Issue Description

Batman recovers from his encounter with the drugged killer from last issue. Batman seeks to discover the secrets of Casebook X. Plus it is revealed what happened to Talia and Damien.

After being attacked by the hulking Bane/Batman, a battered Batman lies face down in his own blood and vomit. He tries to get up but can't muster enough strength to stay standing. Luckily, some of the prostitutes that Batman had stood up for earlier that night (see last issue) showed up and one decided to help. She puts him in her car and starts driving. Along the way, Batman wakes up and tells the woman to an escape tunnel in another part of Gotham. The tunnel actually has an entrance to one of Wayne's buildings, so after he gets dropped off, he takes an elevator to the penthouse, calls Alfred, and passes out.

While he's sleeping, Bruce has a nightmare of his son Damien in front of three twisted versions of himself. Two are versions he's encountered, the gun-wielding Batman and the over-muscled Bane version, and the third is new, but hidden in shadow. Bruce wakes up screaming and finds his wounds bandaged and Alfred and Tim waiting at his bedside. Bruce fills them in on what happened. He said that the Batman he fought looked like Bane, like he was designed to trigger his fear of having his back broken again. Alfred informs him that his spinal brace had been shattered but his back was intact. Tim decides to go after the impostor but Bruce tells him not to because the man is hopped up on Monster Serum and Venom. He goes anyway.

Bruce tells Alfred to get The Black Casebook, a file of all the strange and unexplainable things that Batman had come across over the years. Things like vampires, aliens and time travel. Batman wants it so he can look up a vision he once had, one where he saw the three versions of himself. The third version, the one he had yet to come across, had sold his soul to the devil and destroyed Gotham. At the time, he had thought them to be nothing more than hallucinations warning him of what he might have (or might still) become. Now he thought there was something more.

Getting out of bed, Bruce says he's going after the hulking Batman. He rubs a shirt he wore while going off on shareholders in the boardroom the day before and says that the one thing alpha males are programmed to respect is alpha male plus.

Robin arrives in the slums where the Bane/Batman stays and abuses his women just as the monster is leaving. He drives his motorcycle right at the man and tries to take him down with fancy moves and garbage can lids. He avoids the big man's grasp for a while but eventually gets caught. He's about to be slammed into the ground when the Batmobile pulls up and slams into the fake Batman. The real Bats shoots out of the car in a emergency eject seat and grabs Robin on the way up. From the seat he shoots rockets at the enemy and makes his car electrocute him. When they land, Batman tells Robin that he doesn't have to prove anything to him. He sends Robin to check on the women and takes on the big man himself, knocking him down a hill and beats him down with some pipes. He tries to get some answers about the third Batman but cops arrive and pull guns on him. Batman knows they're all dirty so he blows up his Batmobile behind them and uses the distraction to escape.

Batman sets up a meet with Gordon and they talk on a rooftop. Batman tells him about the two crazy cops running around in his costume and Gordon reveals that the the corruption goes all the way up to the mayor. In fact, the mayor is trying to get Gordon to ignore all the Batman stuff.

Elsewhere, Talia has just beaten Damien almost to death while testing his fighting skills. She says that he's definitely his father's son, and his mother's. She orders that he be taken to have all his organs replaced so he'll live. When she gets out of a shower, she gets news that Bruce has been out on another date with a supermodel, and she's not pleased.

In Venice, Bruce kisses his supermodel date as someone watches through binoculars.

Batman (1940)

Publisher

DC Comics

Volume Description

The entire run of Batman still stands upon large controversies over who actually came up with some of the characters. Bob Kane supposedly came up with the idea for the hero, but it has been suggested that he only came up with a "Bird-man" and Bill Finger suggested he be a "Bat-man". Both creators however, share credit for this character. As for the Joker, the first concept sketch was drawn by Jerry Robinson, but Kane disputed that his input was "minimal" suggesting he and Bill came up with the idea. Kane also finagled many legal aspects of Batman related print and media. Every movie and comic reads "Batman created by Bob Kane" when it should read "Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger". However It is not disputed that Robinson and Finger came up with the character, Robin after "Robinhood" . Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff co-created numerous bat-creations including Alfred Pennyworth, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Batwoman, Batgirl as well as Bat-Mite and Ace the Bat Hound just to name a few. Bill Finger also co-created Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman.

