Batman #409 – “Just Another Kid on Crime Alley” – Max Allan Collins/Ross Andru/Dick Giordano
This issue continues the revised story of how Batman first met Jason Todd, which means it’s set a few years ago. It opens with a recap of last issue, showing how Jason tried to steal the wheels off the Batmobile and how Batman promised not to call the cops if Jason attended Ma Gunn’s School for Wayward Boys. Gunn has impressed Batman as someone who’s doing good work, educating street kids outside the system, but it turns out she’s actually a criminal, teaching her students how to commit crimes. She figures Jason was sent by
Batman as a spy and orders her other students to pound him, but he holds his own and impresses her when he mentions ripping off Batman’s wheels. The next day, Bruce Wayne tries to track down info on Jason’s dead mother and jailbird father and runs into Vicki Vale. He convinces her to do a story on Ma Gunn (who’s already getting some favourable publicity) and he offers to fund Gunn’s school from the Wayne Foundation. But Gunn turns him down, saying she prefers to stay completely independent. After Bruce and Vicki leave, we see Gunn’s lessons on firearms and why booze is better than dope 
for growing boys. (Although she does constantly correct their grammar, so I guess she really was a teacher before she was a crook.) Jason decides she’s nuts and sneaks out to go back to the glamorous life of stealing tires. Batman drops by Crime Alley that night and stops a mugging, but realizes how vulnerable he is without Robin watching his back. He sees a guy whose tires were stolen and heads to Jason’s place to get them back. When Batman gives him shit for breaking their deal, Jason tells him Gunn is crooked (mentioning how she took them to a museum to case the place), which
Batman has trouble believing. Jason takes off and Batman starts thinking about what he said. Gunn and her thieves are at the art museum to steal a fancy jewel for the Joker. Batman shows up and pounds them all (including Gunn, who he knocks out with a light punch), but another kid tries to topple a heavy sculpture on Batman’s head. Jason warns him and decks the last thief, and Batman tells him he’s earned his place as the new Robin.
Detective #576 – “Deal With the Devil” – Mike W. Barr/Todd McFarlane/Alfredo Alcala
This is the second chapter of the Year Two storyline, which continues the rewriting of Batman’s origin started in Year One (except this story won’t be so well-received and may even be apocryphal in the end). Last issue, a weirdo named the Reaper, who went around killing criminals in Gotham twenty years ago, has returned and started killing crooks again. Batman tried to stop him but almost got killed, so he decided to even the odds by bringing a gun … but not just any gun, the one that was used to murder his parents. This story stars with the cops transferring a mob boss named Golonka to prison. The Reaper shows up to
waste Golonka and takes out a few cops too, since they’re protecting him. In the Batcave, Bruce is practicing his marksmanship and for someone who supposedly hates guns, he’s pretty damn good with one. Leslie Thompkins is staying at the mansion and gives Bruce shit for messing around with the gun. She mentions her friend Rachel Caspian (who Bruce seems kinda into, even though she’s about to become a nun) and Bruce says he’ll meet her for lunch in Leslie’s place. Rachel is at home with her father (who just happens to be the Reaper, though Rachel isn’t aware of that) and we learn what drove 
him to start wasting criminals. In a parallel to Bruce’s situation, Caspian’s wife was killed by a mugger, so he took on the Reaper identity to kill criminals in return. Bruce and Rachel talk and she senses his bored playboy routine is just an act, but they do end up making out; so much for being a nun. Batman drops by the police station to let Commissioner Gordon know he has a plan to catch the Reaper, but it’s going to make him look bad. He assures Gordon he’s still a good guy, no matter how things are going to look. Later, Gordon takes a squad to grab a mobster named Heymer coming in from Metropolis. Reaper shows up to kill Heymer, but Batman’s there too, still packing his gun. He holds Reaper off, but also keeps the cops away from Heymer, getting him
out of there while Reaper escapes from the police. Batman takes Heymer to a meeting of mobsters by the waterfront and tells them he wants a truce, so they can work together to stop the Reaper. They agree, but tell Batman he’ll have to work closely with their top hitman … who turns out to be Joe Chill, the guy who murdered Bruce’s parents. Yeah, you can see why this story might not have sat too well with Batman fans. McFarlane’s art has taken on the stylized look he’d have later on Spider-Man, which means a lot of the characters look different from what I’m used to.
Outsiders #21 – “Strike Force Kobra” – Mike W. Barr/Jim Aparo
This one starts with Rex (Metamorpho) Mason and his wife Sapphire asking Sapphire’s father Simon Stagg if he can help make Rex human again so they can have kids. Stagg says he’ll try, which pisses off his bodyguard Java, a semi-evolved caveman who has the hots for Sapphire. Java turns out o be working for Kobra (who’s promised to make him good-looking) and reports Rex’s plans to him. Kobra has plans of his own going on and doesn’t want the Outsiders interfering, so he contacts his Strike Force to take care of them. Later, Lia (Looker) Briggs is
lounging around at home, wondering why her husband Gregg prefers her old mousy self to her current hotness. She’s surprised when Gregg shows up, telling her how much he still loves her and wants to get back together. They start making out, but “Gregg” drugs her and it turns out he’s really a she, specifically a woman called Lady Clayface who can change her form into anyone. Clayface takes over Looker’s form (gaining all her powers) and encases Looker in a stasis field before heading off to meet the Outsiders. At Outsiders headquarters, Halo is 
showing new member Windfall around and the fake Looker runs into Geo-Force, who tells her they should stop their affair and just be friends. “Looker” agrees readily, which makes Batman (who’s eavesdropping for some reason) suspicious. At the meeting, Windfall is welcomed officially and Geo-Force brings up the weird situation in Markovia, with the new prime minister closing the Markovian embassies and consulates and cutting off communications. Batman mentions that the Markovians gave Looker her powers and she agrees, tipping them off that she’s an impostor. She leads them on a merry
chase, using Looker’s powers against them and eventually taking on Katana’s form. But she gives herself away by calling Halo “Gaby” (Katana always calls her Gabrielle) and Halo blasts her. Batman is surprised to see a female version of Clayface, but orders her locked up while they look for the real Looker. When they find her, Looker uses her psychic powers to read Clayface’s mind and learns Kobra has some kind of scheme going at Stagg Enterprises. Speaking of which, Rex and Sapphire are there with Stagg, preparing to try 
to change Rex back to human. Stagg figures they can freeze Rex’s molecular motion with liquid nitrogen, then bombard him with human DNA and when his body absorbs the DNA, he’ll turn human again. But Java alerts Kobra, who sends the rest of his Strike force (Zebra Man, Element Woman, and Planet Master) in to take over the facility. Metamorpho can’t help since he’s been frozen, and Java is working for Kobra,so Kobra takes over and tells Stagg he needs the facility for reasons of his own. There’s a back-up story (by Barr/Swan/Vey) showing what happening in Markovia; one of the candidates for prime
minister was killed (making it look like suicide), so the other guy (Vittings) won. But he’s actually a puppet of Baron Bedlam, who’s using Vittings as his pawn. Bedlam wants to make Markovia a world power, with himself as the one pulling the strings. This explains the stuff the Outsiders were talking about in their meeting and will be resolved in the Outsiders/Infinity Inc Specials that I’ll be reviewing with the Annuals at the end of my 1987 reviews.