DETECTIVE COMICS #505

"WEREWOLF MOON"
Writer Gerry Conway | Artists: Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Inside a hospital room, a woman pleads for Batman's help to save the life of her daughter, who is dying of leukemia and who needs bone marrow transplant from her brother. Out in the hospital corridor, Batman and Commissioner Gordon discuss the identity of the girl's brother -- he is Anthony Lupus, a werewolf apparently killed years earlier. But Gordon reveals to Batman that Lupus may yet live, in Alaska. The Darknight Detective heads north and, as Bruce Wayne, recruits a guide from the local EPA office to help him find Lupus. They locate a wooden shack in the wilderness, but find it empty. Then, as they wait, the werewolf bursts in and attacks. Bruce drives it out the door, and the next morning his guide leaves.

Bruce changes to Batman and hunts Lupus, eventually finding and fighting him under the full moon. The Caped Crusader wins and Lupus turns back to normal. Batman holds him captive in a silver net for one more night of the full moon before the pair returns to Gotham City.

Continuity Notes: Per Batman's exposition and a footnote, Anthony Lupus first appeared in BATMAN #255, by Len Wein and Neal Adams, where he was a star athlete mutated by the fiendish Professor Milo. Batman believed Lupus was killed by a lightning bolt, but apparently Gordon has known for a couple of months that he may be alive and has elected not to mention it to Batman.

BATMAN #338

"THIS SPORTING DEATH!"
Script: Gerry Conway | Plot Assist: Roy Thomas
Artists: Irv Novick & Frank McLaughlin
Letters: John Costanza | Colos: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Dick Giordano

The Plot: Late at night on the field of Gotham Stadium, a man in sports gear kills a sportswriter named Hank Klugmann. Later, Commissioner Gordon calls Batman to assist with the investigation, which is the latest in a series of sports-related murders. The next morning, Bruce Wayne inspects the field in the daylight, but finds no leads. Later that night, the Batman stakes out a Sunday Night Hockey game. The mysterious "Sportsman" skates onto the ice and blows up star player Pierre Foote with an exploding basketball. Batman chases the Sportsman out of the arena, but the villain escapes by throwing a razor-edged tennis raquet at the Caped Crusader.

The next day, Bruce Wayne visits Gotham's Sports World Mall, looking for leads on the raquet. As he asks a saleswoman about it, a shop buyer named Martin Mantle makes a break for it. Bruce follows, but loses Mantle. He changes to Batman and finds the Sportsman terrorizing the mall patrons. Batman falls into a pitching machine's net, and elicits a confession from the Sportsman -- he was an unathletic child, and his father, a sports physician, concocted a formula to make an athlete of anyone. He injected young Mantle with the formula, and the boy grew up to become a sports star, dominating every school and collegiate sport in which he participated. But eventually he learned that the formula in his veins was killing him, and he became the Sportsman to take revenge on all the sporting world.

Batman then triggers the pitching machine, which launches a ball at Mantle. Briefly stunned, the Sportsman is easily dispatched by Batman and arrested by the police.

THE NEW TEEN TITANS #9 & #10

"LIKE PUPPETS ON A STRING!" | "PROMETHIUM: UNBOUND"
Co-Creators: Marv Wolfman & George Pérez | Inker: Romeo Tanghal
Letterer: Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: Working for the H.I.V.E., the villainous Puppet Master has been systematically murdering board members of Dayton Industries, the company run by Changeling's stepfather, using toys to carry out the hits. When an attempt is made on his own life, Changeling calls Robin for some detective assistance. Robin learns that the deceased board members were also part of Dayton's Promethium committee, working on a project to produce infinite renewable energy.

Elsewhere, the remaining Teen Titans are going about their daily lives when, one by one, they fall under the thrall of the Puppet Master. Only Raven is unaffected, and she goes for help from Robin and Changeling. But Puppet Master sends his controlled Titans to finish off the Promethium committee and kill Robin and Changeling, bringing all the Titans together in one location. Kid Flash frees himself from Puppet Master's control and together with Robin, Changeling, and Raven, manages to restore the rest of the team as well.

The Titans locate Puppet Master's hideout and battle his toys while the villain escapes. In the aftermath, the H.I.V.E. orders Puppet Master executed, while elsewhere, Deathstroke the Terminator breaks into a Dayton facility and steals the plans for Project: Promethium.