Detective Comics #781

Issue Details

Synopsis

DEAD RECKONING PART 5 Though Batman - as usual - utterly fails to intimidate him, the Joker agrees to share his own knowledge of Paul Sloan. Sloan, he explains, had taken the role of an ersatz Two-Face much more seriously than needed; though the other conspirators had only meant him be bait for Batman, Sloan had insisted on performing an actual robbery as Two-Face.  On a whim, the Joker had indulged Sloan - then leaked all his plans to Batman, causing the robbery to be publicly foiled and revealing Sloan's existence to the real Two-Face. Enraged by his "replacement", Two-Face had kidnapped and brutally tortured Sloan, leaving the remains for Sloan's "mentors" to find. Their plan scuttled, Joker and his co-conspirators disbanded, with the Scarecrow volunteering to dispose of the supposedly-dead Sloan.   As a newly-disgusted Batman prepares to leave, the Joker reveals one last secret: he is still conspiring with Sloan, and had only volunteered so much information to keep the Dark Knight occupied. At this, Batman immediately rushes back to Gotham, but too late; Sloan has already infiltrated Arkham and abducted his next target, Two-Face. GOTTIMSBURGH In another time, another place, Gotham City is known as Gottimsburgh, a feudal empire which has just begun to embrace industrialization. The majority of its inhabitants are serfs, toiling under the tyranny of Prince Aschen in bleak, miserable conditions, forbidden to even acquire their own food from the many forests set aside for the Prince's personal hunts.   But the forests hold more than game; they are home to the Bat King, a myth-shrouded figure who strikes without warning, abducting young serfs for unknown purposes. One day, during a routine hunt, the Prince finally encounters this creature, who denounces his tyranny and proclaims all of Gottimsburgh's inhabitants entitled to the forests.   Incensed, the Prince swears to execute his new challenger, so all may know his is the empire's only law.