Batman #387 – “Ebon Masquery” – Doug Moench/Tom Mandrake
This one starts with Bruce (Batman) Wayne laying an elaborate trap for Black Mask by throwing a masked ball at Wayne Manor. It’s such an obvious trap (since Black Mask has been killing Wayne Foundation executives after Wayne took over his failing cosmetics company) that Batman knows Black Mask will show up … and he’s right. Black Mask reasons that Bruce Wayne won’t expect him to show for such an obvious set-up and will feel safe, so Black Mask does plan to attend the party … though not in his usual ebony mask. Bruce sets things up pretty well: he’s in a half-mask (so black Mask will recognize him); he’s got cops stationed outside (but not so many as to scare Black Mask away); he’s kept all other Wayne executives away; and he’s got
Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Bullock (both masked) as guests, not to mention Robin stationed upstairs in case of trouble. There are a few other notable guests, like Vicki Vale, who seems to have gone full Amazon after her recent fitness craze. Alfred is circulating and figuring out who all the guests are under their masks, trying to narrow down which one is Black Mask. Black Mask has brought his ex-girlfriend Circe (whose face he scarred last issue to force her to return to his side) and Bullock is quite enamored of her … at least, the parts he can see. When he pulls her mask off and sees her scars, he’s freaked 
out but assumes she’s wearing a second mask underneath. Black Mask manages to evade detection by switching masks with someone Alfred already identified and he gets Bruce alone in the conservatory. Bruce fights him but is forced to let him go to save a valuable statue (and Batman’s secret identity). But Robin follows Black Mask back to his hideout in the cemetery and calls Batman. When Batman arrives, he and Robin have to fight their way through numerous False Face Society members, which gives Black Mask the chance to escape. They chase him to his family’s abandoned estate and end up fighting more False Faces while Black Mask slowly loses his sense of self and lights the place on fire. When Batman and Robin confront him, he
freaks out and runs straight into the fire. The Dynamic Duo save him, but his mask is permanently burned onto his face. After rounding up most of the False Faces (and Black Mask), Batman tells Gordon the case is closed. Bullock wonders about Circe, but Batman says she was forced to help Black Mask, so she’s no real threat. A month later, we see Circe at Arkham Asylum dropping off her mask and telling a guard to give it to Black Mask, as a message from her.
Detective #554 – “Port Passed” – Doug Moench/Klaus Janson
This almost reads as an inventory story, or maybe it’s just a way of decompressing after the Black Mask three-parter. It starts with a ship from Sicily refusing routine inspection in Gotham, so the cops surround the ship and quarantine it. But someone on board threatens to blow up the entire harbour if anyone tries to board. Things get weirder when a half-dead guy crawls out of the water and gasps out the word “frog” before dying. Gordon and Bullock call Batman and Robin, who quickly assess the situation. Batman figures the ship is dropping illegal cargo (probably drugs) and won’t use the explosives except as a last resort.
He also assumes “frog” refers to a frogman (a diver), which means the goods could be slipped into Gotham right under their noses. Batman goes underwater while Robin and Bullock take a small boat out to the ship, hoping the police searchlights will blind the ship’s passengers to their approach. Bullock has (finally) noticed that this isn’t the same Robin who’s been with Batman for the last few years and tries to get some info from him, but Robin deflects all his questions. On the ship, two guys seem to have taken over and are trying to get a small box into Gotham. Robin and Bullock board and don’t see any obvious explosives, so Bullock makes his presence known. The frogman dives overboard with the box, leaving Robin to take the other guy out (and save Bullock’s ass). 
Batman jumps the frogman underwater and realizes the explosives are in his spear-gun. They fight and end up surfacing, where Batman deflects the spear-gun, causing the explosives to hit the ship just above the waterline. Batman takes the diver out and they inspect the box he was carrying. It turns out it wasn’t drugs, but a fake passport along with an airline ticket; they were trying to get it to a mobster named Torrelli to get him out of the States and back to Sicily. But Gordon reveals the ultimate irony … Torrelli was sentenced to be deported back to Italy just yesterday, and he was supposed to leave on the same ship his “liberators” just came in on (which will now be impossible, since they damaged it beyond repair).
