Batman #399 – “Strike Two” – Doug Moench/Tom Mandrake
Last issue, a nutcase named Spivey killed his ex (Mona Lamont) in a fit of jealousy, decapitating her and taking the head as a trophy. Batman is certain of Spivey’s guilt, but couldn’t find any evidence in his apartment (because Spivey took the head to the basement, where he put it in a bucket of chemicals to shrink it). Batman has been staking out Spivey’s place for over a month, getting Catwoman to cover his nightly patrols. He’s worried Catwoman may have found someone new, which she kinda has … a new panther she’s training to take the place of the one that got killed.
Batman finally decides to check the furnace in the basement, in case Spivey burned the head. But Spivey has taken the now-shrunken head out and mailed it to someone, so all Batman finds is a button from Mona’s flight attendant jacket and some spilled chemicals on the floor. Upon analysis, the chemicals are similar to ones in certain South American plants used by Jivaro headhunters, so Batman is convinced of Spivey’s guilt. Unfortunately, it’s all circumstantial, since Spivey works at a chemical plant. Turns out Spivey sent Mona’s head to Jim Zwaitek, her roommate Nancy’s boyfriend, instead of George, who was Mona’s new boyfriend. Bullock speculates that maybe Mona was screwing 
around with Zwaitek behind George’s back (and Nancy’s), but Batman doesn’t care about any of that … he just wants to bring Spivey in. If you’re wondering where Jason (Robin) Todd is in all this, he’s still canoodling with his girlfriend Rena, but seeing the Bat-Signal every night kinda makes him feel like he’s shirking his responsibilities. Batman manages to get Commissioner Gordon to arrange a wiretap and borrows some bugging equipment from Lucius Fox (who still hasn’t decided if he’s running for mayor or not). Batman asks Catwoman to watch over Zwaitek while he bugs Spivey’s place and she agrees. When Spivey goes out, Batman sneaks in to plant the bugs, but he’s unaware that Spivey is heading over to Nancy’s place to kill her. She’s alone because George decided to go to Spivey’s place to confront him and Zwaitek
went along to make sure George didn’t get himself killed. Before Spivey can kill Nancy, Catwoman’s panther busts in and scratches his face, making him flee. Batman leaves Mona’s head in Spivey’s bathroom, so when he sees it he goes nuts and starts talking about how he killed her, which is transmitted over the bugs. Batman confronts Spivey, but gets distracted when George pounds on the door. Spivey wounds Batman and takes off, but Catwoman is waiting for him. Batman decks Spivey and tells Catwoman they finally have the evidence they need to put him away. Later at Mona’s funeral, Catwoman tells Batman the divide between them is too big and says goodbye.
Detective #566 – “Know Your Foes” – Doug Moench/Gene Colan/Bob Smith
This is basically a filler story about Commissioner Gordon finding a note on his desk addressed to Batman that says “Know Your Foes”. That spurs Batman and Robin to go through his computer files, looking at various members of his rogues’ gallery to see if they can figure out who wrote the note. It’s just an excuse to showcase a bunch of Batman foes, giving us a rundown on their powers and a brief history of each. The trip down memory lane doesn’t help, since most of the baddies are dead, incarcerated, or otherwise accounted for. This is really
just set-up for the big Batman #400 issue that features dozens of Batman’s enemies attacking him, depicted by a bunch of top-level artists. I’ll be reviewing that issue in a couple weeks, so we’ll get to see all the villains in action then. For the record, the villains depicted in this issue are: Joker, Penguin, Killer Moth, Black Mask, Two-Face, Mad Hatter, Deadshot, Ra’s Al Ghul (and Talia), Night Slayer and Nocturna, Poison Ivy, and Riddler, with brief mentions of Killer Croc, Catman, Crazy Quilt, Black Spider, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Cavalier, and Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee.
Green Arrow – “Old Enemies Die Hard” – Joey Cavalieri/Jerome K. Moore/Dell Barras
Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen and Dinah (Black Canary) Lance get back to Oliver’s place and find it trashed, like somebody was looking for something and freaked out when they couldn’t find it. Oliver manages to salvage an
answering machine tape and there’s a message from Onyx saying she’s in the basement of a record store and a guy named Tommie won’t let her leave. Oliver and Dinah head over, but we see Onyx wasn’t quite being honest: Tommie has locked her in, but only because he’s worried about her and wants her to tell him who she’s running from (and with her powers, she could easily bust out if she really wanted to). She and Tommie are making out when some nut dressed in armour busts in, saying Onyx has something that belongs to him. Tommie takes off and the armoured dude rips a silver band from Onyx’s neck, saying he now has power beyond imagining. Green Arrow shows up to tackle him, but quickly gets his ass kicked.
