Batman #120

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE CURSE OF THE BAT-RING In order to trap a mastermind and scientific genius who uses his intellect for fantastic crimes, Batman hatches an outre ploy. In disguise, he informs Spike Connors, a known confederate of the mastermind, of a "Bat-Ring" in a curio shop known to have a terrible curse on it. He suggests having Spike make sure Batman wears the ring, and so suffers the curse. Connors takes the bait, gets the ring, and brings it back to "The Boss," who reads the legend of the ring on a paper that came with it, telling of a noble in 1812 who wore the ring and was struck by collapsed masonry, and a flier in 1914 who wore the ring in defiance of the curse and had the tail fall off his plane mid-flight. Convinced, "The Boss" sends Batman the gift on Batman Day, a day set aside by the city to honor the crime-fighters great exploits. Batman wears the ring, and on two occasions seems to have bad luck--once, during a charity circus performance, when a glider wing breaks on him, and again when his Bat-rope snaps as he swings after a fleeing felon, sending him falling into a truck of mattresses. Convinced of the ring's power, "The Boss" attempts his greatest theft, ripping the roof from an armored car with a giant magnet. Batman and Robin, waiting inside the armored car, emerge and give chase, and, despite the ring's "curse", nab the mastermind. Later, at the GCPD Headquarters, Batman reveals to the unmasked "Boss" that it was all a ruse, designed to lead him out of hiding. THE FAILURE OF BRUCE WAYNE Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson pay a visit Bruce's great-uncle Silas Wayne, who is the self-appointed historian of the Wayne family and is constantly harping at Bruce to do something worthy of his pioneer ancestors. If Bruce did something worthy of his family, says Silas, he will die happy. Being an idle playboy is not enough. Accordingly, Bruce tried to answer emergencies for Batman as Bruce Wayne. But he is frustrated each time by the police, who see him as a meddling amateur, and he is forced to become Batman to deal with the threats. Silas allows that Bruce is in there trying, and may live up to the Wayne name yet. Soon after, however, he has a relapse and is bedridden, soon to die. Bruce, perplexed, hits on a solution. After he and Robin bring in the "Babyface" Muller gang, Batman unmasks before reporters at police headquarters as Bruce Wayne. As he does so, another Batman comes in the door, and "reveals" that he allowed Bruce to help him out on the case to throw the crooks a curve. The reporters praise Wayne for his courage. Afterward, the second "Batman" unmasks in the Batcave as Alfred. Silas allows Bruce's portrait, as Batman, to hang proudly beside his ancestors. And Silas passes away hours later--but not before Bruce reveals to him that he is actually Batman. THE AIRBORNE BATMAN After Batman injures both legs turning the charge of a maddened elephant at a charity circus, Gotham criminals prepare for a field day. Unfortunately for them, Batman rises to the occasion with his and Robin's Whirly-Bats, the one-man open helicraft that allow them sufficient maneuverability to challenge lawbreakers in action. When a gang of thieves tries to snatch a payroll from the Gotham City Granary, the heroes release tons of grain and stir it up with their rotor blades, effectively blinding the hoods so that Robin can knock them out. On another occasion, they use the whirly-bats to knock loose a boulder, blocking a bridge another gang planned to escape over. When a third gang tries to scuttle them with huge clouds of smoke from an aircraft company's smokestacks, Batman uses a wind tunnel to blow away the smoke and enable him to track down and capture the crooks. Finally, when a last group of criminals tries to commit a crime while shielding themselves with a giant display-screen-window from the Gotham Screen Company, Batman and Robin reach through the giant holes of the screen with powerful suction-hoses and snag the criminals bodily. Later, Batman assures Commissioner Gordon he'll have the casts off by tomorrow. Gordon replies that the city hardly noticed any difference while he wore them.