Issue Detective 821 Subtitle The Beautiful People Date September 2006 Writer(s) Paul Dini Artist(s) JH Williams III storyline Batman stopped a predator from attacking a woman at a train station. The man fell in front of an oncoming train. The odd thing about him was that he was a loser and wearing a $1000 suit. Batman and Gordon discussed a pattern of similar incidents. Batman realized the force behind the robberies was new to the game. He decided to hit the circuit as Bruce Wayne. Bruce met a girl he believed could be in on the caper and got a number. He confirmed it when she motioned to some others, but escaped them once outside the club. She wrote her number on a fast-food receipt - the place was in a very questionable part of town. Batman followed them to their next destination. They led him to a masked man called Facade. Facade's mannequins began firing at Batman. Robin showed up; Batman had him call Gordon to pick up the goons. He was going after their boss. After taking him down, Batman and Robin met back at the cave. Facade was really Erik Hanson, a busboy at a ritzy club.

Issue Detective 822 Subtitle E. Nigma, Consulting Detective Date October 2006 Writer(s) Paul Dini Artist(s) Don Kramer, Wayne Faucher storyline Batman stopped Roxy Rocket after she heisted some equipment from STAR Labs, then headed home. Once there, he noted that Alfred appeared to have visitors. In the house, Bruce Wayne found Commissioner Gordon, the Riddler, and some members of the press. Nigma, now reformed and a detective, was there to show that Bruce Wayne did not murder Karrie Bishop. Gordon showed him a photo of him with her the night of her murder. Bruce (and Riddler) said it wasn't him in the picture. After Riddler was gone, Gordon told Wayne that the dead girl's rich uncle had gotten him freed from Arkham and had hired him for the case. Batman checked some things out and found a suitable person to question. The man, who'd been dating Karrie, had an alibi. Batman checked it out, then found Riddler perched on his car. They checked out a few things, including a tunnel going from the alibi bar into a bondage club the man frequented. Batman and Riddler went back to visit the man, and were shot at through his window. They found him dead inside with a suicide note / confession. While Nigma called his employer, Batman checked out the man who'd impersonated Wayne. Batman then called the real killer - the dead girl's father's assistant. After the murder, she took control of the grieving uncle's wealth and staged the Riddler media circus.

Issue Detective 823 Subtitle Stalked Date November 2006 Writer(s) Paul Dini Artist(s) Joe Benitez, Victor Llamas storyline Poison Ivy was attacked by a huge plant in her Arkham cell. She got free from it, grabbed a gun from a downed guard, and took off running. Outside, plants continued to attack her. She went to the police and told them the story. Batman took her back to the cave. He ran some tests and left Robin to guard her. At her old hideout, he found some unclassified plants and some notes. He also found a dvd and headed back to the cave with it. It showed her talking to a man who was being digested by one of her plants. As they watched, plants began springing up in the cave - her growth serum had mutated with her victims: they now lived on and were out to get her. They tangled Batman and Robin, then attacked their murderer. Batman hit a switch which activated some hard-core defoliant spray. "Harvest" fell into the underground river below and died. Ivy was returned to Arkham.

Issue Detective 824 Subtitle Night of the Penguin Date December 2006 Writer(s) Paul Dini Artist(s) Don Kramer, Wayne Faucher storyline Batman escaped a Penguin death trap; Penguin claimed to be clean - Batman was breaking and entering; his staff detained him with stun guns. The death trap wasn't "real" - they'd left his belt on him, etc. He gave his favorite vigilante invitations to his grand reopening the next night. Bruce (who was already invited) attended with a woman Alfred scheduled for him. She wandered off and Bruce bumped into Lois Lane, who was on assignment. They noticed Penguin and Riddler walking off together. Lois snooped on them: Penguin talked about franchising the Iceburg Lounge into other markets and selling T-Shirts. He went nuts when one of his employees told him how much one of the gamblers was winning. Bruce scanned him with his "phone" and found him to have a tiny camera above one of his ears. He called Zatanna and inquired about some specific magicians. Batman took the card-shark down outside the club. The traced signal led back to his partner holding a magician hostage. Batman rescued the man and went back to Penguin. He dropped off a large bag of money recovered from the game swindlers.

Issue Detective 825 Subtitle The Return of Dr. Phosphorus Date January 2007 Writer(s) Royal McGraw Artist(s) Marcos Marz, Luciana del Negro storyline Dr. Phosphorus escaped - the man holding him had depleted his life savings and was going to patent the technology used in his body to create energy. Batman and Gordon went over the crime scene; Batman knew almost immediately who was at work (even though Phosphorus was thought dead). With one accomplice dead and another who probably wouldn't survive, the third remaining doctor who'd kept Phosphorus imprisoned went to Batman with the whole story. Dr. Phosphorus attacked them. Batman attempted to "drown" his fire, but failed and was knocked off the rooftop. When he returned, the madman had burned the third doctor. Batman headed back to the cave and spoke with Alfred. He knew Rupert Thorne would be Dr. Phosphorus' next target; Gordon and some cops were guarding him at Blackgate. He attacked and was able to project his fire outward to knock away Gordon's gun. Batman arrived with baking soda and put Sartorius' flames out. Thorne's sentence was extended to reflect the charges against him for helping "create" Dr. Phosphorus.

Issue Detective 826 Subtitle Slayride Date February 2007 Writer(s) Paul Dini Artist(s) Don Kramer, Wayne Faucher storyline Robin attempted to bust some gunrunners, but was caught in the middle when rivals turned it into a shootout. He wrecked his bike and jumped into an SUV when it slowed down and called out to him. Once inside, he looked at the driver: The Joker. While knocked out from the gas, he thought back on a conversation he'd had with Dick and Bruce about the clown. When he woke up, he'd been tied, de-belted, and gagged. Joker laughed at the coincidence of them running into each other and told the Boy Wonder he planned to let him go. As he talked, he ran down a pedestrian, then backed over him. He pulled out a cell phone and called 911 on the incident. While on the phone with them, he hit a woman. After hanging up, he hit a group of people. Joker then ordered some drive through. When not pleased with the service, he demanded to speak to a manager. He shot him and drove off. After snatching away a toy Robin was using to cut himself free, Joker removed his gag. As he was about to run down a Santa and some children, Robin made a Marx Brothers joke. Joker enjoyed it and swerved away. They talked about the movie until Joker got on a rant. Robin freed an arm and knocked him silly. He was able to snatch his gas, hit him with it, and knock him out of the car. Joker jumped from the overpass, but no body was found. Batman picked his partner up and told him how proud he was of him.