Batman #428 – “A Death in the Family Chapter 5” – Jim Starlin/Jim Aparo/Mike DeCarlo
This continues the storyline of Jason (Robin) Todd’s death. Apparently, the fans actually got to decide his fate at the time, calling either of two phone numbers to vote for killing Jason or sparing him. Obviously, they voted to kill him, although on the Letters Page, Denny O’Neil claims the vote was pretty close (5343 for killing Robin to 5271 against). Last issue, Jason found his birth mother (Sheila Haywood), who was mixed
up with one of Joker’s schemes because Joker was blackmailing her over some past indiscretions. After beating Jason half to death with a crowbar, Joker left Jason and Sheila in a warehouse with a bomb. Jason tried to get his mother out, but the bomb went off before they could escape. This issue starts with Batman showing up right after the explosion and realizing Jason is probably dead. As Batman combs through the rubble, we get a recap of Jason’s post-Crisis origin and how he became the new Robin. We also get a summary of the first few chapters of this storyline, with Batman helping Jason look for his 
birth mom until they found Sheila and realized she was mixed up with Joker. Batman finds Sheila near death and she tells him how Jason tried to shield her from the bomb blast and what a good kid he turned out to be. Sheila dies and Batman finds Jason’s body nearby, but he doesn’t get any last words since he’s already dead. Meanwhile, Joker delivers the stolen drugs he got last issue and meets a couple of Iranian secret service agents, who take him to meet their boss … the Ayatollah Khomeini, who has a job offer for Joker. (I’m surprised they actually depicted the Ayatollah in the comic; it was rare to use real-life likenesses back then, but I suppose they knew Khomeini
wouldn’t have standing to sue in an American court (and I think he died the next year anyway). As Bruce Wayne, Batman answers questions about the warehouse explosion, passing it off as an accident. He checks Joker’s hideout and finds the bodies of the guys he sold the drugs to, plus a message from Joker that he’ll see Batman at “42nd and 1st”. Bruce flies the bodies back to Gotham and has a small funeral for Jason (just Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and Barbara). Bruce knows he has to keep Jason’s death a secret to 
protect his identity, since people would wonder if Robin and Jason disappeared at the same time. Later, Batman tells Alfred he’s going to take care of Joker on his own. I guess we’re supposed to believe Batman might actually kill Joker, but this takes place after Killing Joke and he didn’t waste Joker for crippling Barbara, so I don’t think he’ll kill him now. Batman figures out that Joker’s clue refers to the United Nations building in New York, so he heads there to see what’s up. He runs into Superman, who tells him that the President asked him to intercept Batman before he started an international
incident. It seems the Iranians have appointed a new ambassador to the United States, who’s now covered by diplomatic immunity for anything he’s done (or will do). Superman says everything is perfectly legal, so Batman can’t touch the ambassador. It’s pretty obvious who they’re talking about (and I think Batman knows because he actually gets pissed off enough to punch Superman) … yeah, it’s the Joker.
Detective #595 – “Our Man in Havana” – Alan Grant, John Wagner/Irv Novick/Steve Mitchell
This is part of the Invasion crossover (after Crisis, DC was wild for crossovers, having one pretty much every year), where a number of alien species—Psions, Okaarans, Khunds, Gil’dishpan, Thangarians, Durlans, and a couple more I’m forgetting—banded together to attack Earth. This event (or Event) crossed over into most of the comics published at the time, including this one. This issue starts with Khunds taking over Cuba and Batman parachuting in to deal with them. After he takes down a couple of Khunds near the shore, we get a flashback
showing how Batman got involved. Not long before, the alien invasion (or Invasion) began and they conquered Australia, as well as attacking various other places. Batman told Max Lord that the rest of the Justice League were better equipped to handle aliens with high-tech weapons, and went back to his own war on crime in Gotham. But when Batman ran across a Durlan smuggling a bunch of fancy guns into the city, he realized Gotham was now a target of the aliens. He traced the guns to Havana (they were being smuggled in boxes of Cuban cigars, which the aliens didn’t know were illegal in the United States) 
and headed for Cuba, which is where the story opened. Batman finds the cigar company, which is guarded by Khunds and a couple of Thanagarians. Batman tries to sneak inside to destroy the weapons, but the Thanagarians spot him and he ends up dodging Khund lasers while falling into the harbour. He pops up and pounds the Khunds and Thanagarians, keeping them off-balance long enough to drive a speedboat full of explosives right at the warehouse. It blows up and sets off more explosions, completely destroying the warehouse and all the alien weaponry inside.
Noticeable Things:
- Batman pounds the Khunds pretty easily here, which seems strange
considering how tough they are in the Legion comics. But the Legion stories take place a thousand years in the future, so I guess the Khunds got stronger in the intervening centuries. - There’s a special Daily Planet page about the invasion (the same page appears in most of the crossover issues), which is basically just promoting various titles by giving us an idea of what might be happening in them.
Green Arrow #13 – “Moving Target” – Mike Grell/Dan Jurgens/Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin
This one starts with Dinah (Black Canary) Lance coming home to find Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen cooking chili in the kitchen. She’s glad to see him, but when she notices the new wounds on his body from his adventure in Hawaii, she gets worried. After tending the wounds, she decks him, giving him shit for making her worry and almost getting himself
killed. They end up banging all night and Dinah asks Oliver to help with some flower deliveries the next day. Oliver delivers flowers to various addresses, having mini-adventures along the way. He stops a Navy officer from beating his wife (the flowers she got were from some other dude), rescues a cat from a tree, helps a nervous groom get his bow tie sorted, and stops to assist a woman with a flat tire. He does end up donning his Green Arrow costume to pound some punks trying to mug an old couple. Later, he tells Dinah about his day and they almost get run down by a car. The cops figure it was just some kids joyriding in a stolen 
car, although Lt. Cameron suggests it might be someone with a grudge against Oliver. We see that Cameron is right the next morning, when Oliver goes out to buy a paper and a clothing store window shatters beside him. The owner blames the kid washing the window and Oliver thinks nothing of it, but we see someone watching from a car across the street … and that the window was shattered by a bullet now embedded in the face of a mannequin.