Ad for Batman #1

One of DC's longest running books showcasing the adventures of the Dark Knight, Batman. Through out the years, a majority of Batman's marquee story lines have happened within the pages of this book including, but not limited to the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, and Bane breaking Batman's back, leading to Jean-Paul Valley to assume the role of Batman for a period of time in the 90s.

In 2006, super-star writer Grant Morrison took over the book. Morrison wrote stories that introduced readers to Bruce's son Damian Wayne as well as putting Bruce through a series of near fatal trials against The Black Glove and Doctor Hurt, leading up to the epic 2008 story lines of Batman RIP and Final Crisis where Bruce Wayne had apparently died at the hands of the evil god Darkseid.

After Bruce's "death," and the Battle for the Cowl, Dick Grayson, the first Robin, took up the mantle of Batman, continuing to protect Gotham exactly as his mentor had. He even took in Damian as his own Robin. With the exception of two issues set prior to the events of Final Crisis, Dick Grayson has been the star of the book since issue #687.

When the super hero community learned that Bruce Wayne had never actually died, and was sent back in time by Darkseid, Dick Grayson eventually knew that his time as Batman would soon end. But with Bruce's return, and formation of Batman Incorporated, Bruce deemed Dick Grayson the Batman of Gotham City, as he traveled the world, searching for more recruits for his new organization.

Charles Paris has drawn the most issues of Batman thus far at 128. Denny O'Neil is a long time writer and editor at DC with 211 issues. He also contributed the location of Arkham Asylum as well as the characters Man-Bat, Ra's al Ghul and Talia al Ghul.

In September 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire line in an event known as "The New 52" which would see the premiere of fifty-two new titles, thus the long-running Batman series ended with #713 during Tony S. Daniel's run on the title. In the new line, however, Tony Daniel will continue writing in the "Batman universe" but under the character's other main title, Detective Comics. The new Batman series will be written instead by Scott Snyder (who was writing Detective Comics pre-relaunch).

For Post Flashpoint volume 2, refer to Batman.

Trade Volumes that collect Batman issues:

Classic and Archived Batman:

Batman: A Celebration of 75 Years (#1, 49, 181, 497)The Joker: A Celebration of 75 Years (#1, 5, 25, 32, 85, 163, 251, 427)The Batman Chronicles Volume 1 (Batman #1, Detective Comics #27-37)The Batman Chronicles Volume 2 (Batman #2-3, Detective Comics #39-45, New York World's Fair Comic #2)The Batman Chronicles Volume 3 (Batman #4-5, Detective Comics #46-50, World's Finest #1)The Batman Chronicles Volume 4 (Batman #6-7, Detective Comics #51-56, World's Finest #2-3)The Batman Chronicles Volume 5 (Batman #8-9, Detective Comics #57-61, World's Finest #4)Batman: Arkham - The Riddler (#171, 179, 292, 317 & 362)

see also Batman Archives, Batman: The Dark Knight Archives, Batman: The Dynamic Duo Archives etc...

For late 60`s - 70`s comics...

Showcase Presents: Batman

Modern Batman (Post-Crisis)

