Batman #416 – “White Gold and Truth” – Jim Starlin/Jim Aparo/Mike DeCarlo
This story is set “one year ago”, which I think is a neat way of avoiding all the Millennium bullshit going on at the time. Jason Todd is still getting used to his role as Robin and when he tracks some cocaine dealers to a manufacturing plant, he figures he’s hit the jackpot. But he’s caught by a guard and about to get pounded by all the thugs inside when he’s rescued by … Nightwing! The scumbags play innocent, claiming Robin was trespassing and invite Nightwing to look around for any illegal substances. He doesn’t even
bother, paying the thugs for the damage and hauling Robin out of there. He gives Robin shit, saying they’d have been able to smell an active coke plant a mile away and now they’ll move locations. Robin figures they won’t have much trouble finding the new place, but Nightwing tells him he’s doing it alone and asks him to pass on a message to Bruce that he’ll be stopping in for a visit. That stuns Robin, since he had no idea Nightwing was Dick Grayson (the original Robin), but Bruce confirms it later. The next day, Jason heads off to school 
and Nightwing shows up to give Batman shit for dissolving their partnership to quickly when Dick was shot by the Joker. Dick says he and Batman were partners for “six long years” and we get a rundown of what he’s been doing since he left (which is said to be eighteen months ago). I get the feeling this was a way of establishing what was canon after Crisis and it seems like it’s pretty close to the original, except for Dick getting shot and Jason’s revised origin (which we’ve already seen). Bruce tries to play stoic, pretending that he recruited Jason for his own good, but Dick pushes through and gets him to admit that Batman needs a partner. That’s not good enough and Dick keeps
going, finally getting Bruce to admit he was lonely and missed having Dick around. His tough-guy façade broken, Bruce tells Dick to leave. That night, Robin locates the new coke lab and is startled to find Nightwing waiting for him. Nightwing gives Jason his old Robin costume, saying he’ll grow into it and tells him he can call any time he needs to talk, since talking isn’t one of Batman’s strengths. When the raw coke arrives, Nightwing and Robin pound the criminals in record time, but don’t notice Batman watching from the shadows with a smile of approval.
Detective #583 – “Fever” – Alan Grant, John Wagner/Norm Breyfogle/Kim DeMulder
This one starts with a look at Gotham’s sleazy nightlife (I feel like Aldo Nova’s “Fantasy” should be playing in the background), including a new designer drug called Fever that makes people feel destructive and invincible. Some kids take Fever and end up burning an old security guard to death. Batman grabs the kids and turns them over to the cops, but learns the Fever problem has been getting worse. The cops know where the drug is being sold, but the building is a fortress and by
the time they can bust in, any evidence is long gone. Batman figures he can get in and get the evidence. Meanwhile, at the Ventriloquist’s Club, we get a look at a new mob boss in Gotham named Scarface. Scarface is a dummy manipulated by the Ventriloquist, but everyone treats Scarface like he’s alive (and they’re scared shitless of him). Scarface has a temper, which he displays when he blows away an underling who disappointed him. Another guy says he’ll do anything to get back on Scarface’s good side, so the dummy sends him 
to Mexico to pick up some dope. What the guy doesn’t know is that the dope will be shipped back stuffed inside his dead body. At the Fever plant, Batman slips through the defenses and plants a charge on the metal door (and doesn’t seem too troubled that the guy on the other side might get blown up). He does save a kid who walks up to the door just before it blows. Batman pounds the dealers before they can dispose of the evidence and intimidates one of them into naming their boss … and naturally, it’s Scarface.
Outsiders #28 – “A Land Down Under” – Mike W. Barr/Erik Larsen/Mark Farmer
This one starts with the Outsiders (except Metamorpho, who apparently died last issue) in the far north, looking for a passage to Abyssia. Looker gives Windfall (and us) a review of their adventures in Abyssia and how she came to get her powers (and be turned into a hot number like Looker instead of plain old Emily Briggs). Now Looker has received a message for help from the Abyssians and the Outsiders are coming along to help her. They make their way underground and run into
Doral and Jonelle, who they left in charge last time. Jonelle warns Looker it’s a trap, but before they can get away, they’re attacked by Manhunter robots. Thanks to the warning, Looker protects everyone with her force-field and they trash the robots quickly. Jonelle tells them the Manhunters appeared a while back and enslaved the Abyssians, making them work on some project and then forcing them to summon Looker. After finding out Gardner Grayle’s Atomic Knight armour can affect the robots’ frequencies, they have him animate and control a couple of the robots to make it look like they’re bringing the Outsiders in 
as prisoners. St first, the ruse works, but it’s soon uncovered and the Outsiders are all captured … by Tamira, who supposedly died in their last encounter. Tamira doesn’t really explain how she survived, but she does have the same powers as Looker after being exposed to the same comet fragment. (She also doesn’t explain why exposure to the comet didn’t disfigure her, as it was supposed to do to anyone not in the royal bloodline like Looker.) Looker uses her position as Princess of Abyssia to challenge Tamira and they go off to the arena to fight. That gives the Ousiders a chance to escape (using Gardner’s ability to control his armour through whistling) and they bust loose and pound their
robotic guards. While Katana, Halo, and Atomic Knight head off to help Looker, the others go to find and destroy the Manhunters’ project. Looker uses her powers to cancel the illusion Tamira has been maintaining around herself; apparently she was mangled by the falling statue and had to gain powers just to survive, but she’s been using them to mask her deformities. She turns the tables, blasting Looker and forcing her to become Emily Briggs again. The other Outsiders find the Manhunters ready to tunnel up to the surface, but the 
Abyssians are already rising up against them, so the Outsiders give them a hand. The tunnel is opened and lava flows in, destroying most of the Manhunter robots and their machinery. Tamira tries to toss Emily into the lava flow, but she ends up falling in herself. One last Manhunter tries to blast Emily and Katana, but Halo throws herself in front of the energy beam. She’s alive, but in some kind of stasis coma. Later, Emily heads back to her husband (who’s happy, since he always preferred the real Emily to the glammed-up Looker), while Halo is taken to STAR Labs and put on life-support, with Gardner promising to find a way to
bring her back. Katana is devastated (especially since Halo took the shot meant for her) and Geo-Force decides the Outsiders have suffered too many losses to continue. That’s right, this is the last issue, and it seems like some of this stuff was shoehorned in just to give the characters a reason to break up. There will be an Outsiders revival in a few years with pretty much everyone returning, so I wonder if this was just Barr’s way of making sure that nobody else could mess with “his” characters?
