Batman #256

Issue Details

Synopsis

CATWOMAN'S CIRCUS CAPER! Batman learns that Robin has gone to a circus to investigate the murder of a trapeze artist. In order to investigate from inside, Robin gets a job as one of the acrobats and he is almost murdered as well, but Batman appears in time to save his partner.  The heroes continue their investigation until they stumble upon Catwoman, who is planning to release the priceless white tigers from the circus' captivity. After dealing with her loyal animals, Batman manages to capture Catwoman, but he knows that she is not responsible for the murder, since her only interest was to release the tigers. Using his deductive skills, Batman finds the real killer and with Robin's help, they bring him to justice along with Catwoman.   After Dick and Bruce return to the Batcave, Batman contemplates pictures of Catwoman and Talia and reflects over the fact that the women he likes and cares about are always his enemies. DINOSAUR ISLAND! A wealthy industrialist builds a theme park that he calls Dinosaur Island. The place is filled with functional robot replicas of dinosaurs and robotic cavemen. In order to test the accuracy of a pre-historic representation, the owners of the park ask Batman and Robin to be part of a game in which they would spend 36 hours on the island and they have to survive the various dangers of the pre-historic age without aid from any of their modern equipment including the Bat-vehicles or the Utility Belt.   The Dynamic Duo accept the challenge, but a criminal takes control of the island in order to eliminate Batman and Robin, making it look like an accident. Batman and Robin's resourcefulness allows them not only to survive the required time, but also capture the infiltrated criminal who tried to kill them. IF BRUCE WAYNE HAD NOT BECOME THE BATMAN We are given glimpses into five alternate universes where Bruce Wayne was inspired to base his super-hero persona not on a bat, but on other animals and objects. Thus, we see Bruce Wayne become the Scorpion, the Stingray, the Owl, the Shooting Star and the Iron Knight. THE PENNY PLUNDERERS! Joe Coyne is a man of modest beginnings. He earns pennies peddling newspapers. He's later fired from his job for pitching pennies in the office and begins a career in crime. He fumbles his first heist by robbing a cash register stuffed with pennies. He then learns to embrace the symbol of his failure, and carves out a corner of the underworld by specializing in penny-themed crimes.   Batman eventually defeats him at the Penny Arcade, taking him to prison where he is sentenced to death. BROTHERS IN CRIME! At Wayne Manor, Batman and Robin visit their secret Hall of Trophies and they recall how they got some of them. After a quick tour, they reach Trophy No. 41, which is a bullet proof vest that saved a young man's life and they start remembering the events.   Peter Rafferty was released from the Gotham State Penitentiary, but his attempts to go straight were thwarted by the influence of his brothers, who forced him back into a life of crime. During altercations with the Batman, two of the brothers were killed as a result of wearing iron vests to protect them from bullets. Unfortunately, when Peter tried to go straight again, and saves the life of a man, he is killed by a member of his former gang. Batman was unable to save Peter, but using his own vest, Rafferty allowed a doctor to save the life of a young man. THE THOUSAND AND ONE TROPHIES OF BATMAN! While the police encounter Dr. Doom, a suspected smuggler, at Gotham Harbour, Batman discovers stolen jewels hidden within some of Dr. Doom's artifacts. Dr. Doom chooses to leap into the water rather than be caught, and he appears to drown. However, through the use of a concealed air-tube, Doom manages to survive.   Dr. Doom returns to the surface, and hides inside a sarcophagus. Batman, unaware of Doom's survival takes the sarcophagus back to the Batcave as a trophy. When Doom emerges, he finds himself trapped in the hall of trophies. With few other opportunities, he creates death traps for Batman using the other trophies within the hall. An alarm in the trophy room is tripped, and Batman and Robin rush in, but Dr. Doom stays out of sight. They survive all of the death traps, and manage to corner Dr. Doom, but he throws a grenade at them and takes cover within the sarcophagus. The heroes survive the explosion, but they are unable to save Dr. Doom before he suffocates. THE SECRET OF BATMAN ISLAND! A.K. Barnaby, one of the richest men in the world, has built a museum dedicated to his heroes, Batman and Robin, on an isle he calls Batman Island. Barnaby happens to be on the scene when Batman and Robin battle a gang of diamond thieves in Gotham City, and films it with his hand-held camera for posterity. Two members of the gang, keeping watch, notice Barnaby and prepare to take action of their own. Batman and Robin bring in part of the gang, but the evidence of their theft - the diamonds - have disappeared, rendering their conviction impossible.   The gang members trail Barnaby to Batman Island, where he discovers them on a television monitor. Barnaby activates his own Bat-Signal, drawing Batman and Robin to the island. A battle between the dynamic duo and the thieves ensues, amidst the memorabilia of Batman's career collected by Barnaby. Batman fakes his death a second time around in False Face's tank-trap, even when one of the crooks is duped into riddling his empty cowl with bullets, and manages to save Robin and corral two members of the gang minutes later.   When the film is shown, it reveals the hoods in the robbery dropping the diamonds into a open tank-truck, and, as the boss of the gang explains when he bursts into the scene with a drawn gun, it also proves that the truck company has been collaborating with the gang. Barnaby saves the day by switching off the projector, plunging the room into darkness, and drawing the boss's fire with a Batman statue. The real Batman takes out the gang-boss, and later suggests that Barnaby remember his part in the caper by making a statue of himself. Smiling, Barnaby considers doing just that.