Detective Comics #439

Issue Details

Synopsis

NIGHT OF THE STALKER! One night in Gotham City, as Batman prowls the city, he witnesses a couple being shot down in front of their child. This event causes him to flashback to the tragic night in which he lost his parents. Batman descends upon one of the killers in the crime scene, capturing him immediately, but the three remaining crooks manage get away. Batman gives them chase across the city until they reach the outskirts of the city, when the crooks finally realize they're being chased by the Dark Knight.  The criminals stop their vehicle and they shoot at Batman, which makes no harm to the dark vigilante. One of them decides to confront Batman, despite his extreme fear of the creature of the night. The struggle ends when both men fall from a cliff to their apparent demise. The two remaining crooks decide to retreat to their hideout in the woods, believing that both their accomplice and Batman are dead. However, Batman has managed to get a hold of a branch and stopped their fall. Leaving the criminal that attacked him unconscious, Batman continues his manhunt for the two remaining criminals.   Moments later, Batman finds the shack in the middle of the woods in which the criminals are hiding and he breaks inside, scaring both crooks. One of the criminals tries to run away and Batman chases him down to a pond, where they fight for a brief moment until the crook gets the upper hand in the fight and tries to make Batman drown underwater, apparently achieving victory. As the criminal starts celebrating his victory over Batman, the Dark Knight grabs him from his clothes, pulling him downwards and then knocking the criminal. Finally, Batman is confronted by the last of the criminals, but the man is unable to fight or even face Batman, who soon realizes that the man is barely an adult and is truthfully remorseful for the crime he committed. As the sirens of the police cars announce their arrival, Batman decides to leave the last criminal to face justice at the hands of the law and not punishment at his own hands.   Afterwards, Bruce Wayne arrives at his penthouse in the Wayne Foundation building and for a moment, the entity of fear and justice recalls the night when he was just a helpless child, left alone in the world. THE RIDDLE OF THE CLOWN THE GOLD-HUNTERS OF '49! Once more visiting his colleague Alpheus Hyatt who is once more testing his Time Pool. When Hyatt is otherwise engrossed in his work, Ray sneaks away to change into the Atom and sneak into the Time Pool once more. The Atom finds himself transported to Baltimore in the year of 1849 and is witness to a gold robbery.   He secretly helps a public carrier in clearing his name, the carrier calls in his old friend, writer Edgar Allan Poe to help solve the mystery. During the course of the adventure, it's learned that the gold was never delivered to the horse carriage that carried it. An elaborate hoax perpetrated by the shipping company who gave a false trunk instead of the one filled with gold.   After everything is sorted out, the Atom returns to his own time, taking a railroad schedule off a tack to leave for Alpheus Hyatt the next day. THE LEOPARD GIRL Inza is one of many guests at the mansion of Sarkiss, where she meets Helen, whose skin is slowly becoming spotted, similar to that of a leopard. Intrigued by this, Inza summons Doctor Fate, who arrives at the place and prevents the leopard girl from attacking Inza.   Fate starts investigating and finds that Sarkiss has been drugging Helen in order to turn her skin into that of a leopard. Exposing the hoax, Doctor Fate reveals the truth to Inza, who is still skeptic about the whole situation. In order to prove her that there are no such things a supernatural beings, Doctor Fate removes his helmet and reveals himself as a man to Inza, who is shocked at this development. BATMAN'S BEWITCHED NIGHTMARE! An apparent witch has appeared in Gotham City and is attempting to impede Batman's crusade against crime by helping out crooks that Batman and Robin are trying to stop. With each encounter with the witch, she robs them of their 5 senses if only temporarily. Chasing a gang to a local farm, Batman is turned into a scarecrow, until Robin is able to knock the witch off her broomstick and take possession of it himself, thereby canceling out the spell on Batman.   While Batman rounds up the crooks, Robin defeats the Witch and the dynamic duo then turns them over to the police. Placing the witch's broom in their trophy room, it suddenly starts giving off a recorded message from the Outsider, who vows that he will strike against Batman and Robin, very soon. THE TANTALIZING TROUBLES OF TRIPOD THIEVES! Certain day, Elongated Man comes across a couple of crooks who are taken flying across the city by some unknown force. Elongated Man tries to take them down, but the force is stronger than him, making it impossible for him to take the criminals, although they dropped the stolen loot in the process.   The crooks are then taken to a prop-shop, where Zatanna has dragged them in order to retrieve the Golden Ting Tripod the crooks stole. With the item. Zatanna expects to find her missing father, the great magician, Zatara. Unfortunately, Zatanna is ambushed by the owner of the prop-shop, who is a criminal using his shop as a front for his fencing activities.   Elongated Man tracks down the criminals to the prop-shop and he learns of Zatanna's trouble. Together, Elongated Man and Zatanna work together to stop the criminals and in the process, Zatanna gets hold of the magic book of I Ching, which combined with the Golden Tripod, will take her to the dark dimension where Zatara is locked. Elongated Man offers his assistance, but he is turned down as Zatanna explains only magical beings could enter the dark dimension.   Afterwards, Ralph returns home with the jewels as a present for Sue. THE EVIL THAT MEN DO LIVES AFTER THEM! THE RESURRECTION OF PAUL KIRK Christine St. Clair catches up to Manhunter and learns of his origin. He tells her of the existence of a mysterious group called the Council which brought him back to life through cloning. When he finishes his story, they see her boss coming up to them with a gun. It's been revealed that he is secretly working for the Council, and Manhunter kills him.