world in Gotham City).

After Batman and Robin save the day, one of the robot dinosaurs becomes a souvenir in the Bat Cave, where it remains to this day.

Professor Milo hunts Batman as "The Most Dangerous Game"

In 1961, Finger (who famously reworked a Shadow story into the very first Batman story) reworked "The Most Dangerous Game" into a story about Professor Milo luring Batman and Robin to an island with 1,000 death traps in it in this story from Batman #139 by Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris...

The villainous Stalker made Batman his prey

In 1971's Detective Comics #401 (by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella), we get one of the first explicit references to "The Most Dangerous Game," when Commissioner Gordon calls Batman to his office to note that he had received a letter stating that a new villain, The Stalker, plans for Batman to be his next target, and while the Dark Knight is there, the Stalker fires a shot right through the target of Batman...

The Stalker is a really badass villain, as he has studied Batman so much that he has even discovered Batman's secret identity, and messes with him throughout the issue, playing mind games on him as he hunts Batman. In the end, Batman is saved by the mud of the area, as the Stalker pretends to be Alfred (having been taken hostage by the Stalker to mess with Batman), but since Batman knows that the area of the showdown is covered in mud, the fact that "Alfred" had no mud on his shoes means that he likely was not the real Alfred.

The Stalker, of course, dies at the end of the issue, because, well, as we all know, knowing Batman's secret identity is fatal for your health.

The Predator hunts Batman throughout Gotham City

I'll be honest, I'd have preferred not to use this one, I just couldn't think of a better fifth one, so I'm going with Batman vs. Predator (by Dave Gibbons, Andy Kubert and Adam Kubert). The original Predator concept was, of course, based on "The Most Dangerous Game" (just with an alien spin on the concept), and so this original Dark Horse/DC crossover comic book series (which was really excellent. There was a point in time when crossovers like this were a BIG deal, and a LOT of care were put into them...that eventually stopped when they just started doing dozens of them) is literally an alien from Predator hunting Batman in Gotham City, "The Most Dangerous Game" style, leading Batman to construct an armor to even up the odds...

Batman and Robin go on The Most Dangerous Road Trip

In this year's Batman and Robin Annual #1 (by Josh Williamson, Howard Porter, Rain Beredo and Steve Wands), Batman and Robin decided to take a father/son road trip together to go camping, and their camping trip happened to be in the middle of a "Most Dangerous Game" setup designed by the villainous Roulette, who charged all the hunters ten million dollars, and the winning hunter gets to collect the whole pot (minus 20% to Roulette, of course)...

Batman and Robin don't have their normal weapons (except for a few weapons each of them snuck on to the trip), but they're able to easily defend themselves, and take down Roulette's scheme.

Remember, everyone, that these lists are inherently not exhaustive. They are a list of five examples (occasionally I'll be nice and toss in a sixth). So no instance is "missing" if it is not listed. It's just not one of the five examples that I chose. Thanks to longtime reader David B. for this suggestion! If anyone else has suggestions for a future Drawing Crazy Patterns, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!