Batman and Robin #16

Issue Details

Synopsis

CAST A GIANT SHADOW In the bowels of the Gotham Zoo, Robin is upset to discover that his father, the Batman has been affected by Joker Venom and is set to attack him. Even so, Robin refuses to fight, sure that he can break through the Joker's power of suggestion. The Joker warns, however, that the only way to escape is to kill Batman.   Remembering the words of Sun Tsu, Robin chooses to impose his will on his opponent, rather than let his enemy's will to be imposed on him. Using a Batarang, he activates a switch, opening a hole in the floor, and allowing himself an escape route.   Joker and Batman follow, as Robin makes his way toward the polar bear moat. He is knocked into the icy water by Batman, while the Joker watches through the viewing glass below. They battle their way out of the water, and back onto the shore, where Robin decides at last that if he cannot talk sense into his father, he will beat it into him.   With the Joker's toxin affecting him as well, Damian weakens, and when Batman rises, raising a massive icicle over his head to crush his son, Robin decides to simply give up. He would rather die by his father's hand than kill his father himself.   Hearing this, the Joker activates a failsafe that kills Batman. In tears, Robin falls to his knees. Grumpily, the Joker explains that Robin was supposed to kill the Batman, not the other way around. Angrily, Robin grabs one of the screwdrivers from Joker's tool belt, and stabs it into the madman's foot. This has no apparent effect, and laughing, the Joker draws a mustache on Robin's face using the bloodstains on the screwdriver. He unmasks the Batman, revealing that it was an imposter all along; Toshiro Matsu, a dojo master who owed too many favors.   Affected strongly by the toxin, Robin allows himself to be guided as the Joker explains that the time is coming soon for things to return to the way they should be, the Batman should rule his kingdom without any princes or princesses. There will come a clearing away of the skeletons in the Bat-family's closets, and to start, he has a surprise for them all hiding under the lid of a dinner platter.