Batman #131

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE DOG THAT BETRAYED BATMAN While Batman and Robin are battling a group of crooks, a wild shot creases Bat-Hound's skull and gives him amnesia. Since the gunman who shoot him were wearing masks, Bat-Hound, in his amnesiac state, instinctively turns against people wearing masks -- including Batman and Robin. Bat-Hound flees, beginning an odyssey that leads him into the lives of several persons. The first is an old hermit, who learns from having Bat-Hound around that he actually misses the companionship of people, and resolves to move back amidst society. The second is a recently blinded man, who refuses to marry his fiancee, mistaking her love for pity. Bat-Hound saves him from stepping into a car's path, giving him a new perspective; he resolves to get a seeing-eye dog and marry his fiancée. The gang of thieves, now unmasked, discovers a sleeping Bat-Hound, ties him up, and uses him as bait to trap Batman and Robin. But Batman, who has distorted his and Robin's features with make-up, baits the hoods into removing their masks and putting on masks themselves so that they will not be recognized. Bat-Hound responds by attacking the crooks, bringing them to bay, and allowing his masters to free themselves and take charge. Later, Bat-Hound receives an operation that cures his amnesia. THE CASE OF THE DEADLY GEMS After the Gotham Gem Company receives a threatening letter signed by Ted Greaves, whom Batman apprehended some years back during his attempt to rob the firm, Batman and Robin discover the body of Clayber, the company's youngest partner, on the street outside the company building. They attempt to pursue the masked man who lurks above, but he pushes a huge gem display over on them, narrowly missing them. Batman and Robin round up the other three surviving members of the executive board, who produce a note signed "Greaves" which promises to kill each member of the company which sent him to prison, proceeding by age, youngest to oldest, with a gem motif for each murder. Batman and Robin save 33-year-old Wilcox from death by a Bengal tiger, since Wilcox's birthstone is the moonstone, the sacred stone of India, and then rescue 40-year-old Stubbs from murder aboard his beached yacht by a fire started from a green kerosene lamp, the color of Stubb's birthstone, the aquamarine. Afterwards, Batman calls all three men together and accuses them of Clayber's murder. They attempt to attack the heroes, but prove no match for Batman and Robin, and the police take them into custody. The three confess that Clayber had discovered their gem-smuggling ring and had blackmailed his way into his executive position, but when he got too greedy they executed a murder plan. Batman says that he deduced the identities of the murderers when noticed that "Greaves's" pants fit too short on one occasion, fit perfectly the next, and were too long on the third try. THE SECOND BATMAN AND ROBIN TEAM Alfred, trying out a new typewriter, engrosses himself in writting a story of the possible future. In this tale, Batman retires and passes on his mantle to Dick Grayson, now an adult, who becomes Batman II. Bruce Wayne, Jr., son of Bruce and Kathy Kane, the ex-Batwoman, asks to be trained as Robin II, and, over his mother's objections, succeeds. The new dynamic duo go into action against crooks holding up a televised auction, but, when Robin II tries to lasso a "Taj Mahal" spire and swing on it, he forgets the papier-mache prop cannot support him, and thus enables the crooks to escape. Batman II, Kathy and Bruce all console the downcast youngster at home. Later, Bruce, Jr. picks up a clue from Dick via scratched-out-letters on the back of a penny that takes him, as Robin II, to a mica quarry where gangster Ted Tate and the Babyface Jordan mob have holed up. Robin II manages to free Batman II, but the outnumbered pair are overcome by the crooks. However, the original Batman and Batwoman come to their aid, and the quartet of heroes mop the floor with the crooks. Back at the Batcave, everyone acknowledges that Robin II has proven his worth as a crime-fighter. Bruce Wayne comes upon Alfred at the typewriter and after Alfred explains what he has done, he admits he has had so much fun he may write a sequel sometime.