Ace (The Bat-Hound)

The courageous brown dog­ owned first by engraver John Wilker and later by Bruce Wayne - that functions periodically, from June 1955 onward, as the canine crime-fighting companion of Batman and Robin. For his role as Bat-Hound, Ace wears a tight-fitting black mask designed to conceal his distinctive forehead markings which, by betraying his true identity and therefore that of his owner, could severely jeopardize the secret identities of Batman and Robin.

In June 1955 Batman and Robin rescue a drowning dog from a river and then place an ad in a local newspaper in an effort to locate its owner. One night, when they leave the Batcave in response to a police call and the dog insists on coming with them, Robin con­ceals his distinctive forehead markings with a hastily fashioned black mask and affixes a small bat-insignia to his dog collar. Soon afterward, the courageous canine helps Batman and Robin capture escaped convict Bert Bowers, who inadvertently gives the masked dog a new name when he cries out "Leggo, you--you bat-hound!",

"'Bat-Hound' is a good name for him, Batman!" comments a police officer soon afterward. "He sure helped out this time!'"

Not long afterward, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson learn that their new Bat-Hound is in reality a trained watchdog named Ace and that he belongs to John Wilker, a "skilled engraver" employed by the Gotham Printing and Engraving Company. Wilker, however, is nowhere to be found, and his small cottage in "an isolated suburb" of Gotham City shows signs of a struggle. Batman surmises that Ace was stunned by his master's abductors, and that he had fallen into the river where they had found him while trying to follow his master's scent.

When Ace growls menacingly upon entering the General Paper Company, where Batman is investigat­ing the recent theft of some special paper used to print bonds, Batman is confirmed in his suspicions that Wilker has been abducted by criminals who intend to force him to use his skill as an engraver to counterfeit bonds for them, and that Ace's anger is related to his having smelled the scent of his master's abductors at the paper company.

On the hunch that the criminals will strike next at the Eastern Printing-Ink Company, Batman and Robin take Ace there, but the criminals knock Ace uncon­scious, capture Batman and Robin, and carry the Dy­namic Duo captive to their hideout on the outskirts of the city, where they are kept tightly bound while Wilker is put to work counterfeiting bonds. By means of an improvised Bat-Signal, however, Batman and Robin summon Ace, who has by now revived, to the scene. Once Ace has chewed through their bonds, Batman, Robin, and Ace capture the assembled criminals and free John Wilker from their clutches.

"He's sure a great dog, Mr. Wilker!" remarks Bat­man, after Wilker and his dog have been safely re­turned to their cottage. "It was he who really saved us!"

"And if you ever want to be a Bat-Hound again, Ace," adds Robin, "--the position is open!".

In February 1956 John Wilker lends Ace to Batman and Robin so that he can help them track down a gang of criminals who are using a trained dog to help them commit crimes (see Ross Millen). At one point, Bat­man equips Ace's collar with a tiny two-way radio which enables Batman and Robin to summon Ace over long distances and overhear the criminals' conversation after Ace has used his sense of smell to locate their hideout.

In October 1956, while John Wilker is in Europe and Ace is in the temporary care of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, Bat-Hound helps Batman and Robin solve several cases, including the capture of fugitive criminal Baldy Gore. When Gore escapes from the Gotham Penitentiary and, in an effort to wreak vengeance on the Dynamic Duo, obtains a job as a prop man at the very Hollywood movie studio where Batman, Robin, and Bat-Hound are making a movie, it is Bat-Hound who, by means of his extraordinary sense of smell, "sees" through Gore's disguise and alerts the Dynamic Duo to his presence oh the set.

In April 1958, while John Wilker is on vacation and Ace is once again in the temporary custody of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, Bat-Hound helps Batman and Robin recover a vial of powerful explosive stolen from the home of Professor Di Pina.

In April 1959, while John Wilker is in Europe, Ace assumes the role of Bat-Hound long enough to help Batman and Robin capture the Red Mask Mob.

By August 1959 John Wilker has accepted a new job which will keep him "traveling constantly" and has asked Bruce Wayne to provide Ace with a permanent home at the Wayne mansion. Both Wayne and Ace are enthusiastic about the new arrangement, for it will enable Ace to become Bat-Hound more often. By this time, Batman has constructed a special stand for Bat-Hound's mask, so that Ace can now slip into it alone, without any outside help. In addition, Batman has concealed a "tiny receiver" inside Bat-Hound's collar which, when activated by a signal from the tiny radio transmitter inside Batman's hollow boot heel, produces a high-pitched sound which only Bat-Hound can hear. Batman uses the high-pitched signal to summon Bat-Hound after he and Robin have been trapped inside an abandoned gold mine by the notorious Mr. Midas. Bat-Hound helps rescue the Dynamic Duo from the gold mine by summoning Batwoman to the scene, then helps Batman, Robin, and Batwoman capture Mr. Midas and his gang of gold thieves.

