Batman #392 – “A Town on the Night” – Doug Moench/Tom Mandrake/Jan Duursema
This is basically a series of linked vignettes showing Batman and Catwoman hanging out on a typical night in Gotham. Now that Catwoman has reformed, she wants to help Batman in his nightly patrols, but she also wants to spend some one-on-one time with him. The story starts with Batman pounding some drunks in an alley and Catwoman swinging in to help. The drunks are no match for the two vigilantes and after using one strand from her cat o’ nine tails to tie them up, Catwoman suggests she and Batman hang out and get to know each other. He takes her to an Italian restaurant, but to avoid causing a disturbance with the customers, they head around to the back entrance. They end up eating in the alley like Lady and the Tramp (although Catwoman references
the song “Stray Cat Strut” and eating from a garbage can). Catwoman mentions Commissioner Gordon and wonders if he’ll cut her any slack now that she’s reformed. Batman defends the Commissioner and things get romantic, but before they start having too much fun, they hear a gunshot from the restaurant. They follow the killer and Catwoman takes him down, using another strand from her whip to bind him. Batman suggests a walk in the park and their romantic moments are interrupted again when they have 
to stop two scumbags from raping a woman. Catwoman sacrifices more of her whip strands as bindings and shows a lot of compassion and empathy to the woman who was almost raped. She suggests they go dancing at a trendy club, but when some dude tries to pick her up, she decks him. Turns out the guy is a coke dealer, so Batman and Catwoman have to pound all his thugs too. They stop at a liquor store for champagne, but naturally the place is being robbed. They apprehend the robber and Catwoman’s whip is looking pretty thin by now. She’s still worried about Gordon’s acceptance of her, so Batman goes back
to collect all the criminals they caught throughout the night and brings them to police headquarters. He tells Gordon how much help Catwoman was in catching all these bad guys and Catwoman shows up with a pizza. There was a running subplot through the issue with Bullock bitching to Gordon about Catwoman and how he shouldn’t trust her, but the whole time Bullock was being his usual clumsy self and destroying Gordon’s office. So when Batman and Catwoman show up with a pile of criminals they apprehended, Gordon welcomes her with open arms.
Noticeable Things:
- There’s a mention at the beginning of this story about the Crisis finally being over.
Detective #559 – “It Takes Two Wings to Fly” – Doug Moench/Gene Colan/Bob Smith
This one starts with Batman chasing a guy who robbed the payroll of Kemson Chemicals, but before he can grab the guy, Green Arrow interferes and the robber escapes. Batman’s not happy and his mood doesn’t improve as Green Arrow goes into a diatribe about how the thief (Curtis Sample) is a victim of the system Batman protects and how he needs the money he stole to right a wrong. The two square off but Black Canary shows up (in her new costume) to cool things down and promises to explain things, suggesting they head to a coffee shop to talk. Sample’s father worked for Kemson and got cancer from their chemicals.
Sample tried to sue Kemson (aided by a series of crusading columns by Oliver Queen, Green Arrow’s civilian alter ego), but nobody seemed to care. Sample stole records that proved Kemson were using toxic chemicals, and even illegal stuff they were selling overseas. The evidence was inadmissible and Kemson sent thugs to kill Sample, but Green Arrow and Black Canary stopped them. Sample decided the system was too broken to help him, so he’d handle things on his own. So Sample is stealing cash from Kemson so he can pose as a warlord from a Third World country and try to buy illegal components for nerve gas. Arrow and Canary followed him to Gotham to watch out for him. Batman’s 
still not happy about helping someone commit crimes and Green Arrow gives him some more shit about being a tool of the system and fighting the symptoms instead of the disease. Before Batman can deck him, Black Canary reminds him about all the Kemson employees who are probably getting cancer from working in the plants. Batman agrees to help and they head out to look for Sample. A guy in the restaurant follows and tries to kill them, but Black Canary kicks his ass. Turns out he works for Kemson and was following Sample; when Sample took off with the money, some other thugs went after him while this dude followed the heroes to the café, listening to their conversation to get info on Sample. The Bat-Signal lights up the sky and Batman realizes
they’re too late. At the hospital, Sample has been beaten almost to death and the money he stole is gone. Batman says they can salvage things by going ahead with Sample’s plan to buy illegal chemicals from Kemson, but Green Arrow doesn’t want to do it, saying Sample needs to get justice for himself, not have someone else do it for him. Arrow also thinks the plan will fail, since Batman wants to turn the guy who tried to kill them over to the cops. Arrow knows he’ll be out on bail within hours and could warn Kemson about their sting, but that’s a risk Batman’s willing to take. Green Arrow refuses to cooperate, so 
Batman gets Catwoman to pose as the buyer (representing a fake warlord named Diaz) and arranges payment through Lucius Fox. But Arrow was right: the would-be killer is already free and he warns Kemson about the trap, so Selina ends up being caught while making the pay-off at the chemical plant. Batman was following and jumps in to help, and Green Arrow and Black Canary also show up to lend a hand. The Kemson boss gets the drop on them while they’re fighting his men, but Green Arrow threatens to blow up all the chemicals in the warehouse. He actually shoots an arrow at the chemical tanks, but it’s not an explosive arrow; it does ricochet and take out most of the bad guys, though. Green Arrow and Batman make peace and arrow is impressed that Batman will arrange for Kemson’s workers to find new jobs in a safer
workplace. Black Canary and Catwoman bond by talking about how headstrong the men are. Throughout the issue, Batman and Green Arrow are arguing about politics (well, mostly Green Arrow) and it gets pretty heated, with Arrow being depicted as a bleeding-heart Liberal and Batman a hidebound Conservative, while Black Canary is the voice of reason. I’m not sure how Conservative Batman really is, considering all his vigilante activities (which Arrow points out). I certainly wouldn’t call Batman a Reagan-style Conservative, but I guess he does try to work within the system when possible and uphold its values, kinda like Captain America. At the end, Canary tells Catwoman “Green Arrow is only pretending to be what Batman really is, and Batman is actually closer to what Green Arrow pretends to be.” I’d say that’s a pretty fair assessment.
