Batman #105

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE CHALLENGE OF BATWOMAN Kathy Kane, still bound by her promise to Batman, not to assume her Batwoman identity to fight crime, does it nonetheless to go to a costume party. At the same time, Batman and Robin are carrying out an attack on the mob of a mysterious, masked gang boss who is attempting to loot the mail car of a passing train. In the chase, Batman twists his ankle and is rendered helpless. The masked gangster, whose mask covers the same area of his face as Batman's, tries to escape on the train but is choked by its smoke and falls off, hitting the ground so hard he gets amnesia. As fate would have it, Batwoman is passing by on her Batcycle and sees Robin chasing the gang-boss, who has instinctively discarded his mask. When she catches up to them, she recognizes Briggs as a former athlete and gym owner and deduces incorrectly that he is Batman, because of the soot marks on his lower face. Robin, knowing that her seeing the real Batman and Bruce Wayne both with a sprained ankle would lead her to link the two identities, plays along with her. They go to Batwoman's Batcavern, where Robin keeps the real Batman updated with his belt-radio. Brigg's faulty memory causes him to tip them off to his gang's next robbery attempt at a museum. The threesome goes there to combat the crooks, but a second blow to the head returns Briggs' memory. The pseudo-Batman plots to lure his two compatriots into a trap. Robin reports him doing nothing more harmful than squeezing a rubber ball, but when they next encounter Briggs' gang, he turns on his "partners" and helps his gang capture them. Then another factor enters the puzzle: the real Batman appears, apparently standing on a large statue, ropes Briggs, and gives the other two time to defeat the gang. Batman explains that Briggs, a physical culture enthusiast, gave himself away by squeezing the rubber ball, an isometric exercise. Kathy goes back into retirement, and Batman explains to Robin later that he is able to stand by strapping his lower leg to his thigh and standing on a dummy leg. When Kathy meets the lamed Bruce later on she berates him for not being heroic like Batman. THE SECOND BOY WONDER! Batman and Robin are returning from a battle with gangster Gorilla Hardy and his men. In the Batcave, Batman changes into his Bruce Wayne civilian identity while "Robin" removes his mask and reveals a different face than Dick Grayson's. The "new Robin" claims to be Fred Loyd, son of Olympic Decathlon champion Hank Loyd. Fred explains that he was trained by his father to athletic perfection. He also claims that Robin, wounded in his encounter with Hardy, stumbled onto his doorstep and asked him to take his place to help Batman, giving him the Robin costume. The Bat-Signal flashes outside and Batman is informed via radio that Gorilla Hardy has escaped from prison and is hiding in an amusement park. "Freddy" blackmails Batman into letting him come along or having his identity revealed. The twosome nab Hardy in the house of mirrors, and then return home, where Bruce and Alfred smilingly assure Fred that he is a worthy replacement for Dick. Angrily, "Fred Loyd" removes his face mask and is revealed as Robin. The two adults burst out laughing, and reveal to the dismayed Dick that he gave himself away from the very start when he got out of the Batmobile in a pitch dark Batcave --and went over and switched on the light! THE MYSTERIOUS BAT-MISSILE Batman and Robin are flabbergasted by the sight of a black, capsule-shaped missile, with the Bat-insignia on its hull, emerging from the floor of the Batcave without leaving a hole behind it. They discover that the missile, which has a two-man cockpit, can tunnel through solid substances without disturbing said solids, and moves to any destination pictured in the driver's thoughts. Batman and Robin use this "Bat-missile" to track down Gunner Tharp and his gang. Eventually, they entrap the mobsters by disguising the "Bat-Missile" as the Batmobile. Later a figure materializes in the Batcave beside the strange craft. He proves to be the Batman of the Future, who dispatched his future Batmobile to 1956 to help his role model, the original Batman. He returns to his future world with the Future Batmobile, unable to return for a second visit due to the lack of enough of the required power source. Batman offers him thanks as he fades out, but he thanks Batman for giving him the example to begin his own career in the future.