Batman #344

Issue Details

Synopsis

MONSTER, MY SWEET After having spend most part of the night helping the Gotham City Police Department capturing The Mad Hatter and his associates, Batman returns home weary and exhausted. To make matters worse, Bruce knows that this would be the day the future of Wayne Enterprises could be defined.  At that moment, Poison Ivy makes arrangements for her uprising and contacts several members of the underworld, including mob Boss "Big Jack" Johnson. She tries to get them under her control, but they wouldn't listen. Using her plants, Ivy takes them out and gets ready to claim her most prized "booty". It is then that his assistant, Ivor notices a very special headline in the Gotham Gazette, indicating that Mayoral Candidate Arthur Reeves has summoned a press conference to reveal Batman's real identity. Meanwhile, Reeves' pretends to get the support from Commissioner Gordon, but he finds that such support is nowhere to be found.   Close to midnight, Bruce Wayne is summoned to the Gotham Bank, to complete the transaction of the entire of Wayne Enterprises assets. Unkown to him, he is closely watched by a redhead woman, who has been taking pictures of him. During the meeting inside the Bank, the board of Wayne Enterprises is unable to prevent Ivy from claiming all the money of the company for herself. Remorseful and filled with rage, Bruce Wayne leaves before the transaction is complete, but soon the authorities give Ivy all her money in a check.  As Ivy and his henchman leave the bank, they are confronted by the silent but awe inspiring figure of the Batman. Ivy is startled and scared at first, but then she goes into her car, with a smile on her face. Unknown to her, Batman has also a smile on his lips. The next day, Ivy tries to spend the best day of her life making use of her newfound fortune, but everywhere she goes, she is hunted by the dark and ominous presence of the Batman. After a whole day of the same event repeating everywhere she goes, Ivy returns to her lair, frustrated and angry at the Dark Knight.   Having accomplished his mission, Bruce returns to the Wayne Foundation building to discuss the possibilities with Lucius Fox, but on his way to his office he is greeted by none other than Vicki Vale. After years of absence, Vicki has returned permanently to Gotham and she is willing to discuss her relationship with Bruce, but the whole affair will have to wait until Bruce solves the current problems. Although Vicki seems friendly towards Bruce, she is obviously hiding something from the man he claims to care about.   After dark, Bruce leaves the office and goes to the press conference held by Arthur Reeves to see what the man has to say. On his way there, Bruce tests his new prototype vehicle, which looks like a Rolls Royce from the outside, but it can be transformed into the Batmobile.   At the press conference, Batman and Commissioner Gordon listen to Reeves as he "exposes" Batman as the big time criminal "Big Jack" Johnson. The media goes crazy with the revelations, but Batman keeps silent as Reeves' opponent, Hamilton Hill shows his support for Batman. After such confession, Gordon doesn't know what to think, except that he doesn't trust Hill.   Finally, it has come the time for Batman to confront Ivy and at the same moment, the prodigal son returns home. Batman goes to Ivy's greenhouse above a rooftop in the middle of the city and he tries to get a confession out of her. Ivy does seem troubled after spending a whole day haunted by Batman's presence, but she has an ace under her sleeve. With a small command, Ivy turns her assistant, Ivor into a monstrous tree-like creature. Unleashing the beast against Batman, Ivy is satisfied to see the Dark Knight struggle to save himself. The fight continues outside the greenhouse, where the Ivor-creature threatens to kill Batman by tossing him off the edge of the building. Using the environment as his weapon, Batman gets a short break and stuns the creature. Ivy takes the chance to attack Batman, but her attack is stopped by the sudden appearance of Robin. Together again, the Dynamic Duo take care of the situation and capture Ivy and her monstrous minion. After the police arrive, Batman shows mercy to the Ivor-creature and in return, the creature who was once a man gives all the details about Ivy's manipulative scheme to steal Wayne Enterprises' assets. With this information, the police is able to revert all the wrongs caused by Ivy.   After the whole case is solved, Batman and Robin return home. The Teen Wonder tells Batman that after his solo adventures, he realized he still needs to work with him and that is why he returned to become a team once again. He also tells Batman that he learned about his current situation thanks to Alfred and Lucius and that's how he managed to track him to Ivy's lair. Once in the Batcave, Batman, Robin and Alfred watch the TV as reporter Olivia Ortega reveals that the information and pictures provided by Reeves to support his claim that Batman is a criminal, are all fake and purposefully altered to discredit Batman and win the election. With this sudden revelation, calm returns to the Batman Family and things seems to be going well for a change.