Batman Issue 103

The Broken Batman Trophies!
As Bruce Wayne is being interviewed on TV during Batman Day ceremonies, a mike boom falls and accidentally cuts Bruce on the chin. Later, as Batman, he is told that three gifts will be awarded him, and the camera will zoom in for a closeup each time. Batman accepts the awards for his past feats of derring-do, but he manages to drop and smash or disfigure every trophy and, in the process, blur the closeup picture. Everyone viewing and working on the show is perplexed at Batman's clumsiness, which they think is brought on by nerves. However, when they take a break and Batman is back in his dressing room, he confides to Robin that he deliberately smashed the trophies to obscure the closeups. The shots have revealed the cut on his chin, he explains, and he would have been instantly connected with Bruce Wayne. When he appears again, with his chin disguised by makeup, Batman apologizes for his clumsiness but reveals it was done to protect a close friend's career, and assured the donors that their trophies mean more now to him than if they were intact. Indeed, they occupy an honored space henceforth in the Batcave's Trophy room.

The League of Ex-Convicts!
Batman and Robin witness a live broadcast by Ed Stinson, an ex-convict who has opened his own employment agency featuring ex-cons as clients. Stinson explains that society's prejudice against the former convict, plus the legal bars against him getting a civil service job or even a chauffeur's license, makes it imperative for private industry to give the reformed criminal an even break, especially those who have acquired productive skills in prison. Batman and Robin are drawn away by the Bat-Signal and are sent to the docks, where they fail to stop a gang of thugs from stealing a large fishing net. In the days to follow, Stinson places ex-convicts in many jobs, including one at Ralph Bellow's company. But, not long after they are placed, each of the employers reports burglaries and the ex-cons have dropped out of sight. Realizing that one of the cons, "Lucky" Dennis, would hardly have pulled a job on Friday the 13th with his superstitious nature Batman and Robin track down the real culprit--Ralph Bellows, who has been embezzling from his business and had attempted to pin the rap on his ex-con employee by using a gang to kidnap him and the other ex-cons and commit robberies to cover the scheme. The net, covered with paint, was used as a camouflage for their hideout. Batman and Robin defeat Bellows and his thugs and free the ex-convicts, who return to their jobs with their names cleared.

Bat-Hound Movie Star!
With his owner John Wilker in Europe on vaction, his dog Ace, in the keeping of Wilker's friend Bruce Wayne, is able to aid Batman and Robin as Bat-Hound. He is instrumental in helping them nab bank robber Baldy Gore, who swears vengeance upon his captors. Meanwhile, newsreels featuring Bat-Hound in action with Batman and Robin have reached the eyes of P.G., a Hollywood film producer, who induces Batman, Robin and Bat-Hound to play themselves in a movie he produces and directs, with a donation to charity as the incentive. Just before they begin, Baldy Gore escapes prison, dons a wig, makes his way to Hollywood and gets a job on the Batman movie as a prop man. Gore deliberately sabotages the props to put Batman, Robin and Bat-Hound in real danger, but the heroes and their dog manage to survive each peril. Bat-Hound's sense of smell is thrown off by a cigar Gore puffs, but, when is separated from his stogie, the Cowled Canine recognizes Gore's scent and his barks tip off Batman and Robin. The duo give chase and capture Gore on the science-fiction set and have him sent back to jail, after which the producer asks them--in vain--to repeat the battle with Gore, since one of their cameras broke down in filming it.

Individuals

 * Batman
 * Robin
 * Ace The Bat-Hound

Locations

 * Gotham City