Batman #391 – “Death Comes as the End” – Doug Moench/Tom Mandrake
This one continues from last time, with Robin running into Night Slayer on the rocky islet that holds the Gotham Observatory. Night Slayer is there to kill Nocturna and Robin tries to stop him, but Night Slayer’s crazed strength is too much. He swats Robin aside and starts climbing toward the observatory. Batman is still at the hospital with Selina (Catwoman) Kyle, who was injured pretty badly last issue. Batman has told Selina he loves her and not Nocturna, since Nocturna will never give up her criminal ways like Selina has. Selina doesn’t believe him,
but their debate is interrupted when Robin calls about Night Slayer. Selina urges Batman to go save Nocturna and as soon as he leaves, she gets out of bed and follows. She’s still in bad shape, but not so bad that the hospital staff can stop her. In the observatory, Nocturna has been trying to figure out what’s causing the earthquakes and strange weather (currently blood-red rain is streaming down as Gotham is caught in an otherwordly storm caused by the Crisis). Nocturna can’t account for the strange weather and assumes it really does herald the end of the world, so when Night Slayer shows up, she figures she might as 
well let him kill her. Meanwhile, Robin has “borrowed” a hang-glider from a sporting goods store and is trying to fly through the tempest to the observatory and Batman has arrived and is climbing the rocky cliff. Night Slayer stabs Nocturna and Robin jumps from his glider to attack. When Night Slayer pounds Robin, Nocturna gets mad and starts fighting back, but Night Slayer overwhelms her again. Just as he’s about to finish her, Batman shows up and gets stabbed himself. As Batman fights Night Slayer, Robin takes the wounded Nocturna and puts her in her hot-air balloon, thinking that sending her up
into the night (her favourite place) might help her. Batman’s having trouble with Night Slayer, but that’s when Catwoman shows up, crashing a stolen helicopter into the observatory. Catwoman wants to take Night Slayer down since she’s been suspected of all the murders he’s committed. The crashed helicopter explodes, turning the observatory into a pile of rubble. Robin lets the balloon with Nocturna inside go as Catwoman and Night slayer continue fighting. Catwoman’s wounds slow her down and Night Slayer gains an advantage, so 
Batman tries to even things up by swinging the giant telescope around. He’s not strong enough, but Robin helps and the telescope knocks Night Slayer off the islet just as another earthquake hits. Night Slayer drags Catwoman over the cliff too and the whole islet collapses. Robin drags Batman to shore and they find Catwoman and Night Slayer’s bodies. Batman is terrified Catwoman is dead, but she’s okay (and Night Slayer is alive too). The balloon containing Nocturna is nowhere in sight though.
Detective #558 – “Strange Loves” – Doug Moench/Gene Colan/Bob Smith
This story continues immediately from the above issue. Robin stays at the remains of the islet to look for Nocturna while Batman takes Catwoman back to the hospital before heading to police headquarters with Night Slayer. Commissioner Gordon and Bullock aren’t at headquarters, they’re meeting with Mayor Skowcroft, who’s trying to convince them he has Gotham’s best interests at heart. At the site of the observatory, Robin runs into the security guard (Marsh) that
Nocturna mesmerized with her “love dust” a few issues back. The dust made Marsh obsessed with Nocturna, even after she released him. He’s completely forgotten about his own wife and can only think about serving his Mistress of the Night. When he finds the observatory and islet have crumbled, he goes nuts, knocking Robin into the water and running off. At police headquarters, Batman turns Night Slayer over to the cops, telling them he’s responsible for the False Face killings, not Catwoman. Night Slayer breaks free and Batman has to subdue him again. Batman gets back to the observatory site just in time to save 
Robin from drowning and Robin tells him about Marsh. Meanwhile, Marsh has found Nocturna’s balloon snagged on top of Gotham’s equivalent of the Chrysler Building and forces his way up with a gun. The balloon is empty except for some bloodstains. When Batman and Robin arrive, Marsh is ready to kill himself over losing Nocturna. Robin says he loved her to (like a mother) and Batman mentions the mesmerizing dust. But Marsh claims that when the dust wore off, his feelings remained. He says he’s a different person from the one who married his wife and he no longer loves her, but his love for Nocturna is
real. Marsh ends up jumping off the building to his death and Batman and Robin can only watch in horror. Later, Batman tells Selina about Marsh (whose body disappeared into the red rain) and assures her that his own strange obsession with Nocturna is over. Bullock delivers the sad news to Marsh’s widow. I guess the empty balloon was meant to be a cliffhanger of sorts, hinting that Nocturna might return; but Crisis is about to reset DC history and Nocturna (and Night Slayer) aren’t really part of it, so we won’t be seeing them again.
Green Arrow – “Believe Everything I Hear” – Dean R. Traven/Trevor von Eeden/Dell Barras
This is a quick story about Green Arrow meeting a snitch who’s supposed to clue him in on a drug shipment coming in. The snitch gets knifed and passes out after giving Green Arrow what sounds like a tip on a horse race. But the tip doesn’t fit the information, so Arrow realizes he misheard and figures out the real clue (by a huge leap in logic … sure bet=sherbet), stopping the drug smugglers’ shipment when it arrives.
