Batman Returns (comic)

***Batman Returns*** is a 1992 comic adaptation of the film of the same name, published by DC Comics. It was re-published in 1997 along with the comic adaptations of *Batman*, *Batman Forever*, and *Batman & Robin* in a collection entitled *Batman: The Movies*, and again as a standalone volume on September 8, 2020.

## Solicitation

*In Batman Returns, Batman is faced with two powerful adversaries: The Penguin, a deformed maniac bent on taking over Gotham City and Catwoman, a sexy thief who steals the heart of the Dark Knight.*

## *Batman Returns*

* **Written by**: Dennis O'Neil
* **Pencilled by**: Steve Erwin
* **Inked by**: Josè Luis García-López
* **Colored by**: Tom McGraw
* **Lettered by**: John Costanza
* **Cover painting by**: Dave Dorman
* **Assistant Editor**: Scott Peterson
* **Editor**: Jonathan Peterson
* **Batman created by**: Bob Kane

### Synopsis

On Christmas Day in Gotham City, wealthy socialtes Tucker and Esther Cobblepot decide to dispose of their hideously deformed and violent newborn son. Pushing him in a stroller, the Cobblepots bring their son through the park and dump his cradle into the sewer, after which it washes up in the Arctic World exhibit at the Gotham Zoo and is discovered by penguins.

33 years later, business mogul Max Shreck meets with the mayor of Gotham City at his office and tries to convince him to grant him the permits and tax incentives necessary to begin work on his new power plant. The mayor responds that Gotham has a power surplus and tells Shreck he will have to go through the usual committees. Shreck's son Chip arrives and informs his father and the mayor that it is time to speak at the tree lighting ceremony in Gotham Plaza. As Shreck and the mayor approach the podium, Shreck threatens the mayor by saying he can get enough signatures from his employees alone to force a recall election, but the mayor is unconcerned because Shreck doesn't have an issue or candidate. Shreck realizes he forgot his speech, and tells Chip to remind him to take it out on his secretary Selina Kyle. Shreck improvises a speech as a gigantic Christmas present descends into the plaza on parachutes. The present bursts open, unleashing members of the Red Triangle Circus Gang, who begin wreaking havoc. Commissioner Gordon arrives and tells his men to activate the Bat-Signal. The gang members approach the podium and demand Shreck, but Chip holds them off so his father can escape. Batman arrives in the Batmobile and begins fighting back against the thugs. One of the gang members uses a taser to hold Selina hostage, but Batman uses his grapnel gun to pull a chunk out of the wall and slam it into the back of the thug's head, knocking him out. Nearby, Shreck falls through a manhole into the sewer.

Selina returns to her apartment and is reminded by a message she recorded earlier that she has to return to the office to pick up a file for a meeting between Shreck and Bruce Wayne. Shreck finds himself in the abandoned Arctic World pavilion at the old Gotham Zoo, where he is greeted by the grotesquely deformed Penguin. The Penguin tells Shreck that he needs his help to orchestrate his return to the surface, but Shreck questions why he would help him. The Penguin responds by blackmailing Shreck with evidence of his many crimes that he dumped into the sewer, prompting Shreck to agree to help him. The next day, the mayor holds a press conference at Gotham Plaza condemning the last night's violence, only for a member of the Red Triangle Gang to appear and kidnap his infant child. The clown escapes into the sewer, but, in a staged performance, is stopped by the Penguin, who returns to the surface with the infant. The Penguin is interviewed on television by the media and explains his desire to learn his human name and who his parents were. Bruce Wayne, watching the news from Wayne Manor, remarks that he hopes the Penguin finds his parents. Later, the press assemble outside of the Hall of Records, where the Penguin is supposedly searching for records of his true identity. Shreck denies the media access to the building while the Penguin works. At the same time, Batman patrols Gotham in the Batmobile, with Alfred asking over the communicator if he's concerned about the Penguin. Witnessed by reporters, the Penguin kneels before the graves of his parents in a cemetary.

Shreck arrives at his office to find Selina there. She mentions to him how she read files that revealed that his power plant would actually be siphoning and stockpiling power from Gotham rather than providing it, prompting Shreck to threaten her before pushing her out of the window. Chip enters the office and gives his father the excuse that Selina had been depressed and jumped out of the window herself. Selina awakens in the alley below, surrounded by stray cats. Selina returns to her apartment and trashes it in a fit of rage. The next day, Shreck meets with Bruce, who reiterates that Gotham has a power surplus and questions Shreck's motivation for building the power plant. He also mentions that the Penguin, or Oswald Cobblepot as he now goes by, is a crime boss and leads the Red Triangle Gang. Shreck acts insulted that Bruce is slandering Cobblepot, then is shocked to see Selina enter the room. He asks Selina to escort Bruce out of the office, and she obliges. As they leave, the two quickly become attracted to one another. That night, a woman is assaulted in an alley and calls for Batman, only for the attacker to be defeated by Selina, now wearing a skintight black vinyl costume and calling herself Catwoman.

The next day, Shreck reveals that he intends to run Oswald for mayor of Gotham City by forcing a recall election. Oswald decides to go along with Shreck's plan and has his gang wreak havoc in Gotham in order to discredit the current mayor. One of Cobblepot's henchmen reports the results of his gang's crimes to his boss, who resumes work on his own separate plan. As the Red Triangle Gang members riot in the streets, Batman arrives to fight them. Batman uses the Super-Batarang to knock out several thugs, but a poodle working for the gang catches it and escapes with it. Batman defeats the remaining gang members and comes face-to-face with Cobblepot. The two threaten each other before Catwoman suddenly approaches them, after which a nearby Shreck department store explodes. Oswald's umbrella transforms into a helicopter and carries him away, while Batman pursues Catwoman to a rooftop.