Batman Family #18

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE MONSTROSITY CHASE! Barry Dark is a notorious radio personality whose program is broadcasted at nights and highly is admired for keeping his composure in the most dire of situations.  During a ceremony at the Gotham Hotel, where an actress announces her intention of portraying the Hunchback of Notredame, a group of criminals wearing gargoyles mask strike and steal a valuable mask from the actress, kidnap her secretary and murder an innocent man who was disguised as Batman.   When the real Batman appears at the crime scene, he goes looking for the Gargoyle Gang, who had stolen a map of the sewer system of the city and he deduces that the criminals are trying to escape using the sewers. Considering that there is a big storm coming to Gotham City and that the map that the crooks stole is obsolete, Batman gives instructions to Alfred, so that they can succeed in capturing the criminals.   Batman goes into the sewers and tracks down the members of the gang, taking them down one by one. As the storm starts, the sewers are progressively filled with water. Batman manages to convince some of the crooks about the incoming danger of using the sewers as escape route guided by an old map, especially on that night. The crooks listen to him, but their leader won't hear Batman, forcing the Dark Knight to take him out by force. With the sewers filled with water and no apparent exit, Batman knocks on a closed valve door that connects with the street and on the other side, Alfred has been waiting for the signal in order to open the door and thanks to his quick response, Batman is able to reach the outside with the criminals and their hostage.   The Gotham City Police Department arrive soon enough to get the criminals under custody, but Batman knows there is one more criminal to capture. Going to a nearby airplane, Batman and the police arrest the actress, who had somehow insured the stolen mask and she had already claimed the insurance money. For the hoax and being the direct responsible of the fake Batman's death, the police arrest the woman.   The whole events as they are known to the public had been covered by Barry Dark as they were given to him. Along the night, he became a nervous mess, but after the case was solved and his program ended, Barry recovered his sober posture, much to the public's admiration. THE FINE ART OF MURDER During an art class at Hudson University, a young student is murdered by a sniper, forcing Dick Grayson to go into action as Robin, leaving his girlfriend Lori Elton behind. The victim manages to says a few words before dying in the arms of Lori, who is utterly shocked.   Meanwhile, Robin confronts the killer and manages to save the criminal from plummeting to his death. However, as Robin approaches the criminal to interrogate him at ground level, he realizes that he man had been stabbed by someone in the crowd.   After informing the situation to Chief McDonald, Robin changes back to Dick and goes to see Lori. She is clearly shocked after witnessing their friend's death, but Dick needs to know what he said before dying. Lori is extremely disgusted at Dick's lack of sensitivity and she tells the man's last words before leaving the room, clearly annoyed with him.   Despite the argument, Dick uses the victim's last words to find a connection to the murder in an art gallery in New Carthage. Dick becomes suspicious about the place, when he is forced out of the place for asking about Rembrandt paintings, which was part of the man's last words. He then returns to the place as Robin and discovers that the owners of the gallery had storage stolen copies of original paintings in their cellar. He also recognizes a woman that was among the crowd when the sniper was killed and Robin proceeds to take down all the members of the gang before alerting the authorities.   While Robin gives the information to Lt. Tatem and Chief McDonald, the latter's niece appears with a new friend, leaving Dick unsure about his situation with Lori. ASSAULT ON THE PENTAGON! Senator Thomas Cleary has taken Congresswoman Gordon to the shores of a river at night to witness a meteor shower. However, Cleary's intentions are also romantic, but his efforts are for nothing because Barbara spots a group of suspicions men approaching the Pentagon and she has to end their date using his romantic intentions as an excuse.   After a quick change to her Batgirl outfit, Barbara confronts the group of men, who are heavily armed and dangerous. Their intention of breaking into the Pentagon building is clear, but Batgirl manages to stop almost all of them on the first inner wall. However, their leader has managed to move to the center of the building and Batgirl is forced to follow the person alone.   Batgirl soon finds herself against the leader of the group, who is none other than Madame Zodiac, standing in the middle of the pentagon. The villain explains that she is using the geometric form of the building to augment her own mystical powers and that she was expecting her encounter with Batgirl. With her new powers, Zodiac is unstoppable, even after the Military Police join Batgirl against the sorceress. Batgirl then starts destroying the walls of the pentagon, hoping to destroy the perfect geometric form of the building and her plan is successful. After a couple of walls are taken down, the place is no longer a source of power for Zodiac, who is finally defeated by Batgirl and arrested by the police.   As the police take away the villain, Batgirl, who realizes her Batsuit has been shred and damaged, is thankful for heeding Robin's advice about having a fully loaded Utility Belt. However, as she looks up into the sky, she notices the meteor shower and she regrets that there is no special gadget that would allow her to make a proper apology to her friend Thomas Cleary. MAN-BAT NO MORE! With his infant daughter and wife to consider, Kirk Langstrom opts to retire from his bounty-hunter days as Man-Bat and gets a day job in a construction site. However and much to the Langstroms' surprise, crooks all over New York City begin falling prey to a figure who appears to be Man-Bat himself.   Kirk assures Francine that he is not going out as Man-Bat and in order to prove his theory, he asks that she stays up at night and watch over his sleep. That same night, Snafu, a criminal previously captured by Man-Bat has escaped and starts making chaos at the Madison Square Garden, when he is suddenly confronted by a Man-Bat creature. At that same moment, Kirk Langstrom is sound asleep, but Francine is nowhere to be found. A CHOICE OF DESTINIES Helena Wayne has been recently promoted to take the place of Dick Grayson as one of the heads of Cranston, Grayson and Wayne. While some of the other officials are not happy about this decision, the chairman Arthur Cranston supports her and trusts her to make a good job.   However, Helena herself is not happy about joining the lawyer firm and she is often thinking about her other identity as the Huntress. Thinking that she can do much more by going out there to the streets than being in the office, Helena changes into Huntress and goes to the South of Gotham, to help the poor neighbourhoods. On her quest, she saves innocent people from a building on fire, but soon she learns that there is someone powerful behind the fires and she goes hunting for the criminal.