The Garden of Death was the thirty-eighth overall story published in DC Comics' Batman '66 title. The story was initially published in Digital Issues #53 and #54, and reprinted in Print Issue #21, with a further reprint in Volume 4 of the Compiled Volume series.
Plot Summary[]
"The Garden of Death"[]
Batman and Robin confront and defeat the Penguin, along with Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara, at Gotham Airport, where they intercepted his shipment of Chrysanthemum flower seeds bound for Japan, and his proprietor, Lord Death Man. During the confrontation, Robin suffered from a case of acute vertigo, and he stayed with Alfred to recover, while Batgirl goes with Batman to Japan to stop Lord Death Man.
Arriving at Japan by plane, Batman and Batgirl find an old Japanese man who led them down a garden where they find a body bag containing a skeleton dressed up like Robin, and the old man was Lord Death Man himself in disguise with an army of ninjas to attack them.
After defeating the ninjas, Lord Death Man vanishes in a cloud of smoke, and traps Batman and Batgirl inside a cavern. While searching for the way out, Death Man tricks Batman by disguising himself as Batgirl and escapes to the exit of the cave and crosses a tightrope across a chasm of water. As Batman confronts Lord Death Man, the rope starts to break under their combined weight. As Batman leapt to safety, Batgirl arrives after escaping from her unseen trap, while the ropes snaps underneath Lord Death Man, sending him falling to the water.
Later, Batman and Batgirl visited Lord Death Man's grave with a burning lantern with the shape of a skull on it. After talking about Death Man's plan and his death, they departed Japan to return to Gotham City. As soon they left in the Batmobile-J, Lord Death Man's maniacal laugh was heard, meaning he somehow survived.
Trivia[]
An earlier encounter with Lord Death Man was previously mentioned in the story "The Tail of the Tiger Topaz" from Batman '66 Issue 5.