Batman Streets of Gotham #7

Issue Details

Synopsis

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER It's Christmas Eve and snow is falling hard as Batman and Robin pull two police officers from their exploding car. When asked what happened, one officer reports they were sideswiped and "rammed off the road" by the man in red who goes "ho, ho, ho". Santa also, it seems, took some used toys the officers were taking to police volunteers to repair and then give to underprivileged children. In another part of Gotham, Humpty Dumpty is finishing a repair to his car/sleigh/snowplow so he can get the toys he stole to the children back at the Rainbow House Shelter. A man named Abuse arrives and asks Humpty if he knows anything about some missing kids. Fearful he will be found out, Humpty strikes Abuse with a tire iron and drives off, fleeing to the children's shelter. Once there, Humpty begins placing a repaired toy in bed with each child before Batman and Robin show up. As Batman questions Humpty, Robin notices something strange about the children. Even with the lights on and all three talking, none of the children have woken up or made a sound. Looking under the covers, Robin discovers the kids are all dead. Enraged, Robin asks Humpty if he killed all the children. Humpty tells him no, that he found them "near the river" as they floated up to him. Sad the children had died so close to Christmas, Humpty said he wanted to give them a holiday of some sort. From outside, Abuse watches the exchange between Batman and Humpty. Stating he knew some of the dead children, Abuse leaves and enters a church. Inside the church a nun asks a young boy named Colin if he saw a strange man recently enter. The boy states he did not and that he has been in his room all night. But inside the room is shown the hat, coat, and ring Abuse wears. Elsewhere, at a site recently acquired by Mr. Zsasz, children are being forced to compete in gladiator style fights, with the losers being killed and the winners moving on to the next challenger. All this is leading up to a final round between the children's winner and Zsasz himself. FACE OFF