DETECTIVE COMICS #508

"SECRET OF THE SPHINX SINISTER!"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Batman enters Selina Kyle's apartment to find it ransacked, and Selina missing. The Darknight Detective brings Selina's cats back to the Batcave, along with a clue that leads him to believe the erstwhile Catwoman was kidnapped by a mummy. Bruce Wayne heads to the Gotham Metropolitan Museum to meet with his friend, Egyptology expert Gregory Griffin -- but Griffin is missing as well, his office in disarray. Bruce and Griffin's assistant, Donaldson, find a secreat passage to an Egyptian-style chamber, where a photo of Selina is hung above an altar. Donaldson translates some hieroglyphics which indicate Griffin believes Selina to be the reincarnation of Kara, Queen of the Sphinx.

Bruce heads to Giza, Egypt, where he confirms that Griffin and Selina recently entered the country. He heads into the desert and stakes out the Sphinx as Batman -- but when he's attacked by a group of jackals, Batman enters the Sphinx and finds Griffin in a burial chamber, now calling himself Khafre, Lord of the Nile. Batman surrenders to Griffin, who reveals his plan to send himself and Selina -- and now Batman as well -- into a deep, deathlike sleep from which they may never emerge. But Batman frees himself and rescues Selina. When Griffin chases them outside, he is attacked by the jackals. The next day, Bruce and Selina meet with an Egyptian policeman, who has found no sign of Griffin other than some scraps of his clothing on the desert sand.

BATMAN #342

"REQUIEM FOR A HERO"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Letterer: Shelly Leferman | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: In the Batcave beneath Wayne Manor, Doctor Thirteen finds Man-Bat attacking Batman. Thirteen tries to help, allowing Batman to get free and zap Man-Bat with Thirteen's sonar gun. Man-Bat escapes, and Batman emerges onto the Wayne grounds with an injured Thirteen. At the hospital, Batman and Commissioner Gordon are told that Thirteen will survive.

The next day, Bruce Wayne visits the apartment of Kirk and Francine Langstrom and their daughter, Rebecca, in Gotham's Crime Alley neighborhood. Francine explains that Kirk has been consumed by his Man-Bat persona thanks to his hatred of Batman. That night, Batman goes out in search of Man-Bat. He enters the extended network of caverns beneath the Wayne grounds, and eventually finds his quarry. Batman and Man-Bat fight, and Batman slips an antidote into Man-Bat's mouth -- but it fails to change him back to Kirk Langstrom. Instead, Man-Bat kicks Batman away and flies off, leaving the Caped Crusader behind, vowing to find a new cure for his one-time friend.

Continuity Notes: Commissioner Gordon loses his temper with Batman at the hospital, then reveals why: he received a threatning note in the morning's mail.

BATMAN #341

It was a dark and stormy night. A perfect night for...
"THE GHOST OF WAYNE MANSION"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: On a dark and stormy night, three kids race out of Wayne Manor, screaming about a ghost, and are found by a passing Gotham policeman. The next morning, Commissioner Gordon asks Bruce Wayne for permission to search the mansion, but Bruce -- worried Gordon might find the old Batcave -- refuses, so Gordon leaves to get permission from the house's cartetakers at the Gotham Historical Society instead. Later, Batman examines real-time footage of the manor on his computer, and finds that the secret entrance to the Batcave behind a grandfather clock is ajar. Batman races to the house to stop Gordon's search.

Meanwhile, Gordon enters the house with Miss Crum of the Historical Society, and with Doctor Terry Thirteen, a paranormal investigator who specializes in debunking ghosts. Gordon tells Thirteen that the night before, his officer saw the same "ghost" the kids saw. Meanwhile, Batman enters the mansion as well. He secretly sabotages Doctor Thirteen's "sonar gun", but when the "ghost" swoops past overhead, he follows it. After losing the ghost, Batman shows himself and asks Gordon for time to search the mansion alone. Gordon agrees, and leaves the house with Crum and Thirteen -- but Thirteen immediately slips back inside. Batman enters the Batcave to find that the "ghost" is actually Man-Bat -- and then the creature quickly subdues him. Meanwhile, Thirteen discovers the Batcave entrance and descends the stairs, to find Man-Bat holding the unconscious Batman.

Continuity Notes: Lots of them this issue! But we'll start with a sub-plot scene, where the mystery man who was released from Arkham Asylum in DETECTIVE COMICS #507 visits the Gotham Tobacconists Club, a group of the city's most powerful political movers and shakers. The man immediately blackmails the club members into backing him, and they declare that he is still the "boss" of Gotham City. The man then says that he is barred from running for office due to his time in Arkham, but that he has one of the mayoral candidates in his pocket and he wants to ensure that candidate is elected. (You probably realize who this guy is by now, but since the story hasn't revealed it yet, neither will I!)

BATMAN #340

"A MAN CALLED MOLE!"
Writers: Gerry Conway & Roy Thomas | Inker: Adrian Gonzales
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano
take great pleasure in introducing Gene Colan, Penciler

The Plot: At night in Gotham, a stockbroker named William Elder is killed by a creature from underground. The next morning, Batman investigates the body with Commissioner Gordon. The next night, a psychiatrist, Doctor Kurtzman, is killed in the same way. But this time, Batman is on patrol and reaches the doctor's office. He enters a hole left by Kurtzman's assailant, and battles a monster calling himself the Mole underground. But the Mole, who seems to know Batman, escapes. Later, Batman recalls fighting a tunnel-digging hoodlum called the Mole, and calls Gotham State Prison to check on him. The warden says that the Mole's parole was recently denied by a board consisting of Elder, Kurtzman, and chemical mogul Sandra Clarke.

