Batman #388 – “The Round-Trip Looking Glass” – Doug Moench/Tom Mandrake
This one starts with Mirror Master breaking into the Gotham Museum to steal a jade necklace. He soon finds out he’s not the only one interested, as Captain Boomerang snatches the necklace right out of his hand with a trick boomerang. The two of them start arguing over who should get to ravage Gotham and Captain Boomerang reminds his fellow Rogue that Batman won’t like them being on his turf. (Boomerang and Batman fought back in issue 322 and Boomerang wouldn’t mind some revenge on the Caped Crusader.) They’re interrupted by Batman himself, who scoops up the necklace and chases them through the museum. An explosive boomerang brings down a T-Rex skeleton on Batman’s head,
giving the Rogues a chance to escape (still bickering over who’s the better criminal). Back in the Batcave, Batman and Robin review the histories of the two Rogues and we get to see their origins. (Mirror Master is referred to as Joe Scudder, but I always thought his name was Sam?) Whatever his name is, Scudder runs into three False Face Society thugs looking for a new leader. Scudder uses hypnotic glasses to control their minds, sending them to pound Boomerang. At Wayne Manor, Bruce is on a date with Julia Pennyworth, but can’t stop thinking about Vicki Vale, wondering if her recent obsession with physical fitness is a sign of something darker. Julia wants to write a book about Black 
Mask and figures Bruce can give her some insight (since he knew Roman Sionis when they were kids), but Bruce sees the Bat-Signal and takes off. On the way, Batman and Robin run into Bullock (almost literally), who tells them there are two suspicious incidents happening. Robin goes with Bullock to check a bank, leaving Batman to head for a jewelry store. Captain Boomerang has already broken into the jewelry store, but he’s interrupted by the False Face goons, who want to rough him up. At the bank, Robin and Bullock capture Mirror Master without too much trouble, but Boomerang escapes from the jewelry store while Batman wastes time fighting the False Face guys. Boomerang goes to Mirror Master’s hideout and finds the sheet of mirror glass he used to make his hypnotic glasses. On the way to the police station,
Mirror Master uses a mirrored tooth (!) to project an image of Captain Boomerang on the road. Bullock almost crashes and Mirror Master escapes, heading back to his hideout to find that Boomerang has stolen his hypnotic mirror glass. A mirrored boomerang flies through the window, busting all the other mirrors in the room until Mirror Master catches it. That’s exactly what Captain Boomerang wanted because the boomerang is made of the hypnotic glass and Boomerang hypnotizes Mirror Master, telling him he’ll do whatever he’s told … even kill.
Detective #555 – “Returning Reflections” – Doug Moench/Gene Colan/Bob Smith
The writing here is credited to Jason (Robin) Todd because the story is supposedly being written down by Jason in his journal, but Doug Moench is credited on the cover. After a quick recap of the above issue, Batman tells Robin, Bullock, and Commissioner Gordon he has a plan to catch both Rogues, using Bullock as the bait. (There’s a quick scene where the characters comment on why the moon is red, which is about as explicit a nod to Crisis on Infinite Earths as we’ll get in this title.) Bullock accidentally smashes the Bat-Signal and Robin gets pissed off; Robin’s attitude throughout this story toward Bullock is different than usual, more antagonistic for some reason. Anyway, Batman
uses his Matches Malone disguise to visit a bunch of seedy bars and spread the word that the jade necklace is being transferred (by Bullock) to a safer location under heavy police guard. Boomerang is in one of the bars and decides he’ll send his hypnotized puppet Mirror Master to steal the necklace. Mirror Master will be caught and Boomerang will lose the necklace, but it’ll prove he’s smarter than Mirror Master. Of course, Batman and Robin don’t know Boomerang has hypnotized Mirror Master, so they’re expecting both Rogues to show up. When Mirror Master shows up alone, Batman changes the plan, deciding to follow Mirror Master to his hideout in the hope that Boomerang 
will attack him and they can grab both Rogues at once. But Bullock doesn’t know about Batman’s changed plan, so when the trap doesn’t spring he tries to grab Mirror Master and ends up getting captured. Batman and Robin follow Mirror Master to his hideout and see Boomerang show up. Turns out Mirror Master was never really hypnotized and he catches Boomerang in a trap and orders a hypnotized Bullock to shoot him. Batman and Robin bust in, stopping Bullock from killing Boomerang and beating the crap out of the two Rogues.
