Batman #446 – “Underworlds” – Marv Wolfman/Jim Aparo/Mike DeCarlo
Last issue, Batman went to Russia to stop a nutcase called NKVDemon from killing a bunch of government officials because he thinks they’ve gotten too soft with the West. Batman ran into the NKVDemon (who’s been enhanced to be superhuman), but he got away into the sewers. This issue starts with Batman staking out a likely target (Aleksey) at a hockey game with the help of a local cop named Krakov. Batman prowls through the dressing rooms and figures out NKVDemon has taken the place of one of the players. The Demon starts ripping explosive
pucks at Aleksey, not caring if innocent people die too. He flees, killing more people on the way out, and heads for the subway with Batman right behind him. But when NKVDemon takes a hostage, Batman is forced to bail out of the subway car, almost killing himself. The Russian cops find him and take him to a hospital, but he doesn’t hang around for long. Bruce Wayne is forced to come up with a rather lame cover story for his injuries, but the woman who’s supposed to be showing him possible business investments (Anna) seems to have the hots for him, so she doesn’t question him much. Later, Batman and Krakov figure out NKVDemon’s next targets, who are 
appearing together at a special State Dinner. Vicki Vale is there to cover the dinner, but Bruce Wayne is late since Batman is inside in disguise. A bunch of terrorists attack the front of the building and are shot down by the cops, but Krakov realizes it’s a ruse and warns Batman. NKVDemon is also in disguise and shoots one of his targets before Batman can stop him. They end up fighting on a catwalk and Batman is knocked over the edge. The cops watch helpless as he plummets toward the ground.
Detective #613 – “Trash” – Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle/Steve Mitchell
This one starts with a kid named Mike Dell doing a Grade 8 ecology project about how much trash the average household throws out and how all that garbage impacts the world. Mike has some help on the project, since his dad is a garbageman and lets Mike come along on his daily rounds to see the trash in person. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is waiting outside a restaurant for Vicki Vale. (This story takes place after their adventures in Russia, as seen in concurrent issues of Batman.) He
notices something in the street outside; a rival garbage company wants to take over Dell’s route and they decide to rough him up a bit to get through to him. He still refuses to give up his route, but he tells Mike to head home to keep him out of danger. Mike is disappointed that he doesn’t get to go to the landfill like his dad promised, so he hides on top of the garbage truck to hitch a ride that night. But he doesn’t know his dad is going to meet Kruden, the owner of the company that’s trying to strong-arm him out of business. Batman is 
pounding some muggers when he notices Kruden heading to the landfill behind Dell. He recalls the scene in the street earlier and decides to follow. At the landfill, Kruden threatens Dell, who refuses to back down, so Kruden decides to put him through the garbage compactor on the truck. Mike yells for them to leave his dad alone and one of Kruden’s thugs shoots Mike instinctively. Batman pounds the thugs and Kruden is accidentally knocked into the garbage compactor. Unfortunately, it’s too late to save Mike.
Legends of the Dark Knight #6 – “Man Without a Shadow” – Grant Morrison/Klaus Janson
This issue begins the “Gothic” storyline, which is set fairly early in Batman’s career (probably somewhere between Year One and Year Two). It starts with a guy named Martin being tortured by a couple of drug runners, who want to know what happened to their latest shipment. Martin doesn’t know, so they cover him with lighter fluid and prepare to burn the truth out of him. But their fun is interrupted by a voice nearby chanting the English nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons”. It turns out to be a portable record player (with a note containing a quote from “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”), but someone does emerge from the shadows to kill
the two drug dealers … apparently someone they’ve met before. Martin figures he’s saved, but the mysterious guy lights him up and leaves. At Wayne Manor, Bruce is having a recurring nightmare about being in a cathedral and finding his father alive but horribly changed. (There’s a person in the dream that Bruce calls Mr. Crane; I wonder if that’s meant to be Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow?) Elsewhere, we see a couple getting ready to go out on the town. The man has received a note in the mail with a quotation from Paradise Lost, but he ignores it and they end up smashed in an elevator “accident” (and we 
see that the woman was actually a guy dressed in women’s clothes). Later, the gay dude’s brother (Jack) calls an associate named Ottavio (who seems to be mixed up with the dead drug dealers) to tell him that the two killings were done by someone named Whisper, who they supposedly killed years ago. Ottavio doesn’t believe it until he hears Whisper show up and kill Jack on the other end of the phone line. Jack had a wild idea about how to deal with Whisper, but we don’t hear it yet. (Whisper’s defining trait is that he apparently doesn’t cast a shadow.) Downtown, a TV reporter does a news story from a cathedral that’s being restored (and where an 18th Century time capsule was found), speculating that the project may just be a way for the mayor to get re-elected. Across town, Batman pounds some muggers who are accosting a
guy in an alley, while a guy named Graziano attends a performance of Don Giovanni. Whisper delivers some chocolates—which turn out to have a bomb in the box—to Graziano and his girlfriend. Downtown a young woman gets off a bus and is immediately accosted by the local scumbags, but they back off for some reason, seeming kinda freaked out. Ottavio calls a bunch of mob bosses together to tell them Whisper is back and shows them something else: a homemade Bat-Signal. Yeah, the mob is calling on Batman for help.