Adventures of the Outsiders #37 – “Won’t You Let Me Take You on a Sea Cruise?” – Mike W. Barr/Trevor von Eeden
The Outsiders are heading for their new headquarters in California and decided to travel there by ocean liner, so they can relax and have fun along the way. Everyone’s having a good time, especially Lia (Looker) Briggs, who enjoys all the attention her looks and escapades are getting her. But there’s another woman on the cruise who seems to want to steal the spotlight from Lia, doing fancier high dives, exercising more, and turning heads wherever she goes; naturally, Lia is seething with jealousy. She turns out to be Marlene Simmonds, an oceanographer who’s aboard to research
the various marine life they’ll be passing. Gaby (Halo) Doe has been hanging out with Lia a lot, since Tatsu (Katana) Yamashiro told her to be nicer to Lia. Unfortunately, that leaves Tatsu feeling a bit left out, which will grow into outright jealousy (as we’ve already seen in the Baxter series). Lia finally gets sick of sharing the spotlight with Simmonds, so she tries a mind probe, but Simmonds apparently has mental powers of her own and blocks Lia’s telepathic probe. Simmonds then commands a squid (or octopus) to pull Lia off the ship and dives overboard after her. Later, the ship is attacked by sea 
creatures and a woman calling herself Marine Marauder shows up to steal money and jewelry from the passengers. She uses electric eels to take out the security guys, so the Outsiders get ready to oppose her. Lia wakes up in a cell and figures her Looker powers will get her out, but when she opens the door, water floods in and she realizes she’s deep underwater. Above the waves, the Outsiders fight off Marine Marauder’s fishy friends (with Geo-Force being swallowed by a whale and busting back out), forcing her to retreat. She’s pissed off at losing her first fight, but still has Looker as her ace in the hole. When Marine Marauder returns to her underwater hideout, looker tries to escape but is quickly captured by another octopus (or squid). Marine
Marauder tells looker she’s always been competitive (which is why she wanted to outdo her on the ship) and wants money, but she also wants to know how Looker uses her telepathy to control humans, something Marauder can’t do. Looker resists, but Marauder goes all out with a telepathic attack. On the ship, the Outsiders realize Looker is missing and send Halo and Metamorpho to look for her. They find her in Marine Marauder’s hideout, but the psychic attack has left Looker catatonic. Meanwhile, Marauder has gone back to attack the ship again and this time she has help … that’s right, she’s released the Kraken!
Outsiders #11 – “No Escape” – Mike W. Barr/Jim Aparo
Last issue, the Outsiders went to the (fictional) African country of Mozambia to find Black Lightning’s ex-wife (Lynn Stewart) who’s been kidnapped by a dictator named Edward Bentama. Bentama was masquerading as a do-gooder, raising money for starving people in Africa, but it turns out he’s friendly with the Soviets and is sending the money to them to shore up their shaky economy, while he rules Mozambia with an iron fist. Bentama has taken a liking to Lynn and wants her to be his wife, but naturally she’s not interested. The Outsiders tried to sneak into Mozambia, but were captured (except Black Lightning) by Soviet
super-villains the People’s Heroes and imprisoned. Geo-Force, Halo, and Katana (drugged to keep them from using their powers) are thrown into a work prison where discipline is harsh. Geo-Force mouths off and is sent to the mines, while Katana is made a doctor (because she seems educated) and Halo is put in charge of food rationing (since she knows how to do basic math). The food is rationed out at starvation level and when Halo tries to share her own ration with someone, dozens of other starving people beg her for bread. Meanwhile, Looker is still freaking out because Pravda keeps showing her the way she used to look when she was plain old Emily Briggs. Bentama’s scientists have 
found a way to curtail Looker’s powers, causing painful feedback whenever she tries to use them. Looker tells Bentama she only cares about keeping her beauty and he says she can … as long as she’s cooperative. An American reporter in Mozambia interviews Bentama about turning the country into a Soviet satellite (which he says was the will of the people) and the Outsiders’ capture (which he says was Mozambia defending itself against an illegal invasion). We get reactions from various people connected to the Outsiders: Dr. Jace and King Gregor (who can’t intervene because Markovia’s connection to the Outsiders is a secret); Batman (who’s pissed off); Denise, Sapphire, and Gregg (worried about their respective romantic partners); and Lynn, who
feels guilty because the Outsiders came to rescue her. But Black Lightning actually escaped capture and ends up with a bunch of freedom fighters, led by Akubo Dimante (who Black Lightning recognizes as a guy he competed against in the Olympics as Jefferson Pierce). Dimante is now in a wheelchair, but wants to take the country back from Bentama and Lightning promises to do what he can, hopefully saving his friends in the process. Bentama takes Looker to his research facility, which is right next to the prison camp. Halo is stunned when Looker ignores her and seems to be with Bentama willingly. Bentama has 
Metamorpho’s head in his lab and wants Looker to use her mental powers to force Metamorpho to change into plutonium so Bentama can build a nuke. Bentama turns off the feedback device (but holds a gun to Looker’s head) and she uses her power to influence Metamorpho. With the feedback device back on, Looker runs into Geo-Force on the way out and claims she can still read minds, saying he’s digging an escape tunnel. Geo-Force is dragged away and Bentama thanks Looker for her help. As Dimante tells Black Lightning that they have to go to all out war against Bentama and anyone helping him, we see Looker and Bentama, looking like they’re about to bang. There are two back-up filler stories; the first is just Halo showing off her different-coloured auras and explaining what they do, while the second involves Katana catching a gang of thieves in Little Tokyo.