Green Arrow – “The Case of the Runaway Shoebox” – Elliot Maggin/Dick
Dillin/Dick Giordano
This is a filler story about a typical day in Green Arrow’s life. He gets his rent money pickpocketed (while distracted by a hot girl on the subway), but before he can retrace his steps, he gets involved with a museum robbery. After chasing the thieves to the airport, he recovers the priceless treasure, which turns out to be a box full of busted Greek pottery. At the police station, Arrow runs into the guy who pickpocketed him and after proving the money is his, takes off to pay his rent.
Batman & the Outsiders #26 – “Serpent in the Sky” – Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis
Last issue, Halo was captured by Kobra, who turned to be the leader of the hippie cult she’d joined, and was forced to give up Batman’s identity to save her friend David. As this issue opens, we realize Halo has probably given up all her teammates’ real identities, since Brion (Geo-Force) Markov is being stalked by Kobra agents. After dropping off Denise from their date, Geo-Force gets jumped and pounds his attackers but they kill each other rather than allow themselves to be taken into custody. Out at Kobra’s hippie farm, he gives David and Halo a recap of his origin and how Eve found him near death in the desert. He started the
cult and recruited David to get to David’s father, a high-ranking General in charge of the Strategic Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars). David feels stupid for being taken in, but Halo is more worried about the Outsiders. Meanwhile, Jefferson (Black Lightning) Pierce, Tatsu (Katana) Yamashiro, Rex (Metamorpho) Mason, and Sapphire Stagg are at a baseball game when Kobra’s goons attack. They take the cultists down, but these guys use cyanide capsules to avoid capture. Black Lightning tries to call Batman, but he’s already fighting Kobra cultists who attacked him at Wayne Manor. Batman recognizes his opponents and keeps one of them alive for interrogation, but 
when he uses truth serum, the guy dies immediately (having taken some poison that activates when truth serum is used). Technically, you could say Batman killed this dude, but he doesn’t seem all that bothered by it. He finds some pine needles on the guy’s boot and figures the can track where they came from. On the farm, Kobra reveals his master plan; when David’s father (General Harrison) was at the farm, Kobra gave him a toxin that deadened his will power. Kobra now calls Harrison and takes over his mind, forcing Harrison to let Kobra and some of his people go up on the next shuttle launch, which is carrying SDI components. The Outsiders are heading for the farm, which Katana thinks is a waste of time until Batman points out
that Kobra could’ve gotten their identities from Halo and since Halo is young (and searching for answers), a commune would be a good place to find her. Unfortunately, by the time they get there, the place is abandoned. In orbit, Kobra installs his own components in the SDI computer, taking it over and sending a message that if the entire contents of Fort Knox aren’t turned over to him, he’ll sell the nuclear codes for the SDI system to Russia.
