Batman’s Detective Comics #27 Debut – Chicago Tribune

Today is Monday, March 30, the 89th day of 2026. There are 276 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 30, 1939, Detective Comics issue #27 was released, featuring the first appearance of the superhero character Batman.

Also on this date:

In 1822, Florida became a United States territory.

In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal ridiculed by critics as “Seward’s Folly” but later recognized as advantageous to the U.S.

In 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited denying citizens the right to vote and hold office on the basis of race, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish.

In 1923, the Cunard liner RMS Laconia became the first passenger ship to circle the globe as it arrived back in New York after a 130-day voyage.

In 1975, as the Vietnam War neared its end, Communist forces occupied the city of Da Nang.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded by John Hinckley Jr. outside a Washington, D.C., hotel. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and a District of Columbia police officer, Thomas Delahanty. (Hinckley would be found not guilty by reason of insanity and held at a psychiatric hospital until his supervised release in 2016. James Brady died in 2014 as a result of his injuries.)

In 2009, heavily armed militants stormed a police training academy near Lahore, Pakistan, taking hostages and killing cadets and others before being overpowered after several hours. Authorities reported at least 20 deaths, including several attackers.