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One of Bill Finger's most heartrending stories, and one of my favourites from the Golden Age.



From Batman Vol. 1, Issue 20 (Dec.-Jan. 1944). Four pages out of twelve.



Dick receives an unexpected visit from a couple who introduce themselves as his Uncle George and Aunt Clara. They tell him and his guardian that they'd been in Europe when his parents were murdered, but are home now and have come to take care of him from now on. Despite their profuse show of concern and affection, Dick doesn't want to go, and neither does Bruce intend to give him up. So George and Clara tell Bruce they'll see him in court.








That night, Alfred brings Bruce his costume and reminds him of his discovery that mobster Fatso Foley's henchmen are planning to steal a first-edition Shakespeare volume from the public library. Wayne agrees he can't let his grief distract him from his crimefighting, and suits up.





After Dick sneaks back to his new home and falls asleep, Uncle George shows his true colours. (So does "Aunt" Clara, in a more literal sense: she doffs her "elderly" wig and glasses, revealing a young blonde. We never learn whether they're really married.) He contacts Bruce with an offer to return Dick to him in exchange for a million dollars. Instead, Batman visits George and his partner-in-crime and orders them to sign a confession, then leave town. But George stalls for time and, having heard of Batman's war on Foley, contacts the mobster, who agrees to have his men ambush Batman chez George. They take the unconscious crimefighter to their boss, who puts him in a compressed-air death trap.

George calls Wayne Manor to announce Batman's capture and demand the million bucks "or else." However, he drunkenly lets slip that Foley's behind the capture. So Alfred, with the help of Robin and one of the Penguin's confiscated gas-spouting umbrellas, takes the gang out and rescues Batman.





And with that observation by the oh-so-very-British "old school" Alfred, our story ends.