Batman 367
Detective Comics 534
“The Green Ghosts of Gotham”
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| Don't worry Batman, it's just foreplay, go with it. |
With Commissioner Gordon back on the job, things in Gotham City
should be getting back to normal. Normal being that some psychotic
terrorist will attempt to screw up as many people's day with as
little amount of effort as possible. This time around, crazed
botanist Poison Ivy is up to no good. Continuity alert, was a student
of Prof. Jason Woodrue, he would become the Floronic Man.
Ivy, then only known as Pamela Isley, would be experimented on by
Woodrue until her body would not only be immune to any toxin known to
man, but would also be possible of passing on any toxin by touch.
Enter Poison Ivy.
While
Batman, not happy that Jason put on Dick Grayson's old outfit and
took the name of Robin,
agrees to teach the boy under the guise of a new uniform and new
identity. Using her knowledge of botany (fun fact: Poison Ivy is a
doctor!) to create plant-based beings (not Swamp Thing)
beholden to her every whim, Ivy kidnaps several prominent executives
who happen to work for The Wayne Foundation, which is the charity run
by Bruce Wayne specifically designed to provide aid to a lot of
Gotham's citizens. While Batman punches criminals by night, Bruce
Wayne might be helping them learn a skill or find work rather than
languish in jail. Cool as hell.
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| They're just horny old bastards. |
Ivy's plan is to
brainwash these various executives (who strangely don't number Bruce
Wayne among them) and have them divert Wayne Foundation funding to
her work, which boils down to unleashing mutant plants that will grow
and overtake Gotham, leaving it a verdant wasteland. Perfect for Ivy,
bad for everyone else.
Batman and the non-codenamed-but-clad-in-scarlet Jason Todd,
while not able to save the Wayne Foundation executives from a heinous
death, are able to stop Ivy. Stopping Ivy's mad plan involves a good
degree of fire, kung-fu, and the presence of giant man-eating plants.
If flora will stoop to breaking human laws, Batman is not above a
good punch in the pistil.
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| Yeah, no one will mistake him for Robin in that get-up. |
While all this is
going on, Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's trusted butler, has to take a
leave of absence from Gotham City. In one afternoon he receives a
communique from a long lost daughter, Julia, and of course all is not
well, this being a comic book and all, and the reason she's
contacting a father she was aware of but chose not to pursue is
because her adopted father has been killed She's sure his killers
are after her and she has no one else to turn for help. Authorities
be damned. Not wanting to bother Batman with such a task while Gotham
is in need, angry plants and all, Alfred jet-sets off to France to
help a daughter he never knew.
Just
because there aren't enough sub-plots going on, Detective Harvey
Bullock and Commissioner Gordon continue patching their relationship
as well as learning a new-found respect
for one another when Bullock lays on the table his theory regarding a
new criminal menace, a new underworld leader, currently gaining
ground on the streets. Bullock makes it his mission to put this new
guy away.
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| This is the cliffhanger: what's Jason's codename going to be. |
This is all in 35
pages mind you. The pacing on this book is quick, but not bogged down
nor too insane. Each story element has just enough space to breathe
and while certain scenes may seem like the writer is presenting a
snapshot of what happened, the end result is a fun adventure story
with Batman and not-Robin Jason Todd but with the addition of some
slow-burning sub-plots simmering in the background. This is a classic
comic story and one I enjoyed reading a lot. Needed more Vicki Vale
though, I'm interested in what she's been up to since her return from
Guatemala.
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