Batman (1990) # 446

 By Mark Rodriguez    

Batman has been called to Moscow to take down the KGBeast's deadly protege, the NVKDemon. He has a hit list of several men he considers weak and traitorous towards the Soviet Union and has already killed several. Batman confronted the Demon and was outmatched. The Demon managed to elude capture, now more determined to carry out his murderous plans. What will happen now?

"When the Earth Dies- Chapter Two- Underworlds" opens with Batman watching over a hockey game in the Lenin Stadium in Moscow, an American team playing against the Russian team. He radios Detective Nikita Krakov and says the Demon hasn't shown up yet. He's certain he will be at the game since he is following a pattern.

Nikita tells Batman he's hope he's right, but mostly they can prevent the Demon from killing again. He has warned Aleksey against being out in crowds but since it was his son's birthday and there was a soccer game, he refused. Family tradition is important in Russia, and Batman says they'll make certain they continue. I'll.... get back to that very hockey-looking soccer game.

Batman scans the crowd and is positive the Demon will strike. As he heads towards the lockers, he ponders on how many people are in the crowd and how many people work behind the scenes. He notes that the KGBeast was a master of disguise and the Demon is his protege so he could be anyone. He discovers that one of the lockers is empty. He sees jersey 37 is accounted for despite that player being on the field, since they keep a spare in their lockers. Number 36 is missing. Batman runs out and determines that the Demon is posing as player 36. 

Batman heads for the showers and finds actual player, murdered and stuffed in the drain. Batman radios Nikita and tells him that the Demon is number 36 and to get Aleksey out of there. Batman runs into the field as the Demon smacks an explosive hockey puck towards the crowd. Batman leaps in the way and takes the hit, but the Demon smashes more exploding pucks into the audience. Batman tells him that he is now killing innocent people and he doesn't want him dead.

The Demon says everyone is expendable as long as he kill the ten people on his list. Sadly, one of the exploding pucks takes out Aleksey. The Demon wants to draw out Batman's suffering, and wants to remove all his limbs, the way the Beast had to remove one to survive his fight. He knows officials will soon arrive to stop him so he says Batman has forced his hand. Batman tosses a Batarang at him but the Demon smacks it out of the air with his hockey stick. Nikita and the police block all the exits. The Demon smashes Nikita out of the way with his hockey stick and grabs a police officer's gun. He now runs out and shoot at anyone he sees, saying everyone is to blame for the country being weak. Batman has the Demon has gone insane and will kill hundreds if it means accomplishing his goals.

 

The Demon heads for the subway as he determines that five out of the ten people he's after is dead. He forces himself onto a train car. Batman barely makes it in time to see the train start to leave. He tosses a Batarang with a rope attached to hook onto the train. 

Batman gets on the train and sees that the Demon had grabbed a passenger at knife-point. The madman says he let his hatred for Batman deter him from his goals. He tells Batman not to move or he'll kill the woman. He orders Batman to leave the way he came. Batman says this won't end things. The Demon says it will end things between them so he can continue with his mission. Batman has no choice but to jump off the speeding train. He drops and rolls along the tracks, using his cape to protect him the best it could. Batman is knocked out but was luckily seen by Nikita and his men. 

 

Batman is hospitalized, still with his mask on, where the doctor says he has no internal damage. Nikita asks how soon he can speak with him. The doctor says to  let him sleep it off. Batman gets up and sneaks out the window the moment they don't notice him.

Later on, Bruce is back at the hotel, wrapping his chest up with bandages as Anna drops in to visit. She's concerned when she sees him like this, and Bruce says a fight broke out in the metro and Batman just so happened to land on him. Bruce will join Anna to view more factory sites as he takes the day to heal.

 

Later that night, Batman meets up with Nikita. The police detective is concerned with all the risks that Batman takes and wonders if he has someone to come home to. Batman says he can analyze him after he's left and asks for the list.

Both men determine that there have been five deliberate murders so far, all government officials who supported the chairman policy of Glasnost. The Demon had killed the number one of each agency. The next one will be Pyotr Pushkin from Internal Security and then Nichola Andronikov, the Agriculture Minister. Nikita says both men will be at an international dinner the following night. Batman says they have their targets so the rest is up to them.

At the dinner, both Anna and Vicki attend, hoping to see Bruce there. Vicki says Bruce would be late to his own funeral. Anna points out that Pyotr is about to make his speech. Nikita, his men and Batman are on alert, as the Demon could be anyone. Pyotr and his wife are taken to their spots. The security asks if everyone is accounted for and Anna says that Bruce hasn't arrived yet. They can no longer wait and the event is about to begin. 

