Big Jack Baker

A Gotham City mobster, in prison awaiting trial for his underworld activities, who persuades his unscrupulous defense attorney, Verne Lever – described as "the best mouthpiece in the coun­try" – to assume the leadership of his gang during his pretrial confinement, ostensibly so that the gang will have a leader during his absence, but in reality so that by threatening to make Lever's own underworld in­volvement public he can blackmail his attorney into doing his utmost to win him an acquittal. "With your own freedom at stake," gloats Baker, after lawyer Lever has become inextricably involved in the Baker gang's activities, "I know you'll try real hard to win an ac­quittal for me!"

Batman's efforts to preserve the secret of his dual identity during this period, as well as to carry out his role as the prosecution's star witness at Big Jack Baker's trial, are severely hampered by the fact that an accidental dousing by a vat of experimental radioactive dye has rendered him temporarily invisible, but the unseen Batman nevertheless manages to persuade the judge of his presence in the courtroom so that he may be permitted to testify. Big Jack Baker is ultimately convicted, and Verne Lever, incriminated on the spot by his gangland client, is apprehended by Batman while attempting to flee the courthouse with Robin as hostage.