Detective Comics #331

Issue Details

Synopsis

MUSEUM OF MIXED-UP MEN! While touring the Gotham Wax Museum, Bruce Wayne pays for a souvenir photograph but gets more than he bargain for: the camera causes his face to change into somebody else's, and his memory is taken along with all of his forms of identification. Tossed into the street, the amnesiac Bruce Wayne wanders trying to make sense of his situation. Meanwhile, somebody posing as Bruce Wayne, withdraws half a million dollars from his bank. That night as Aunt Harriet serves supper to Dick Grayson, both begin to wonder where Bruce is when there is a call from the Batphone. Making an excuse to leave the table and go down to the Batcave, Robin answers the phone to be informed that there is a jewel robbery in progress. Going by himself in the Batmobile, he passes by Bruce who remembers who he is and while Robin is overpowered by the robbers changes into his spare Batman costume in the Batmobile to lend a helping hand. Afterwards, Batman explains the events, and that after 12 hours, the effects wore off. The next day, Ralph Dibny and his wife Sue have arrived in Gotham City, Ralph wanting to investigate a mystery of men who go into the wax museum with one face and leave with another. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne has returned to the bank to inform them that the person who withdrew money from his account was a fraud, and soon another wealthy man enters the bank complaining that his safety deposit box was emptied by somebody posing as him. Bruce Wayne makes the connection when the man states he went to the wax museum. That night, Batman, Robin and the Elongated Man all go to investigate the museum and stumble upon each other. Attacked by thugs, they learn that the whole situation was thought up by "Boss" Barron, using a camera that switches peoples faces. They change faces with wealthy people and clean out their accounts. After breaking things up with the help of Elongated Man, the heroes prevent the crooks from using the device on Batman to discover his secret identity. The three heroes then round up the crooks and turn them over to the police. As reward for their help, Batman reveals his secret identity and invites Ralph and Sue over for dinner. Before they arrive he tells Robin that he told Ralph his secret while Ralph was amnesiac due to being exposed to the face swapping camera and would forget everything when changed back to normal.