Green Arrow – “The Past is Prologue” – Joey Cavalieri/Jerome K. Moore/Bruce Patterson
Last issue, Black Canary froze up in a burning building while fighting an arsonist (Bonfire) and while she was recovering, she discovered something shocking. Turns out her mother (the original Black Canary) fought an arsonist and failed to defeat her. Black Canary figures the “residual memory” of her mother’s failure is what caused her to freeze up. She decides she’s tired of being a carbon copy of her mom and whips up a new costume before heading out to find Bonfire. The arsons have been in abandoned tenements (making way for someone to buy up the land) that have been taken over by homeless squatters. Canary runs across a
homeless dude in one of the buildings and assumes it’s Green Arrow in disguise. She runs into Bonfire, who lights the place up. This time, Canary doesn’t freeze an ends up defeating Bonfire with her Canary Cry (something else that distinguishes her from her mom). Green Arrow shows up after putting out the fire to congratulate her (and make fun of the new costume). Turns out the “homeless dude” wasn’t Green Arrow, it was the fire chief Arrow suspected of ordering the arsons. He was actually undercover trying to find the arsonist too.
Batman & the Outsiders #25 – “A Serpent in Eden” – Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis
This one starts with Sapphire Stagg and Tatsu (Katana) Yamashiro shopping for wedding dresses for Sapphire’s upcoming nuptials to Rex (Metamorpho) Mason. They’re not sure if Gaby (Halo) Doe will attend the wedding or not, which bothers Tatsu since she and Gaby have gotten so close. But Gaby ended up joining a cult last issue, going with a guy named David to an idyllic farm called Eden. The leaders of the cult seem very nice, but their names are Naja-Naja (though he goes by Abraham) and Sister Eve, which is pretty on the nose as far as Paradise stories go. Eve is worried that David might be too pure, but Abraham says
David is the key to all his plans. Back in Gotham, Rex and Jefferson (Black Lightning) Pierce are shopping for tuxes, while Brion (Geo-Force) Markov is taking Denise Howard home from hospital after her recent suicide attempt. Brion asks Denise out and she accepts (since she’s been waiting forever for him to ask). At the farm, Gaby meets Abraham and explains how lost she was in the outside world. Their conversation is interrupted when David’s father (an Army General named Harrison) shows up to harangue Abraham for leading his son astray. Abraham points out that Harrison’s attitude drove David away in the first place and Abraham was the one who urged David to tell Harrison 
where he was. Abraham invites Harrison to join them for lunch, saying they have nothing to hide. Gaby phones Tatsu to let her know she’s okay and gets her machine; Tatsu gets home just in time to miss the call. At the farm, David slips Gaby a note (which Eve sees) and Harrison accuses Abraham of drugging the food to keep his followers placid. Abraham invites Harrison to test the food for drugs and it turns out Harrison brought a chemist just for that purpose. In Gotham, Tatsu goes to a bank to do some business and interrupts a party for a newly-promoted employee. Another employee (Lia Briggs) is feeling like crap because she should’ve gotten the promotion but figures she lost out because the other woman is hot and she isn’t. This may seem like an
unimportant aside (not to mention sexist), but Lia will become a very important character in future issues. At the farm, Harrison has the food, the water, and David’s blood all tested for drugs and everything comes up clean. Harrison apologizes for suspecting Abraham, who offers him a glass of water. Too bad Harrison didn’t have that tested, because Eve put something in it. Later we learn that Harrison is actually Chief of Staff for the White House and is responsible for implementing the Strategic Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars, which was a pretty big deal in the 80s). At the farm, Gaby meets David after curfew and he declares his love for her, asking her to marry him. She’s taken aback, especially since 
she still considers herself a bad person for “stealing” Violet Harper’s body. Eve and some thugs find them and attack David, knocking him into a river. Gaby changes to Halo to save him, but she’s gassed and wakes up in restraints. Turns out Abraham (or Naja-Naja) is actually Kobra, Batman’s old enemy. Kobra figures Batman sent Halo to spy on him and threatens to kill David if she doesn’t tell him who Batman really is. Gaby has no choice and tells Kobra Batman is really Bruce Wayne.
