Detective Comics #361

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE DYNAMIC DUO’S DOUBLE-DEATHTRAP! In East Berlin, freedom fighters that are working against the Communist regime in that country have devised a series of specially made furniture to help facilitate the smuggling of people out of the country. However, the Communist government is not oblivious to these goings on and when discarded trick furniture is found it is taken in to be studied. Miles away in Gotham City, communist agents burst in on Eivol Ekdal, the well-known trap maker and attempt to buy his services, sending their greatest agent known as the Berlin Butcher. However, they are not the only ones seeking Ekdal's services, as a group of gangsters burst who have come to buy on of Ekdal's new traps that they can use against the Batman. Not wanting the American police to drop in on them the Communists allow Ekdal to finish his business with the mobsters before being enlisted into their services. Taking the leader of the mobsters into his lab, he offers him to set off his new trap. When the mobster does, Ekdal reveals what it does: By sealing a victim inside a unbreakable glass cage, and be bombarded with extreme heat. Any potential rescuer could then open the cage by cracking it's safe-style combination dial, however this too is a trap because as the cage is opened, it would trigger an explosion that would surely kill both the trapped victim and their rescuer. The two hope to use the device to trap Robin and trick Batman into saving the Boy Wonder thereby destroying them both.   Meanwhile, at Wayne Manor, Alfred informs Dick that one of his classmates had called. When he can't recall his friends phone number, Bruce teaches his young ward how to remember phone numbers in the future by coming up with a mnemonic device from associating numbers on the rotary phone with the letters that are next to them. When Dick remembers his friends’ number is 328-3663, he realizes that it spells out the phrase "EAT FOOD". Later while out on patrol, Batman and Robin detect an explosion and go to investigate an importing company to find a bunch of crooks trying to rob it. During the fight, Robin stumbles into Ekdal's trap, and is sealed inside the cage with heat radiation down on him. When Batman attempts to open the safe by trying to work out the combination, they realize that the numbers mnemonically spell out Eivol Ekdal and realize that there is more than one trap to this device. Deducing that the intense heat would affect the glue that is holding the cage together, Robin manages to free himself by kicking the cage open. Escaping from the death trap, the Caped Crusaders return to the Batmobile where they get a call to see Commissioner Gordon. Arriving at the GCPD Headquarters, the Dynamic Duo are introduced to Thea Albrecht, a communist freedom fighter who explains that she attempted to apprehend the Berlin Butcher when she found him in the city, however she failed when the Butcher tricked a beat cop into thinking that she was robbing them at gun point and gets her arrested. Batman assures her not to worry about the Communists that are in Gotham City, as he will handle them as he is sure that in tracking down Ekdal, he will be able to capture them as well. While at the hide out of Ekdal, the Communists have returned just as Evol has finished working on a new trick hand grenade. They have come to learn who has been making the trick furniture in East Germany to help people smuggle out of the country. They offer Ekdal $100,000 for the information. When Evol reveals that the man behind the devices is Adolph Brauner, the Communists then murder Evol and take back the money and his new hand grenade invention. About to leave the hideout so that they can return home and have Brauner executed, Batman and Robin arrive. During the fight the Berlin Butcher attempts to use the trick hand grenade, and realizes too late that it's rigged to explode whenever someone attempts to use it and is killed in the fight as well. As luck would have it, the crooks who hired Evol arrive at the hideout as well seeking to get their money back due to their deathtrap's failure. This leads to a quick fight against Batman and Robin who easily trounce the crooks. After everyone is turned over to the police, Thea Albrecht thanks Batman and Robin for their help. Later, back in their civilian guises, Bruce and Dick read a newspaper report about how more people have been smuggled out of East Germany, a feat that was made possible thanks to their help. THE CURIOUS CLUE OF THE CIRCUS CROOK!