Batman #403 – “One Batman Too Many” – Max Allan Collins/Denys Cowan/Greg Brooks
This one starts with Batman fighting Joker and Two-Face, killing both of them at the end of the fight. We soon find out this isn’t the real Batman, it’s Tommy Carma, the rogue cop who was killing criminals last issue and was caught by the real Batman. Carma is so deluded, he actually believes he is Batman and his fight with the two villains was actually him killing a couple of orderlies at Arkham Asylum, thinking they were Joker and Two-Face. The real Caped Crusader is on a date with Vicki Vale (in his Bruce Wayne
identity, obviously) and has an interesting conversation with her about how she thinks vigilantes like Batman are dangerous, but feels sympathy for Carma because his family was killed by mobsters. Carma escapes from Arkham and evades the manhunt by heading for the grounds of Wayne Manor, hiding in a small cave in the rocks. Bruce takes Vicki home (and declines an invitation to come in for some sex), while Carma crawls deeper into the niche he’s hiding in and finds … the Batcave. That plays right into his delusions and he quickly dons a spare Batman costume and steals the Batmobile. When Bruce gets home and hears about Carma’s escape, he and Robin soon 
find the Batmobile gone and Carma’s clothes in the Batcave, putting two and two together. Batman goes to see Commissioner Gordon, to warn him Carma is dressed like him and driving the Batmobile. Batman corners Carma’s ex-partner (Pete Lewis), knowing he must’ve tipped Carma to the whereabouts of Lou Spindle, the mobster who had Carma’s family killed. Lewis tells Batman where to find Spindle and he arrives just in time to see Carma using Spindle as a human shield, letting him be shot by his own men. Batman and Carma pound the thugs and then Batman pounds Carma, taking him in so he can get some help with his delusions.
Detective #570 – “The Last Laugh” – Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis/Paul Neary
This one starts with Batman and Robin busting into a bar called McSurley’s, where an information broker named Profile does business. While Robin is entertained by a local hooker, Batman threatens to set Profile up for a diamond robbery if he doesn’t cough up the location of Joker’s hideout. Batman is desperate to find Joker because he kidnapped Catwoman last issue and he wants to find her before she gets hurt. He’s a bit late, as Joker and a mad scientist (Dr. Moon) have put Catwoman into Moon’s brain machine to basically rewire her mind. The procedure seems to work and Joker asks her about Batman’s secret identity, even though Moon says she needs time to adjust to her new brain patterns.
Catwoman whispers something to Joker and he unties her from the machine. The Dynamic Duo show up and while Robin takes out Joker’s henchmen, Batman tries to rescue Catwoman. Joker takes off with her in a car and when Batman tries to stop them, Joker convinces Catwoman that Batman abandoned her earlier, so she gets pissed off and attacks him. Joker and Catwoman escape, but Robin has caught all of Joker’s men, including Dr. Moon. Batman asks Moon is Catwoman’s brain rewiring can be reversed and he says maybe, but refuses to do it. (He also compares himself favourably with Josef Mengele, so that pretty 
much tells you what kind of guy he is.) Now that Joker has turned Catwoman into a criminal again, Batman figures he’ll ease her back into a life of crime slowly, by having her commit a cat-related crime to start with. There’s an heiress named Benson who’s in a CAT-aleptic trance, so they head to the Benson penthouse. Batman’s guess was right, Joker and Catwoman have captured the Bensons, but Catwoman has also told Joker that Mr. Benson is Batman’s secret identity (probably because she doesn’t actually know Batman’s identity and saw Benson’s name in a newspaper story about his daughter’s catalepsy). Even
Joker’s henchmen don’t believe her, but Joker does and figures he can pressure Benson into publicly revealing his identity by threatening his daughter. No matter screwed up her brain is, Catwoman’s still not a murderer, so she frees the girl before Joker can harm her. Batman and Robin show up and Joker realizes he was wrong about Benson being Batman. Batman and Robin pound Joker and his men, but Batman soon realizes Catwoman has turned into a villain again and doesn’t want to turn back into a hero. Joker’s electric shock buzzer brings the Benson 
girl out of her catalepsy and he and Catwoman try to escape. Batman grabs Joker, but Catwoman gets away, telling Batman she prefers to be a bad guy. When Joker makes fun of Batman losing his girlfriend, Batman starts beating the shit out of him and Robin has to stop him before he kills Joker. I get the feeling that this story was just an excuse to turn Catwoman back into a villain, maybe so she’d fit better with the villainous Catwoman who’ll be depicted in Year One starting in the next issue of Batman.
Outsiders #15 – “Biohazard” – Mike W. Barr/Dan Jurgens/Mike Gustovich
This one starts with Dr. Helga Jace arriving at Biogen Laboratories for a tour. An old student of hers (Marsha Chandler) works at Biogen and she shows Jace a new virus she’s developed that can attack the human immune system. Jace doesn’t think that’s a good idea, since it could be used for germ warfare, and they have an argument. Marsha is so mad, she breaks a slide with the virus on it and cuts her finger on the broken glass. That sends the whole facility into lockdown and Jace triggers her emergency signal to the Outsiders. Katana and Halo are practicing hand-to-hand combat when they get the alarm and head to
Biogen with the rest of the Outsiders. The Army has the lab surrounded, but the guy in charge (Major Braddock) lets them go inside, as long as they bring him and his men along. Black Lightning gets them in and they all don filter masks to protect against any viruses (talk about prescient). They run into the lab workers, who are all acting like zombies. They take them down as gently as possible and Looker’s telepathy tells her they all have identical thought patterns, like they’re part of a hive-mind. During the fight, the soldiers’ masks are pulled off, but they seem fine. They find a bunch more workers (and Dr. 
Jace) locked in isolation cells and Jace tells them that the place has been contaminated by a virus that attacks the immune system, rendering people vulnerable to germs it could normally resist. She informs them that the virus has mutated and created a rudimentary intelligence by attacking people’s brains. Marsha shows up and seems to be the current host for the virus, saying it just wants to find a way to survive. It has infected the soldiers and forces them to attack the Outsiders, so they’re forced to fight off the soldiers without killing them. They make it to a lab and seal themselves in so Jace can work on an antidote. Major Braddock orders the soldiers outside to pump deadly gas into the facility,
but Metamorpho neutralizes it before it can kill them. Jace creates an antidote, but passes out before she can take it. When the Outsiders prepare to give her the antidote, they realize she’s allergic to one of the ingredients and would probably die if she took it. The Outsiders all take the antidote (or vaccine, it’s referred to as both), but they intercept a radio message from Braddock ordering his troops to prepare to drop the “antidote” in the local water reservoir. The Outsiders realize he’s actually trying to drop the virus in the reservoir and head out to 
stop him. They destroy the virus and give all the soldiers the antidote. Back at the lab, the virus refuses to leave Jace’s body, but Looker gives her a shot anyway, despite the fact the allergic reaction might kill her. The virus leaves Jace, but can’t infect Looker since she’s already had a shot, so it ends up dying after exposure to air. Looker reveals she actually gave Jace a glucose shot, so she was never in any danger and now they can cure her with simple antibiotics.