BATMAN: MASQUE #1

Elseworlds. Distinctive stylist Mike Grell brings a new twist to Batman in the grand tradition of The Phantom of the Opera! In turn-of-the-century Gotham City, rising young ballet star Laura Avian has acquired an “admirer,” a stalker whose infatuation leads him careening down a path toward obsession and violence. She soon finds herself ensnarled in a treacherous web of murder, betrayal and deadly deception when the fan perceives that there are rivals for his affection. But who is the secret admirer? Rich playboy Bruce Wayne, the mysterious vigilante Batman, or is it the work of another sinister, scarred mind? Placing the Batman into the story of the Phantom Of The Opera, we have Bruce Wayne setting out at night dressed as a Bat to fight crime. One night while he is stopping a mugging, the violence ends up in the theater where a resulting fire burns half of the face of the lead dancer. As the theater decides to continue with a new female lead. The scarred former star takes a liking to the understudy and begins to teach her. Yet as he finds the theater going in a different direction, he becomes more violent to the point where Batman has to step in. The two men have their final confrontation on the night of a big show. Bringing down the chandeleir. This sets the theater on fire yet the two men still fight, until the former dancer meets his end. The understudy who was also being wooed by Bruce Wayne finds him in a subteranian room, underneath his mansion. After a brief declaration of her love, Bruce denies her. He tells her of his crime fighting, and how there is no room for love in his life. With that she realizes that while the Dancer was scarred on the outside. Bruce is scarred within, and so he needs his mask as well.

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