Batman #199

Issue Details

Synopsis

PERIL OF THE POISON RINGS! Batman and Robin are on patrol when they spot a Gotham TV repair truck that has the wrong kind of license plate. Finding this suspicious, the Dynamic Duo follow it to the home of the wealthy William Norwood, to find that the truck has been driven by crooks who purposely wrecked Norwood's television antenna to be let onto his property in order to rob it. The Caped Crusaders fight off the crooks, knocking them out. However when Norwood revives he tells them that there were four crooks, not three, making Batman and Robin realize that one of the criminals had escaped. As it turns out the escaped crook, and mastermind of the plot is Rembrandt Dickens, the writer/artist of comic books based on Batman, Superman and other heroes. He has been studying these heroes exploits and drawing comics so long that it has inspired him to become a criminal mastermind himself. His newest gimmick is using rings tipped with a poisonous ink, hoping to use it to eliminate Batman and Robin and prevent their further meddling in his plans. Meanwhile, Batman and Robin are continuing their patrol when suddenly every burglar alarm in the area suddenly goes off. Getting a call from Commissioner Gordon on the Batphone, Batman learns this that all the burglar alarms in a three mile radius has gone off. Learning that the center point is the Gotham City House of Clay, Batman and Robin decide to look there to see if there is any trouble. Sure enough they find a group of Rembrandt's men robbing the place. During the fight, Batman gets scratched on the face by one of Dickens' rings. Before turning the crooks over to the police, one of the thugs blurts out that Batman is poisoned and will die within hours thanks to the poison ink that he's been subjected to. Going to a doctor, Batman learns that this is in the truth and the doctor begins working on an antidote. Batman meanwhile realizes that this entire caper is almost an exact mirror to a story that's been published in the most recent issue of the Batman comic book. Knowing that Commissioner Gordon had a copy in his office, Batman and Robin go there to learn that Gordon had given it away to someone. The Dynamic Duo search newsstands all across the city trying to find a copy of the most recent issue of Batman only to find that it has been sold out everywhere. However, much to Batman's relief, Robin manages to secure a copy. Examining the latest issue, they find that it is loaded with details of the Norwood robbery that only someone who was at the scene of the crime could have known. They then storm the home of Rembrandt Dickens and easily knock him out, searching his home Batman finds the antidote and cures himself of the poison. Later, while browsing through the latest issue of Batman, Robin muses how Rembrandt, like so many before him was foiled by Batman and Robin. SEVEN STEPS TO SAVE FACE! When Batman and Robin attempt to stop a robbery of Southley's Art Gallery, Robin is seemingly knocked out in the fight, causing Batman to pause to check on the Boy Wonder while the crooks make their escape. Returning to the Batcave, Batman finds to his surprise that the boy he's taken home is not Robin at all, but a criminal midget named Eddie. Eddie then unmasks Batman, revealing that he is Bruce Wayne. Eddie explains that during the fight he knocked out Robin and took his place as part of a plot to try and blackmail money out of Batman in order to keep his secret identity under wraps. He then informs Batman that he's been wired with a transmitter and reports back to the crooks that Batman is really Bruce Wayne. Instead, Batman knocks out Eddie, drops his unconscious body back at the Southley's Art Gallery, and then uses the tracking devices in the Batmobile to track the transmission from Eddie's radio back to the crook's hideout. There, Batman easily knocks out the crooks. Finding Robin unmasked and unharmed, he asks the Boy Wonder if the crooks had learned that he is really Dick Grayson. To Batman's relief, Robin explains that while he was in the trunk of the crooks car, he used a make-up kit in his utility belt to alter his appearance. When Robin asks how Batman has managed to preserve his secret identity, he shows Robin by returning to Southley's. There Eddie has just came around, and Batman tells the midget that he was knocked out during the fight and must have hallucinated the whole experience of discovering that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Unconvinced, Eddie tries to confirm with the other captured crooks that they heard his radio transmission. Unfortunately for Eddie, his transmitter although functioning properly, didn't transmit the information to the crooks. What Eddie doesn't know that Batman had since installed a jamming device in the Batcave following his last close call when crooks planted a bug on Batgirl in an attempt to learn his secret identity. With Eddie's claims discredited, Batman's secret identity is still safe. OPERATION 'ESCAPE'! This story is reprinted from Star-Spangled Comics #124.