Batman #626

Issue Details

Synopsis

AS THE CROW FLIES PART 1 - VISIONS Batman goes after Big Tommy A, a mob hitman who appears to be high on some hallucinogenic drug. He evades Batman and falls from the window of a high-rise building. Robin is sent into the morgue disguised as a female medical student as part of the investigation. He protests to Alfred that while he wanted more practical experience in working with disguises, he hadn't anticipated taking the part of a woman. Alfred claims that had Tim portrayed a male, he would have looked too young to be a medical student--and a 'Doogie Howser' type would have attracted far too much attention. Tim feels he's attracting quite enough attention as it is, and proceeds to retrieve the required blood and tissue samples from Tommy's body. Meanwhile Ruben DeSoto, a club owner, turns down a demand for increased protection money. Even when warned that Tommy A had come to a sticky end after giving a similar response, DeSoto refuses to pay any more. A short time later Batman responds to a 911 call to find that DeSoto has also freaked out. He deploys an electrified net in an attempt to subdue the man, but it has little effect and Batman is forced to resort to hand-to-hand combat. However DeSoto collapses with heart failure, leaving Batman wondering who is behind it all. The mobsters report back to their boss, the Penguin, who bawls them out for failing to collect the protection money they were after: they were only supposed to scare the men, but both went insane and died. They protest that they followed instructions by using a rubber glove to transfer some powder onto the victims' skin. However Penguin realises that they forgot to wet the glove first, resulting in the men being given a concentrated dose of the powder, enough for fifty men. He vows that they will do better next time and his partner, the Scarecrow, agrees.