Batman Issue 270

The Menace of the Fiery Heads!
Bruce Wayne answers a call for help during a dinner hosted for the Gotham City Civic Committee. In an apartment below, he finds a strangled Jim Standish, the assistant district attorney of Gotham City. On the desk is a ceramic duplicate of Standish's head, spewing oxacetylene flame from its top. Bruce encounters the masked murderer who has killed Standish, but has to break off the conflict when the killer sets his clothes on fire. Bruce changes to Batman, finds an outside trigger on the ceramic head that shuts off the flame, and begins his "deathwatch" for the next victim with Commissioner Gordon. Shortly afterward, Judge Bromley is also found strangled with a "fiery head" in his possession. Batman encounters the killer again, but the criminal escapes. Next Gordon receives a fiery Batman head. Minutes later, he discovers that a man named Earl Peterson has been killed with a "fiery head" trademark. Cross checking records with Gordon and his staff, Batman discovers that he and the three victims were all involved in sending Blinky Johnson to jail, Johnson being a safecracker who used explosives and oxacetylene. Batman tracks Johnson down, but rules him out as their killer-suspect, since the strangler is right-handed and Johnson proves to be left-handed. The real culprit proves to be Harry Watkins, Johnson's ex-cellmate, an art-thief and sculptor. Watkins dies when a statue falls on him while he is battling Batman in a museum. Batman later reveals to Gordon that Watkins planned the killings to frame Johnson, expecting Batman to track Johnson and take the heat off Watkins, who was attempting to steal a Rembrandt from the museum.

Individuals

 * Batman
 * James Gordon
 * Jim Standish
 * Judge Bromley
 * Earl Peterson
 * Blinky Johnson
 * Harry Watkins

Locations

 * Gotham City