DETECTIVE COMICS #521

"CAT TALE"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Irv Novick & Sal Trapani
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Vicki Vale leaves the Gotham Picture News office and is attacked and mauled by Catwoman -- but then Selina Kyle awakens, realizing this is the latest iteration of a recurring dream. Selina calls Wayne Manor and asks to speak with Bruce Wayne, but Alfred tells her Bruce is asleep. Believing Alfred is lying and Bruce is actually with Vicki, Selina angrily hangs up. But in truth, Bruce is out as the Batman, rescuing a young woman from a gang called the Lords, who kidnapped the girl and requested Batman's presence as revenge for the Darknight Detective encroaching on their territory a while back.

Meanwhile, Catwoman sneaks into Vicki's apartment while she sleeps. When Vicki awakens, Catwoman tells her to stay away from Bruce, then leaves. The next morning, Vicki and Bruce meet for breakfast, and Vicki tells Bruce about Catwoman's visit. She believes it to be a cry for help, but Bruce tells her that he loves Vicki, and Selina can take care of herself. But Catwoman watches from a nearby rooftop and vows to fight Vicki over Bruce's love.

Continuity Notes: So here's a weird one: the opening pages depicting Catwoman's dream feature an omniscient narrator telling us that Vicki's mom used to warn her about Gotham City, and mentioning that Vicki was recently promoted to editor-in-chief of the Picture News. But since it's Catwoman's dream, is this true?! It feels like a sloppy way to script the scene.

BATMAN #354

"SHOWDOWN"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Alfredo Alcala
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: At Gotham City Hall, Mayor Hill confronts Commissioner Pauling over the latter's having revoked Batman's status as a special deputy. Batman bursts in on the two, intimidating them with the possibility that Deadshot could testify against them. But after the Masked Manhunter leaves, Pauling trips an alarm to alert the Gotham Police, standing guard outside City Hall. Officer McClosky opens fire and hits Batman, sending him falling into an alleyway. But when the police, Pauling, and Hill move into the alley, they find Batman gone.

Meanwhile, Rupert Thorne meets with Doctor Thirteen at Hugo Strange's one-time clinic, Greytowers. Thirteen reveals that the Strange apparition Thorne has been seeing is a hologram, and asks Thorne if anyone would want to drive him mad and have him committed again. Thorne immediately thinks of Pauling and Hill, believing they want to get him out of the way now that he's helped them into office.

At the Batcave, Alfred is feeding Deadshot when the injured Batman gets home. Later, Thorne is at his townhouse when Batman appears. Batman says nothing, but a frazzled Thorne begins babbling about Pauling, Hill, Arthur Reeves, and Deadshot. Then embers from Thorne's fire ignite brandy he spilled when Batman arrived, and the townhouse goes up in flames. Thorne runs away, eluding Batman. Later, at City Hall, Thorne bursts in on Pauling, Hill, and McClosky, brandishing a gun. Thorne shoots Pauling as McClosky shoots Thorne at hte same time. Pauling is killed and Thorne injured. Batman appears and knocks out McClosky, and Hill proclaims his innocence, promising to reinstate Batman as a special deputy.

Outside, "Batman" unmasks as Robin, speaking with Alfred and the real Batman, recuperating from his injuries, over a communicator. Batman thanks his partner for a job well done.

DETECTIVE COMICS #520

"THE HAUNTING OF 'BOSS' THORNE"
Script Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Alfredo Alcala
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: On a stormy night, Rupert Thorne answers his townhouse door to find the corpse of Professor Hugo Strange, wearing a Batman costume, standing on his porch, threatening that he will kill Thorne. The apparition vanishes and Thorne quickly makes a phone call to Doctor Thirteen for help. Meanwhile, Batman meets with Jim Gordon, Jason Bard, and Vicki Vale. The detectives ask Vicki to show Batman her photo of Rupert Thorne from the night he confronted her late boss, Morton Monroe, shortly before Monroe killed himself.

