Batman: The Black Glove by Grant Morrison, J. H. Williams IIIand Tony S. Daniel

This book collects two Batman stories. One involves when Batman and Robin travel to the island home of a reclusive Billionaire who once brought together a team of crimefighters from different countries. But tensions within the group, along with Batman's joining, made the group self-destruct. Now, the same billionaire, named Jonathan Mayhew, has asked Batman and the others to return to his island again, and Batman comes, taking Robin, who has injured his arm, with him.

On the island, they meet John Sheldrake, "England's Knight", formerly known as the Knight, but he tells them that while there is plenty of food, it seems that Mayhew is missing.

The other heroes and their sidekicks- Man-of-Bats and Little Raven (who wants to be called Raven Red), The Legionary, Dark Ranger, Squire, Wingman, El Sombrero, Gaucho, Musketeer and Eagle. But the island is actually a deathtrap, made by a man who has killed Jonathan Mayhew and now seeks to kill the League of Heroes he tried backing. First, he blows up the planes that the heroes used to reach the island, and then he begins killing them off one by one, starting with The Legionary. Calling himself "The Black Glove", he taunts the heroes to catch him before he can kill them all.

But with the entire island booby-trapped against them, can they find the culprit and unmask them before they all die? And could it be that one of the heroes has sided with the Black Glove to kill the others?

In the second story, Batman discovers that someone is masquerading as him, having been turned into ersatz Batmen as a backup plan should something happen to Batman himself. But when the only remaining backup, known as the Third Man, goes crazy and attacks Comissioner Gordon, can Bruce Wayne defeat the man who was trained to become him, and keep his own secret safe?

I liked this book, which had two very different tales of Batman. Both are about hidden secrets, those of the heroes and those of their foes, as well as the secrets of Jonathan Mayhew in the first story, and that of the former Comissioner in the second. The tales are well-told and make you think that Batman and Robin might well be in actual danger from the situations they are in. Heck, in the second story, Batman has a heart attack, which actually does leave him in danger.

The stories are also about masks, and those who wear them, and how their lives are shaped by them, and the damage they do to those who wear them and the other people around them. In the second story, we see that Bruce's girlfriend has realized that he is always wearing a mask and that they can never be close. During the course of the story, she realizes the truth, when she and Bruce are attacked by thugs, and Bruce takes them on to save them both. But will finding out his secret endanger her?

That's a question we can't know the answer to, as that is where the book ends, but as people who know his secret don't have a great track record for staying alive (except for Alfred the Butler and the kids Bruce trains as Robin, and even they are not immune- witness Jason Todd), it doesn't look very good for Jezebel Jet. And with Talia, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul entering the picture... no, it doesn't look good at all.