Batman #445 – “Red Square Bloody Square” – Marv Wolfman/Jim Aparo/Mike DeCarlo
This one starts with Batman tracking down a self-styled vigilante (the Slasher) who uses various edged weapons to kill people. Thanks to Batman’s intricate knowledge of Gotham (including the sewer system), he anticipates Slasher’s moves and pounds him. In Moscow, another serial killer is on the loose, but this one seems to be targeting only certain people, those on a specific list. A Moscow police detective named Krakov is happy to let the KGB handle the investigation. It turns out a guy called Dosinski (a protege of the KGBeast) is
behind the killings. Calling himself NKVDemon, he lets the government know that he’s going to kill ten top Soviet officials (much as KGBeast tried to kill ten Americans before Batman stopped him) to show that not everyone in the country has been softened by the new detente with the West. Batman overhears a Soviet diplomat telling all that to Commissioner Gordon and decides to head to Russia. In Moscow, NKVDemon kills another government official and his wife. Bruce Wayne arrives in Moscow pretending he wants to look at the possibility of expanding Wayne Enterprises there. He’ met by a woman named Anna and her partner Boris, 
who are obviously meant to keep an eye on Bruce (and keep him from wandering around the city alone). While at dinner with Anna and Boris, they run into Vicki Vale, who’s doing a story on Russia under glasnost. That night, Bruce changes to Batman and heads out to look for NKVDemon, but he doesn’t know the city the same way he does Gotham. He does manage to contact Krakov to get some help. In the States, Tim Drake finds out Bruce is out of the country and admits to Alfred that his parents are overseas too. Tim also meets a girl named Rebecca Curley at school. In Moscow, Batman finds some of Dosinski’s criminal associates and scares one into delivering a message to NKVDemon.
The Demon is eager to face Batman since he took down KGBeast, so he meets up with him in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral. They fight and NKVDemon gets the upper hand because he’s been altered to be superhuman, but Batman has contacted Krakov to get the cops there. NKVDemon is pissed off about Batman setting him up and heads into the sewers, where Batman knows he has to follow.
Detective #612 – “Cats” – Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle/Steve Mitchell
While stopping some muggers in the park, Batman stumbles across a dead body that’s been torn apart by a large carnivorous animal. Not too far away, we see Catman is missing his favourite tiger (Rasputin). A reporter (Sara Dulman) suggests on TV that Catwoman may be behind the mutilated body, which pisses Catwoman off when she sees it on the news. Meanwhile a couple of punks (T.C. And Corky) are out collecting stray cats (for which they’re paid $10 each by a research
lab) and a cat burglar runs into a stray black cat on a rooftop. Batman and Catman are both prowling around too, trying to find the escaped tiger, which attacks the burglar. His screams draw Batman and Catman, who prevents Rasputin from killing Batman, but captures the dazed hero and stakes him out so the tiger can have a little fun. Batman fights off the tiger as best he can, while Catwoman shows up and tosses Catman off the roof. He lands on T.C. and Corky’s van, scaring the shit out of them. They’re even more freaked out when they see Catwoman watching them, so they take off. Catwoman leaves 
Batman to handle the tiger, which he does by cutting off its air with a wire until he knocks it out. Corky and T.C. open their van to find Catman inside. The cats all take off and the two punks are so freaked out they run away, promising never to sell another cat to a research facility. Catwoman accosts Dulman and ties her up to pay her back for her slanderous speculations, and Batman turns the tiger over to the cops.
Legends of the Dark Knight #5 – “Shaman Book 5” – Dennis O’Neil/Edward Hannigan/John Beatty
This story takes place early in Batman’s career, right around the time of the Year One storyline. Last issue, Bruce Wayne figured out that Woodley (the fugitive he’d tracked in Alaska) was the one killing people in Gotham, to restore “honour” to the stolen shaman’s mask. But Bruce didn’t know that Woodley had broken into Wayne Manor and taken Alfred hostage, lying in wait so he could kill Bruce too. But when he approaches the mansion, Bruce notices no footprints in the sow and realizes Alfred can’t
have gone out … so there must be another reason he hasn’t been answering the phone. Bruce enters through another door and jumps Woodley, who proves to be a tough opponent, almost stabbing Bruce a couple of times. Bruce disarms him, but Woodley flees into the woods and Bruce lets him go. He wants Alfred to check into a motel until Woodley is caught, but Alfred refuses. Bruce tells him he’s figured out the identity of the guy wearing the Chubala mask and leading the ritual killings: Carl Fisk, the banker. Using Alfred’s research last issue, Bruce figured out that Fisk was near bankruptcy but suddenly acquired a lot of 
money … just after a trip to Santa Prisca, a drug mecca. So Bruce figures Fisk took over the drug trade, using the local gangs’ fear of Chubala to keep them in line. But as we saw last issue, Batman sabotaged Fisk’s Chubala costume, hoping to use his own weapons—fear and superstition—to make him lose face in front of the gangs. Batman tracks Fisk to an abandoned building, where he’s about to perform another ritual killing. He uses the devices he put in Fisk’s outfit to make him look stupid and, thanks to Batman’s own growing reputation, he turns the crowd’s opinion against Fisk. They’re quite impressed when the shaman’s bullets don’t hurt Batman (because he replaced them with
blanks last issue) and when he blows the shaman mask right off Fisk’s face, his followers leave. Batman gets a confession from Fisk and turns him and the evidence over to the cops so they can take down the drug business in Gotham (for now, anyway). But when Batman examines Fisk’s gun later, he’s surprised to find that Fisk had replaced the blanks with real bullets. Batman goes into the woods to find Woodley, who was wounded in their fight the previous day and is now near death. Woodley returns the mask and dies of his wounds. Bruce 
Wayne brings Woodley’s body and the stolen artifacts back to Alaska, but learns that the old shaman died. Bruce tries to put the moves on the shaman’s granddaughter again, but se tells him he has to either devote himself fully to avenging his parents, or give all that up for a normal life. I guess we all know which path he chooses. She tells him to keep the shaman mask and he installs it in the newly-opened Batcave as his first trophy.