Fiery Flying Fighters Meet the Batmen

Joseph Rigger was a demolition expert in the military, who upon being discharged returned to his hometown of Gotham City. His fragile psyche was shattered when he learned that his family had perished in separate indicents due to faulty buildings they lived in.

Seeking vengeance upon the corrupt landlords and neglegent builders in the community, Rigger devised the alter ego of Firebug, and became an arsonist with the goal of ridding Gotham's slums of all its deathtrap domicles. Of course, this led to repeated conflict with the City's prime protector, Earth-One's Batman.

Unlike other contemporary costumed culprits, Firebug was not inheriantly evil and sought only to destroy these structures to preserve the lives of their occupants, who would presumably live in renovated buildings. However, Rigger's actions nearly jeapardized the lives of some, which led to a reluctant confrontation between he and Batman. Detonating his costume, it seemed as if Rigger perished although his costume appeared later on during a crime wave, indicated that the Firebug was still alive and active

.In June of 1952, a series of attacks on various men were perpetrated by a fanatical arsonist, with a strange modus operandi. This individual, known by the authorities of Gotham City as the Blaze, would steal a button of the jacket of each of his victims. His activities drew the attention of the Earth-One Batman and his sidekick Robin, who investigated.

In his Bruce Wayne identity, Batman along with Robin as Dick Grayson connected the dots between the various men. A common theme to these crimes was an old childrens game "rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief". Each of these fit the description of those whom the Blaze attacked.

Batman eventually pieced together after a series encounters with the mad arsonist that the Blaze was Jim Garth, who served alongside Bruce Wayne and the other men as volunteer firefighters. Seeking revenge for the men not answering the call when his home was set of fire which caused his son to perish, Garth sought revenge on his fellow former firefighters. When his scheme was uncovered, the Blaze commited suicide.