Batman #422 – “Just Deserts” – Jim Starlin/Mark Bright/Joe Rubinstein, Steve Mitchell
This one continues from last issue, with the two serial killers known as the Dumpster Slashers (Vito Procaccini and Karl Branneck) discussing what to do now that Batman knows they’re the killers. Branneck assures Vito that Batman has no real evidence and says they just need to kill one more person to throw Batman off the trail forever. Branneck won’t give Vito any details of who they’re going to kill and Vito is freaked out anyway. There’s kind of a Leopold and Loeb vibe here, with
Branneck as the instigator and stronger partner; Branneck thinks he’s making a political statement by killing random women, pushing back against “liberated” women and showing them their real place. Batman tells Commissioner Gordon he wants Branneck and Vito and Gordon warns him not to break the law to catch them, but Gordon can tell Batman’s on the edge over this one. The next day, Branneck and Vito head out and split up, knowing Batman and Robin will tail them. Branneck goes through numerous alleys, buildings, and subways to lose Batman. On the way, Branneck sees a blonde 
woman he’s been running across a lot lately; she never says anything, just stares at him and it’s starting to freak him out. Branneck and Vito meet up in a subway tunnel and Branneck stabs Vito, saying he’s the weak link in their partnership. He leaves Vito’s body on the tracks, thinking the train will mangle him so much nobody will be able to prove how he died. Branneck heads home to stash the knife and goes out drinking, but when he gets home Batman’s waiting. He tells Branneck Vito rolled off the tracks before dying and they’ll be able to match his blood to traces on the knife. Branneck goes after Batman,
but gets decked. But the legal system does its usual stellar job and Branneck is released because Batman obtained the knife without a warrant. Branneck is ready to leave Gotham for new hunting grounds, but before he goes he wants to kill one more woman … the blonde who’s been running into him so often. (She crossed his path outside the courthouse after his trial.) Meanwhile, Robin pounds the shit out of a pimp who was about to slice up a hooker and Batman has to pull him off before he kills the guy. Batman and Robin help the 
cops break up a counterfeiting ring and when Branneck hears that on the radio, he goes after the blonde who’s been stalking him. But she’s ready for him and slices his throat with a razor. She turns herself in and it turns out her sister was one of Branneck’s victims. The cops charge her with manslaughter, but she’s certain no jury will convict her for “putting down a mad dog” and says her actions may not have been legal, but they were right. Robin agrees with that, but Batman says people taking the law into their own hands leads to anarchy … then admits that even he wishes things were that easy sometimes.
Detective #589 – “The Burning Pit” – Alan Grant, John Wagner/Norm Breyfogle
This one continues where last issue left off, with Batman pounding Webley just after he stabbed a homeless guy. Batman soon learns the homeless guy’s name was Dalton Walls and that Webley was working for someone named Kadaver. That name is familiar to Batman because the Corrosive Man mentioned wanting to kill Kadaver last issue. Speaking of Corrosive Man, he breaks into Webley’s apartment to find Kadaver’s address. Meanwhile Kadaver (who’s wearing devil makeup this time) is entertaining a guest, a guy named Hobart. It seems Hobart is the one who paid Kadaver to kill Dalton Walls, which made Kadaver
suspicious. He found out Walls was a millionaire but turned his back on business to go life rough in Gotham. Hobart is Walls’ nephew and will inherit his company if Walls dies. Kadaver figures he should get a share of the millions since he’s doing the dirty work and “convinces” Hobart by strapping him into a chair and dangling him over a pit of quicklime. Webley shows up with Batman, who avoids Kadaver’s traps and slaps him around a bit. Kadaver ends up over the quicklime pit himself, clinging to Hobart (who’s still strapped in the chair) to keep from falling in. Batman has already dug into Walls’ past, so he knows who Hobart is and why he’s hanging out with 
Kadaver. Corrosive Man comes busting in, telling Kadaver he’s Deke Mitchel and wants revenge for Kadaver setting him up to go to Prison. He burns Kadaver’s face with his acid touch and Batman knocks him into the quicklime, which neutralizes the acid in his body (although Batman’s not sure if he’s alive or dead afterwards). On the way home, Batman comes across an accident scene: the DJ who’s been playing appropriate songs throughout this trilogy ran over Harlan Woolf, the coke smuggler who got away from Batman after falling in the water a couple issues back. The ironic twist is that the DJ was fucked up on coke when he ran Woolf down, which Batman thinks is poetic justice.
Green Arrow #7 – “(No Title)” – Sharon Wright, Mike Grell/Eduardo Barreto, Randy DuBurke/Dick Giordano, Arne Starr
This one starts with Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen and Dinah (Black Canary) Lance hanging out. Oliver tells Dinah he’s been trying to trace heroin suppliers in Seattle, but has only managed to find out that the Chinese tongs are distributing them through their gambling houses all the way down the Pacific coast, from Anchorage to San Francisco. The next day, Oliver takes Dinah’s florist shop van to the car wash and we see the car wash owner (Eric) pulling some shady shit: he’s duplicating his customers’ keys, including a set from a Cadillac. One of his employees (Rita) sees him and
gets suspicious. Meanwhile, Dinah has gone to a jewellery store to pick up some custom bracelets (which are stylish, but big enough to hide the scars on her wrists from being tortured in Longbow Hunters). Oliver tells Dinah he wants to go to Anchorage to hunt for leads to the heroin network and invites Dinah to come, but she says she has the shop to run. Rita comes to see Dinah (apparently they met before, when Rita was a crack addict and smashed through the window of Dinah’s store) and tells Dinah she just got fired from her car wash job, sharing her suspicions about her former boss. Oliver has already left for Alaska, so 
Dinah decides to follow up on Rita’s suspicions herself. She trails Eric and sees him drive the Cadillac to a ferry that’s bound for Anchorage (what a coincidence!). When she returns home, she finds her own car has been stolen. Meanwhile, Oliver is on the ferry headed to Alaska and notices Dinah’s car aboard (another coincidence!) I’m assuming Eric duplicated the keys to Dinah’s Saab when he was doing the Caddie keys. At first, Ollie assumes Dinah decided to join him, but soon realizes she isn’t aboard. He turns her car headlights on and tells an attendant, watching to see who comes to turn them off. It’s a young
Chinese dude, who’s hanging out with other young Chinese dudes. Oliver leaves Dinah a message about the car and changes to Green Arrow, planning on hiding in the trunk to surprise the thieves. But when he opens the trunk—another coincidence—it’s stuffed full of heroin. This story is very decompressed, with many of the panels containing no dialogue; the real decompression stuff didn’t get popular until into the 90s and beyond, so I guess Grell was ahead of his time.