Batman & the Outsiders #30 – “This Envious Race” – Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis
This continues from last issue, with Batman, Black Lightning, Katana, and Emily Briggs being held by Prince Mardo, who claims he wants to return Emily’s birthright to her … as the Queen of Abyssia. Mardo recounts the history of his people: basically, his ancestors found a fragment from a comet (I assume it was Halley’s Comet, since it passed by Earth in 1986) that affected their queen while she was pregnant. She died after giving birth to a kid with glowing eyes who could control people’s minds and shoot force beams. The kid (Loron) grew up and became king, keeping his people in line with his powers, but leading them
in conquest of neighbouring people. Eventually, Loron’s enemies banded together and opposed him, forcing him to flee underground, where he established the realm of Abyssia and had a kid of his own. When Loron died, his daughter took over and subsequent generations lived in Abyssia, dreaming of the day they could return and conquer all the surface people who drove them away. Every time the comet passed Earth, the heirs of Loron would gain in power, so they started staying in suspended animation to await the comet. Eventually, a king named Ector took over, but he preached 
peace instead of war, so he ended up fleeing Abyssia. Mardo and his sister Tamira, being advisers to the king, were tasked with choosing a new ruler but ended up fighting against each other, each of them wanting the throne. They’ve both been looking for Ector’s heirs to put them on the throne and it turns out Ector was Emily’s grandfather, so she’s the rightful heir of Abyssia. Emily wonders why she isn’t attractive like the other Abyssians and Mardo tells her she can be if she lets them awaken her powers. Batman shows Emily that the priests of Abyssia are actually pretty ugly, but Mardo says that’s because they’re
outside Ector’s bloodline, so receiving their powers took a toll. Emily has always wanted to be attractive (she has huge self-esteem issues), so she’s willing to do anything Mardo says. Batman and the others aren’t so trusting and they attack Mardo’s forces to stop him from transforming Emily. Meanwhile, Tamira’s forces take advantage of the squabble and attack, trying to grab Emily for themselves. Tamira has enslaved Halo, Metmorpho, and Geo-Force by trapping their consciousnesses in mind-control globes. Katana gets her ass 
kicked because she refuses to fight Halo, trying to get through to her instead. Black lightning gets slammed by Geo-Force and Metamorpho takes Batman down before he can free Metamorpho from Tamira’s control. Instead of killing the fallen heroes (and Mardo), Tamira brings them along to witness her triumph. She forces Emily to drink an “obedience potion”, then puts her inside a globe of energy to unlock her potential. It looks pretty painful, but we’ll have to wait until next issue to see how Emily becomes Looker.
Outsiders #4 – “Chasing the Dollar” – Mike W. Barr/Jim Aparo
Last issue, a spy named Bad Samaritan orchestrated the theft of plates used to print American (and Markovian) currency, planning on delivering the plates to Premier Gorbachev of the Soviet Union. The Outsiders got involved because of their ties to Markovia (Geo-Force is the king’s brother), but they found themselves fighting the Force of July, uber-patriotic agents who assumed the Outsiders were in league with Bad Samaritan. Samaritan got away with the plates, pursued by the Force of July and the Outsiders. Samaritan kills his pilot and bails out over the ocean,
landing on a Soviet submarine. The Force of July’s plane is shot down, so they go after the sub, followed by Geo-Force, Halo, and Looker, who realize they might need to rescue their former adversaries. The Soviets capture Force of July and Geo-Force orders a retreat to keep his forces from being captured too. Obviously, the plates are going to Moscow, but the Outsiders can’t just fly in and start kicking ass. Geo-Force heads for Markovia, trying to come up with a plan that’ll work without starting an international incident. Geo-Force has his brother (King Gregor) arrange fake passports for the team to get into the 
USSR, while he plans to go under his real name of Prince Brion Markov, using his diplomatic status to sneak their costumes and weapons through customs. Lia asks Brion if he’ll be her date for a dinner back in the States, but he’s not comfortable with that since she’s married. Lia points out that her marriage is pretty much over, but Brion still won’t budge. I guess being hot can’t get Lia everything she wants. Using some unofficial contacts, the Outsiders find out the plates (and the Force of July) are being kept at an army base near Leningrad. They bust into the base and free the Force of July (who have trouble trusting them at first) and the two teams quickly pound all the soldiers and destroy the stash of fake currency. Gorbachev himself shows up and hands over the plates,
pointing out that ruining the American economy would drag the rest of the world down too. (Major Victory considers killing Gorbachev, until Geo-Force points out that would probably start World War Three.) Bad Samaritan wonders why Gorbachev went along with his plan to steal the plates if he didn’t want to use them. Gorbachev says it was a test to see how good Samaritan was and now he wants to employ him. The Outsiders and Force of July are told to get lost, but apparently Gorbachev had them analyzed during the fight and is thinking about creating some super-powered operatives of his own.