Batman #148

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE ALIEN FORCE TWINS! A storm forces the Batplane down in an isolated mountain range, where Batman and Robin encounter alien beings, and two strange energy beings that resemble them. Batman and Robin have to fight through the alien forces in order to shut down their experiments and destroy the energy beings. The Dynamic Duo soon learn that the alien's weakness is water and they use it to win the battle and force the aliens to retreat from Earth. THE BOY WHO WAS ROBIN Bruce Wayne takes in his young and arrogant cousin, Vanderveer "Van" Wayne, for a visit. When Van sees Batman and Robin costumes in the laundry (which Bruce Wayne explains away as masquerade costumes), he is inspired to impersonate Robin in order to impress Bruce and Dick. However, Vanderveer makes the mistake to hire a former criminal to impersonate Batman. The crook captures Vanderveer and the kid has to find a way out to warn the real Batman and Robin about the impersonator. During the final confrontation, Vanderveer helps Batman and Robin capture the crook and afterwards, he finally learns his lesson about his arrogance. THE JOKER’S GREATEST TRIUMPH The Joker sends Batman, Robin, and Commissioner Gordon clues to his upcoming crimes in the form of ship models, which initially stymies the Dynamic Duo. During their first encounter, Joker manages to pull off the cowl from Batman's head, finally learning his secret identity. Joker then threatens Batman with revealing the truth if he is ever captured and arrested. Batman tries harder than before to catch the criminal, but the Joker manages to escape on each occasion, making the people believe that perhaps Batman doesn't want to capture the Joker in order to protect his identity. Finally, Batman confronts Joker at a circus, where the criminal manages to capture Batman and removes the mask to learn Batman's identity, but is shocked to see that Batman is a robot. The real Batman appears soon, reveals that he prepared his robot for this moment and the Joker is finally captured. Batman then explains that Joker never knew his identity, because a beacon light at the airport blinded him, stopped him from recognizing Bruce Wayne, and Joker was just bluffing.