Detective Comics Annual #1 – “The Monkey Trap” – Denny O’Neil/Klaus Janson/Tony DeZuniga
This is the first of a three-part story that continues in the Green Arrow and Question annuals, linked by the story of a Japanese sensei who imparts some wisdom to each of the heroes in exchange for their help later. We start with a scene from the sensei’s past, when he was a soldier in Manchuria during the Sino-Japanese War. He faced off with a Chinese monk, but one of his soldiers shot the monk, putting a stain on the officer’s honour. Before the monk died, he asked the
officer to take his place as a martial arts teacher and the officer agreed (after killing the soldier who shot the monk). Now he’s journeying to America with Lady Shiva to see three men who will (hopefully) help the sensei fulfill a quest. After wasting a bunch of the boat’s crew when they try to grab her, Lady Shiva tells the sensei (who doesn’t talk much and seems eerily calm most of the time) that she can probably find the first man on the list, but isn’t sure he’ll help them. Meanwhile, Ra’s Al Ghul sends Talia to Gotham to meet the Penguin. One of Ra’s’s men (Ibn) stole a biological formula that only affects 
people with low levels of testosterone … in other words, women and children. Ibn hopes Penguin will pay big money for the virus and Penguin is willing, since it can be spread by birds and he figures it’ll get him some good blackmail money. In Hub City, the Question pounds a couple of guys who ripped off the orphanage where he was raised and runs into Lady Shiva (who he’s met before in his own series) outside. She asks if he can put her in touch with Batman and we get an early reference to the internet, as Question leaves a message for Batman on an online Bulletin Board. Batman gets the message and goes to meet Question, but gets a surprise when Lady Shiva and the sensei show up instead. Shiva briefly engages Batman (to test herself, she
says) and the sensei tells Batman a story about how monkeys are caught in Asia by placing a banana inside a container. When the monkey reaches in to grab the banana, he can’t get his paw out because he refuses to let go of his prize. Batman doesn’t see how this parable relates to him, but agrees that if he later gains any wisdom from it, he’ll be in the sensei’s debt. Penguin gets the virus from Ibn and thanks him by killing him with two giant raptors. Later, Batman examines Ibn’s body in the morgue and figures out what’s up. His 
suspicions are confirmed by Talia, who tells him Ibn stole the virus from her father and Batman gets mad about Ra’s developing such a thing in the first place. They track Ibn’s movements to Penguin’s hideout and Batman pounds his thugs. As Penguin’s giant birds attack Batman, Penguin tries to inject him with the virus, apparently forgetting that it won’t affect him since he’s an adult male with testosterone to spare. Talia forgets that too and takes the needle meant for Batman, so he has to rush her to the hospital (after pounding Penguin) and get her a massive dose of testosterone to save her life. Later, Talia thanks Batman and tells him she loves him, offering to forsake her
father and do whatever it takes for them to be together. But Batman can’t give up his quest to avenge his dead parents, so he has to turn her down. Later, he realizes he’s like the monkey in the sensei’s parable, trapped by his own refusal to let go of his own obsessions. He posts a message on the Bulletin Board to say that he does owe the sensei a debt.
Green Arrow Annual #1 – “Lesson for a Crab” – Denny O’Neil/Tom Artis/Tim Dzon
This is the second part of the “Fables” trilogy, linked together (somewhat tenuously) by Lady Shiva and the sensei we met in the above story. This one starts with Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen taking down some punks robbing a store. When the last guy standing grabs a hostage, Green Arrow puts an arrow into the trigger-guard of the guy’s pistol, preventing him from killing the hostage and giving Green Arrow the chance to deck him. Dinah (Black Canary) Lance later suggests that he took quite a chance, but he says he doesn’t really think about difficult shots like
that, he just lets them happen. His prowess makes headlines all over the world and is read about by an English archer (Kalesque) who has won every possible competition, but wonders how his skill would measure up against Green Arrow’s. He puts a number of ads in the Seattle papers, the first one offering a million dollars if Green Arrow competes with him. When Oliver ignores the challenge, Kalesque uses more ads to malign Arrow’s courage and finally sends a veiled threat that if Green Arrow doesn’t compete with him, there may be consequences. Meanwhile Lady Shiva and the sensei arrive in port and (after Shiva takes 
revenge on the sailors who tried to capture them, and the slave-traders they were meant to be sold to, they head out on the next phase of their mission. Kalesque starts wasting people in the Seattle area (and enjoying the rush of killing for the first time), taunting Green Arrow in the newspapers. Oliver feels guilty for ignoring the earlier challenges and the guilt screws him up so much that he loses his touch, unable to make the simplest shots with his bow. He answers Kalesque’s latest challenge and is told to meet him in the mountains for a duel to the death. Dinah thinks it’s stupid for Oliver to let his pride pull him into a suicide mission, but he says without his pride or his archery skills, he’s not really
Green Arrow anymore. Shiva contacts Batman to find Green Arrow’s whereabouts, which Batman is reluctant to give her. Alfred suggests Batman let Green Arrow decide what to do and Oliver tells him to send Shiva and the sensei his way. Meanwhile, Kalesque’s servant decides he doesn’t like all the killing and threatens to call the cops, so Kalesque kills him. The sensei meets Oliver and relates a parable about a hermit crab that dies because it’s afraid to abandon its shell for fear of being eaten by a raccoon. But when the crab discards its shell and makes itself vulnerable, it can fight back against its attacker, pinching 
the raccoon’s nose. While Canary and Shiva spar, Oliver thinks about the parable and decides what he needs to do. He goes up to the mountain to meet Kalesque, who taunts Ollie with several arrows that just miss him. Green Arrow tells Kalesque that he’s abandoned his shell—in other words, his bow—and that Kalesque could kill him easily … but then he’d never know if he was a better shot. Oliver considers decking Kalesque, but just pinches his nose instead. Shiva shows up with the sensei to congratulate Green Arrow for getting the message in the parable. The sensei hands him a bow and he makes an almost impossible shot, showing that he’s got his mojo back. Kalesque
seems kinda out of it after that, having some kind of breakdown; maybe seeing Green Arrow make that shot tells Kalesque that he’s not in the same league. Green Arrow spells out the lesson (he felt guilty because what he does best was responsible for killing people, so by getting rid of his bow he got rid of his guilt) and agrees that he owes the sensei a debt. Kalesque is sent to prison and Oliver lets Dinah in on the lesson he learned.
