The Brave & The Bold #214 - Batman and Bulletgirl - homage to Starman issue #17

New Golden Age Team-Up Project commission - The Brave & The Bold issue #214, pairing Batman with Bulletgirl, in a Bambos Georgiou-drawn cover adapted from Starman #17, original art by Tom Lyle.

1944 - and the bat-signal summons Batman to Commissioner Gordon's office, where Bulletgirl awaits him, seeking his help. After the Commissioner leaves, Bulletgirl reveals that her boyfriend, police scientist Jim Barr (secretly Bulletman), had come to Gotham City over a week ago to attend a conference - but has gone missing, having been seen departing the two-day event but never returning to Fawcett City!

The two heroes head for the last place Barr was seen, where Batman searches for clues - and notices that Bulletgirl's flight is somewhat erratic. The Ballistic Bombshell admits that she'd noticed the same on her earlier visit but put it down to her concern for the missing Bulletman. Batman is able to establish that she's being pulled off-course by a residual magnetic field, which his own scientific instruments from the mobile crime lab in the Batmobile can detect - and the pair of heroes, concluding that this must be significant, follow the trail left by the magnetic anomaly.

As they arrive at an out-of-town electricity generating plant, the trail goes cold, swamped by the magnetism from the plant - but as they investigate further, they find a captive Jim Barr, his helmet removed, at the mercy of the villainous Nuclear, the Magnetic Marauder (last seen, and presumed dead, in All-Star Squadron #16)!

Batman and Bulletgirl charge in to rescue Bulletman, only for Nuclear's magnetic powers to immobilise them - and he explains that, given the links between gravity and magnetism, he intends to decipher the secrets of the Flying Detectives' headgear and add mastery of gravity to his own powers!

As the villain tries to remove Bulletgirl's helmet, Batman is able to kick Bulletman's helmet loose from the equipment which secures it - and the freed headgear flies across the room, attracted by Nuclear's magnetism, and slams into him before he can prevent it.

With the villain temporarily incapacitated, Batman and Bulletgirl are freed, and quickly release Jim Barr from his bonds. The three then launch an attack on Nuclear, keeping him off-balance and allowing Barr to re-don his headgear - and the two flying heroes smash the miniature magnetic generators in Nuclear's armour. This allows Batman to adminster the coup-de-grace - a swift strike with a batarang makes the villain gasp for breath, and a follow-up gas-bomb knocks him unconscious. With Nuclear captured and powerless, the three master detectives summon Gotham's police to arrest him and take him into custody.

Another tale of Batman - and a new Golden Age guest-star - will appear in the next issue!

(Hat-tip to Alex Wright, who as far as I can tell created this Bulletgirl logo which I asked Bambos to use on this cover, adapted from the more-common Bulletman logo used throughout the 1940s and used by Alex on some pin-ups in recent years.)