Comic Title: Batman #431
Publisher: DC
Cover Date: March 1989
On Sale Date: January 24, 1989 Shipping Date January 24, 1989
Source: Direct Currents, #12

Shipping Date January 26, 1989
Source: Amazing Heroes, #156

Direct Market Date January 26, 1989
Source: Comic Shop News, #82

Copyright Date January 24, 1989
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1989

Cover Price: $0.75
Page Count: 32
Editor: Dennis J. O'Neil

Title: "The Wall"
Pages: 22

Feature(s):
Batman (Post-Crisis)

Writer: James C. Owsley
Penciller: Jim Aparo
Inker: Mike DeCarlo
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Adrienne Roy

Reprinted In:
Batman:The Caped Crusader Vol. 1 TPB (2018)

Feature Character(s)

• Batman (last appearance in Power of the Atom #9; next appearance in Detective Comics #598)

Supporting Character(s)

• Alfred Pennyworth (last appearance in Detective Comics #596; next appearance in Detective Comics #598)

Villain(s)

• Ralph Stuart (a criminal; no further appearances)
• Mugs Clifford (a criminal; no further appearances)
• Thaddeus Gladden (a broker for assassins; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Four assassins (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Tanja Lloyd (a murder victim; no further appearances)
• Several guards (no further appearances)
• An unnamed apartment tenant (no further appearances)
• Kirigi (a martial arts master; no further appearances)
• Linda Riley (a federal prosecutor; no further appearances)

Flashback Appearance(s)

• Bruce Wayne (in flashback to his training; last appearance in Secret Origins of the World's Greatest Super-Heroes TPB; next appearance in Detective Comics #599)

Synopsis:
Batman has criminal Ralph Stuart under surveillance. The crook turns himself in after witnessing a murder committed by four ninja assassins. Batman locates the victim and the man who put out the hit, Mugs Clifford. He then tracks down the assassins who used a technique known as the vibrating palm. Batman is one of the few people in the world who knows the move.

Following the capture of the assassins, Batman seeks out Kirigi, the master who taught him the move. The master makes no moral judgment concerning others than he trained, but the Batman does.