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"The Captive Planet": This story is reprinted from Detective Comics #256.

80-Page Giant #12 is an issue of the series 80-Page Giant (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 1965. It was published on May 6, 1965.

Synopsis for "The Captive Planet"

This story is reprinted from Detective Comics #256.

Batman and Robin are lured, along with several unsuspecting Gothamites, aboard a robot spaceship which takes them to the planet Tora, where the ruler of that world seeks their aid in overthrowing an alien tyrant. The Dynamic Duo and their companions agree to stay and help the resistance of Tora defeat the tyrant. Using their combined forces, the heroes, Gothamites, and Torans are able to defeat the alien oppressors. Batman, Robin and the other people are sent back to Earth and their experience shall never be forgotten.

Appearing in "The Captive Planet"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Cafis (Single appearance)(Flashback and main story)

Other Characters:

  • Beran (Single appearance)(Flashback and main story)
  • Pete Cole (Single appearance)
  • John Todd (Single appearance)
  • Edith Todd (Single appearance)
  • Harvey Baxter (Single appearance)
  • Jim Rolfe (Single appearance)

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • Space Ship


Synopsis for "The Caveman Batman"

This story is reprinted from Batman #93.

An archaeologist finds evidence that men and dinosaurs existed together at one point, but his discovery is considered fake by the Gotham Museum. In order to learn the truth of the mystery, Batman and Robin ask their friend Carter Nichols to send them back in time to the pre-historic era, where they find a hero by the name of Tiger-Man. The Dynamic Duo help Tiger-Man confront the villain called Borr, who keeps a frozen dinosaur in his cave hideout and threatens the nearby tribemen with its release if they don't comply with his wishes. During the confrontation, the ice that contains the beast begins to thaw and soon, the dinosaur is free to roam among men. The dinosaur does not live long in the environment of the Stone Age, but served its purpose by driving out Borr and his men. Tiger-man pledges to recreate the entire story on stone, thus giving an explanation for the archaeologist's discovery.

Appearing in "The Caveman Batman"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Rog; Tiger Man (Single appearance)

Antagonists:

  • Borr (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Carter Nichols (Cameo)
  • Dr. William Sayre (Single appearance)
  • Chief Warra (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "King Batman the First"

This story is reprinted from Batman #125.

Batman and Robin, on the trail of a criminal named Gurney, wind their way through underground caverns until they encounter a "time warp" that places them in another dimension (as it already has Gurney). Soon after, they find themselves in an athletic arena, where they overhear a crooked athlete named Rakk fixing a competition to ensure him victory. Batman enters the lists against Rakk and defeats him in two alien sports. Then, startling enough, he is unmasked and crowed king of Plaxius, the alien world--the objective of the competition. But Gurney, who has watched the contest, informs Rakk of their alien nature, and Rakk, declaring same to the officials, has Batman and Robin jailed on grounds of illegal alien competition.

The heroes are freed from imprisonment by Selina, fiance of Rakk's rival, Vol, who has been abducted by Rakk. Batman, Robin, and Selina track Vol to Rakk's satellite castle, where they smash his defenses with a boulder taken from the weak gravity of Plaxius's moon, and Batman defeats Rakk in personal combat. They return with Gurney to Earth knowing that Gurney has recognized Batman's unmasked face during the coronation ceremony. But, when they return through the warp, neither Batman, Robin, nor Gurney can remember anything of their adventure, and Batman's identity remains secret.

Appearing in "King Batman the First"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Selina (Single appearance)

Antagonists:

  • Rakk (Single appearance)
  • Gurney (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Vol (Single appearance)

Locations:

  • Earth
  • Plaxius (Single appearance)

Synopsis for "There Was a Crooked Man"

This story was originally published November 12—December 31, 1944 as #54—61 of the Batman and Robin Sunday newspaper strip.

Batman and Robin are led on a strange chase themed after a nursery rhyme by a character calling himself "The Crooked Man."

Appearing in "There Was a Crooked Man"

Featured Characters:

  • Batman
  • Robin

Supporting Characters:

  • Mousey

Antagonists:

  • The Crooked Man (Hugh Mellville)
    • Adventure, Inc
      • Joseph

Other Characters:

  • Crooked Cat
  • Mr. Davis
  • Billy (Mentioned only)
  • Mr. Fitch (Mentioned only)
  • Ray Gook (Mentioned only)

Locations:

  • Gotham City
    • 15 Dexter Street
    • Temporary Subway Track / Abandoned Subway Station
    • Moonstruck Manor
    • Old Fairgrounds (Mentioned only)

Items:

  • Crooked Sixpence
  • Gem-Encrusted Sword of an Ancient English Knight

Synopsis for "The Three Super-Sleepers"

This story is reprinted from World's Finest #91.

In Metropolis, Clark Kent is informed by Perry White that criminal Rick Harben has been spotted near Stony Mountain. While in Gotham City, Commissioner Gordon imparts the same news to Batman and Robin. The three heroes meet up and head up the mountain to capture Harbin. When they enter a cave, Batman and Robin are knocked out by gas, and Superman is felled by Kryptonite. With the three heroes down, Harbin then locks them in glass cases and seals them in the cave, with the gas and Kryptonite ensuring that they will stay in stasis forever. The three heroes go into a state of suspended animation and are found a millennium later in the year 2957 by a team of miners seeking lead ore.