In March 1960 Bat-Hound helps Batman and Robin apprehend Graham and his henchmen.

In April 1960 Bat-Hound develops a case of amnesia after his head has been creased by a gangster's bullet, and, because his most recent memory is of masked gunmen, he develops a fierce hatred of anyone wearing a mask, including Batman and Robin. At one point, criminals find Bat-Hound and use him as bait to lure the Dynamic Duo into a trap, but Batman tricks his captors into holding some handkerchiefs in front of their faces, causing the amnesiac Bat-Hound to attack them and giving Batman and Robin the opportunity to apprehend them. Afterward, Bat-Hound undergoes a surgical operation which successfully restores his memory, and he is once again united with Batman and Robin.

In August 1960 Bat-Hound uses his extraordinary sense of smell to help Bat-Mite trail some bank robbers to their warehouse hideaway. Soon afterward, when Batman, Robin, Batwoman, and all the criminals have been reduced to a few inches in height by Bat-Mite's mischievous magic, it is Bat-Hound, who has retained his normal size, who frightens the tiny criminals away from the warehouse doorway long enough to enable Batman to apprehend them, after which Bat-Mite re­stores them all to their normal size.

In January 1961 Bat-Hound and Robin are frozen motionless inside "paralyzer beams" by Jhorl, an extraterrestrial alien, but they are ultimately rescued from the villain's clutches by Batman.

In October 1961 Bat-Hound helps Batman and Robin capture the Lippy Yates gang. The crime-fighters' lives are twice saved by a giant insect from outer space who is grateful to Bat-Hound for having rescued him from an animal trap. The creature is killed by a collapsing bridge after supporting it long enough for Batman, Robin, and Bat-Hound to get across safely.

In December 1962 Bat-Hound helps Batman and Robin smash a ring of renegade scientists and appre­hend the criminals intending to market the scientists' illicitly manufactured, ultrapowerful explosive.

In August 1963, when Batman, Robin, and Batwoman are captured by the Cat-Man and locked inside a sealed room from which there is apparently no escape, Bat­man uses the tiny transmitter hidden inside his boot heel to activate the supersonic signal device inside Bat-Hound's collar. Carefully homing in on the steady signal, Bat-Hound makes his way to the Cat-Man's hideout, slips through a narrow vent leading into the sealed room, and brings Batman the explosives he needs to blast his way out of the trap.

In September 1963 Bat-Mite arrives in the batcave and mischievously endows Bat-Hound with super­powers: for a time, Bat-Hound can perform feats of super-strength, fly through the air at super-speed, melt blocks of ice with his "super-heat-vision," and shoot flame from his mouth like a legendary dragon. For a time, the effects of Bat-Mite's practical joke prove beneficial, as when Bat-Hound uses his super-powers to capture the notorious Logan Gang and rescue Batman and Robin from the whirling blades of a huge ice­ shaving machine at the Gotham Ice Company. Later, however, it becomes apparent that Bat-Hound's ac­quisition of super-powers, combined with his acciden­tal inhalation of some chemicals at the batcave, has made him sensitive to common coal gas in a bizarre way, so that in the presence of coal gas he obeys anyone who commands him. At one point, a gang of criminals capitalize on this fact by giving Bat-Hound a whiff of coal gas and ordering him to attack Batman and Robin. As Bat-Hound lunges toward the Dynamic Duo with flames shooting out of his mouth, Bat-Mite hastily uses his magical powers to protect Batman and Robin from Bat-Hound's vicious attack. Then, realizing what it is that has caused Bat-Hound's susceptibility to coal gas in the first place, he deprives Bat-Hound of his super-powers, thus neutralizing the influence of the coal gas and restoring Bat-Hound to normal. Now no longer under the hypnotic influence of the coal gas, Bat-Hound turns on the criminals and helps Batman and Robin apprehend them.

In March 1964 Bat-Hound plays a role in the capture of the evil Eric Barroc by trailing one of Barroc's vicious "beast-humans" to the villain's hideout so that Batwoman and Robin can apprehend him.