(Batman I #176) - Catwoman announced to the Gotham underworld that she's use her feline cleverness to outwit Batman, and prove to the underworld that they had no need to fear the vigilante. She put out a newspaper report challenging Batman to catch her on her cross-country trip, outlining her every destination. Alfred presented the paper to Batman and Robin, who donned disguises and boarded a train leaving for Pittsburgh that began her trip. They analyzed the fingerprints of every passenger's water cups until they found Catwoman, disguised as a little old lady. She jumped from the train, landing in a safety net, and fled. They caught up with her on a steamer to Nashville, recognizing her disguise as a man because of her lack of Adam's apple. Her thugs dumped the Dynamic Duo overboard, and she escaped again. Batman followed her across the whole country, but revealed to Robin that he was letting her escape because her final destination was a celebration with the Gotham underworld. They took the Batplane to her meeting, and snatched her victory away by capturing her and the underworld heads in a net.

(Batman I #187) - Alfred alerted Batman and Robin to the bat-signal, and Commissioner Gordon informed the heroes of the feud between clever criminal Sparrow and the recently escaped Joker.

(Batman I #52) - Batman and Robin kept busting the Thinker’s gang, but after Thinker shot one of his goons for committing a blunder the dying man wanted to speak to Batman. He told Batman his boss used thinking machines to plan all his crimes, and was in the process of using them to uncover Batman’s secret identity. Batman decided to circumvent Thinker’s scheme by faking Bruce Wayne’s death. Bruce Wayne attended a yacht party aboard the Carolina, with his butler Alfred serving the guests and Vicki Vale taking pictures for her picture magazine. The guests teased Vicki about only taking pictures of Bruce, speculating about her being sweet on him. Alfred pushed a mannequin duplicate of Bruce overboard and Vicki snapped a picture of “Bruce” falling with Alfred in the frame. Detective Joe Mulligan suspected Alfred of murder and had him locked up. Batman and Robin made a number of public appearances to dissuade Thinker’s machines from connecting Batman to Bruce, and Batman disguised himself to visit Alfred in the guise of a lawyer, promising he’d get him free. Several of Thinker’s incarcerated gang members chatted up Alfred, impressed that he’d rubbed out his boss, and invited him into Thinker’s gang. Thinker broke his men out and Batman and Robin followed the breakout from the Batplane, discovering Thinker’s hidden mountain lair. Alfred threw a wrench into Thinker’s thinking machines, so their final calculation was that Alfred was Batman’s secret identity. Batman and Robin arrived toi lay into Thinker and his gang, using the giant typewriter Thinker used to communicate with his thinking machines against the villains. With Thinker and his gang behind bars Bruce Wayne showed up alive on a rmeote island, clearing Alfred of his murder.