Batman Arkham: Two-Face (#234, 346, 410 & 411)Tales of the Batman: Len Wein (#307-310, #312-319, #321-324, #326-327)Batman: Second Chances (#402, 403 & 408-416)Batman: Year One (Batman #404-407)Batman: The Many Deaths of Batman (Batman #433-435)Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast (#417-420)Batman: A Death in the Family (Batman #426-429)Robin: The Teen Wonder (Batman #428 and 442, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #100, Nightwing #101, Batman #428 and 442, Robin #126 and 132, and Teen Titans #29)Robin: A Hero Reborn (Batman #455-457 and Robin #1-5)Robin: Reborn (#455-457)Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Broken Bat (Batman #491-497, Detective Comics #659-663)Batman: Knightfall Part 2: Who Rules the Night (Batman #498-500, Detective Comics #664-666, Showcase '93 #7-8, Shadow of the Bat #16-18)Batman: Knightfall Part 3: Knightsend (Batman #509-510)Batman By Doug Moench & Kelley Jones Volume 1 (#515-525, 527-532 and 535-536)Tales of the Batman: J.H. Williams III (#526, 550 and 667-669)Batman: Road To No Man's Land (#555-559)Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 1 ( Batman #563-564, No Man's Land #1, Shadow of the Bat #83-84, Detective Comics #730-731, Legends of the Dark Knight #116)Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 2 (Batman #565, Shadow of the Bat #85-87, Detective Comics #732-733, Legends of the Dark Knight #117, #119, Batman Chronicles #16)Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 3 (Batman #566-569, Shadow of the Bat #88, Detective Comics #734-735, Legends of the Dark Knight #120-121)Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4 (Batman #571-572, Shadow of the Bat #92-93, Detective Comics #736, # 738-739, Legends of the Dark Knight #125, Batman Chronicles #18)Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 5 (Batman #573-574, Shadow of the Bat #94, Detective Comics #740-741, Legends of the Dark Knight #126, No Man's Land #0)Batman by Ed Brubaker (#582-586 & 591-594)Batman: False Faces (Batman #588-590, Detective Comics #787, Wonder Woman #160-161, Tale from Batman: Gotham City Secret Files and Origins)Batman: Bruce Wayne-Murderer? (Batman #599-600, Batman: The 10 Cent Adventure, Detective Comics #766-767, Batgirl #24, Nightwing #65-66, Batman: Gotham Knights #25-26, Birds of Prey #39-40, Robin #98-99)Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Volume 1 (Batman #601, #603; Batman: Gotham Knights #27-28; Batgirl #27, #29; Birds of Prey #41, #43; Nightwing #68-69)Batman: Bruce Wayne - Fugitive (#603-607)Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Volume 2 (Batman #605, Detective Comics #768-772, Batman: Gotham Knights #31)Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Volume 3 (Batman #606-607, Detective Comics #773-775, Batgirl #33)Batman: Hush (Batman #608-619)Batman vs. Superman: The Greatest Battles (#612)Batman: Broken City (Batman #620-625)Batman Noir: Eduardo Risso (Batman #620-625)Batman: As the Crow Flies (Batman #626-630)Batman: War Games Volume 1 (Batman #631, Batman: The 12 Cent Adventure, Detective Comics #797, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #182, Nightwing #96, Batman: Gotham Knights #56, Robin #129, Batgirl #55, Catwoman #34)Batman: War Games Book One (New Edition) (#631)Batman: War Games Volume 2 (Batman #632, Detective Comics #798, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #183, Nightwing #97, Batman: Gotham Knights #57, Robin , Batgirl #56, Catwoman #35)Batman: War Games Volume 3 (Batman #633, Detective Comics #799, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #184, Nightwing #98, Batgirl #57, Catwoman #36, Robin #131, Batman: Gotham Knights #58)Batman: Under the Hood Volume 1 (Batman #635-641)Batman: War Crimes (Batman #643-644, Detective Comics #809-810, Batman Allies Secret Files and Origins, Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins)Batman: Under the Hood Volume 2 (Batman #645-650, Batman Annual #25)Batman: Face the Face (Batman #651-654, Detective Comics #817-820)Batman: Batman and Son (Batman #655-658, #663-666)Batman Unwrapped by Andy Kubert (Batman #655-68, 664-666, 686 and 700)DC Comics Presents: Robin War 100-Page Spectacular (#657)Damian: Son of Batman Deluxe Edition (#666)Batman: The Black Glove (Batman #667-669, 672-675)Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul (Batman #670-671, Batman Annual #26, Detective Comics #838-839, Robin #168-169, Robin Annual #7, Nightwing #138-139)Batman: Batman R.I.P. (Batman #676-683)Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader (Batman #686, Detective Comics #853, Secret Origins #36, Secret Origins Special #1, Batman: Black and White #2)Batman: Long Shadows (Batman #687-691)Batman: Life After Death (Batman #692-699)Batman: Time and the Batman (Batman #700-703)Batman: Eye of the Beholder (Batman #704-707, Batman #710-712)Batman: Gotham Shall Be Judged (Batman #708-709, Red Robin #22, Gotham City Sirens #22, Azrael #14-18)

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