The next day, Doctor Thirteen visits Thorne, who explains that Hugo Strange is haunting him. Meanwhile, Batman visits Gotham Prison to speak with Deadshot about the photos he was given that allegedly proved Batman was actually Bruce Wayne. But Deadshot instead tells Batman that the prison's warden is in cahoots with Commissioner Peter Pauling, and arranged for Deadshot's escape to go after Wayne, and that the warden is now under orders to kill both Deadshot and Batman. Batman and Deadshot team up to take out the guards and leave the prison. As the unlikely duo drives away in the Batmobile, Deadshot reveals that the Wayne photos were given to him by Pauling and Thorne. Batman knocks Deadshot out and drives him to the Batcave.

Elsewhere, Doctor Thirteen visits Greytowers, the clinic once run by Hugo Strange. He explores until he finds Strange's secret lab, where the ghost of the deceased professor appears to menace him. Back at Wayne Manor, Alfred is cleaning the Batcave when Batman arrives with Deadshot. Alfred directs Batman to the television, where Commissioner Pauling says that due to the prison break, Batman is now Public Enemy Number 1 -- which leads Batman to break out in a fit of laughter.

BATMAN #353

"LAST LAUGH"
Writer Gerry Conway | Guest Artist: Jose Garcia Lopez | Inker: Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Following a target practice session with some Batman posters, the Joker heads to his hideout and rallies his gang for a new caper. The next morning, Bruce Wayne has accompanied Vicki Vale to Gotham Central Station, which is to be demolished by explosives precisely placed by a special computer. But when the demolition procedure begins, nothing happens. The computer is discovered to be missing, with the Joker's calling card on the construction crew's monitor.

Some detective work by Alfred and the Batcomputer reveals that ten acres of land were recently purchased in New Jersey by one "Harlan Quinn". Batman heads to Jersey to investigate and is promptly and efficiently captured by the Joker. When he comes around, Batman is tied to a cliffside which the Joker has rigged with explosives. Using the demolition computer, he has placed the charges precisely to carve out an approximation of his face in the cliff in the vein of Mt. Rushmore. Joker heads to his control panel, but Batman frees himself from his bonds and activates a device to jam the computer signal. The Caped Crusader then confronts Joker and his men, and a fight breaks out. Joker shoots at Batman with his crossbow, but the bolt hits the jamming device in the Darknight Detective's utility belt.

With the jamming signal gone, the explosives go off, knocking Batman and the Joker into the sea. Joker's scheme is a success, as his face appears carved into the rock -- but it lasts only for a moment and then crumbles, with Batman speculating that his jammer fouled up the computer's timing, resulting in an unstable structure.

DETECTIVE COMICS #519

"...LIKE A DREADNOUGHT IN THE SKY!"
Plot Gerry Conway | Script: Paul Kupperberg
Pencils: Don Newton | Inks: John Calnan
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Batman is in Washington, D.C. on a top from the Navy, and watches from atop the Washington Monument as a zeppelin enters D.C. airspace, broadcasting a ransom demand from Colonel Blimp -- ten million dollars for the submarine and warship he has captured, along with their crews. Batman hitches a ride aboard the ship, but finds a detonation device inside. He exits quickly, just before the hydrogen-powered blimp explodes and crashes.

Later, at the Batcave, the Batcomputer has pinpointed the likely location of the captured Naval craft, in the arctic. Batman dispatches Robin in the Batplane to investigate, while Batman drives the Batmobile to New Jersey on a hunch. Sure enough, he finds Blimp's hangar in the woods and sneaks inside, where he learns that the Department of the Navy has agreed to Blimp's demand. Meanwhile, Robin arrives in the arctic and finds the captured ship and sub, landlocked on the ice. He asks the battleship's crew to get the guns in working order, and soon afterward, a zeppelin dispatched by Blimp arrives. Its crew disembarks and is captured by the sailors, while Robin boards the airship and contacts Blimp, telling him his scheme is blown.

Batman takes that cue to show himself. He knocks out Blimp's men and confronts the villain, who gets off a single shot before Batman knocks him out and takes him into custody.

