Batman Issue 275

The Ferry Blows at Midnight!
The North American team of the Underworld Olympics draws its assignment, but it has an unforeseen complication. The caper is supposed to end up on the midnight ferry boat to Tompkinsville, which has been cut off from late-night service for a month. To get it back on track, the team heists a million dollars from Gotham's numbers runners, and gives it anonymously to the city to start the ferry's late-night run anew.

In days to come, Gotham is plagued by unusual crimes: the theft of the key to the city, the robbery of a soccer ball while the game is underway, and the stealing of a bronze insignia plague from an antique fire engine. Batman encounters the crooks, but he does not manage to halt their robberies. However, he does see the gang members on the Tompkinville ferry, boards the boat, captures them, and stops them from blowing up the ferry with a bomb buoy.

The Underworld Olympics leader awards the North Americans 50 points and declares them the winner. The leader calls up Commissioner Gordon to reveal the Olympics' existence and to boast. But Gordon takes the call from his mobile phone in a police car outside the Olympians' headquarters, just before he sends in the police to make a mass capture.

Later, Batman tells Gordon that the North American team's task was to complete the bizarre thefts, put them in the ferry, and then blow up the boat just after they jumped to safety and swam to a rescue boat. Gordon points out that the only time the crooks stole money was when they heisted a tainted million, and gave it to the city. Batman, for his part, wonders who dreamed up the Underworld Olympics '76.

Individuals

 * Batman
 * James Gordon
 * Joey One-Eye

Locations

 * Gotham City