Bruce Wayne brings Sandra to Wayne Manor to keep her safe from the Mole, but he also plants a story in the newspaper indicating that she will be staying there to recuperate from an illness. That night, the Mole tunnels into the Batcave and makes his way to the manor, where he attacks Sandra and brings her underground. There, he tells her that after his parole was denied, he tunneled out of prison, but was soaked by tainted sewage and mutated into a monster. Batman arrives and defeats the Mole, who falls into an underground river, seemingly killed. Batman takes Sandra to safety and then goes to bed.

Continuity Notes: Gene Colan joins BATMAN as the new regular penciler, a role he will maintain for a number of years -- though he will hop titles to do so, becoming the DETECTIVE COMICS penciler after a few issues. But on that series, he will outlast Gerry Conway's tenure on the title and continue to draw it under the next writer, Doug Moench, right up until the CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS reboot in 1986! What I repeat now is hearsay, but I believe I recall that Colan, a longtime Marvel stalwart and favorite of Stan Lee's, was dismissed from the House of Ideas in the early eighties by editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, for "cutting corners" on his assignments.

BATMAN #339

"A SWEET KISS OF POISON..."
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Steve Mitchell
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: An exhausted Batman returns from a night of crime-fighting, with only a few hours to sleep before attending a Wayne Foundation board meeting as Bruce Wayne. After that meeting, Lucius Fox encourages Bruce to take a vacation, but the philanthropist refuses. Later, Bruce meets with mayoral candidate Hamilton Hill for lunch, in the middle of which a mystery woman kisses him, mistaking him for someone else. The woman leaves in a taxi, revealing herself to be Poison Ivy. She crosses Bruce's name off a list and prepares for her next target.

That night, Batman is about to thwart some smugglers at the waterfront when a sudden urge seizes him and he leaves, making his way to the Ambassador Hotel. There, he spots all the other members of the Wayne Foundation board waiting at the hotel entrance. Batman changes back to Bruce Wayne and joins his fellow board members in entering the hotel. Inside, Poison Ivy appears and explains that she drugged each of them with her kiss, and they will now obey her every command. Ivy orders the men to sign over the full assets of the Wayne Foundation to her, and one by one, they do so. She then orders them never to divulge what has happened. Most of the board members leave, but Bruce sneaks into the shadows and becomes Batman once more. However Poison Ivy is ready, and traps him with a choking vine, then escapes.

Batman returns to the Batcave to call Commissioner Gordon, but finds himself choking as he struggles to spit out the story of Poison Ivy.

DETECTIVE COMICS #507

"DRESSED TO DIE!"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Letterer: Ben Oda | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Manikin prepares to kill Hoston, but Batman emerges from the flames to stop her. Manikin begins choking on the smoke from Hoston's burning office and retreats while Batman gets Hoston to safety. Manikin is picked up by her brother, Victor, who drives her to their mansion outside Gotham. The next day, Bruce Wayne visits the Gotham Gazette to speak with the managing editor, Bud Raleigh, about a name he heard Hoston mumble the night before -- Miranda. Somehow, Raleigh knows this must be a model from West Germany who had a celebrated career in Gotham for about a year before being disfigured in a horrific car accident just as she was about to move to Hollywood to pursue her fortune in the movies.

That night, Batman prepares a device to help him against Manikin, then leaves for the hospital, where Hoston is recovering. Manikin arrives to finish her mission of killing the designer, but Batman intervenes. Their fight carries them out of the building and then back inside to Hoston's room, where Hoston confesses to planting a bomb in Miranda's car. Batman uses his device to seal Manikin's costume entirely, cutting off her air supply. Manikin passes out just as Victor appears and removes her mask, revealing her hideously scarred face. Hoston then reveals that he tried to kill Miranda because she had abandoned him for the movies.

Continuity Notes: We get a footnote to last issue as Hoston recalls seeing Batman "overcome by the smoke" in his office.

Gerry Conway comes up with one of the goofier prior issue recaps you're likely to run across, as a police officer asks Batman a very simple question: what started the fire? And Batman proceeds, unprompted, to run down the events of his entire evening for the poor gentleman.

DETECTIVE COMICS #506

"WHO DIES FOR THE MANIKIN?"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Steve Mitchell
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Ten months ago, Batman arrives at the scene of an auto wreck. He pulls the car's lone occupant free, but she is horrifically burnt and rushed to the Gotham Burn Center. In the present day, Bruce Wayne watches the news and then prepares for a night out. He and his date, Crystal, arrive at the trendy Studio 52 nightclub, where a woman strides in and murders fashion designer Kevin Clane in front of the club patrons. Bruce follows her out the back door and changes into Batman, then confronts her in an alleyway. But the woman disrobes to reveal herself as a golden "Manikin" and easly subdues Batman with super-strength. A mystery accomplice then helps Manikin escape.

Batman takes Manikin's discarded dress to Selina Kyle for identification. Selina tells him that the dress is the handiwork of one of Gotham's greatest designers, Mister Hoston. Batman heads to Hoston's office and as they speak, the place is firebombed. Batman gets Hoston out into his showroom, where he is attacked again by Manikin. As flames spread out of the office and into the showroom, Manikin again subdues Batman and then goes after Hoston.

Continuity Notes: As Bruce watches the news, he tells Alfred that he wants to catch up on what's been going on in Gotham while he was in Alaska last issue. He sees a debate between mayoral candidates Arthur Reeves and Hamilton Hill, with the former accusing Batman of unchecked vigilantism and promising to bring him to justice, while Hill is more interested in a recent spike in police shootings, for which he plans to demand Commissioner Gordon's resignation if elected. (And again, in today's climate, it feels kind of weird that the story wants us to root against Hill over this!)