The three heroes are taken back to Metropolis where they are revived. With their identities established, the scientists offer to send the heroes back to their own time using a time ray if they recover it as it was stolen by Rothul, the descendant of Superman's old foe Luthor. After multiple attempts, the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusaders fail in capturing Ruhtol and his men. Before they can begin searching the known universe for their foe, it is announced that the united worlds of this era would like to put on a parade in the heroes honors. When they do so, Rothul and his men send robots to distract Superman, Batman and Robin while they steal a hydrogen generator from another lab.

Realizing that Rothul would rob any great scientific discovery, Superman and Batman disguise themselves as Kent Clark and Wayne Bruce, two scientists who discovered a device that can neutralize any destructive ray. Rothul falls for this ruse and sends his men to steal it. The three heroes easily defeat the crooks and disguising their ship as a meteor, fly to Rothul's base where they easily defeat the crooks and turn Rothul over to the authorities. Upon investigating Rothul's cache of stolen devices, they fail to find the time machine. Lora, one of the Earth scientists bursts into tears, admitting that she hid the time device so that she could convince Superman to stay in the future. However, the three heroes still are determined to return to their own time and use the time machine to travel back in time to a minute before Rick Harben could spring his trap on them. Later, when the three men recount their adventure, they wonder if it really happened or if it was all a dream. However, they learn the truth when Superman pulls out a card slipped into his cape pocket from Lora with her picture on it.

Appearing in "The Three Super-Sleepers"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Kamar (Single appearance)
  • Lora (Single appearance)

Antagonists:

  • Rick Harben (Single appearance)
  • Rohtul (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "Batman's Roman Holiday"

This story is reprinted from Batman #112.

Batman and Robin travel backwards in time to ancient Rome to rescue Professor Nichols, who is trapped in that time. Upon arriving in ancient Rome, the people recognize Batman as the great Batmanus of legend as a consequence of Batman's previous time travel to Rome. Batman and Robin learn that Nichols has been captured by an evil King and they decide to rescue their friend. Using modern science and technology unknown in that era, the Dynamic Duo build a hot air balloon in order to escape. Upon returning to the present, Nichols decides that if he ever needs to learn something from the past, he would just send Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson as he has always done.

Appearing in "Batman's Roman Holiday"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • King Phorbus of Rhodes (Single appearance)
    • Thersus (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "The Interplanetary Batman"

This story is reprinted from Batman #128.

Batman and Robin, in their Batmobile, stop to answer a cry for help--a cry from an alien being. They are hardly out of the car when other aliens, not from the same world as the first one, paralyze the first alien, whom they call Kraak the space pirate, and Batman and Robin, whom they mistakenly believe to be Kraak's partners. All are taken to a prison on an alien planet's moon, Ergon. During an exercise period, Batman and Kraak get into a fight after Kraak takes a poke at Robin. The two are separated and Batman and Robin are taken in for questioning, then returned to Kraak's cell. Batman informs Kraak that they intend to break prison and Kraak offers to be their guide on the unfamiliar alien moon. After breaking jail, the threesome endure deadly natural perils and the efforts of the authorities to recapture them.

They make their way to a police airstrip, where they hijack an unattended space cruiser and escape from the moon. When Earth comes into sight on the viewport, Kraak informs them that they are not bound for Batman's home planet, but for the Claw Asteroid, where he hid his loot. After they disembark, Batman and Robin are seized by Kraak's gang, but the heroes break free and Batman subdues Kraak with judo. Shortly after, the Ergon police arrive in another space cruiser. Batman reveals that he convinced the police, during questioning, to let him prove his innocence by getting Kraak to show them the hiding place of his loot. The Ergon leader shakes hands with Batman, calling him the greatest crime-fighter of two solar systems.

Appearing in "The Interplanetary Batman"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Kraak (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

Locations:

  • Earth
  • Ergon (Single appearance)
    • Forest of Peril (Single appearance)
    • Canyon of River Serpents (Single appearance)
  • Claw Asteroid (Single appearance)

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "The Winged Bat-People"

This story is reprinted from Batman #116.

Batman and Robin, attempting to track a hurricane in the Batplane, attain Mach 10 and are transported into another dimension. There they are captured by the natives, who believe they are winged "Bat-People" with whom they have been feuding. Batman proves his good intentions by lassoing a squad of Bat-People invaders before the queen of his captors, and by grounding the rest with a burst from his plane's afterburner. Batman, Robin, the queen, and an officer of the court head for the Bat-People's village in the Batplane the next day to parley for peace, but Arko, the traitorous minister of the queen, has tipped them off and the winged people attempt unsuccessfully to net the Bat-Plane.

Arko has staged a coup in the Queen's absence, but Batman uses a catapult in the Bat-Plane to hurl him over the city walls into the traitors' midst, followed by Robin. The rebels are soon overcome, and Batman and Robin foil the Bat-people's invasion by igniting a vein of coal with the Batplane's afterburner, creating a permanent updraft that keeps the Bat-People at bay. The coal dust ignited by the jet explodes, catapulting the dynamic duo back into their own dimension. At home, Bruce Wayne expresses to Dick Grayson that the queen to be better off thinking them dead, so that her officer will have a chance to marry her.

Appearing in "The Winged Bat-People"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Arko (Single appearance)
  • Bat-People (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

  • The Queen of the walled city (Single appearance)
  • Heroic military officer (Single appearance)

Locations:

  • Earth-One
  • Unnamed dimension
    • Unnamed walled city
    • Unnamed plateau of the Bat-People
    • Black Rock Chasm

Items:

Vehicles:

Notes

Trivia

  • The 30th century villain Rohtul is revealed to be a descendant of Lex Luthor. Rohtul is Luthor spelled backwards.


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

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