Detective Comics #438

Issue Details

Synopsis

A MONSTER WALKS WAYNE MANOR! Batman is about to capture a gang of smugglers when he is informed about a random act of vandalism in the abandoned Wayne Manor. Batman considers going to the place and assist the police in the investigation, but Alfred vonlunteers to go instead, allowing Batman to go after the smugglers. Unfortunately, Batman fails to capture the criminals and upon his return to the Wayne Foundation Penthouse, he realizes that the Gotham City Police Department has been trying to reach Bruce Wayne for hours. Bruce finally meets with Commissioner Gordon, who informs him that Alfred was almost killed at Wayne Manor.  On his way to the abandoned place, the police inform Bruce about the events. The first time it was reported about vandalism in the place, was when some kids decided to break into Wayne Manor's grounds and they spotted a big piece of furniture coming out from one of the windows of the house. The second report was when the body of a man was found dead in the Manor's grounds. Finally, there is Alfred's statement, in which he explains that he arrived at Wayne Manor and noticed a path of destruction in the staircase leading to the rooftop. As he reached the final door to the roof, Alfred spotted a big man tossing the corpse of the man who was found earlier to the grounds and when the attacker turned around, Alfred was shocked at the gruesome sight and claimed that it was no man, but it was a monster. Some time later, the police found Alfred's body near the staircase, badly injured, but as he was taken to medical care, he was saved and he would recover eventually.  At their arrival at Wayne Manor, Bruce meets Dr. Strang, an expert in occult and monsters, who wants to investigate the mysterious events without police interference. Bruce allows the man to proceed and the Police is forced to stay outside the place. Bruce and Strang go inside Wayne Manor and they reach one of the main rooms, before Strang closes the door behind him. The strange doctor then uses a gas capsule against Bruce, which causes him to fall unconscious. With Bruce out of action, Strang starts summoning the "monster" so it could claim the life of Bruce Wayne. At that moment, the "monster" becomes aware of the disturbance and starts walking out of the Batcave into Wayne Manor.  However, Dr. Strang is shocked to see that Bruce Wayne has disappeared and in his place is the fantastic figure of Batman. The Dark Knight explains that he had removed Bruce Wayne, but in reality, he just pretended to be knocked unconscious, as he didn't inhale any of the gas. Batman then interrogates Strang, who finally reveals the truth. His real name is Dr. Varnov and he was a scientist from Switzerland. His work place was nearby the mountains that where used by Ra's al Ghul as hideout and he was present shortly after Ra's encounter with Batman.[1] Varnov witnessed how the whole place exploded, leaving only ashes behind and a short time after the explosion, Varnov and his team spotted a man coming down from the ruins of the place. They soon discovered that the man's identity was that of Ra's servant, Ubu and they noticed that his skin was grotesquely disfigured and there was a green glow to his body. Ubu could only mutter some words about the Lazarus Pit and Varnov deduced that the myth about Ra's had to be real since Ubu was clearly affected and exposed to the Lazarus chemical. Varnov experimented on Ubu in order to learn the secret of immortality granted by the Lazarus Pit, but someday, Ubu escaped, forcing Varnov and his team to follow him to the US. Varnov is still confused as to why Ubu travelled from Europe to America in order to reach Wayne Manor, but Batman knows that Ubu learned his secret identity from his master, Ra's al Ghul and is now seeking revenge against both Batman and Bruce Wayne.   At that moment, Ubu appears and with his brute strength, he attacks Batman, seeking to choke him to death. Batman fights back and he kicks Ubu, causing the juggernaut to fall down a staircase and impale himself on a splintered railing left as a result on the vicious attack on Alfred. Varnov regrets the loss of Ubu's body, but he still holds the idea of investigating the corpse. As a result, Batman knocks the mad scientist and takes him and out of Wayne Manor so the police can finish their work. WORLD OF THE MAGIC ATOM! Biff Barker and his gang are scoping out the security of the Ivy Town National Trust Bank, wondering how they are ever going to break through it's security. Much to their surprise, when Biff rests his hand on the front door, his hand somehow passes right through it. Even more surprising is that Biff somehow is able to walk right through the solid steel door. Letting his boys in, the goons then try to do the same with the safe, however nothing happens until Biff tries to kick it and his foot passes through it as well. Once more passing through a seemingly solid obstacle, Biff allows his men entrance into the bank vault where they steal some $300,000.   The following day while driving through town, Ray Palmer listens to a radio report about how the thieves managed to rob the supposedly impenetrable bank, only setting off the alarms when they left and decides to investigate as the Atom. Arriving at the police station via telephone, the Atom learns of the situation from the police. Suddenly, the Atom gets a mental image of where the crooks are hiding out, and even though he has no idea how he knows where they are decides to go and investigate. Sure enough, his premonition proves to be correct and he easily manages to defeat the crooks. Although during the fight, the Atom decides that the constant size and weight changing in battle using the control device on his belt is becoming too cumbersome and decides to do something about it. Returning to his lab, the Atom reworks the control devices on his costume and builds them into his gloves, allowing for him to adjust his height and weight by closing his fists in a specific way.   While puzzling out how he managed to learn where the crooks were hiding out, he is interrupted by a telephone call. The woman on the other end of the line explains that she used her magic skills to not only help Biff Barker and his gang rob the bank but also led the Atom to their location. The girl suddenly appears before him in a puff of smoke and reveals herself to be Zatanna the daughter of Zatara the great magician. Knowing of her quest to find her father from his friend Hawkman, he agrees to hear her out. Zatanna tells Ray that she had recently uncovered a book which contains a sub-atomic world that she believes her father may be trapped in. Ray agrees to help her out as the Atom, but explains that he is the only being that can use the white dwarf star material to change sizes without lethally exploding after being restored to normal. Accepting whatever risks that may follow, Ray and Zatanna construct a duplicate costume for her out of the white dwarf star material. The two then shrink down to size on the book and travel to the sub-atomic realm where Zatara may be located.   