Batman #135

Issue Details

Synopsis

CRIMES OF THE WHEEL The gambling den of Frank "Wheels" Foster is broken up by Batman and Robin, working with the Gotham City Police Department, landing Foster behind bars, where criminals taunt him with his "Big Wheel" nickname. He manages an escape when the tire of a laundry truck bursts, sending the truck crashing into the prison gates. Foster is inspired to become a costumed criminal and use wheels as his motif for crimes. His first caper involves looting the Transportation Exposition, which features many wheeled vehicles. Batman and Robin appear and engage The Wheel and his gang in combat, but Foster blows tear-gas in their faces with a pinwheel and rolls away with his gang in a transport truck. Batman and Robin attempt to follow in a Roman-style horse and chariot, but The Wheel opens the back of his truck and pelts them with a horde of heavy truck tires, upsetting the chariot and knocking them unconscious. When they come to, Batman and Robin find themselves bound in the slot of a giant roulette wheel, onto which Foster drops heavy steel balls of crushing weight. Batman and Robin manage to deflect one of the balls as it bounces, wrecking the chute down which the balls fell. They trail The Wheel to the beach by the distinctive markings of his "Big Balloon" tires, and Batman stops him from escaping on a "space wheel" by leaping to it from the top of a Ferris wheel and kayoing the villain. Later, he is taken to prison by another wheeled vehicle--a paddy wagon. THE RETURN OF THE SECOND BATMAN AND ROBIN TEAM Alfred's second tale of the second Batman and Robin team of the near future relates how Batman I, worn down by constant demands for his appearances at ceremonies, takes a vacation in the mountains with his wife, Kathy Kane, and leaves Batman II and Robin II to stand in for him at public functions. However, John Crandall, who had been jailed long ago by Batman I, is now being released, and vows to revenge himself on his enemy by "destroying everything that is a monument to him!" The second Batman and Robin team stop him from blowing up a Batman moon-rocket and smashing a ship dedicated to Batman I, but are unable to catch Crandall on either occasion. Meanwhile, in the mountains, Bruce Wayne and Kathy Wayne have been ignorant of the developments until they give a passing tramp a meal and Bruce switches his shoes with the tramp's, which are old, worn-out, and lined with newspaper. One of the newspaper fragments tells of Crandall's duel with the modern dynamic duo. Bruce and Kathy immediately return to town and, figuring out the same clue left by Crandall, Batman I bursts in upon the villain just as he is about to send Batman II and Robin II sky-high on a giant fireworks rocket. The original Batman offers to take their place on a second rocket in return for releasing the second team, but Crandall, after tying Batman I, informs his he had no intention of releasing any of them. Batman I responds by cutting himself free with a sharp blade he had palmed and wallops Crandall into unconsciousness. Afterward, Bruce opined that he ought to spank the both of them for not letting him know about Crandall, and they all laugh. In the "real" world, Bruce Wayne comes upon Alfred, finishing the story, who regrets that no one will be able to read his stories save himself and his employers. Bruce winks and says the adventures may really happen, in the future. THE MENACE OF THE SKY CREATURE Closing in on a getaway car after a gem robbery, Batman and Robin are stunned to see the car give off a signal-beam much like the Bat-Signal, but with the face of a strange creature inside the signal. In response, a bizarre, orange-skinned monster appears from the skies, resisting bullets and blocking off Batman and the police. It radiates smoke rings of various colors which solidify, wrap themselves about the heroes and police cars, and send them into the air for a time before returning them to the ground and fading away. By this time, both the creature and the crooks have escaped. In a second encounter, the Sky Creature blasts a hole hundreds of feet deep below Batman's feet, and he is barely saved from destruction by grabbing the edge of the hole. However, they have managed to paint the thieves' car with a radioactive paint enabling them to track them down to a farm complete with scarecrows in a cornfield. When the duo leave the Batmobile, the "scarecrows" are revealed as the thieves, who take them prisoner. The boss of the gang explains that he came upon a magic lantern while breaking into an antique shop. The lamp, which originally belonged to Celphus the Sorcerer, will summon the Sky Creature with its beam for a fifteen-minute period, during which he must obey the lantern-wielder. The crooks light the lantern to summon the Creature, but Batman manages to free Robin with an acrobatic maneuver, and the boy wonder smashes the lamp and causes the Creature to phase back into his own dimension. Batman and Robin then easily defeat the gang and summon a paddy wagon. Later, Batman suggests that the Sky Creature was from another dimension and the barrier between worlds was somehow pierced by the lantern's light.