Batman & the Outsiders #29 – “The People of the Abyss” – Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis
Last issue, Metamorpho was kidnapped by some weird guys with glowing eyes, who used a couple of enthralled thugs as pawns. Batman and the Outsiders found some strange material that gives off energy and have tracked the energy to Switzerland. They find a man-made tunnel under a huge rock and after Batman calls Sapphire (Metamorpho’s wife) to update her on the search, they head underground. Katana is worried about her friend Emily Briggs, who was taken by the same guys who grabbed Metamorpho. The Outsiders are observed by a couple of
servants, who head off to report their presence to someone named Princess Tamira. The Outsiders stop to rest and Metamorpho finds them, but he’s been enslaved by his captors so he attacks. They try to subdue him as Batman goes looking for whoever’s controlling him. Batman finds a couple of the glowing-eye dudes with the mind-sphere they use to hold (and control) Metamorpho’s consciousness. But Batman gets blasted before he can free Metamorpho, who overwhelms the Outsiders by turning to water. Princess Tamira comes by and tells her people to bring Geo-Force and Halo (who will be of help in her fight against her brother) and leave the others to die. Some freaky-looking cave beast finds Katana and Black Lightning, but Batman shows up and kills 
it. They’re soon found by some more underground dwellers, but these ones are friendlier, especially once thy find out the surface dwellers aren’t allied with Tamira. The trio are taken to Abyssia, an underground kingdom led by Prince Mardo. Katana is surprised to find Emily there; Emily has been well treated, although she’s not too impressed with the sexy outfit they gave her to wear. (Emily also quickly figures out that Katana is her friend Tatsu Yamashiro.) Prince Mardo says he’ll explain why they took Emily, but it has something to do with getting rid of his traitorous sister, Princess Tamira. Speaking of Tamira, she’s making plans of her own to get rid of Mardo, and is going to use the enthralled Metamorpho, Halo, and Geo-Force to help.
Outsiders #3 – ‘Breaking the Bank” – Mike W. Barr/Jim Aparo
This one starts with a covert operative calling himself Bad Samaritan having a private meeting with Premier Gorbachev. (We haven’t met Bad Samaritan yet, but he’ll show up in Adventures of the Outsiders 34, which is set before this story.) Bad Samaritan tells Gorbachev he can help fix the problems the Soviet Union has been having lately and insure Gorbachev’s legacy as a Premier who brought positive changes to the USSR. Gorbachev is intrigued enough to listen to Samaritan’s plan. In California, Gaby (Halo) Doe and Tatsu (Katana) Yamashiro are arguing about Gaby using the money Markovia pays the
Outsiders for protection to buy clothes. Tatsu says Gaby should get a job if she wants money for personal stuff and Gaby says she will. Meanwhile, Lia (Looker) Briggs has just gotten a new job as a model, but almost loses it when she refuses to talk about her past. The head of the agency (Dumont) hires her anyway, but wonders what secrets she’s keeping and vows to uncover them. At Fort Knox, a guy named Hastings drops off $500,000 worth of U.S. currency from the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Unfortunately, this was an impostor; the real Hastings was waylaid and is found dead in a garbage heap. Later, Brion (Geo-Force) Markov gets a visit from a government operative he 
recognizes as Major Victory, leader of the Outsiders’ foes, the Force of July. Victory tells him about Hastings being replaced and mentions the fake Hastings stole some printing plates from Fort Knox … for American and Markovian currency. (The American government has been printing Markovian currency for them as a favour because America didn’t intervene when someone attempted a coup in Markovia … another story from Adventures of the Outsiders that we haven’t seen yet.) After Victory leaves, we find out Bad Samaritan is the one who posed as Hastings and stole the plates, but Brion doesn’t know that. He does know Victory can’t be trusted, so he decides to
call in the Outsiders to help. Across town, Jefferson (Black Lightning) Pierce goes to see his ex-wife, Lynn. She’s actually happy to see him and they seem to be getting along pretty well. He learns she was involved in a music project called FAMINE (which is obviously based on the USA for Africa album released at the time) and meets the guy who put the project together, Edward Bentama. Later, the Outsiders meet and Geo-Force tells them about the stolen plates. They go to Washington and start shaking down shady operatives to find out when the plates are being smuggled out of the country. Thanks to Looker’s persuasion ability, they find the courier and 
show up in time to catch Bad Samaritan with the plates. But the Force of July shows up too, thinking the Outsiders are working with Samaritan. The two teams fight and the Outsiders win, but Samaritan escapes, blowing up the building they were in. The Outsiders make it to safety (and save the unconscious Force of July), but Geo-Force says they have to find Samaritan before he uses the stolen plates to destabilize the economies of America and Markovia.