Batman #115

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE MILLION-DOLLAR CLUES Stoney Briggs, a wanted gem thief, gives his last words to Batman and Robin. The million dollars in jewels he has recently stolen are hidden, and he has left four clues to their whereabouts, the first being a flashlight. But, he warns, he has also sent the same clues to his ex-partners, Angles Nelson, and Burly Jones. He dies, and Batman shines the flashlight beam, finding it partially blocked with the silhouette of an ark. Since an ark is a house on the water, Batman and Robin try for their second clue in a lighthouse. The beacon of an abandoned flashlight tells them to "cross over to a place where thunder and lightning are tied." After a brief encounter with Angles and his hireling Mike, who, along with stowaway Burly, have seen the message, Batman and Robin head for a railroad crossing used by electric-powered trains. Angles and Mike, beating them there by seconds, dig up 26 keys on a ring. Batman and Robin battle the crooks, but Burly, emerging from hiding, shoves a handcar at the heroes and all the crooks escape. The "26 keys" clue lead all of them to a Giant Typewriter built for a business show and stored in a warehouse. In its giant roller they find a message revealing the jewels hidden in the "giant hand of Buddha." Angles and Mike, confronting Batman, get beaten when the crimefighters use the typewriter's keys and return mechanism to bowl over their opponents. Since the only "giant Buddha" in town is the idol in the old temple at Gotham City Chinatown, Burly heads there and climbs the idol to reach the golden box in its hand. But Batman, tipped off because the clue was too obvious, stops Burly from touching the box. Swinging up, he notices wires connected to the golden box, disconnects them, and discovers a pair of dynamite sticks within the box as well as the jewels. Batman explains that Stoney planned this deathtrap for him, since Stoney believed he would overcome Angels and Burly. The heroes recover the jewels and prepare to take Burly to jail. BATMAN FOR HIRE Batman calls a press conference and announces he is opening the Batman Private Detective Agency, to amass money for Robin's college education and his own retirement fund. Commissioner Gordon reports that Robin will take up the slack whenever Batman is out on one of his paying cases, and the enterprise begins. Batman solves numerous crimes and mysteries, including catching a saboteur at a factory and nabbing a crook who stole the master print of a movie. But, when Jim Morley, a businessman, receives a threatening call from an "ex-business partner," Batman charges him $1,000 a day for bodyguard duties. A shooting incident causes Batman to up his rate to $5,000 per day, in advance. Morley goes to his garage, where he opens a seat cover in his car and withdraws $5,000 in stolen money. Batman, who has followed him, reveals to Morley that he has just proven himself to be the notorious Phantom Bank Bandit, and that his Detective Agency was part of a master plan to get the goods on him. Morley flings the money in Batman's face and speeds off, but Robin, waiting in a tree outside, leaps into the car, kayos him, and stops the car. Batman dissolves his detective agency and returns to his non-profit crime-fighting career. BATMAN IN THE BOTTLE Professor Carter Nichols sends Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson to the prehistoric past to discover the secret of the ancient Zoto civilization, which left behind a giant slingshot, a watch pole, and underground huts. Once there, they change to Batman and Robin and are attacked by the Zotos, but prove their friendly intentions by stopping them from going across a faulty bridge. Chief Tang of the Zotos tells Batman and Robin how they have been beset by a tribe of giant men over twenty feet in height. These giants come on slave raids periodically in Zoto territory. The giant sling is used in ineffectual attempts to repel them, and the Zotos fled underground with a watch pole set up outside. To aid the Zotos, Batman blows a giant glass bottle big enough to hold him, climbs inside, is put in the nearby river, and floats downstream to the village of the giants. While there, Batman claims to be a genie of the Zotos, sent to bedevil the giants unless they leave the Zotos in peace. He backs up his claim with flash powder from his Utility Belt, amplified sound from his belt-radio that causes an avalanche, a sun-reflecting mirror, and, finally, and inflatable Batman dummy that grows even larger than the giants themselves. A last attack on the giants with laughing gas forces the titans to make peace with the Zotos, and pledge never to harm them again, for fear the genie will be set loose. Batman's balloon-dummy is placed over a wooden statue in the bottle to serve as a reminder to the giants. Bruce and Dick return to the present with their description of the Zoto civilization. Later, Dick asks Bruce what will happen if the bottle with the Batman dummy is discovered, to which Bruce replies that they'll have to cross that bridge if the occasion ever presents itself.