Green Arrow #1 – “Hunter’s Moon” – Mike Grell/Ed Hannigan/Dick Giordano
This series deals with some pretty heavy topics (including rape, torture, and child molestation, hence the “Mature Readers” label), so if any of those things are triggers, you might want to skip this review. This series continues pretty much where the Longbow Hunters mini-series left off; basically, Green Arrow and Black Canary moved to Seattle and got mixed up with drug dealers, renegade government agents, a Yakuza assassin, and some Iran-Contra bullshit. Black Canary was captured, tortured, and most likely raped, which drove Green Arrow to kill
some of her attackers. That story has been criticized for a form of “fridging” (and rightly so), for making Canary a victim so Green Arrow can have some angst and build a more complex character. But as far as this ongoing series goes, all you need to know is that Green Arrow has a different costume, lives in Seattle, and isn’t completely averse to killing, while Black Canary is still dealing with what happened to her. This story starts with some scumbags in a park about to accost a guy and two women, but Green Arrow shows up and beats the shit out of them. Elsewhere, a cop (Jim Cameron) is incensed when a guy named Al 
Muncy is given a retrial after eighteen years in prison. Muncy was suspected in the torture killings of a bunch of kids, but lack of evidence mean he could only be convicted of assault. One girl (Annie Green, who was ten at the time) survived, and her testimony would put Muncy away, but he’s always claimed he was innocent and has somehow won a retrial. Cameron warns Annie (who’s now a therapist who helps other trauma victims). Oliver and Dinah (aka Green Arrow and Black Canary, in case you didn’t know) are arguing about the money he recovered from a crooked CIA agent in the mini-series. Oliver figures the money can do some good, despite its provenance, while Dinah doesn’t like
using dirty money at all. (Personally, I think Oliver’s right … using the money to help people will remove whatever metaphorical stain it might have.) Dinah’s still freaked out by what happened to her and can’t even stomach the idea of sex with Oliver, even though she loves him (and is still attracted to him). He’s very understanding and suggests she should talk to a professional. Naturally, Annie Green ends up being the therapist they go to (what would comics be without coincidences?) and she hypnotizes Dinah to help her work through her feelings of being a victim (which also hold a healthy dose of guilt, since she 
blames herself for Green Arrow’s sudden foray into lethality). Annie (who seems to know about Ollie and Dinah’s secret identities) tells Oliver he’s going to have to deal with his guilt sometime too, but he shrugs it off. Annie receives an envelope and freaks out when she sees what’s inside. She takes of and Oliver follows, offering to help her. She tells Ollie and Dinah how Muncy kidnapped her as a kid and abused her until she finally escaped. He sent her a “souvenir” in the envelope, so now she figures he’ll try to kill her to keep her from testifying. Green Arrow goes to Muncy’s place (which is surrounded by cops) to warn him off, but Muncy insists he’s innocent and suggests that maybe the “real” perpetrator might have resurfaced now that Muncy is out
of prison. Green Arrow doesn’t believe him and warns him again, but Muncy doesn’t seem too worried. Arrow talks to Lieutenant Cameron outside, showing him the envelope which has no postage marks on the stamp, meaning it was hand-delivered to Annie’s office. As Annie and Dinah wait inside Annie’s place, Green Arrow hides in a tree outside, waiting for Muncy to make his move. Someone dressed in camouflage tries to get into Annie’s place and Green Arrow fires an Arrow at him, but he gets away. It looked like the arrow hit dead-centre, but there’s no blood and the arrow is bent. Body armour? Whatever’s going on, Green Arrow knows it isn’t over yet.