Batman #421 – “Elmore’s Lady” – Jim Starlin/Dick Giordano/Joe Rubinstein
This one starts with Batman and Commissioner Gordon discussing a serial killer who leaves his victims—all young women— in dumpsters. There’s not much evidence left on the bodies and no real pattern, except the Dumpster Slasher does stick to a schedule, killing once a week but skipping every third week. But there’s been no new victim found and Gordon wonders if the killer has moved on to new hunting grounds. Batman hopes not, since he wants to put the scumbag away. Later, Batman saves a homeless guy named Elmore from some punks who
are beating on him. Elmore mentions that he’s married now and met his wife in a dumpster. Batman figures she’s another victim of the Slasher and asks to meet her. Sure enough, Elmore’s “wife” is a corpse and he gives Batman a description of the van he saw her dumped from. Batman calls the cops (which pisses Elmore off) and goes to see the Iron Dragons, a Chinese street gang. Their van was the one the latest body was dumped from, but they aren’t in the mood to cooperate, so Batman has to pound them. One guy sees sense 
and tells Batman they were all in jail the day of the latest murder and their van was in the police impound lot. Batman checks and finds the same cop (Victor Giambattista) was on duty at the impound lot every night someone was murdered, so he figures Victor has been “lending” impounded vehicles out to someone. He’s right and when he drops by the lot, he just misses Victor, who freaks out and calls the guy he’s been lending the vehicles to. On the way to Victor’s place, Batman has to stop a mugger, so by the time he gets to Victor’s, the apartment is on fire. Batman goes inside to get Victor out, but he’s already dead from a
stab wound. Victor wrote “cusino” in blood on the floor, so Batman tracks down Victor’s cousin, Vito Procaccini. While he’s going through Vito’s stuff, Vito tries to stab him and Batman pounds him. Before Vito can admit to being the killer, another dude (Karl Branneck) comes in to say he called the cops to report Batman’s illegal entry into Vito’s apartment. Batman backs down, knowing these guys are the killers, but not being able to prove it yet. Vito’s freaked out, but Karl says they can discredit Batman … but they’ll need another girl.
Detective #588 – “The Corrosive Man” – John Wagner, Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle
This one starts right after last issue, with escaped criminal Deke Mitchel (or what’s left of him) rising from the chemical fire at the docks. The combination of lightning and chemicals have changed Mitchel, making his body corrosive to the touch, as he demonstrates on some firefighters and cops. Batman hears the disturbance and investigates, using a fire hose to pin Mitchel against a warehouse, but his corrosive body burns right through the wall. Elsewhere, a stooge named
Webley goes to see his boss, the aptly-named Kadaver. Kadaver is some kind of nutcase, living in a basement dungeon and dressing up like Dracula, complete with bloody stakes and gruesome makeup to simulate wounds. He sounds like a Shakespearean actor, except a little too over-the-top. Webley reports that his mission was successful (stabbing the homeless guy last issue), but Kadaver tells him he stabbed the wrong guy and sends him back to do the job right. (Apparently killing this particular homeless guy—Dalton Walls—will make Kadaver a lot of money somehow.) At the docks, Batman goes inside 
the warehouse to find Corrosive Man (as Mitchel is now calling himself), but ends up getting knocked out. Corrosive Man blames Kadaver for his current state (since Kadaver was responsible for him being in prison) and heads out to find him, leaving a trail of acid-burned stuff in his wake. When Batman comes to, he follows the trail, which happens to lead past the homeless camp where Webley is stabbing the right target this time. Batman hears the disturbance and comes after Webley, but we’ll have to wait until next issue to see what happens.
Green Arrow #6 – “Gauntlet Part 2” – Mike Grell/Ed Hannigan/Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin
This one immediately follows last issue, with Oliver Queen confronting Colin (Dinah’s helper at the flower shop), accusing him and his friends of being behind the recent gay-bashings in the park. Colin says he (and this particular batch of punks) weren’t responsible for any of the previous attacks, just this one. Colin points out his battered face, saying the beating and the attack on Oliver are part of an initiation to join a criminal organization. As Colin told Dinah, he didn’t really want to join but wasn’t
given a choice. Later, we see Reggie (the big boss of the organization), who’s a very cool customer; Reggie runs his criminal enterprises like a business, keeping things small enough not to attract attention and being smart enough not to use any of his own product. The same can’t be said for Kebo, Reggie’s lieutenant, who dresses like the Hollywood stereotype of a pimp and acts like it too. Kebo is telling Reggie how well the business is doing when Green Arrow comes in to discuss the recent gay-bashing, which Reggie denies 
knowing anything about. Reggie calls his guards, but Green Arrow has an arrow pointed at Reggie’s heart, so shooting him would be a big mistake. Green Arrow gets Kebo to admit that he’s the one who sent new recruits to pound on gays, mainly because Kebo was gang-raped in prison so he figures this is payback. (I think most gay sex in prison is less about being gay and more about making do with what you’ve got, but I suppose Kebo wasn’t thinking about sociological issues.) Reggie is pissed off at Kebo, but points out that he is a Warhog, which makes his word more important than Green Arrow’s …unless Arrow
is willing to earn the Warhog’s respect by running the Gauntlet. Green Arrow agrees and walks the line, with guys pounding the shit out of him; it kinda reminds me of Xena running the Gauntlet of her men when she left, except Green Arrow is allowed to fight back. Arrow survives the Gauntlet and Reggie agrees that Kebo should pay for bringing too much attention to their organization. Kebo tells them he got AIDS from the prison rape and pulls a gun. Green Arrow tries to disarm him, but Reggie kills Kebo. Arrow warns Reggie that he’ll 
be keeping an eye on him from now on. Later, Oliver talks to Colin, who tells him he can’t get out of gang life because there’s really nothing else for young, inner-city kids to do. Oliver donates $100,000 to fund a new youth centre, but he took that money off a crooked CIA agent (in the Longbow Hunters mini-series), the agent (Greg Osborne) has been watching to see where it was spent and Oliver’s anonymous donation gets his attention.