The Brave & The Bold #218 - Batman and Sargon The Sorcerer - homage to Secret Society Of Super-Villains #15

New Golden Age Team-Up Project commission - The Brave & The Bold issue #218, pairing Batman with Sargon The Sorcerer, in a Bambos Georgiou-drawn cover adapted from Secret Society Of Super-Villains #15, original art by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.

1948 - and Batman pulls himself from the pile of rubble he'd been thrown into by Solomon Grundy in the last issue, to find private detective Larry Lance attempting to awaken Black Canary, gassed by Ramulus' explosive seed-pods. With the Canary still unconscious, Lance shows Batman the route the two villains had taken, carrying a crate they'd removed from Dinah Drake's florist shop - and the Gotham Guardian climbs into the Batmobile (dented as a result of the high-speed collision with Grundy, but still roadworthy) and sets off in pursuit.

As Batman nears the borders of Slaughter Swamp he sees the two villains vanishing into the marshlands, and abandons his vehicle to continue his chase on foot. After tracking them for some distance, they arrive at a clearing, where their leader is revealed - Green Lantern's foe The Thorn! When she spots Batman, she orders Ramulus to seize him, and the villain's animated vines and creepers entangle the Caped Crusader, holding him captive!

Meanwhile, in central Gotham, magician and mystery-man John Sargent awakens on his hotel room after a late-night performance, only to hear on the radio about Solomon Grundy's rampage. Quickly dressing, he unrolls his magic carpet and Sargon The Sorceror flies out of the window on the trail of the marshland monster!

Within Slaughter Swamp, The Thorn is outlining her plan to the captive Batman - learning of an exotic plant from the South American jungles which, once mature, has a sap which the native tribes use, in concentrated form, to cloud the minds of their enemies and make them suggestible to the commands of others, The Thorn asked her criminal contacts to ship her immature specimens of the plant, intending to use her own horticultural knowledge - and Ramulus' control over flora - to grow them to maturity at an accelerated rate, and then create enough of the mind-controlling sap to dump into Gotham's reservoir, giving her an entire city's worth of slaves in a matter of days!

However, a shipping error had led to the crate containing the young plants being mis-delivered to Dinah Drake's shop, so a simple radio device had allowed her to control Grundy and send him to retrieve it - until Batman interfered! Now he has been captured, though, nothing can stop her plan...

Nothing, that is, except Sargon, who arrives on his flying carpet and tries to free Batman - only to be grabbed by Solomon Grundy! To his surprise, Sargon finds that his Ruby Of Life is powerless against Grundy - but he is able to grasp one of Ramulus' vines and command it to release the Gotham Guardian!

Freed, Batman knocks Ramulus flying, and a two-pronged attack by the two heroes eventually releases Sargon from Grundy's clutches, and Sargon commands Ramulus' vines to wrap the marshland monster in an unbreakable cocoon. Batman, meanwhile, uses a small incendiary bomb from his utility belt to set The Thorn's plants alight - and then his batarang trips her up as she tries to escape! With the threat over, the two heroes douse the fire and take the villains into custody.

Next issue - a new story, set in 1945!