Batman and Robin (Comics)

_{Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne’s former ward is stepping into the cape and cowl and has offered Bruce’s biological son Damian to be his Boy Wonder. Though a bit conceited, Damian Wayne has certainly inherited some of his father’s finer traits displaying a devotion to justice, not to mention a technical wizardry perhaps even surpassing Bruce’s. Having refined some of his father's prototypical blueprints, it’s thanks to Damian that the team is able to hit the streets (or the skies above them) in a brand new flying Bat-Mobile?. But the Bat-Mobile? is only the first in a series of modifications to the Bat-persona.}

_{Following Bruce’s death, Dick has decided to move out of the Bat-Cave? beneath Wayne Manor. Giving one final look back at his boyhood home, he Damian and Alfred move to the more urban settings of the cave beneath Wayne Tower – much like Bruce had done when Dick first moved onto his Nightwing persona. It’s from that new base that they embark on their first ‘case’ – tracking a drug runner by the name of Mr. Toad.}

_{Having burst through a massive police barrier, Toad, a self-professed expert at evading capture thinks that he and his associates are home free. Of course that is until they find the flying Bat-mobile on their tail. Within moments, Batman and Robin have captured Toad and are pumping him for information. Oddly enough, the portly amphibian wasn't carrying cash or drugs with him in the briefcase they found him with - but instead the case was filled to the brim with dominos - "bones" as they're otherwise known. Even stranger, there appears to be no record of any kind on Mr. Toad in any of the criminal databases, international or otherwise. Listening to him talk, the former Flying Grayson pegs Toad as having a background originating somewhere in the European circus circuit, but other than that the man is a mystery. Realizing that the enigmatic crook wasn't about to talk, Dick and Damian drop him off on the roof of police headquarters to let him stew in their interrogation room for awhile as they return to the Bat-Cave? for more research.}

_{But Toad is but one of a march larger criminal enterprise rolling into Gotham. Setting up shop in the same run-down amusement park where Joker once tormented Commissioner Gordon on that now infamous night so long ago, the appropriately named Circus of Strange makes its way into the city proper. They are lead by Professor Pyg, a man in a pig mask obsessed with the duality and malleability of everyday human nature and the transformation from ugly to beautiful or mundane to horrendous. Pyg is obliviously not pleased that one of his associates is in police custody so he sets out to amend the situation in his own way.}

_{Having taken care of Mr. Toad's first associate Lev, Pyg and a squadron of his Dollotrons force their way into the home of Toad's second accomplice Niko. Upset by Niko's "betrayal", Pyg decides to make Niko's daughter Sasha watch as he burns away Niko's "ugliness" - affixing a doll-like mask to Niko's face and turning him into another one of his Dollotrons. Un-phased by Niko's screams of agony, Pyg sets his sights now on "perfecting" Niko's daughter Sasha as well..}

_{Across town, a man seemingly engulfed in flames falls out of a car parked in front of GCPD Headquarters. Officers move towards the screaming man but as they close in, he reveals himself to be none other than Circus of Strange member Phosphorus Rex and attacks them. All the while, stories above them - Commission Gordon continues to stand steadfast as he once again lights up the Bat-Signal? across the skies of Gotham. Little does he know that tonight the protectors of Gotham City will finally respond to his plea for help.}