Outside, Andronikov's limo arrives and Nikita wants the area sealed air tight. Andronikov and his wife are also taken to their seats. Pyotr tells Andronikov that Chairman Gorbachev made a phone call. Andronikov asks if he's cancelling Glasnost and sending everyone to Siberia. Pyotr says he couldn't have made that joke five years ago (as of 1990 that is) and Andronikov jests that he could have. He would have gotten arrested, but he could have.

Just then there is a speeding car that crashes into a lamppost right outside the building. It seems to be a random drunk driver, and the police are to remove him as quickly as they can and return to their posts.  Pyotr says the phone call was Gorbachev wishing them luck with the speech. The officials outside say the event starts in ten minutes. The streets have been closed off in all directions, nothing is coming at this point. Nikita tells them not to relax as the attack can come from anywhere. Some hot air balloons are seen in the distance.

Pyotr starts the speech, seeing that they will hold this meeting in English, like the Soviet Union is holding a similar meeting in America in Russian. His speech centers on the dangers of pollution and the harm it causes to the environment. The hot air balloons start to open fire onto the security outside. Nikita orders his men to shoot back.

Nikita's police force open fire upon the balloons and the shooters. They soon gun down all the enemies. One of the men asks Nikita why those men even bothered as they wouldn't have been able to get past them all. Nikita realizes this is a distraction and the Demon has to already be inside. As Andronikov gave his speech, a man comes out with a gun. Pyotr leaps in the way though Andronikov is hit. Pyotr is Batman in disguise, which surprises the Demon. 

The Demon runs while shooting at Batman. He says their countries have become too much alike. He won't allow the weakening of his country to continue. The Demon climbs a high ladder and Batman follows him on the platform, which just beneath the building's skylight. Nikita tells his men not to shoot unless they have a clear shot. 

The Demon drops his gun, being out of ammunition and says they can settle this like men. Batman says he has nothing to prove and just wants him dealt with. He tosses a Batarang at him. The Demon lets it wrap around his arm, and now both men are tied together. Batman punches him, which goes ignored. The Demon socks him across the face and then knees him in the chest. Batman hits the floor and his chest is bleeding. The Demon says Batman's wound has re-opened but he won't be feeling pain for long.

 

Batman throws out both legs, knocking the Demon back and off his feet. The Demon asks Batman why he delays the inevitable and then slices him across the chest with a bladed weapon. He knocks Batman over the side of the platform, the Dark Knight only hanging on thanks to the rope. The Demon says he heard that Batman had the KGBeast in a similar situation and to escape, he had to sacrifice his own hand. The Demon says he will not make the same mistake and cuts the rope. Batman falls off the platform as Nikita and the others watch.

 

My Thoughts- 

Sometimes we remember things a little differently. I remember the part of the story where the Demon was doing his attack on a hockey game, while the comic would continue to refer to it as a soccer game. I also remember the letter column roasting them on this mistake whenever we get to them discussing issue 446. However, reading back on this, it seems the soccer mistake was only mentioned once, so it's easier to excuse as a random slip up and not the constant error I misremembered it as. I also recall someone complaining about Batman just jumping off the speeding train so carelessly, but given the circumstances, he had little choice. We never saw what happened afterwards, so hopefully the Demon didn't decide to kill the woman anyway.

The story is good so far, as the Demon being a master of disguise adds an extra layer to the unpredictability to this attacks. Sadly, Batman and the police haven't been doing a good job of preventing him from killing his targets. Batman pushed Nicholas Andronikov out of the way but he still got shot. I guess the only person safe so far is Pyotr since Batman was posing as him, but now he might be the Demon's next target. The Demon has outfought Batman twice now, so we'll see how this gets resolved next issue.

The letters column deals with issue 442 as Tim first wears the Robin outfit. Everyone seems pleased, though one did have some nitpicks on how careless the heroes were around Two-Face. Alfred was in the area, so Two-Face would now see that Batman and Robin have an Alfred helping out. Plus Tim's name was called out, so it would look suspicious when the news of a Tim being adopted by Bruce and Alfred would make the rounds. On a similar case, he also noted that in Death of the Family, it was reported that Jason Todd (not Robin) and his mother Sheila died in that explosion... and it was common knowledge that Bruce had a ward named Jason Todd. The reader advised them to be more careful to not reveal such details to the Two-Face and Joker. The author responded saying 'it's a good thing they're both insane'.

The ads featured some NES and Atari 7800 games but the real kicker was the announcement of the (at the time) brand new live action Ninja Turtles movie. Lean, Green and on the Screen on March 30th. Sadly we missed it in theaters and had to wait til it came out on VHS. We got it for a Christmas present that year. We would eventually check out the theatrical re-release this past year. Sadly, we missed out on the Batman 1989 re-release.

 

 

The comic also jumped the gun when it came to 'next issue', as they go into an upcoming 3-part Penguin story that starts in Batman, continues in Detective, and ends in Batman. The only thing is this story isn't over, so the next issue will still be the third part of the NVKDemon story.