(Batman I #680, 681) - Dr. Hurt invited the Black Glove to Arkham Asylum for the annual Danse Macabre, where they’d bet on the life or death of a victim chosen by Hurt. Batman was this years victims, lured to Arkham after Hurt kidnapped his girlfriend Jezebel Jet and handed her over to the joker, and the Black Glove watched his progress through viewscreens. Batman confronted Joker, demanding to see Jet. Joker told Batman he’d learned that he’d allowed Dr. Hurt to perform isolation experiments on him in hopes of understanding Joker’s psychopathic mind, and Joker was amused that Batman thought he could ever understand him. Joker said Batman couldn’t analyze him or break him down into components like a crime scene. Joker was still furious that Batman broke their arrangement as eternal arch-enemies by shooting him in the face. Batman protested that the man that shot joker was Josef Muller, an imposter trained and set on Joker by Dr. Hurt, but Joker refused to listen. After a brief clash Batman saw Jet behind a glass case with flower petals falling on her. The petals contained powerful neurotoxins, and Dr. Hurt told Joker to let things play out. Batman broke the glass, but the petals poisoned him and further warped his mind. Jezebel Jet laughed, revealing herself as a member of the Black Glove. Dr. Hurt buried Batman alive in a shallow grave. The Black Glove held a mock funeral for Batman, and some of the members told Dr. Hurt they weren’t yet satisfied with his promise that they’d see a noble spirit completely broken. Hurt said that they’d dine, and then dig up Batman.. He only had thirty minutes of oxygen in his coffin, and when they unearthed him he would have suffered permanent brain damage. Jezebel Jet suggested they take the helpless Batman and torture and mutilate him. They returned to Arkham, and Joker said he wanted to bet on Batman’s survival. Dr. Hurt told Joker only members of the Black Glove could vote, and Joker argued he was worthy of membership because he’d burned more money than most of them had and was more infamous than any of them. He broke the neck of a Black Glove member and said he bet Batman would not only survive but make them all regret they’d ever tried to destroy him. He presented Batman’s Bat-Radia, which Jet said was a broken radio he’d found in a homeless man’s shopping cart, but realized it was sending out a signal to the Batcave, locking down Arkham. Joker said he was leaving and would collect his winnings from the Black Glove in due time. Batman, his original personality having been restored, escaped his coffin and grave to confront the Black Glove. Jet goaded him, saying there was no court, judge or jury they couldn’t buy, and no matter what they’d never be brought to justice. Batman knew that Jet and her mother were won by President Mkele during a wager with the Black Glove, and claimed he had the only thing Jet valued in life, the last note her mother sent her before being executed. Jet called Batman a liar, and said that after her he’d never be able to love or trust another woman again. Batman had always suspected something was off about Jet, and realized that what he was attracted to was the darkness he knew was inside her. Nightwing, who’d been kidnapped by the Club, freed himself from Bossu and Scorpiana, and helped Batman fight off the Club and Dr. Hurt at Arkham Asylum. Hurt prepared to takeoff in a helicopter piloted by Bat-Devil, and claimed to be Thomas Wayne. Batman didn’t believe him, and Hurt said he’d staged photos that would paint his parents and Alfred as criminals and degenerates, threatening to release them unless Batman agreed to serve the Black Glove. Batman refused and jumped on the helicopter. Bat-Devil couldn’t control the flight and the helicopter plummeted into Gotham Harbor, exploding in a burst of flames. Nightwing dredged up Batman’s uniform, and Talia al Ghul, who came to Gotham as soon as she learned Batman was in trouble, promised to avenge the father of her child. In the coming months several members of the Black Glove turned up dead. Talia wanted personal revenge on Jezebel Jet, and sent a squad of Man-Bat Commandoes after her private plane as she was trying to return to her home country of Mtamba.

Comments: Created by Grant Morrison & Tony S. Daniel.

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