- This is an Encyclopedia! It has all our vital statistics and thousands of facts about our methods and equipment!
- — Robin
Detective Comics #214 is an issue of the series Detective Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1954.
Synopsis for Batman: "The Batman Encyclopedia"
Herbert Smirt has been following the activities of Batman and Robin for a long time and he has been keeping tabs on every single detail on each case. After extensive research, Smirt creates the Batman Encyclopedia, a book with thousands of facts about Batman's methods, his equipment and how to defeat him. Smirt decides to make big money by selling the book to the criminals of Gotham at five thousand dollars a copy.
Using the encyclopedia, several criminals manage to avoid being captured by Batman and Robin, who are baffled at the accuracy with which the crooks escaped. Sometime later, the Dynamic Duo manage to capture some criminals by sheer luck and they learn of the Batman Encyclopedia. After a close inspection, Batman realizes that there's a clue to his secret identity in the book and he decides to search for Smirt as a criminal in disguise. His plan succeeds and he manages to capture Smirt, preventing him from selling more copies of the encyclopedia. However, with the several copies of the book already in the underworld, Batman comes up with a plan to recover the book.
Batman and Robin modify their equipment, gadgets and methods and by the time they go out to capture criminals, the thugs are baffled when their plans based on the encyclopedia don't work at all and all of them end up captured and arrested. Batman and Robin keep a copy of the Batman Encyclopedia and they place it in the Batcave along with the other trophies.
Appearing in Batman: "The Batman Encyclopedia"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Herbert Smirt (Single appearance) (Flashback and main story)
Locations:
Items:
- Batman Encyclopedia
- Bat-Signal
- Utility Belt
- Giant Penny (Cameo)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Captain Compass: "The Island That Was a Ship!"
Appearing in Captain Compass: "The Island That Was a Ship!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- "Barracuda" Bolten (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Residents of the "Old Seamen's Home" (Single appearance)
Locations:
Items:
- None
Vehicles:
- None
Synopsis for Roy Raymond: "The Amazing Mr. Hercules!"
Appearing in Roy Raymond: "The Amazing Mr. Hercules!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Hector Hepplewhite (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Mr. Hercules (Single appearance)
Locations:
Items:
- None
Vehicles:
- None
Trivia
- Batman's weight is given as 180 lbs in this issue.
See Also
Links and References
Look at how sad this is making Batman. You did this.