Firestorm #40 – “Graduation Day” – Gerry Conway/Mike Clark/Ian Akin, Brian Garvey
This one starts with Ronnie Raymond in the principal’s office defending himself against the accusation that he cheated on his final exams. Ronnie scored in the top 1% on his exams, which is pretty remarkable for someone who’s always been an average student at best. Ronnie can’t explain why he suddenly did so well (since he doesn’t know himself) and walks out. Cliff Carmichael is waiting to taunt him and Ronnie decks him. Cliff challenges Ronnie to settle things once and for all on the roof at lunch and Ronnie accepts, which really pisses off his girlfriend Doreen. Doreen tells Ronnie she expects Cliff to act like a dick (since he is one), but hoped Ronnie would be better than that. She tells
Ronnie she’s sick of him acting like a punk kid and says they’re finished. Ronnie freaks and triggers the Firestorm transformation, pulling Professor Stein away from his job at Vandemeer University. Ronnie starts angsting about all his problems, but Stein points out a boat about to get smashed in the river. Ronnie’s reluctant to help until Stein shames him into it, pointing out that he’s acting selfish, just like all the people Ronnie labels as stupid. Ronnie calms down and tells the Professor about the cheating accusations. Stein points out the obvious, that them sharing Firestorm’s form must have caused some of their consciousnesses to be retained, which explains why Ronnie is suddenly a 
whiz at science. Ronnie has an idea of how to prove he didn’t cheat and invites Stein to have dinner with him and his dad that night; apparently, Ronnie’s dad has someone he wants Ronnie to meet. Ronnie heads back to school to confront Cliff on the roof and Cliff tells Ronnie why he hates him so much. Apparently, Cliff was bullied a lot so he turned into a bully to fight back, but he resents Ronnie because he seemingly has everything anyone could want—good looks, athletic prowess, a hot girlfriend—but he doesn’t appreciate it. I’m not sure if this is supposed to make Cliff more sympathetic, but he still comes off as a jealous douche to me. Ronnie refuses to fight back as Cliff pummels him, saying Cliff’s right about the way he’s been acting. Cliff
finally gives up and leaves and Doreen shows up to apologize … with some smooching. Ronnie tells the principal he wants to take oral make-up tests to prove he didn’t cheat. He passes with flying colours (impressing the hell out of the chemistry teacher) and the cheating accusations are dropped. He becomes Firestorm again and swings by the Daily Express building where he’s meeting his father. He runs into Felicity Smoak outside, who serves him with legal papers since she’s suing him for wrecking her software business. Ronnie is pissed off, but Stein tells him he’d better find a good lawyer. They split and Stein finally 
meets Ronnie’s dad, Ed Raymond. Ed’s got a surprise for Ronnie … he’s getting married. But the real surprise is that his intended is Felicity Smoak. Of course, neither Ed nor Felicity know Ronnie is Firestorm, so things could get interesting. The next day, Ronnie graduates and we find out that Doreen will attending Vandemeer with him … as will Cliff Carmichael. It kinda reminds me of Peter Parker’s graduation in Amazing Spider-Man 28, when he found out Flash Thompson was going to be at ESU with him.
Vigilante #22 – “Night Souls” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Steve Mitchell
Last issue, we saw that a copycat Vigilante has been running around New York gunning down criminals (and anyone else who gets in his way, like cops). Adrian Chase has been freaking out, wondering if he had some kind of split personality or something. Now that he knows the truth, he’s still pretty freaked out, especially after his namesake guns down some more criminals in cold blood. Adrian’s girlfriend (Marcia King) tries to help, but he can’t talk to her since she doesn’t know he used to be Vigilante. He’s pretty out of it, half-drunk and raving because keeping his guilt secret is driving him nuts. Marcia is ready to walk away, but Adrian convinces her to stay, saying she’s his last link to
sanity. The pressure is starting to affect Adrian’s job as a judge too, since he can’t focus on the cases he’s hearing. And his guilt over being Vigilante (and maybe inspiring this new, deadlier version) bleeds over to his job too, making him wonder if he has the right to judge other people’s actions. We get a glimpse of the copycat Vigilante, whose inner monologue establishes that he thinks he’s doing the right thing, bringing criminals to justice when the courts can’t (or won’t). He sounds a bit like the Punisher a few years later, but I don’t think Punisher’s popularity was all that high yet, so I doubt if this is meant to reflect that character. Adrian decides he has to stop this new Vigilante, but 
Marcia catches him with a gun and freaks out, walking out on him. Elsewhere, some punks are taking advantage of the weird chaos (from Crisis) to run wild in a store after tying up the owner. The killer Vigilante comes in and wastes them all, stalking the punks through the store. Adrian goes to see Marcia and she makes him put the gun away (in her drawer, which I’m sure will be significant in a future issue … I guess the mantelpiece would’ve been too obvious). Adrian finally comes clean with Marcia, telling her about being the first Vigilante, but we’ll have to wait until next issue to see her reaction.