Batman #216

ANGEL – OR DEVIL?

Batman stops a member of Ye Olde Avon Players from striking a girl at the back door of the Gotham Theatre, but for some reason, the girl grabs Batman's hand and enables the assailant to stun him. When he recovers, he has lost his quarry in the players' backstage. Resuming his usual patrol, he spots the girl hitchhiking and gives her a lift to her destination: Wayne Manor. The girl turns out to be Dahne Pennyworth, daughter of Wilfred Pennyworth, Alfred's brother, and, like Wilfred, a thespian with the Players. She explains that the man who tried to strike her was her boyfriend and that it was a misunderstanding. After leaving her at Wayne Manor's front door, Batman doubles back to meet her at as Bruce Wayne. Dick Grayson, ailing from a cold, falls head-over-heels for Daphne and, to impress her, shows her what she has secretly come for: the first folio of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, written in the Bard's own hand. That night, Daphne prowls around Wayne Manor and creates a wax mold of the front door's keys. In the morning, she invites the three of them to the Players' performance of Romeo and Juliet at night, and between acts, she goes back to Wayne Manor to steal the folio. She is stopped by Alfred, who has anticipated the theft, and accidentally shoots him. What Daphne didn't know was that she was carrying a prop gun. Alfred acts death and Daphne, who thinks she has really killed him, leaves in tears with the folio. Daphne returns and passes along the folio to the other Players, who have been holding her and her father Wilfred hostage. Wilfred tells her that the gun was a prop and shoves her onstage to get her out of harm's way. The Players tell Wilfred that the dagger she will soon plunge into her breast as Juliet is real, and that they will also kill Wilfred to ensure his silence. At that moment, Alfred and Batman converge on the theater and defeat the Players, while Wilfred and Dick stop Daphne from stabbing herself. In the aftermath, Alfred is informed of Daphne's real motivations and forgives her.

YOU BE THE DETECTIVE

THIS STORY IS A REPRINT FORM GANG BUSTERS #51