(Batman I #52) - Joker played cards with a henchman who accused him of cheating after producing a hand of five jokers. The enraged Joker seemed ready to kill him, so the henchman feigned laughter, saying Joker couldn’t kill a goon with a great sense of humor, and claimed he thought it was hilarious when Joker robbed him. This gave Joker an idea for a series of funny robberies. He stole a ermine coat from wealthy Mrs. Carlin, snagging it with a fishing line. He proceeded to “row” away in a canoe with holes in the bottom for his legs so he could run away on foot. He stole Mr. Stark’s stamp collection, escaping on a chauffeur-driven pogo stick, and robbed the Dude Ranch nightclub by unleashing a wild steer after a patron asked for steer steak. Batman and Robin were confused when none of the victims wanted to press charges, saying they’d gotten such a good laugh at Joker’s antics. Batman wondered if he could induce joker to rob Bruce Wayne, and the next night Bruce had Alfred hang Franz Hals “Laughing Cavalier,” which he claimed to have just acquired. Joker burst in dressed as an artist, and stole the painting, calling it a masterpiece of crime. Bruce laughed at his floppy beret, and Dick, thinking he’d lost his senses, changed into Robin to pursue Joker, but the fiend knocked him out and took him hostage, flying away in a blimp. Batman used the Batplane to track down Robin’s location, which turned out to be a giant house of cards. Joker spoke to the Dynamic Duo over a loudspeaker, telling them the house of cards was a puzzle, and that if they didn’t solve it they’d be crushed when it came tumbling down. Robin asked Batman why he’d let Joker steal the painting, and Batman explained that after some research he’d found out that all Joker’s victims had crimes in their past they sought to conceal, and he figured that joker was blackmailing him. In disguise he spread the word in an underworld bar that Bruce Wayne had paid a crook to steal the “Laughing Cavalier,” which was actually a copy painted by batman himself. Joker phoned up Bruce, saying that if he let him steal the painting and laugh about it not only would Joker keep his crime secret, he would return later with two oils. The whole idea of the funny robberies was to confound Batman, which the Caped Crusader found rather conceited of Joker. Batman found two giant aces made of steel that provided shelter when the rest of the house of cards collapsed, and the heroes went to interview Joker’s victims again. Mr. Stark had been promised two collections of stamps, and Joker gave him rubber stamps. Mrs. Carlin got two ermines, but the small animals, not full coats. Nick Weston, owner of the dude Ranch was promised $10,000 for the $5,000 Joker stole, but got beaded wampum. Batman told the victims it was their own fault for thinking Joker would ever make an honest deal. Joker realized the Hals painting was a forgery and brought two giant tubes of oil paint to Wayne Manor, planning to squeeze them open with the Jokermobile to make a giant mess of the mansion. Batman rammed the Jokermobile with the Batmobile, and as Joker fled he ran over the tubes, covering Joker in paint. Batman and Robin took their embarrassed enemy into custody.

(Detective Comics I #179) - The army selected Robin to help them guard the latest atomic experiments in an undisclosed location in the Pacific. Robin was worried about being out of contact with Batman, who assured him he could handle things in Gotham City on his own for a few weeks. In keeping with Gotham tradition when Mayor Bradley Stokes went on a vacation a prominent member of Gotham was chosen as interim mayor and Bruce Wayne was selected for the honor. Bruce hoped his mayoral duties wouldn’t interfere with his work as Batman, but he ran into an immediate problem when Commissioner Gordon informed him that the Big Six Club, a collective of Gotham’s wealthiest, had named Batman as man of the year and he’d be feted with Bruce Wayne acting as mayor of ceremonies. Mayor Wayne was ready to go into action every time Commissioner Gordon threw up the bat-signal, but an impostor Batman was responding to foil the crimes. The impostor was was Deuce Chalmers, who’d spent years investigating Batman to determine his secret identity and was suspicious that he was Bruce Wayne. With Bruce Wayne acting as mayor he filled in for Batman, proving to himself that the playboy was the Caped Crusader. Before the award ceremony Commissioner Gordon, Wayne and the fake Batman dined together, and Gordon remarked that if the public could see them it would put to rest the rumors that Bruce Wayne was Batman. The fake Batman showed off his phony Batmobile and Batcave while Bruce fumed inwardly. Bruce laid out the situation to Alfred, who offered to fill in for him as Batman as he had in the past, but Bruce was convinced a savvy criminal like Deuce would see through the ruse. Bruce hosted Batman’s Big Six fete and the fake Batman offered the Big Six a chance to tour his Batcave, but ended up trapping them in a cage and holding them hostage for millions. Bruce hypnotized the mayor’s assistant Fielding, who was a natural yes-man to convince him he was Bruce Wayne. After disguising Fielding Batman and “Bruce Wayne” showed up at the fake Batcave, convincing Deuce he was mistaken that he’s uncovered Batman’s identity. Batman apprehended Deuce, unhypnotized Fielding, and as Bruce Wayne he was more than pleased to turn over the reigns of the city back to Mayor Stokes.