“Robin Dies at Dawn”
June 1963
Batman and Robin fight an enormous stone idol! Batman finds himself on a mysterious Planet with no memory or explanation of how he got there, He is without his utility belt and all his supplies Batman walks the planet with slightly disturbed that he is alone on the planet. Soon Batman discovers an ancient abandoned city surrounded by strange plant life that may be alive and grabs at him. Batman is then helped by Robin (Dick Grayson) who helps save him. Batman asks how he got there something Robin does not answer. As the two roam the planet Batman is sure he is being watched by human eyes they then see a strange four armed statue that is in fact alive and chases the Dynamic Duo. Batman and Robin use a tree trunk to swing over to the other side of a chasm and plan on having the creature put his foot on the other side crush the edge with his own tremendous weight. Robin then pelts the creature with rocks in an attempt to cross the chasm much to Batman’s protest the creature then grabs a boulder and crosses the chasm but crushes the edge and falls into the pit the boulder it was holding strikes Robin killing him. Batman mourns the death of Robin and buries him. Batman continues to walk the planet by himself in a weakened and saddened state. Batman still is sure eyes are watching him but sees a strange reptilian alien creature; Batman not wanting to live let the creature attack him blaming himself for Robin’s death. Batman is then shown in a high tech room with a device strapped to his head Robin a military general and a scientist come in the room. Batman disoriented then remembers that he was in fact participating in an experiment for NASA to simulate how an astronaut would react in space by himself before shows mental signs of distress. The next night Batman is at the scientist’s office where he explained that Batman mind was responding to a fear of loneliness he has and the fear that Robin may die are why he hallucinated his death. As Batman leaves the scientist wonders if there are any residual affects to Batman’s psyche. As Batman and Robin leave they see the members of the Gorilla Gang escaping from a loan office with bags of money. Batman and Robin briefly fight with the Gang before they run on the beam from a construction crane. As Robin runs on the crane Batman hallucinates that the crane is the creature from his hallucination and throws him and Robin over the edge of the building to prevent the Creature from “Killing” Robin. Batman apologizes to Robin then. Batman then has nightmares of the living plants from his hallucination where Dick, Alfred and Ace the Bathound rush into his room and begin to suspect Bruce May not be alright. The next night Batman and Robin go to capture the Gorilla gang that is now escaping in a car but Batman hallucinates it’s the same reptilian creature from his mind and believes Robin is dead. Robin then runs to the car to move the criminal’s hands from hitting Batman the criminals Miss Batman but knock him down and escape. In the Batcave Bruce Wayne refuses to place Robin in danger any longer and decides to no longer be Batman leaving Robin saddened. The next night Robin is to testify on another case and leaves he speaks to the scientist who tells him Batman will be okay under therapy. Batman then gets an emergency call from Commissioner Gordon who tells him that Robin was captured by the Gorilla Gang on his way to testify and left a note to Batman saying Robin will die by dawn for interfering with their robberies. Batman then puts on his costume to go out and save Robin after not finding sufficient information he decides to go to the location where the Gorilla Gang escaped a night ago and brings the Bat-Hound to track the scent down. Robin is then seen at dawn strapped to a giant balloon by the Gorilla Gang who are about to strike the chords of the balloon with a axe they then hear a noise in a nearby building they send a member to investigate but Batman comes back instead and disposes of the criminals but one accidentally strikes the chords freeing the balloon. The chords hit Batman who briefly remembers the living plans of his hallucination but overcomes it and throws the axe to the balloon deflating it and saving Robin. Robin says Batman must have recovered and Batman says that it was easy since he only imagined that Robin died but was facing reality. Note: The cover is a homage to the cover of Baffling Mysteries #7. — Description from Comic Vine community (comicvine.gamespot.com).
