BATMAN #294

COVER TAGLINE: None TITLE: Testimony of the Joker STORY ARC: Where Were You on the Night Batman Died? COVER DATE: December, 1977 WRITER: David V. Reed ARTIST: John Calnan INKER: Tex Blaisdell COLORS: Jerry Serpe LETTERS: Ben Oda EDITORS: Julius Schwartz COVER: Jim Aparo PRICE: $.35 U.S. CHARACTERS: Batman (Bruce Wayne - disguised as Two-Face); Joker; Ra's Al Ghul; Commissioner James Gordon PLOT: The court of Ra's Al Ghul reconvenes to hear the testimony of the last "assassin" of Batman--the Joker. The clown of crime reveals how, while casing a fur company for a robbery, he saw Batman capture another thief there. Unarmed at the time, he renewed his arsenal and went back, thinking himself free of Batman's interference, but found a figure in a Batman costume there, as surprised as the Joker himself. The Joker then doused him with a faceful of dissolving liquid, stabbed him with a combat ring full of laughing toxin, and killed him. He then eradicated his face and fingerprints and left him for the police to find. When "Two-Face" asks for proof, the Joker asserts he has photos of the dead Batman, unmasked, before he dissolved his face. "Two-Face" calls for a recess while the Joker procures his evidence. Once outside, "Two-Face" doffs his disguise and stands revealed as Batman. He tracks down the Joker, defeats him in combat, and sends him back to Arkham. There the Joker is driven wild to see Two-Face, and hear that the "district attorney" was never at the trial. Later, Batman tells Commissioner Gordon that the real victim was Jerry Randall, a bookstore owner and Batman fan, who liked to dress up as Batman and reenact Batman cases after reading about them in the papers. Still later, a fireworks display proclaims to Gotham that "Batman is alive and well--and living in Gotham City".

Continued From Batman #293

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