Detective Comics #489

Issue Details

Synopsis

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT Certain night while out on patrol, Batman's Batrope is cut by something that looks like a bat. When he lands on the ground, he listens to a woman screaming and he goes to investigate. The woman is a hooker and she screamed because her friend had been killed by a vampire. When Batman investigates the crime scene, he is shoved aside by Moon the Mystic, a notorious magician that claims is hunting for the vampire creature along with his servant Ivorn.  The next night, Batman patrols the same area and he is nearby when the "vampire" stikes again. Batman watches as the creature enters a building, but only Moon comes out, saying that the vampire escaped. When Batman goes into the building, he finds Ivorn inside and suspects that Moon and Ivorn are not being truthful.   Afterwards, Bruce goes disguised as Matches Malone to one of Moon's performances and deduces that he is using some of the same tricks to murder people. At night, Batman stops Moon from attacking another woman and takes off his vampire mask. As soon as the mask is removed, Moon returns to his normal attitude and claims that he is hunting for the vampire. It is then that Ivorn shows up and explains that Moon has a multiple personality disorder and he believes that he is a vampire. Ivorn explains that Moon's mental breakdown happened after he learned that his assistant was a real vampire. Filled with regret for having caused so much damage to his only true friend, Ivorn transforms into a bat and flies towards the rising sun and disappears. The people who witnessed the scene are shocked, but Batman knows that everything is just a well played hypnotic illusion. WHEN THE INMATES RUN THE MADHOUSE! A riot takes place at the Gotham State Penitentiary and the inmates take control of the building. The warden is forced to call Commissioner Gordon, because he is the only person that the inmates are willing to talk in order to make a deal.   Commissioner Gordon enters the prison to negotiate with the leaders of the rioting cons, unaware that it is all part of an elaborate trap by a criminal who holds a grudge against him for something that happened many years ago. When Gordon realizes the danger of the situation, he disarms his opponents and runs to the main board room, where the cells are controlled. Gordon manages to trick the leader of the criminals to tell everyone to go into their cells before he shuts the cells. Gordon is then free to confront the leader and he defeats the crook, although with some difficulty. After the situation is under control, Gordon contacts the warden and tells him that the prison is safe again. THE MIND WARP MYSTERY Batgirl and Robin are both in Gotham and they assist the police when a man suddenly falls from a building. Unable to capture the criminal, Batgirl finds the only witness and she takes her to the GCPD Headquarters. The police connect the murder with a drug smuggling ring, but the witness can't remember the face of the criminal. Robin then remembers that a professor at Hudson University has developed a serum that can restore and improve people's memories and they decide to take the man to New Carthage.   The whole operation is supposed to be secret, but somehow the criminals have been alerted about the attempt of recovering the man's memory with artificial methods. Hastening the process, the witness is taken to Professor Theel's laboratory, but his assistant arrives late and out of breath. When they use the serum on the witness, the man dies before revealing the truth and Theel's reputation is soiled.   A while later, Robin spots a Bat-Signal close to New Carthage and he goes to the source only to meet Commissioner Gordon. The chief of police was hoping that Batgirl would answer the signal as she went missing a little over a week ago. Gordon then reveals Batgirl's secret identity to Robin, who already knew about it, hoping that the Teen Wonder could locate his missing daughter.   Doing some detective work, Robin finds Barbara and realizes that she has lost her memory and doesn't even remember her own identity as Batgirl. Robin gives her the Batgirl suit and she starts recovering her memory. She then tells Robin that she is supposed to meet with a man and Robin goes to the meeting place. There, he finds Theel waiting for Barbara and Robin interrogates him about the whole affair. Theel explains that after the incident with Gordon and the witness, his career was ruined and in revenge, he used a drug to manipulate Barbara and then proceeded to erase her memory, but he kept back-up recordings of her revealing all her information including her secret identity as Batgirl and the secret identities of Batman and Robin.   Theel explains that he needed money and so he proceeded to offer the knowledge of the heroes' identities in exchange for cash, but he has never given away the secret yet. Robin forces the man to reveal the location of Barbara's memories and afterwards, Robin tells Theel that the reason the witness died in the process was because his assistant, who is part of the criminals, poisoned the serum to prevent the man from remembering the killer's face.   Theel, Batgirl and Robin go to the assistant's place and after a short confrontation, Robin captures the crook. Unfortunately, a stray bullet kills Theel and all the heroes' secrets remain that way. Finally, Robin retrieves Barbara's tape recordings of her memories and he starts the procedure to make her remember everything. Once Barbara has regained almost all her memories, the last tape remaining is that which contains the secret identities of Batman and Robin. The Teen Wonder tells Barbara that he doesn't like the idea of her having that knowledge, but that it is not for him to decide what to do with her own memories. As Robin leaves Barbara, she decides to burn the last tape recording, choosing to forget the secret identities of the Dynamic Duo. COMPUTER CRISIS On monitor duty in the JLA satellite, the Atom is attacked by a horde of tiny Dharlus living in the JLA computer. THE BOGUS BUTLERS While arranging some of the past cases of Batman, Alfred is surprised to see a man that resembles himself in a photo where Batman is apparently taking him to prison as part of a large criminal organization that pose as butlers.   Alfred decides to investigate the mystery and he goes to the place where "Alfred" was captured. There he is recognized by the criminals, who he had never met before, but he plays along and arranges a meeting in one of Bruce Wayne's apartments in New York City. During the appointment, the thugs turn against Alfred, when suddenly a second Alfred comes into the room. The two Alfreds attack the criminals and round them up for the authorities. In the aftermath, Alfred reveals that the second Alfred is in fact Dick Grayson, disguised as him, much like the stunt he pulled with Batman to lure the gang out of their hideout. WHERE STRIKE THE ASSASSINS Under the instructions of the Sensei, a couple of members of the League of Assassins attempt to murder Bronze Tiger, who is still recovering at a hospital after his last encounter with the League. Tiger is saved by Batman, who arrives in time to stop the killers and then he interrogates Tiger about the murder of Kathy Kane. Tiger doesn't remember anything and Batman has to continue the hunt for the League without much clues.   The next clue that Batman finds, points him towards an amusement park that the League is using as their hideout. Batman goes undercover and finds the secret location of the League's headquarters. He proceeds to fight and capture most of the criminals, but the elusive Sensei escapes when Batman is drawn to stop one of the assassins from killing an innocent man in the Ferris wheel.   Knowing that he had the chance to stop the leader of the League and missed only by chance, Batman is confident that the next encounter will be the last and he will put an end to the Sensei's reign of terror.