Batman #21 - Story 2
December 10, 1943
"Blitzkrieg Bandits!"
It's interesting that the time of this story suggests we might be dealing with our enemies during World War II. The font used for the title suggests it as well. But then when you read the splash page, no mention is made of the war and the gang that is shown on the page looks more like a common group of thugs you would see in Gotham. Let's just get into this and see.
It's night and Batman and Robin are stopping gangster Chopper Gant from stealing food that he plans to sell on the black market. He and his boys get away by spilling bananas that the Duo slip on. The gang loses them in a lecture hall where the guest speaker is speaking on military leaders of the past.
And here we come to the hitch in the this story. I say hitch because, we've seen this before. Chopper comes up with the idea of using the guest speaker, who knows about great strategies of the past, to help him plan great crimes. They pose as reporters and convince him to help them hypothetically plan crimes based on the methods of military leaders of the past.
And there's the rub. We've seen this story before, in fact, not too long ago. Look back on Batman #17, the first story, "The Batman's Biographer" in which an expert on Batman is tricked into helping criminals commit crimes based on the way the Batman would respond. This one is a little too on the nose in terms of basic plot.
The man comes up with a plan where Chopper's men parachute into the Dodge place, a home that looks like a castle. One of the wounded guards manages to get a call to the police which leads to a call to Batman.
The two arrive at the castle and begin their fight with the gang. The gang escapes, blowing up the drawbridge behind them. They return to the hideout and put the problem of how to defeat Batman to the expert. He comes up with the idea of having one of their own be captured by the enemy to impart false information.
They lure Batman and Robin to near the hideout and capture them. Tied up, they also do the same to the expert as they got enough out of him to commit more crimes and know he won't be cooperative now that Batman is going to be killed. The three are placed in a glider plane with a bomb attached that will go off as soon as the glider lands.
The glider is cut loose and Batman is able to free himself with plans to climb out and cut loose the bomb, but the expert points out Robin weighs less and has a better chance of making it. Once the bomb is lost, they turn the plane towards the gang's next target - a tank making facility where they plan to rob a tank filled with payroll.
