Batman #404 – “Who I Am, How I Come to Be” – Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli
This is the first chapter of the famous Year One story, which established a new origin for Batman. Most of the elements of this origin seem to have stuck, with a few minor details getting retconned later. This tells us how Bruce Wayne first became Batman, but it’s also an origin story for Commissioner Gordon, showing how he became who he is and why he and Batman trust each other so much. Much of the story is told in parallel, contrasting Batman and Gordon, but also showing the similarities between them. It starts with both of them arriving in Gotham; Bruce Wayne has been abroad for over a decade and is hailed as a returning son, fawned over by the
press because he’s rich and rather famous. Gordon arrives almost anonymously from Chicago, met at the train station by a fellow cop named Flass, who takes him to meet Commissioner Loeb. Loeb has just gotten out of some conspiracy charges (thanks to the disappearance of a key witness) and he’s delighted to have Lieutenant Gordon join the Gotham Police Department. Gordon knows the city is a cesspool and soon realizes Loeb and a lot of the cops (including his partner, Flass) are crooked. They try to get Gordon to play ball, but he remains a straight shooter, no matter how much pressure 
they put on him. He’s worried because his wife Barbara is pregnant and he doesn’t want to raise a baby in that kind of atmosphere. Flass wants to put a beat-down on Gordon as a warning, but Loeb makes him wait until he’s out of town. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne has spent his time abroad training himself in every conceivable skill he might need to fight criminals like the one who killed him parents. He’s anxious to start his war on crime, but he feels something’s missing and waits for the right time. The night Bruce decides to go into the slums to scope out the lowlifes there (wearing a rather transparent disguise) is the same night Flass and some other cops pound the shit out of Gordon, hurting him just enough to warn him but not put him in the
hospital. Bruce wanders through the underbelly of Gotham and runs into a young hooker named Holly. Bruce tries to help her by pounding her pimp, but Holly stabs him in the leg and a bunch of other lowlifes jump him. When he starts pounding them, Holly’s friend Selina (who’s also a hooker, apparently specializing in BDSM) jumps in and fights Bruce too. He takes off, bleeding like a stuck pig and gets picked up the cops. He quickly figures out that they’re crooked and makes them crash their car so he can get away (after pulling them from the burning wreck). He manages to find his car and get home despite losing blood like crazy and realizes that he can’t work 
effectively against criminals because they’re not afraid of him. Meanwhile, Gordon stalks Flass, following him when he leaves a drunken poker party. Gordon runs Flass off the road and kicks the shit out of him, leaving him tied up naked in a ditch. Gordon knows Flass will never tell anyone what happened, but it’ll serve as a warning that if anything happens to Barbara or the baby, Gordon is capable of killing Flass. At Wayne Manor, Bruce remembers the night his parents were shot in front of him and when a bat crashes through the window, he figures out how to intimidate criminals.
Noticeable Things:
- This story establishes that Bruce Wayne was seven when his parents were killed, left Gotham at thirteen, and returned (and became Batman) when he was twenty-five.
- This story also changes James Gordon’s past quite a bit. Instead of being from Gotham, he’s an outsider from Chicago. His wife’s name is Barbara, but there’s no mention of the Barbara Gordon who’ll become Batgirl. Later stories will establish her as his niece, not his daughter. The baby his wife is pregnant with will be a boy, James Jr.
Detective #571 – “Fear for Sale” – Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis/Paul Neary
This one starts with Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd at an auto race, investigating a series of weird deaths. Apparently, a number of athletes have died because they took stupid risks that resulted in accidents and Bruce thinks one of the race car drivers might be next on the list. He’s right … one driver is so reckless he’s not even wearing a safety harness and ends up crashing. Bruce and Jason change to Batman and Robin and rescue the guy from the flaming wreck. Later in hospital, the driver says he doesn’t know why he took such a crazy risk, but admits he’d do it again in a minute. A blood sample shows a psycho-active chemical in
the driver’s system and Batman realizes Scarecrow is behind the recent “accidents”. Robin stakes out the hospital and sees Scarecrow arrive. Scarecrow has given the driver (and others) a chemical that removes fear, causing them to act so recklessly that their death is a certainty. Scarecrow tells the driver he’ll give him the antidote is exchange for $50,000. Robin busts in but gets a face full of fear chemicals, making him think his failure has killed Batman. Scarecrow grabs Robin and when the race car driver refuses to pay, Scarecrow goads him into jumping out the window. Later, Scarecrow goes to see another blackmail victim (a stuntman), but it turns out to be Batman in disguise. Scarecrow figures it out and drugs Batman, leaving a clue to where 
he’s holding Robin. The rug removes Batman’s fear, making him reckless, but he fights off the influence as he gets through various deathtraps. Batman finally ends up in a water-filled pit being peppered with gunfire. He dives underwater, but the machine guns have enough ammo to fire for ten minutes straight, so Batman has the choice of drowning or being shot. Scarecrow thinks he’s won, but Batman shows up and pounds him. He explains to Robin that e trapped an air bubble under his cape before submerging and used it to keep from drowning. He also says he fought off Scarecrow’s drug by conjuring up a fear that kept him motivated … the fear of Robin dying (although he doesn’t tell Robin that’s what motivated him).
Outsiders #16 – “The Firefly’s Blaze of Glory” – Mike W. Barr/Jerome Moore, Jan Duursema/Al Vey
This one starts with the Outsiders having a training session in their headquarters. It’s kinda like the X-Men’s Danger Room, but here they split into teams and try to capture a flying remote (which kinda looks like the one Luke practiced with in Star Wars). After Metamorpho soaks Looker, the game ends and Dr. Jace wonders how much damage they’ve done to the practice area. Meanwhile, Garfield Lynns (aka Firefly, a minor-league
villain at best) is being transferred between prisons. The guards all make fun of him, but he does manage to escape by using a chameleon device to blend into the background. Later, Firefly tries to place a classified ad promising revenge on “the night of lights” for everyone laughing at him, but the newspaper refuses to run it and calls the cops. Firefly escapes again and the Outsiders are alerted, although none of them take him too seriously. Katana figures out Firefly’s threat might refer to Light Night at Dodger Stadiu (where every fan is given a small flashlight), so the Outsiders attend the game in civilian clothes in case Firefly shows up. He does show and siphons all the light in the stadium with his costume, but the Outsiders 
quickly change and confront him. They slap him around but they’re a bit too casual and he ends up attacking Halo and draining her powers. While Firefly uses Halo’s different light auras to fight the Outsiders, Halo is half dead. They let Firefly go and get Halo back to their HQ, where Dr. Jace tells them Firefly has taken the Aurakle part of Halo that gives her the light powers. Losing the Aurakle has left Halo’s physical body dying and the Outsiders swear they’ll save her by reuniting the two parts of her. They track Halo’s stolen power but run into a booby trap left by Firefly. They realize he’s going to try to kill Halo to keep the powers he stole, so they rush back to HQ. Halo’s powers make Firefly a tough foe, but they trick him into trying to use more than one aura at the same time
(which even Halo can’t do without her powers shutting down). Firefly loses Halo’s powers (and most of his clothes) and Geo-Force decks him. They use a machine to transfer the Aurakle back to Halo, saving her life. Firefly isn’t happy about being beaten, but says he at least has a something to be proud of since the Outsiders were actually afraid of him while he had Halo’s powers. But Looker uses her mind-altering powers to wipe out the memory of his triumph, leaving him a loser villain again.