Batman #229

Issue Details

Synopsis

ASYLUM OF THE FUTURIANS! At night, in a dark road on the outskirts of Gotham City, Batman finds a young woman, who is desperately looking for help. She has been trying to find someone to save her husband, who has been abducted by group of strange people. Batman agrees to help her and she takes him to an ancient house where he witness the strange behaviour of the group of people holding the man hostage. Batman assumes that they are all mentally unstable, but when he breaks into the place to save the man, he learns that the gathering of people call themselves "Futurians". They claim to be a cabal of ESPers who intend to rule the Earth and who believe that Batman may be a potential the leader according to some prophecy.  Batman decides to play along and he is crowned as the new ruler of the Futurians, but the crown makes Batman lose his consciousness and when he recovers, he realizes that he has been locked inside a coffin and dumped into a lake, as part of the final test for the Futurians' leadership. As the Futurians have removed his Utility Belt, Batman uses the crown to open the coffin and escape. The Futurians are glad that Batman survived the test, proving his worthyness for the leadership, but Batman takes advantage of the situation and captures the entire gang including their leader, a young woman called Michelle and debunks their society as phonies and megalomaniacs, who seek power through deception.   Finally, Batman returns to the couple he rescued and the man tells him that he had been mentally calling for Batman's help and the Dark Knight realizes that maybe that's the reason why he changed his nightly patrol routine, but he is not certain of that, nor of the truth behind the Futurians' claims. TEMPERATURE BOILING... AND RISING! Robin investigates the smear campaign against candidate Buck Stuart and finds the trail leading to a student worker in Stuart's campaign. After a quick investigation on the student's background, Robin finds enough evidence to clear Stuart's name and he provides this information to the local newspaper, after which justice is served.