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    The Brave and the Bold #180

    The Brave and the Bold » The Brave and the Bold #180 - The Scepter of the Dragon God! released by DC Comics on November 1981.

    Short summary describing this issue.

    The Scepter of the Dragon God! last edited by deactivated-62e5b6c75b65e on 07/30/22 02:58PM View full history

    The Scepter Of The Dragon God!

    At Gotham City's Metropolitan Museum, a lone security guard is drawn to, then compelled to pick up a glowing relic. Against his will, the guard walks the relic over to a bronze burial urn. Bathed in the eerie glow coming off the relic, the burial urn begins to give off smoke. At that moment, an animated suit of samurai armor butchers the guard. His death scream draws the Batman to the museum. Investigating, Batman finds himself quickly under assault from not just one empty suit of armor, but five. The Batman's battle with the samurai armor draws Professor Hans Selman, the curator of the museum's Asian wing, to the scene. Discovering the unsealed burial urn, Selman wildly claims that Wa'Ar-Zen, the evil wizard of the Dragon God, has been released into the world. In Feudal japan, Wa'Ar-Zen, the so-called Dragon Wizard, had been a force of great evil for many years, until he finally perished at the hands of his nemesis, the heroic wizard, Kwan-Yin. Wa'Ar-Zen was cremated, his ashes sealed within the bronze funeral urn. The symbol of his power, the Scepter of the Dragon God, was separated into it's three component parts, each one buried in a different location. With one section of the scepter in Wa'Ar-Zen's grasp, the resurrected spirit of the Dragon Wizard sets about collecting the rest of the scepter. Selman informs Batman that a second piece of the scepter was long a part of Stewart Rothblatt's private collection. With Rothblatt's death, however, his part of the scepter is even now on the auction block in New York City.

    Wa'Ar-Zen arrives at the auction house in New York City. Taking possession of the second part of the scepter, Wa'Ar-Zen uses it's power to slay the head of the auction house. On site to provide security, Police Lieutenant Jim Corrigan witnesses the murder, and, as the Spectre, confronts Wa'Ar-Zen. With only two pieces of the scepter in his possession, Wa'Ar-Zen is no match for the Spectre. Batman's arrival gives Wa'Ar-Zen a new target to imperil. Casting a monstrous mystical squid about the Caped Crusader, Wa-Ar-Zen flees while the Spectre is distracted rescuing Batman. Using the two pieces of the scepter in his possession to divine the location of the final piece, Wa'Ar-Zen travels to the ancient, ruined temple of the Dragon God, in Shizuoka, Japan. As Wa'Ar-Zen reassembles the scepter, he is confronted by his age-old nemesis, the long dead Kwan-Yin. Wa'Ar-Zen strikes out at Kwan-YIn with mystic fire, which burns away the illusion, revealing the Batman. Suddenly Wa'Ar-Zen is surrounded by multiple images of the Spectre. This time, however, Wa'Ar-Zen has the full power of the Scepter of the Dragon God fueling his sorcery, making him more than a match for the Spectre. Their battle rages across multiple planes of existence, shifting from the cosmos, to the subatomic, to the nether worlds. With the Spectre's astral form dissipating under Wa'Ar-Zen's attack, the Dragon Wizard drives the Ghostly Guardian back to the temple. Wa'Ar-Zen prepares to sacrifice the Spectre to the Dragon God, but Batman hits the scepter with an explosive batarang, destroying it. With the scepter gone, the eldritch emanations which resurrected Wa'Ar-Zen fade, collapsing the Dragon Wizard back into ash.

    Be Still, My Trembling Heart!

    Taken prisoner by Samuel Solomon, the man called Nemesis was outfitted with a remote controlled heart stimulator. Unless Nemesis assassinated Solomon's competition, in the criminal organization known as the Council, Solomon would activate the device, over stimulating Nemesis' heart until it burst. The triggering device was given to a man named Lucas, who was charged with shepherding Nemesis to his victims. Nemesis managed to escape Lucas, while also faking his own death. Now, holed up in his secret laboratory, Nemesis desperately tries to remove the heart stimulator. Failing to do so, Nemesis brushes off the concerns of his lady love, Valerie Foxworth, and hits the streets. Disguising his true face beneath a life like mask, Nemesis seeks out a man called "Roadrunner", in the seedy underbelly of the city. Owing four thousand dollars to Wiley Thorn, Roadrunner is laying low. Despite this, Nemesis easily finds Roadrunner, tasking him with identifying the gadget men in Solomon's employ. Days later, the two men meet at a rundown bar, with Nemesis disguised as the bartender. Roadrunner provides the name of the likely designer of the heart stimulator. Thorn's gunsels enter the bar to kill Roadrunner, but Nemesis guns them down, using his non-lethal toxin bullets. Nemesis pays Roadrunner four thousand dollars for the information, allowing the lowlife to get straight with Thorn. Nemesis journeys to the home of Doctor Ted Rice. After gaining entry, Nemesis prowls around Rice's home, discovering another heart stimulator. With Nemesis engrossed in studying the heart stimulator, he is unaware that Rice has entered the laboratory behind him. Fearing his criminal dealings with Solomon will be exposed, Rice activates the device on Nemesis, who falls to the floor. Writhing in agony, Nemesis' heart is moments away from bursting.

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