They find that this sub-atomic world is governed by magic, and when they come across one of the people who live in this realm, tells them that the only person who can answer their questions is a man that lives on the Red Hill of Tara. The two heroes head toward this castle, unaware that the ruler of this land, a man named the Druid is evil and has less than noble intentions for the two visitors.   Tipped off on Zatanna and Atom's arrival, the Druid recalls how he had previously clashed with Zatanna's father, and during their battle the Druid came across energy beings comprised of magic that he absorbed to increase his powers. He then overpowered Zatara and banished him from his realm. Now with his hated enemy's daughter coming to him now, he can do the same to her as he did to Zatara. He attacks the two heroes using magic to create a winged serpent from a cup. However, the Atom manages to destroy the creature when he smashes the cup which was the inspiration for it's creation. When Zatanna attempts to attack the Druid directly with her magical powers, she is easily defeated when the Druid manages to absorb these abilities weakening her to the point where she cannot fight back.   The Atom, his powers derived by science, manages to gain the upper hand against the Druid, landing a surprise blow to the face. However the Druid regains his facilities long enough to cast fire mystical spheres at the Atom, prompting him to flee the scene. Trying to find a way around these spheres, the Atom travels through a crack in the wall onto an adjacent shelf. There he accidentally knocks over an object that once crashing on the ground turns into one of the energy beings that the Druid had captured. Freeing the others, the magic creatures give Atom the key to defeating the Druid.   Returning to Zatanna, the Atom tells her to use a simple card trick on the Druid, making it seem that it is a real magical attack. When the Druid tries to absorb the non-existent magic, he is put in a state of suspended animation. Finding that Zatara is not in this realm, and unable to get answers from the now inert Druid, the duo decide to return to Earth. Along the way the Atom is horrified when Zatanna suddenly explodes, much as the Atom predicted. However, when he returns to Earth, he finds her alive and well, Zatanna having used her magics to save herself. Zatanna tells the Atom that she is going to depart Ivy Town to continue searching for her father, perhaps seeking the aid of his fellow members of the Justice League along the way. They part company with the Atom wishing her the best of luck. THE MAN WHO MOVED THE WORLD! Working late into the night examining an ancient shield that has no historical background, Carter Hall is surprised when three animal headed creatures appear in the museum to steal the very item he's researching. The creatures manage to get away with the shield thanks to their high tech weapons.   The next day as Carter tells Shiera about the incident, the planet suddenly loses all gravity. Believing that it must be the strange creatures he encountered, the two decide to go out as Hawkman and Hawkgirl to the only lead they have in this strange case: The original site where the shield was found.   Sure enough, the creatures, a species of animal people that predated humans, are at this location using the shield to power a device to move the Earth into a more suitable distance from the sun so that they may survive on Earth and reclaim their dominance. It's soon getting to the point where the process will not be able to be reversed.   During the fight, the creatures are defeated however they ultimately believe that they have the upper hand as the planet had shifted beyond the point of no return. However, Hawkman is still able to reverse the planets shifting position. He then points out to the aliens the one flaw they had in their plan: They got humans time measurement system confused with their own. GOTHAM GANG LINE-UP! One day while cleaning the Batcave, Alfred overhears a recorded message on the Batphone by Commissioner Gordon that the Tri-State Gang is in Gotham City. Knowing that Paul Pardee is the possible leader of the gang, Alfred decides to go out and do some investigation for Batman so that they have more leads upon the caped crusaders' return.   However, Alfred gets himself captured by the Tri-State Gang, and when Batman and Robin return to the Batcave, they find Alfred's notes and go looking for him. Finding the gang's hide out, they manage to get inside only to be gassed by a chemical that paralyzes. They're then put on a mock police line up where the crooks "finger" Batman and Robin for stopping them on previous criminal ventures, and they are "sentenced" to be executed.   Batman, Robin, and Alfred manage to escape from their cells, although when they go to save each other, each thinks the other to already have been executed, and goes after the Tri-State Gang to get revenge. Batman and Robin drive to Colonial City to stop the gang from retrieving hidden loot from a site to be excavated for construction. As Batman and Robin try to stop them, a boulder is dropped from a construction vehicle. However, Alfred arrives on a motorcycle and pushes them out of the way, causing the Boulder to fall on him instead.   Batman and Robin then round up the crooks, and later when they return home and resume their civilian guises. Bruce makes a promise to honor Alfred's sacrifice by starting the Alfred Foundation and soon they are visited by Dick's Aunt Harriet who has arrived to look after Bruce and Dick after hearing that Alfred was killed in a tragic accident. The caped crusaders now begin to wonder how they'll be able to maintain their secret identities with Aunt Harriet hanging around. THE HOUSE THAT FOUGHT GREEN LANTERN! When chasing after some robbers, one of the crooks ends up in the old Corliss house, which is reputed to be haunted. Losing track of the crook in the house, Green Lantern puts up with a number of "supernatural" traps (really booby traps setup by the crook) before getting fed up and lifting the house off its foundation and swinging it around until the dizzy crook inside surrenders himself and the stolen loot to Green Lantern, who turns both over to the police. THE MANHUNTER FILE Christine St. Clair learns more about the mysterious Manhunter from her Interpol boss, Damon Nostrand, and gets the assignment to find him.