"Wanted: Practical Jokers": An advertisement appears on the newspapers about a man under the alias of A. Rekoj, summoning practical jokers for some kind of job. The applicants perform in front of the old man Rekoj and after a long casting process, only the most reckless are chosen. Rekoj tells t

Perhaps this comes a little late, but I, the Police Commissioner of Gotham City, appoint you an honorary member of the police department! From now on, you work hand in hand with the police! — Commissioner Gordon

Batman #7 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1941. It was published on August 8, 1941.





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Appearing in "Wanted: Practical Jokers"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Gotham City Police Department

Duke Michael (Single appearance)

Henry Verne (Single appearance)

Locations:

Synopsis for "Wanted: Practical Jokers"

An advertisement appears on the newspapers about a man under the alias of A. Rekoj, summoning practical jokers for some kind of job. The applicants perform in front of the old man Rekoj and after a long casting process, only the most reckless are chosen. Rekoj tells them to pick up some objects and then reveals his true identity as Joker. The criminal has framed the various jokesters by making them touch weapons used in crimes and with the upper hand, he tells his new henchmen that they are going to create havoc in the city by playing some of the most ruthless practical jokes. In this way, the city becomes chaotic and the police are baffled with these new crimes.

Batman and Robin investigate this cases and they are informed about the Joker's next target. The duo go to the place to prevent Joker from stealing a valuable gem, but they are confronted by dozens of Jokers. Outnumbered, the dynamic duo are defeated and when they recover, they learn that while they were fighting fake Jokers, the real Joker was stealing a true gem elsewhere. Joker calls Batman and gives him another clue for his next hit, but Batman can't solve the riddle.

The answer comes to Bruce later as he learns that a famous Duke is arriving soon at the city. Batman deduces that Joker is going to attack the duke and his deduction proves right when the Joker in fact kidnaps the duke and disguises as him in order to steal ten thousand dollars. When Batman and Robin arrive to the place and try to stop him, they have to fight all of Joker's practical jokers and the clown prince of crime manages to escape. After defeating all of Joker's henchmen, Batman and Robin follow him to the railroad station, where Joker takes a train out of the city. Batman and Robin also get on the train and they chase Joker across the wagons all the way to the top, where during a final battle, Joker falls to the river below.

Batman and Robin recover the stolen money and there is no sign of the Joker.





Appearing in "The Trouble Trap"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Granda

Other Characters:

Gotham City Police Department

Carl Dwyer

Henry Abbot

Joe (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "The Trouble Trap"

Batman and Robin save a man from some attackers and they are confronted by some big men, who almost choke the heroes to death. Using a smoke pellet from his Utility Belt, Batman breaks free and saves Robin from the big men. The next day, Bruce investigates the case and discovers that some of the attackers from the previous night are taking money out of wealthy people. When Batman interrogates some of the wealthy men, he learns that they are being blackmailed after they went to a session with a fortune teller by the name of Granda, who recorded their sessions and forced them to reveal a deep secret.

In order to bring down Granda's blackmailing racket, Bruce disguises as a gangster and goes to Granda with the purpose of asking him the favor of eliminating Batman. Granda gathers some of his thugs and tells them to kidnap Linda Page as she has been present in some of the Batman's solved cases. When they take the girl, Batman and Robin stop the thugs on their way to Granda and Batman disguises himself as one of the thugs. Going to Granda's place, Batman in disguise plays the role of the thug and Granda asks him to twist Linda's arm so she reveals what she knows about Batman. Meanwhile, Robin has called Commissioner Gordon and informed of the situation. Gordon in turn goes to Granda's place but his car crashes against another and he is delayed. Batman, who was counting on Gordon's arrival, has to stop pretending and starts fighting Granda by revealing his true identity. The big men appear once again, but this time Batman and Robin manage to defeat them.

As the police arrive, they arrest the gang but Granda escapes on his car and the dynamic duo chase him across the highway. Granda passes a drawbridge and soon it begins to rise, and Batman forces the car he is driving to jump across the almost pulled bridge. After a long chase, Batman and Robin capture Granda and their efforts are congratulated by Commissioner Gordon.





