Batman #99

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE GOLDEN EGGS! Batman and Robin raid the Penguin's secret hideout, only to find he's already flown the coop. In his second hideout, the Penguin prepares for a new set of crimes based around the only treasure he escaped with: a basket of eggs. He places it near a stove to incubate them, wondering which will hatch first and so signal his next caper. He also ponders on an unfamiliar egg in the basket. The next evening, the Bat-Signal shines and Batman is shown a newly hatched egg shell by Commissioner Gordon at polic headquarters that he determines came from a chimney swift. The only chimneys worth stealing from are those on the local gold refinery, where filters prevent gold dust escaping with the smoke. Sure enough, the Penguin appears to steal the dust and escapes, though empty handed. The next shell to be delivered is that of a herring gull, an expert clam cracker. The Penguin has a helicopter fitted with a special mechanical claw grab a jeweler's safe and fly it away before dropping it and cracking it open. Batman drives a lorry of sand beneath the safe and catches it intact. Third to hatch is an ouzel shell, a bird that nests in waterfalls. The only waterfall in Gotham is at the Gotham Light and Power Show, where there is a scale model of a hydroelectric power station. The Penguin adds a chemical to the water, creating massive bubbles that panic the visitors and allows him to steel the gate receipts. Batman and Robin chase him but lose him after following the sound of his laughter to a kookaburra he had been imitating. In the Penguin's hideout, the final, mystery egg starts to hatch, but his glee is cut short by Batman's appearance. Batman placed a tracker in the receipt box before the Penguin's theft allowing him and Robin to track the Penguin to his new hideout. They are about to fight when something bites the Penguin- a baby alligator from the mystery egg. He is lead away to a one of Robin's bad egg witticisms. BATMAN—FRONTIER MARSHAL A newspaper reporter finds an 1880 newspaper fragment with a headline telling of how Batman may have used a gun in capturing a notorious criminal in the Old West. Never having used a gun, and needing to prove that the headline is false, Batman and Robin have their friend Professor Nichols send them back to 1880 to uncover the solution to the mystery. THE PHANTOM OF THE BAT-CAVE! After a pair of foiled crimes wherein Batman and Robin fail to capture the criminals, they notice trophies in the Batcave have disappeared and are being replaced by plastic top hats. They soon learn that the man responsible is a Magician called Pardu, who tries to blackmail them for $10,000 to stop him from revealing their secret identities. However, Batman tricks the Magician into confessing his crimes with the police listening in and the case of the Phantom of the Batcave is finally solved.