The Case of the Chemical Syndicate

So we come to the very first appearance of Batman! Or, as he's called at this point, 'the Bat-Man'.

We see Bruce Wayne before we see his alter ego. At the point the comic begins, Bruce has already been operating as Batman for some time--hard to say how long, though probably not too long.

This is just a six page story, so to condense it even further: a man wishes to eliminate his partners in ownership of a chemical company, rather than buy them out. Batman stops him before they're all dead. Hooray!

One point: on the last page, the villainous businessman attacks Batman, who socks him one, knocking him over a railing and into a vat of chemicals, which spell his demise. Says Batman, "A fitting ending for his kind." Now, that's pretty different from the modern version of Batman, who generally tries to avoid killing any crooks.

It may not have been totally obvious, I guess, but the connection between Bruce Wayne and the Batman is revealed in the final frame.