In every installment of I Love Ya But You’re Strange I spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories. Feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment!

Today, we look at Batman's bizarre time spent as...a Zebra Man!

There are certain stories where you look at the cover and say, "Wow, the writers sure have their work cut out for them to try to make this make sense." However, those same covers make it pretty clear that there probably IS a way that you can make the whole thing make a certain amount of sense. Even some of the most outrageous Batman covers end up technically making a little sense when you boil down to it (like, "Oh, so Batman is a mummy because he has to hide the fact that his skin has been turned green and so his secret identity won't be spoiled" or "Oh, Batman has to wear a suit of armor to disguise the fact that he is wearing a radiation suit because the bad guys stole some radioactive material."

Then, though, you get stuff like Sheldon Moldoff's cover for 1959's Detective Comics #275 (with a story by Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris) and you just know that there is no way that this is going to make any kind of sense...

and you would be very much correct.

The story opens with Batman and Robin trying to stop a gang of crooks from robbing a museum. However, the dynamic duo are in for quite a surprise when the leader of the villain, who looks like a zebra man, is able to blast away at them and keep them from following them any further...

Then comes the thing that we're all waiting for... why is this guy called Zebra-Man? What's up with all of those lines on his body?

Well...it is pretty much bonkers. You see, those lines are "lines of force" and the Zebra-Man has found a way to charge himself up with a bunch of lines of force and then use his belt to make himself neutral, so that his lines of force are not emitted from his body, but when he turns the belt off, he suddenly shoots out lines of force.

Now, you might think, "But wait, Brian, isn't that similar to Havok of the X-Men? You don't think his power is dumb, right? Comic books can be silly, it's no big deal" and you would be correct (this IS specifically "I Love Ya But You're Strange," so I dig this story, ya know?), but come on, dude literally puts "lines of forces" on to his body like they're just literal stripes! That's amazingly ludicrous!

The Caped Crusader keeps hunting him down and then things go wrong for ol' Bats...

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='A negative personality!']

Sure enough, when they track the bad guys down to their hideout, Batman is accidentally transformed into a zebra-man, as well!

And without a belt like the Zebra-Man, Batman is seemingly out of luck. No one can come close to him!

I am LIVING for what Batman imagines will be his future. I like the idea of Batman taking off his costume and trying to pass as Zebra Bruce Wayne. I know it doesn't work in his imagination, but why would that even be a scenario? "Maybe Vicki won't notice!"

How will Batman get out of this one?

It's actually pretty clever, as Batman charges up a manhole cover to reverse the Zebra-Man's polarity. However, notice how the plan could only work if the Zebra-Man steps on JUST THE RIGHT SPOT, the spot that has wires leading to it for no good reason...

What a trippy story!

If anyone else has a suggestion for a future I Love Ya But You're Strange, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!