The Mystery of the Mystery Analysts of Gotham.... solved!

Today I solved a sixty-year old mystery about... The Mystery Analysts of Gotham!

 The Mystery Analysts of Gotham were a small club of crime-solvers introduced in Batman #164 (1964), the same issue that introduced the "New Look" Batman.

You remember: the New Look was when Batman had a tiger-head.  Never really caught on. Too hard to draw.

Mostly they seem to be a self-appointed clique of gatekeepers who decide whether you are good enough detective to sit at their table during Lunch Period.  Such things were more accepted 60 years ago.

Well, la-dee-dah. Who decorated their meeting room, Killer Moth?

Originally they seemed to consist of only eight people (including mystery novelist Kaye Daye, forensic science professor Ralph Vern, cold-case crime columnist Art Saddows, Police Commissioner James Gordon, and Batman).  A private investigator named Hugh Rankin tries to join but Batman blackballs him for falsely deducing what Batman looks like unmasked.

"But why... and by whom?"
Martin Tellman doesn't seem like much of a detective if he can't figure out who'd blackball Rankin for trying to uncover Batman's appearance.

Rankin must have somehow overcome this failure with a second successful bid for membership, because in later stories he is included as one of the members.  I'd like to imagine that after the first story, the other members simply told Batman to stop being a ****, and let Rankin in.

Or maybe Rankin KILLED Prof. Vern and when none of the MAoGs could prove it, they decided it was logical to have Rankin take Vern's place.

But the classic line-up of the Mystery Analysts of Gotham is in this picture:

Which is why there is virtually NO discussion of the Mystery Analysts of Gotham that does NOT include this picture.

Which contains many mysteries itself.  Who STARTED the Mystery Analysts of Gotham and was it sheerly out of vanity? Why is the District Attorney a member? I think of DAs as crime prosecutors, not crime solvers.  Was Harvey Dent ever in the Mystery Analysts of Gotham or is he before their time?  Why are Silver Age pipes so small?  Where DOES Kaye get those hats and why does she spell her name like that?  And, most perplexingly, is Batman's ego so fragile that the World's Greatest Detective needs to be part of the crime solving in-crowd clique?

But none of these are the mystery I have solved.  The biggest mystery about the original Mystery Analysts is that: we don't know who they all are.  

In their first story, there are some we already know (Gordon and Batman) and some others are introduced.

But then the narration makes clear that it's skipping over naming anyone else because there is no time:

See for yourself:

"HOLD, monsters,
ere your pirate caravanserai proceed against our wills to wed us all...!"

That blond guy in the green suit is not identified, even though he is the most outspoken member of the group.

Takes cajones to confront Batman.

Blond guy detective who takes charge in a roomful of other authorities?  Seems obvious to me just WHO that must be.

Bolstering my theory: if that's Speed Saunders in the green suit, it would explain why he's not introduced, because Speed Saunders requires no introduction.  Everyone automatically already knows who Speed Saunders, it's one of his powers.

As much fun as that all is, it's not really the reason for my post.  I have always been struck by just how superfluous the Mystery Analysts are IN GOTHAM CITY, where The World's Greatest Detective resides.  

The World's Greatest Detective.
Stupid Bronze Age Batman.

It's the other iconic heroes, the ones who AREN"t detectives, who NEED a group of mystery analysts. Who would help THEM when a mystery needs to be solved?

This is a mystery I will attempt to analyze in follow up posts, in which we "franchise" the concept of the Mystery Analysts to Metropolis, Coast City, Apex City, Central City, Star City, and wherever the heck Aquaman and Wonder Woman are.