Detective Comics #31 for Sale - First Appearance of Julie Madison - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Detective Comics (DC, 1937 series)
Issue: #31
Publication date: September 1939
Key date: 1939-09-00
On-sale date: 1939-07-30
Indicia publisher: Detective Comics Inc.
Price: $0.10
Pages: 68

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of Julie Madison - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of The Monk - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	-	cover	1	pencils: Bob Kane; inks: Bob Kane	Batman, Julie Madison First, The Monk First, Bruce Wayne
1	All-American Comics; Movie Comics	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	pencils: Sheldon Mayer; inks: Sheldon Mayer
2	Batman vs. the Vampire, Part 1	comic story	10	script: Gardner Fox; pencils: Bob Kane, Bob Kane; inks: Bob Kane; letters: Sheldon Moldoff	Batman, Julie Madison First, The Monk First, Bruce Wayne
3	Latest Arrivals for World's Fair; Latvia Honors Premier	text article	0.67	colors: ? (black, red & blue letters); letters: typeset	Carlis Ulmanis
5	Waging Battle Against Highway Piracy!	cartoon	1	script: Vin Sullivan; pencils: Vin Sullivan; inks: Vin Sullivan
6	Policeman!	cartoon	1	script: Gustavson; pencils: Gustavson; inks: Gustavson; letters: Paul Gustavson	O'Toole; Murphy
7	Killer's Bait	comic story	6	pencils: H. Fleming; inks: H. Fleming	Buck Marshall
8	The Mystery Plane	comic story	6	script: Jerry Siegel; pencils: Mart Bailey; inks: Mart Bailey	Bart Regan
9	Mrs. Velvet	comic story	6	pencils: Ken Ernst; inks: Ken Ernst	Larry Steele
10	Newspaper Nightmare	text story	2	script: Paul Dean; pencils: Fred Guardineer; inks: Fred Guardineer	Pete Barrows; Teddy Smith; Henry Parson; Inspector Burke; Harrison Banks
11	The Mammoth Mystery	comic story	6	pencils: Fred Guardineer; inks: Fred Guardineer; letters: Fred Guardineer	Speed Saunders
12	Friday the Thirteenth	comic story	6	script: Tom Hickey; pencils: Tom Hickey; inks: Tom Hickey	Bruce Nelson
13	Dr. Dupre	comic story	6	script: Sven Elven; pencils: Sven Elvén; inks: Sven Elvén	Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise
14	The Zoo Murder	comic story	13	script: Siegel; pencils: Shuster; inks: Shuster	Slam Bradley, Shorty Morgan
15	The Comic Book of Tomorrow Is Here Today!!	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	pencils: Vin Sullivan, Fred Guardineer; inks: Vin Sullivan, Fred Guardineer	Superman [Clark Kent]; Zatara; Butch the Pup; The Sandman [Wesley Dodds]; Ginger Snap

Plus 1.33 pages of advertisements and other matter across 2 sequences, as published.

Where to read it

Collection	Year
100-Page Super Spectacular #DC-14	1973	On eBay ›
The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told #[nn] ISBN 0930-289-35-8	1988	On eBay ›
The Batman Gallery #1	1992	On eBay ›
Batman Archives #1 ISBN 0-930289-60-9	1990	On eBay ›
The Batman Chronicles #1 ISBN 1-4012-0445-7	2005	On eBay ›
Batman: Cover to Cover #[nn] ISBN 1-4012-0659-X	2005	On eBay ›
The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told #[1] ISBN 0930289-39-0; 978-0930289393	1989	On eBay ›
The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told #[nn] ISBN 0-446-39123-9; 0-446-39124-7	1989	On eBay ›
Batman Reborn ISBN 978-1-4012-2566-7	2010	On eBay ›
Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus #1 ISBN 978-1-4012-6009-5	2016	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Golden-age paper is brittle. Ask about page suppleness and check edges for chips in the photos.
Check for trimmed edges, married covers, and clipped coupons - all common on books this old.
Confirm the indicia matches this plate; many golden-age titles changed names mid-run.

Series context

‹ #3031 of 883#32 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com