Question Annual #1 – “The Silent Parable” – Denny O’Neil/Denys Cowan/Rick Magyar
This is the final chapter of the story about the sensei who has been doling out advice in exchange for favours. We saw how the sensei took over for the dead monk to make up for the dishonourable way the monk was killed. As this story begins, we get another flashback to Manchuria (in 1900 this time), with the sensei’s wife coming from Japan to beg him to return. He refuses and her entourage—sent by her father, who must be some kind of warlord—attacks him. He wastes them all (except one, who he asks to escort his wife home) and says farewell
to his wife, but promises that eventually their bones will rest together. In the present, Lady Shiva tells Batman that story and says his promise to help the sensei concerns his last vow to his wife. In Hub City, a scumbag named Jake is wondering about some money he skimmed from city coffers. The money was in a safe in a house that burned down and Jake got his ass kicked by the Question. He figures Question got the money from the safe before it burnt up, so he tells his thugs they need to “persuade” Question to tell them where the money is. Question (who’s really TV personality Vic Sage) is conferring with 
his friend Aristotle Rodor about his search for info on his mother. Rodor gives Vic a new formula for the gas that makes his mask appear and disappear, but they’re interrupted by Jake and his boys. Question kicks their asses, but one of them uses Rodor as a hostage, so Question surrenders. Jake pounds him to get him to talk about the money and Question recalls a lesson from his mentor (who I’m pretty sure is Richard Dragon) about how to embrace pain. Since the beating has no effect on Question, Jake threatens Rodor and Question gives in, suggesting the safe with the money in it is probably still in the burnt-out mansion. They go to check it out and the money is still in the
safe. Jake is ready to kill Question and Rodor, but Lady Shiva shows up and helps Question pound the thugs. Question gets Rodor out and Shiva hands Jake his gun back, but kills him before he can use it. (They apparently have history from the Question series.) Shiva helps Rodor and Question wonders how she can be so compassionate (she saved his life once, too), but also a cold-blooded killer. She doesn’t bother trying to explain her contradictory nature, taking Question to meet the sensei, who’s with Batman and Green Arrow. Shiva explains about the sensei’s vow to rest with his wife, but the wife’s family 
(descendants of her father) wanted nothing to do with the sensei after everyone they sent after him ended up dead. So the great-great-grandson removed the entire family and all its stuff—including the dead in their graves—from Japan and disappeared. Batman has figured out where they went … a small island in the Java Sea near Malaysia. Batman has also arranged transport to Malaysia and a boat for them when they arrive, so Question asks him to stay behind because Question is having a crisis of confidence and feels like he’s superfluous to the mission … a feeling that’ll only get worse if Batman’s there. On the way
to Malaysia, Shiva mentions how the sensei’s parables helped Batman and Green Arrow with their issues and suggests the sensei might have one for Question. But the sensei doesn’t say anything and Question figures he doesn’t rate as high as the others. They land but before they can board the boat, they’re attacked by thugs and Shiva saves Question’s life, adding to his feelings of inadequacy. They head for the island, but run into a storm that capsizes the boat. Question tries to grab the sensei, but he misses and the old man drowns. Green Arrow 
saves Question from drowning after he’s knocked out by debris, and they wash up on the island. Question insists they go find the remains of the sensei’s wife, just so he can do something right today. When they reach the house, everyone has left (fearing the sensei as some kind of demon) except one old man, who shows them to the crypt. But the remains of the sensei’s wife are missing from the crypt, which means it was all for nothing … or was it? Back home, Question tells Rodor that he thought he heard the sensei say that if he lives, he’ll change, and that some parables are silent. Question gets a letter from Batman telling him that the remains of the sensei’s wife were swept
overboard in a storm when her family was moving all their stuff to the island. So the sensei did end up resting with her after all, and Question tells Rodor that maybe there are no failures.