Detective Comics #5

Issue Details

Synopsis

WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE From the rooftops, Batman observes the growing crowd of protesters dressed up in clown costumes. They believe that he killed the Joker, skinning him alive. They want to know that he's still alive - and so does Batman.  Nearby, Batman is tracking thug Axel Bellamy, and has been for the last three days. He was recently fingered as having hijacked a vehicle from the National Institute of Health that was transporting hazardous chemicals. Tonight, Bellamy is meeting with a Russian mobster named Boris Gorky. Before their deal can take place, an assailant dressed in a clown costume silently murders Axel, Gorky, and their men. Batman enters the fray, finding that the assassin is a master of Jiu-jitsu. In order to escape, the man sprays acid onto Batman's cowl and makes a run for it. Fortunately, the cowl can withstand the acid's corrosion.   Batman gives chase, quickly becoming swamped in the mass of protesters. When they begin to take notice of him, they think he is a counter-protester dressed in a Batman costume, and swarm him, shouting "Down with Batman!" over and over. With little other option if he wants to catch up to the killer, Batman is forced to start hurting the protesters. He manages to break free in time to see the killer escaping on a motorboat. On the ground, he finds the discarded mask and jacket of the killer, along with a single chip from the Iceberg Casino.   Elsewhere, up the harbor, a man called Mosaic waits in his limousine for somebody to appear. Finally someone knocks on his window, and presents a briefcase. Mosaic doesn't feel that there's enough money in it, but when he finds a gun to his head he comes through on his part of the deal. He passes a special VIP card for the Iceberg Casino to the individual, and then finds himself watching as the limousine drives off without him.   On a yacht outside the Iceberg Casino, Charlotte Rivers arrives to meet Hugh Marder, who assures her that Bruce Wayne's absence is surely just a scheduling conflict. Actually, Charlotte is glad of Bruce's absence, because it gives her an opportunity to do some under cover research. She dresses in the garb of an employee at the Casino, and prepares to go out.   Unbeknownst to Charlotte, she is already under surveillance by the Penguin. He orders that his hench-woman Lark assure that Ms. Rivers get a story to die for. RUSSIAN ROULETTE Eli Strange has not made his father proud in some time, having recently reappeared after nearly sixteen years without speaking. Tonight doesn't help matters, as he prepares to enter a poker game with a mobster known as the Mad Russian.   Eli talks his way in with a diamond pet-collar, which he uses to get two-hundred-thousand dollars worth of chips - unexpectedly high. Despite his apparent nervousness, Eli cleans up, winning nearly all of the chips away from the other thugs. As he prepares to leave with his winnings, a large bruiser forcefully suggests that he let the host try to make his winnings back.   Rather than play another hand, the Mad Russian grips Eli's wrist and discovers that he had been cheating with a special device. Meanwhile, one of the Mad Russians' men reveals that the diamond collar was a fake because he found the real one in a car outside. Additionally, they have been robbed of all of their cash. In its place is a small cat idol with a note attached saying "Gotcha."   Moments later, Catwoman appears, announcing that the money they had been playing with now belongs to her. When they pull guns, she lashes out with claws and kicks that draw a lot of blood. With the thugs thus dispatched, Catwoman advises Eli to return to his father and safety. She suggests he leave before he has to see what she intends to do to the thugs next.   As Eli runs home, his father, Hugo Strange watches through a surveillance camera, and decides that he should take an interest in his son's future.