Batman #413 – “The Ghost of Masahiko Tahara” – Jo Duffy/Kieron Dwyer/Mike DeCarlo
This one starts with a Japanese tourist getting collared by Batman. Turns out the guy is a known criminal in Japan and Batman wants to know why he’s in Gotham. He admits he heard about a museum robbery but isn’t involved, and Batman lets him go (even giving him back his tanto knife). Later, a reporter does a live broadcast from the museum where a new display of ancient Japanese weapons, armour, and costumes (belonging to
the Tahara clan) is being unveiled. Yoshio Tahara, a descendent of the feudal warlords (and a guy who accepts challenges from all comers in his dojo) is there, along with Dr. Pitt, who runs the museum (and doesn’t have much to say). Bruce Wayne is also in attendance and, after shooting down the flirty reporter, goes to talk to Jason Todd, who’s there as part of a school trip. Jason is trying to improve his history grades by doing a report comparing the Japanese historical artifacts with others the museum has (mostly clothing from England) from the same period. Later, Batman patrols around the museum, but finds 
nothing unusual. But later that night, one of the warrior displays comes to life and freaks out a guard, but in the morning, nothing is missing and the alarms never went off. Batman and Robin stake out the museum and see Pitt get jumped by street punks as he’s leaving. The “samurai ghost” comes out to help him, slicing up the punks with a naginata spear before fleeing back inside. Batman follows and finds the armour in its display case, but the alarms are still untripped and there’s no one around. Robin brings in the naginata the “ghost” dropped and notices something weird about the Victorian costumes on display. After leaving Robin and the naginata in the Batcave, Batman goes to
challenge Yoshio Tahara at his dojo. Batman beats him, even though Tahara uses a naginata against him, and learns some valuable information from the fight. That night, Batman waits in the museum with Pitt and the samurai comes to life and attacks again, this time with two katanas. Batman handles the “ghost” easily and Pitt pulls a gun and tries to shoot Batman in the back, but another “ghost” shows up to stop him: a warrior dressed like a renegade member of the Tahara clan. Pitt freaks out, saying the whole ghost thing was just a story he made up and Batman reveals the samurai “ghost” is really Yoshio, whose fighting 
style he recognized at the dojo. Yoshio and Pitt were planning to substitute the valuable Victorian clothing (since everyone was ignoring that in favour of the Japanese exhibit), but Jason noticed the changes and Batman put it all together, knowing there had to be an inside man who was disabling the alarms. Yeah, it’s Jason who played the second ghost and freaked Pitt out so much.
Detective #580 – “Double Image” – Mike W. Barr/Jim Baikie
This one starts with a guy waking up in a Gotham hotel with bandages on his face. He unwraps them and finds half his face scarred, like Two-Face, but he acts like this is all a surprise to him (though he does mention it happening “again”). He finds Two-Face’s clothes in the closet, including a scarred coin which he flips. The scarred side lands up and he says it’s time for Two-Face to live again. Later, Two-Face robs a party full of socialites and Batman and Robin show up to stop him. Robin still wants revenge for Two-Face killing his father and it makes him careless. Two-Face uses him as a hostage and gets away.
Batman reminds Robin that he has to control his emotions instead of letting them control him. At the police station, they talk to Commissioner Gordon about Two-Face’s recent activities, which seem to have abandoned his usual “double” schtick. But Batman figures out his pattern and he and Robin interrupt Two-Face robbing a mirror factory. During the fight, Batman realizes this Two-Face is left-handed, not right-handed like the original. Two-Face gets away, but Batman calls Gordon to check on Paul Sloane, 
a former actor who had his face scarred by a jealous asshole and briefly became a second Two-Face. After surgery, he went back to normal life, but obviously the real Two-Face has forced Sloane to become his double once more (which we saw when Two-Face visited Crime Doctor last issue). Robin realizes he almost took revenge on the wrong guy, but Batman figures the real Two-Face must be p to something big and is using Sloane as a diversion. Batman goes to see Sloane’s wife and promises he’ll try to bring Sloane back to her in one piece. He plants a story in the paper about a shipment of two-dollar bills and Sloane falls for it, attacking the train at the station. Batman
and Robin pound Sloane’s men, but the new scarring of his face has put Sloane over the edge, making him think he’s the real Two-Face. So when the original shows up, Sloane uses tranquilizer darts on him, Batman, and Robin, and after flipping his coin, decides to put them all in a refrigerated boxcar wired with explosives. That seems like a death-trap worthy of the old TV show, and /i have to say, Batman and Robin do make a lot of stupid puns in this issue.
Noticeable Things:
- This is a new take (or a sequel I guess) on a story from Batman #68 (1951), where Sloane became the second Two-Face for a time.
Outsiders #25 – “The Eve of Disaster” – Mike W. Barr/Jim Aparo/Bill Wray
This one starts with Gabrielle (Halo) Doe and Wendy (Windfall) Jones coming home after school, deciding to change into their costumes and fly instead of waiting for the bus. They’re attacked by guys in helicopters and need help from Geo-Force and Looker to take the aggressors down. Turns out the government is pissed off that the Outsiders breached Camp David last issue (even though they saved the President’s life), so the team have been declared outlaws and have arrest warrants out for them. The quartet heads for Outsiders’ headquarters to
warn their teammates. At the HQ, Metamorpho is trying another method to regain his humanity, letting Dr. Jace irradiate him so that any human cells left in his body will replicate and turn him fully human again. Metamorpho is kinda on the fence, but Jace talks him into it (and it seems she might have some kind of sinister motive for doing so). A plane from STAR Labs arrives with Gardner Grayle aboard. (You might remember Grayle as the Atomic Knight, who we last saw in Wonder Woman 325.) Jace gives Grayle a tour (without revealing any Outsider secrets) and he shows her a strange EEG reading that he says is 
from his own brain. But it turns out Grayle had a stowaway on his plane, Major Disaster (who we last saw in Green Lantern 183), who’s been hired by SKULL to discover the alternate-energy secrets of Station Markovia and then destroy it. Grayle tells Jace he wants to be cured of his ability to foresee disasters and has a vision while he’s talking to her of Station Markovia being blown to hell. Disaster sets off an alarm and the Outsiders confront him. He calls SKULL for help and they send armed thugs with flying packs, who run right into Geo-Force, Halo, Windfall, and Looker. Metamorpho’s experiment is
interrupted, but he’s already shifted to a new form, kinda silvery but closer to human than what he was. Grayle puts on his armour and goes out to help pound SKULL’s men, but tries to keep the four Outsiders from returning to their HQ, warning them it’ll soon explode. That just makes them more eager to return, to warn their friends, who are having a tough time against Major Disaster and his high-tech force-field. When the others show up, Halo and Looker make Geo-Force look like Green Lantern, which freaks Disaster out enough for 
them to get the upper hand. His force-field energy builds up and finally explodes, blowing the entire station to hell, just like in Grayle’s vision. Metamorpho protects them from being blown up, but Geo-Force points out that the American government is after them, their HQ is destroyed, and their connection to the Markovian government will soon be public knowledge. And things will only get worse from here …