BATMAN #352

"THE KILLER SKY!"
Plot Gerry Conway | Script: Paul Kupperberg
Artist: Don Newton | Inker: John Calnan
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Carl Gafford | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: In the North Atlantic Ocean, a zeppelin emerges from the fog and uses a tractor beam to steal a military submarine. The next night, Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale are in attendance at a party abaord a cruise ship when the same zeppelin appears and steals a nearby battleship. While Vicki takes photos of the incident, Bruce ducks away and changes to Batman. He snags the airship with a batline, but the vessel's commander, Colonel Blimp, dispatches his henchmen to deal with the Caped Crusader.

The men attack Batman and eventually knock him off their craft, but they're unaware that he has left a tracking devise lodged in the hull. Later, a battered Batman arrives at the Batcave and explains to Alfred and Dick that he fell through a canopy of trees, using the foliage to break his fall. Despite his injuries, Batman insists on following his tracker, and Robin insists on joining him. Soon, the Batmobile drives through the morning light in the New Jersey countryside, in search of Blimp's blimp. But the Dynamic Duo drive over a landmine, which detonates and totals the Batmobile. After escaping this deathtrap, Batman spots his tracking device attached to a nearby tree. Elsewhere, in a long-abandoned zeppelin hangar, Blimp addresses his men with a speech about having killed Batman and making the world pay for what it has done.

Continuity Notes: In the story's opening pages, Batman visits Jim Gordon's hospital room, where the former commissioner is recovering from the beating he received in last week's DETECTIVE COMICS #518. As Batman lurks outside the window, he sees Barbara Gordon and Jason Bard visit Gordon, followed by the arrival of Commissioner Pauling and Officer McClosky, the man who led the beating. Batman enters the room and scares off the corrupt cops, after which Gordon asks the Masked Manhunter for help in exposing Mayor Hill's corruption.

(On a side-note, I feel like Paul Kupperberg's script this issue could've used a bit more input from editor Dick Giordano. In the span of two pages and eleven panels, Batman thinks to himself, "What have they done to you, old friend?" then greets Gordon verbally with "How are you feeling, old friend?", followed two panels later by Gordon saying, "Jason and I've gone as far as we can on this, old friend..." I get it, Paul. They're old friends.)

DETECTIVE COMICS #518

"THE MILLIONIARE CONTRACT"
Writers Gerry Conway & Paul Levitz | Artists: Don Newton & Bruce Patterson
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: In the Batcave, Robin, Alfred, and Father Green watch over Batman as he recovers from his vampiric condition. Father Green soon leaves, bringing Dala and the Monk, imprisoned, with him. Alfred and Robin (after changing to Dick Grayson) head up to Wayne Manor, where Dick is startled to find Bruce Wayne enjoying a cocktail with Vicki Vale. Bruce and Vicki leave for a date at Gotham's Crystal Ballroom, and Alfred reveals to Dick that he hired the Human Target to impersonate Bruce Wayne in order to throw off Vicki's suspicion that Bruce is Batman. Elsewhere, Rupert Thorne dispatches Deadshot to kill Bruce Wayne, who he believes to be Batman thanks to photos stolen from Vicki.

In the Batcave, Batman takes a call from a prison official who informs him that Deadshot has escaped. Despite his weakened condition, Batman heads out in the Batmobile to find the villain. He interrogtates Deadshot's weapon manufacturer, Augustino Coppola, and soon catches up with Deadshot outside the Crystal Ballroom. Batman and Deadshot fight, their battle taking them into the ballroom, where "Bruce" and Vicki are dining. Vicki is shocked to see Bruce and Batman in the same place and decides she was wrong about the Caped Crusader's true identity. With some help from "Bruce", Batman defeats and apprehends Deadshot, and departs.

Continuity Notes: When Doctor Loom-- I mean, Father Green leaves with the Vampiri siblings, he drops some very cryptic comments which lead Robin and Alfred to speculate as to how he know so much about them. This is quite intruguing, but so far as I can tell, none of these characters would ever appear again.