In this feature, I spotlight five scenes/moments from within comic book stories that fit under a specific theme (basically, stuff that happens frequently in comics). Here is an archive of all the patterns we've spotlighted so far.

This week, with Commissioner James Gordon taking over as Batman, following in the footsteps of characters like Dick Grayson, Jean-Paul Valley, Tim Drake and Jason Todd, we're taking a look at five much lesser-known characters who have temporarily been Batman over the years (presumably much more temporary than Gordon's tenure, of course).

Hawke and Wrenn (1945's Batman #29, by Don Cameron and Dick Sprang)

Hawke and Wrenn were two down-on-their-luck private eyes who couldn't seem to catch a break, despite actually being pretty darn good private dicks. Hawke, though, comes up with a plan...

Amusingly enough, some crooks broke into Wayne Manor while Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were away. Suddenly, "Batman and Robin" show up to help!

Like I said, though, they ARE pretty good detectives, so they actually succeed in tracking down the bad guys, but get themselves captured...

Cute story. Anyone know if Hawke and Wrenn were based on some comedy duo of the era?

Harry Larson (1954's Batman #83, by David Vern, Sheldon Moldoff and an unknown inker)

So Batman crashes his Batplane in the mountains on the way home. He is trapped in a cave and tries to get a signal out, but only some bad guys hear it. They decide to create their own Batman while Batman is out of commission...

No, Harry, don't learn Batman's secret identity!! As we have long established, that can be lethal!

Eventually, the real Batman returns, but the bad guys think he is just Harry double-crossing them. Robin, meanwhile, also finds out that Harry is pretending to be Batman. The bad guys plan to kill Batman (thinking he is a double-crossing Harry) and Robin's all, "Eh, whatever." But luckily, Harry is there to save Batman's bacon!

And yes, Harry became one of the many people who learned Batman's identity and then died. I think I'll do a piece in the future detailing more than just the initial five I shared in that early Drawing Crazy Patterns.

Ed Wilson (1954's Batman #88 by Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris)

Just five months later, ex-con Ed Wilson pretended to be Batman to impress his son, but it did not go so well...

So instead, Batman impersonated Ed!

Eventually, bad guys find out that Batman has a son and the kid is now placed into danger, leading Ed to make a miraculous recovery...

It is a good thing Ed didn't remember Batman's identity, or else, like, a tree branch would have flown through the window to kill him or something like that.

Go to the next page for our last two temporary Batmen!

Unknown impostor (1968's Batman #183 by Gardner Fox, Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Giella)

This is the story that gave us this classic Carmine Infantino/Joe Giella cover...

The story is pretty simple, as a crook traps Batman via a trap door and a net that will hold Batman as a room fills with water.

He then takes over as Batman, but Robin knows the truth very quickly...

When he goes back to confirm Batman's death, though, he is in for a surprise as the real Batman pops out...

Jan Paxton (1971's Detective Comics #417 by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Dick Giordano)

I featured this one a few years back on its own a while back as an I Love Ya But You're Strange.

Paxton was a writer who, like George Plimpton, tried to do stuff like become a boxer. He wanted to become Batman for a night and Batman, for whatever reason, is amused enough to say yes.

He trains Paxton, but Batman feels that Paxton loses his temper too much. Again, for whatever reason, despite Paxton outright failing Batman's test of his skills, he still lets Paxton be Batman for said single night.

So Paxton goes on patrol and when he encounters some bad guys, he shockingly loses his cool...

That is definitely a great Bob Brown shot of Batman berating Paxton.

So Paxton failed the initial test by losing his cool. He then fails his first night by losing his cool, so Batman, of course, gives him ANOTHER chance. But before he gets the opportunity, Trina is murdered!

Batman and Paxton track the killer down (Batman is insisting the whole time that Paxton better not try to kill the bad guy) but Paxton takes control...

So...yeah...that is a depressing story.

That's it for this installment! Feel free to send in suggestions for future installments to bcronin@comicbookresources.com