Back in the late 50s to mid 60s at DC comics Batman, Lois Lane, The Flash, Superman and Jimmy Olsen seemed be in a contest to see who could go though both the most transformations in number, and the most bizarre.
However they weren't the only ones, a lot of others, such as Rip Hunter and Mark Merlin, all the way to the whole Justice League of America a couple of times, also went though a change or two, or five, in the DC universe at the time it was almost like the flu or jury duty, hang around long enough and you have to deal with it at least once.
People make fun of it today (heck there were people making fun of then) but it had its reasons. The Comic Code Authority ruled with a heavy hand back then, and if you can't be endangered by, or engage in violence, other than a ray gun zap or a punch in the face, conflict in an action / adventure / fantasy filled media like the Superhero Comic genre becomes a bit of a problem. So who can blame them for putting Lois and Batman though so many changes that their DNA must have had stretch marks?
One of the more famous (notorious?) images from that era comes from Detective Comic # 320, cover date October 1963. A version of it was even used in the resent Brave & the Bold series on The Cartoon Network. They however changed it to involving King Tut from the old TV series.
The original story has Bruce and Dick returning from a vacation from being the Dynamic Duo, as they are driving though the wooded outskirts surrounding Gotham City they happen on a crashed space ship, investigating they discover that the pilot was a “strange robot” (normal robots almost never getting the job) that has had its head split open in the crash.
It is at that opportune moment that a green globe on a pole situated over the control panel decides to explode, escaping the ship Bruce and Dick are unharmed, but for some reason the orb has turned them both a bright green.
Knowing they have to stay under the radar they of course get right back to the Bat Cave and use all that Bat stuff to find out what is going on... No... don't be silly, they drive right into downtown Gotham, being seen by dozens of people, and then head for a doctor, where they find out that nothing is wrong with them, other than being green. (I want a second opinion, call Dr. Kermit! Call Dr. House!)
Getting back to where they should have headed in the first place, the Bat Cave, and knowing that now everyone has at least heard about the green Bruce and Dick, they try to hide the green with make-up, but it runs off as soon as they put it own, so much for it not having any effect on them!
Batman then decides they can wear rubber masks under their regular masks, but Robin points out that his arms and legs would still stick out so they can't do that (its called flesh colored pantyhose Robin, get to know it).
The Caped Crusader, as usual, has just the right harebrained scheme to fix things, he being sort of like a competent Willy Coyote during that era of the character's history (I've always suspected that Acme was a subsidy of Wayne Tech.)
Calling Commissioner Gordon as Bruce, Batman tells him about the crashed space ship that turned them green. By the time he and the police arrive Batman and Robin are there ahead of them where they are seen to be glowing a bright yellow, warning them to stay back as they or the ship might be dangerous Batman and Robin drive off. Of course the glow is really provided by “The special lighting effects... which we built into our belts... did the trick BATMAN!” Yeah, right robin, but to do it you did have to remove the refrigerator and the cyclotron, and Batman does love to nosh on some cold chicken while on a stake-out.
It now having been established that Batman & Robin are radioactive... and glowing, the crooks in Gotham, knowing the cops of said city are about as useful as a paper-mâché battleship, head out on a crime spree.
Eddie Crow and two of his goons are soon absconding with dollar festooned yellow bags in one hand and guns in the other. Much to their chagrin however a pair of mummies sporting the masks, capes and belts of the Dynamic Duo come swinging down from a roof and make short work of them.
More crime busting ensues courtesy of the mummy man-hunters . However Vicki Vale suspects that all this not as it seems, and suspects what the truth is.
After more daring do, such as on finding Batman hanging above molten steel with only one hand and under a crook's raised foot, Robin scares him off by taking off his head bandages and charging forward, his head aglow (again with the lighting effects that Rick Baker would really like to get hold of) eventually however they show up and save some people from a burning building... without being dressed like mummies!
Putting two and duo together Vicki heads out of Wayne Manor, sure she will find Bruce and Dick no longer green.
And yet their they set, still with their own green selves, oh well, better luck next time Vicki.
Of course the alien green has worn off, as well as its anti-make-up properties, So as Bruce and Dick they just put on green make-up to hide they are not Batman and Robin, oh the i-RO-ny!
Dumb Vicki Vale.
The alien ship, having served it's purpose as a plot engine having been forgotten we are to assume it is still somewhere moldering away in the woods outside Gotham City.
The second story in that issue involves John Jones, Manhunter (sic) from Mars, and Zook, his mentally challenged side-kick from another dimension, looking for a stolen gold statuette of an eagle. He doesn't even shape shift ONCE! Ehhh.
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