Firestorm #39 – “Publish and Perish” – Gerry Conway/Rafael Kayanan/Mike Chen
Last issue, Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein were captured by the Weasel while investigating the recent murders at Vandemeer University, where Stein has recently accepted a teaching job. They merge into Firestorm just in time to avoid being liquefied by molten steel, but Weasel slips away. When they split, Ronnie tells Stein how Weasel was ranting about academics last issue and how killing the various professors (including Stein) will make him “safe”. Stein explains tenure and says it’s a Holy Grail for some academics, who are willing to do almost anything to get it. When they get back to Stein’s room, the place is crawling
with cops and stein’s old friend Emily is there. Stein has to make up a story about being out when the place was trashed and Ronnie slips away to avoid answering any questions. Because of Weasel’s attacks, campus has patrols all over, but Weasel avoids them easily … as does Ronnie, who breaks into the Admin Building to check the files of the victims for clues. Ronnie finds out that all the victims went to Stanford (as did Stein), but before he can dig deeper, Weasel finds him. After the cops leave, Emily tells Stein she feels guilty for inviting him to take a job at a place plagued by murders. She admits she kinda had a 
thing for him for years (they only met once years ago) and the thought of him always kept her going. Considering the trouble he had with Killer Frost’s obsession, you’d think that might be a red flag, but Stein actually seems flattered. Emily apologizes again and leaves right before Stein disappears to form Firestorm with Ronnie, who’s about to be strangled by Weasel. Firestorm breaks free and Weasel takes off again. While pursuing him, Ronnie fills Stein in about his Stanford theory and Stein vaguely remembers the other victims, but hardly knew them. Ronnie says Weasel must’ve known all of them and hated them for being more successful academically than he was. Weasel ambushes Firestorm, blinding him temporarily, so Stein has to act as Ronnie’s eyes while they fly around. Firestorm takes Weasel into a traffic tunnel where
weasel gets freaked out thinking Firestorm is trying to kill him. Firestorm beats Weasel and unmasks him; he turns out to be a guy named John Monroe, who Stein doesn’t remember at all. Ronnie says maybe that’s the problem, Monroe was beneath everyone’s notice and that pissed him off so much it drove him nuts. After turning Monroe over to the cops, Ronnie heads back to New York, still wondering how he aced his science exams. (It seems obvious he’s absorbed some of Stein’s knowledge after all their merging, but that doesn’t seem to have occurred to either of them.) Ronnie’s graduation is coming up and he reflects on his life and his future as he heads home.
Vigilante #21 – “Shadow of a Madman” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Rick Magyar
Last issue, Vigilante (or someone who looks like him) went on a killing spree and ended up shooting a cop. Adrian Chase had given up the Vigilante identity upon becoming a judge, but his guilt over his actions as Vigilante (plus some recent nightmares) are making him wonder if he really has been running around killing people without even knowing it, like his real personality has been taken over by this murderous alter ego. Chase wants to figure things out but he’s run out of time; Nightwing (who fought the rogue Vigilante last issue) has tracked him down and is ready to kick his ass. Chase tries to explain his recent nightmares and his uncertainty about what’s going on, but Nightwing is too
mad to listen and attacks. They end up fighting a running battle that spills out into the street. Meanwhile, Adrian’s girlfriend Marcia is worried about him and goes out to look for him. And we see a junkie thief break into a penthouse where he’s surprised by the tenant (who’s supposed to be away) and held at gunpoint. The thief freaks out (since another conviction will mean hard time) and ends up shooting the guy and running for it, shooting a couple of cops along the way. Nightwing and Chase keep fighting and Chase manages to get away, heading for Marcia’s place. But Nightwing has done his homework and is waiting for him there. They bust the place up with their fight and accidentally turn the TV on. (You can probably see where this is going.) The 
fugitive thief ends up cornered on a rooftop where Vigilante shows up and blows him away. A special news bulletin lets Nightwing (and Chase) know that it’s another Vigilante running around killing people. Chase is relieved and Nightwing is apologetic, agreeing to let Chase have the first shot at tracking down his deadly namesake. Adrian heads home where Marcia and some cops are waiting (she called them when she found the place wrecked). Adrian tells the cops to leave and he and Marcia head inside, but we see the shadow of the other Vigilante outside the door …