Appearing in "The North Woods Mystery"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Jack Clayton

Nora Powell

Antagonists:

Asher

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "The North Woods Mystery"

There is a murder on the woods and the heirs of the man's wood mill are a man called Jack Clayton and a girl named Nora Powell. Nora is one of Bruce Wayne's friends and she informs the situation to him. Nora decides to go to the woods and see whatever she has earned and asks Bruce to go with her. Knowing that he might get a chance to investigate the murder, Bruce decides to tag along and he tells Dick to find any means to get there by himself.

Upon arriving, Bruce realizes that Jack Clayton acts suspiciously rude towards Nora and he is determined to find out why. Dick arrives at the woods and he asks for a job at the mill. At night, Batman and Robin start investigating and they are confronted by some criminals. After a brief struggle, one of the thugs is killed by accident and the next day a man called Mr. Asher arrives at the mill, looking to buy the whole thing from Jack and Nora. Jack is willing to sell his share, but Nora isn't and Asher is upset. Later, Robin spies a conversation between Jack and Asher and learns that they are somehow together in the murder of the owner of the mill and that they want to get rid of Nora at any cost.

Nora is attacked twice and the dynamic duo intervene. After fighting more thugs it is revealed that the real killer is Mr. Asher and he was blackmailing Jack using his criminal past. Batman and Robin capture Asher and a relationship between Jack and Nora begins to blossom.





Appearing in "The People vs. the Batman"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Freddie Hill

Horatio Delmar

Weasel (Only appearance; dies)

Locations:



Items:



Synopsis for "The People vs. the Batman"

Batman investigates a poultry racket job and he is confronted by the criminals involved. However, when the Gotham City Police Department arrive at the scene, they only notice Batman and assume he was causing trouble. With no oprion left but run, Batman decides to investigate in the morning as Bruce Wayne.

As Bruce goes to the place, he is victim of a setup to frame him for the murder of an old man and the police has no option but to arrest him. Dick visits Bruce in prison and he decides to help Bruce by capturing the criminal who was responsible for framing Bruce.

The thug, whose name is Weasel, is in danger as his boss and his gang think that he might squeal their crime to the police. When they try to eliminate him, Robin arrives in time to stop them and gives Weasel a chance to escape. However, some of the thugs are driving a car and run the vehicle against Weasel, leaving him in a coma.

Later, one of the gang members disguises himself as Batman and goes to the hospital room where Weasel is recovering in order to kill him and frame Batman for murder. His plan fails, as the Police keep a close eye on Weasel and the thug has to run away. Because of this, the police now thinks of Batman as a murderer.

When news about Batman's murder attempt reach Dick, he decides to help Bruce by getting him out of jail so he can clear his name. Robin digs a hole underneath Bruce's cell in prison and they leave a dummy behind. Donning his Batman costume, the dynamic duo try to capture the leader of the gang to get a confession that would clear Bruce's name. During the chase, Batman and Robin are captured, tied up and tossed in the water. By the time they manage to escape, the thugs have already destroyed any sort of evidence or confession that would help Bruce's case and the Police have discovered that Bruce Wayne has escaped. At that same moment, Weasel wakes up, learns that he doesn't have much time to live and he decides to reveal the truth to the police.

A trial in court takes place and Bruce Wayne is about to be convicted for murder when Batman arrives, carrying the criminal mastermind with him. However, his presence only worsens things since the police seem to think that Batman is a murderer and that he helped Bruce to escape. The District Attorney starts making a case against Batman until Commissioner Gordon arrives and stands by the side of the vigilante. After a convincing speech, the judge and jury realize how important Batman is for the city and just then, Weasel arrives at the court and tells the truth about the murder right before he dies.

When the case is solved, Commissioner Gordon makes Batman an honorary member of the GCPD and they start working together. Bruce Wayne appears later, once his name has been cleared and he is out of danger.





Notes

This issue is reprinted in Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol 2 and Batman Chronicles, volume 4

Trivia

Batman becomes an honorary member of the Gotham City Police Department in this issue.

This is the first time that Bruce Wayne is framed for murder. This idea would be used in the future on the storyline Bruce Wayne: Fugitive.









See Also