DETECTIVE COMICS #513

"...IS BETTER THAN NONE!"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Frank Chiaramonte
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Batman has been missing for a week, and Robin and Alfred are concerned. Unknown to them, the Caped Crusader is prisoner of Two-Face, who has been flipping his coin every day, hoping it will let him execute Batman. But so far, the hero has been saved by each flip. After his daily coin toss, Two-Face assembles his gang and takes them out to raid the Duo Records office building, leaving his girlfriend Margo behind to watch Batman. Soon, Robin hears a police band call about the attack on the record company and arrives to stop it. As he fights Two-Face, the villain reveals that he has Batman prisoner. This sends Robin into a rage, and he takes out all of Two-Face's men.

But the villain escapes back to his halfway house hideout, where he flips his coin again. The scarred side comes up and Two-Face prepares to excute Batman, but the Masked Manhunter breaks a pipe in his cell, filling the chamber with steam. When Batman emerges from the haze, his face is half-scarred by the steam, like Two-Face. Two-Face flips out and releases Batman, who promptly knocks him out. Robin and the police arrive at the halfway house as Batman emerges. He removes the "scarring" from his face, explainng that he meleted a food service tray and used it to create a scarred appearance to trick Two-Face. With the criminals all rounded up, the Dynamic Duo head home.

BATMAN #346

"HALF A HERO..."
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Frank Chiaramonte
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Two-Face stages an escape from Arkham Asylum with the use of a hypnotic coin. Batman and Commissioner Gordon investigate the scene, then return to Gotham City. The next night, Bruce Wayne is out on a date with Vicki Vale when he realizes that Two-Face had applied for early parole at a halfway house. Bruce changes to Batman and investigates the house, where he makes his way through an army of goons and a few deathtraps, eventually coming face-to-faces with Two-Face. But when Batman tries to arrest the villain, he unmasks himself as a woman named Margo; Two-Face's girlfriend. Two-Face seals the duo behind glass and floods the room with nerve gas. Margo is unharmed thanks to special filters, but Batman passes out.

Continuity Notes: That's not all! The summary above is quite thin, because this issue is crawling with soap opera:

Batman gives Commissioner Gordon a ride back to Gotham, and during their drive, the commissioner comments that he may well accede to newly-elected Mayor Hill's demand for his resignation. After he gets home, Gordon finds his concerned daughter, Barbara, visiting and fixing dinner. In the issue's final scene, the following night, Gordon turns in his badge and gun to Hill -- and after he leaves, Rupert Thorne shows himself and introduces Hill to his new police commissioner, Mister Pauling.

THE NEW TEEN TITANS #17 & 18

"THE POSSESSING OF FRANCIS KANE!" | "A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A-- MALADI!"
Co-Creators: Marv Wolfman & George Pérez | Embellisher: Romeo Tanghal
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: At Blue Valley College, Wally West meets up with his childhood friend, Francis Kane, and accompanies her to her home to study. But there, Francis's mother is engaged in a seance to contact her late husband and son, Francis's father and brother. During the seance Francis is seemingly possessed and household items go flying everywhere.

Following the chaos, a week later, Wally recruits Raven to inspect Francis. The group interrupts another seance and Francis is possessed once more. Two more weeks pass during which Francis is studied by doctors in Blue Valley. When they learn nothing and another apparent possession takes place, the Titans bring Francis to Titans' Tower in New York.

There, yet another possession incident occurs. But Cyborg, having noticed that everything telekinetically moved by Francis was made of metal, deduces that she has a surplus of magnetic waves in her brain. With the aid of S.T.A.R. Labs, Cyborg lowers Francis's magnetic brainwave activity to normal, and the possessions finally stop for good.

Later, Francis bids farewell to Kid Flash, who she has deduced is actually Wally. She tells him she thinks she's falling in love with him, then departs. Meanwhile, in another dimension, the villainous Dr. Polaris laments that his attempt to take control of Francis and return himself to reality has failed.