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| Publisher |
DC |
| Writer |
David Vern |
| Artist |
Tex Blaisdell |
| Cover Artist |
Ernie Chan |
| Published | November 1976 |
MURDER COMES IN BLACK BOXES! Three secret agents --Aldo Fondi of Italy, Jorge Zamora of Panama, and Nkuma Senghor of Burundi, all strangers to each other-- meet on a Gotham City street corner and are all killed when a car hits them. The car proves to be stolen and the driver is not found. But all were known to Batman through Interpol, and he judges it a "murder--by appointment!" From a recording device on a walkie-talkie, Batman gets the agents' last messages, all of which were attempts to contact Batman. A woman, Pamela Drew, claiming to be a stewardess and the fiancé of Fondi, at first accuses Batman to be responsible for her intended husband's death. But Batman saves her from assassins twice, and she confides in him, giving him Fondi's address book. Batman has Gordon place her in protective custody. Later, Batman travels to Budapest where he expects to find the reason why Aldo was in Gotham to begin with. Using a disguise, he meets the underground resistance cell at that location. Janos, the cell leader, tells Batman that Fondi was in Budapest some months ago, when they were all involved in helping nuclear physicist Dr. Lucas Nagy to attempt to defect. But Nagy, he says, was seized just short of the border, but not by the government. Fondi, a day before his murder, was told who had snatched him. The meeting is suddenly interrupted by a raid alarm. Batman gets the group to safety, but then finds himself facing the guns of the Hungarian Special Police.
