Issue Description

Bruce Wayne is training in the woods outside Gotham while a ninja is trying to find him, sent by Lady Shiva.

Batman (Jean Paul Valley) is having hallucinations of St. Dumas and he tries to fight through them. Robin does some investigating of Valley and reflects that he's going crazy. Robin meets up with Bruce Wayne who invited Nightwing for a debriefing on what they know about Valley. Nightwing and Robin agree to join Bruce in taking down Valley.

Valley had been brainwashed since birth to become a "human machine for punishment and death" by his father, as has been done throughout his bloodline for centuries.

Meanwhile Batman (Valley) contacts Rudy Elzen and offers to meet him and give him semi-automatic guns in exchange for something. Lady Shiva's ninja emissary sets traps for Bruce Wayne while Robin and Nightwing take down a gang of thugs.

At the meeting with Rudy, Batman reveals he has no guns for him and threatens Rudy's life if he doesn't tell him where Carleton LeHah is. Rudy says he doesn't know anything and his goons attack Batman with a sledge hammer. This sets Batman off and he pummels the thugs, sending them fleeing, taking off Rudy's ear with a batarang before knocking him out. Valley confuses himself in his own mind, almost calling himself Azrael instead of Batman.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne wearing the Mask of Tengu, goes through the obstacle course booby trap setup by Lady Shiva's emissary. The ninja is upset because he thinks Wayne killed his sensei and attacks him. The fight eventually takes them into a River where Wayne bests him on a floating log. Back in Gotham, Wayne stands atop a gargoyle on a skyscraper with a rope in hand reflecting that this is where he first jumped off when he first became Batman. He backs off, not ready to take the plunge.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat (1992)

Publisher

DC Comics

Volume Description

Batman: Shadow of the Bat, was first published in June of 1992, running 94 issues plus a #0 issue and #1000000 issue until it was canceled in February of 2000. It was quickly replaced by Gotham Knights.

Started as a showcase for Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, (and after a short time just Grant). Once Grant was no longer on the title, the creative teams changed for just about every story arc.

For the most part each arc was intended to be self- contained within the Shadow of the Bat series, though much of the book was eventually just used as part of Bat-Family crossovers such as Knightfall and No Man's Land.

Brian Stelfreeze provided covers for much of the run.

Annuals

Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual (#1-5)

Collected Editions

Batman: The Last Arkham (#1-4)

Other Collected Editions

Batman: Knightfall Volume 1: Knightfall (#16-18)Volume 2: Kinghtsquest (#19-20, 24-28)Volume 3: Knightend (#29-30, #32-34)Batman: Prodigal (#32-34)Batman: Contagion (#48-49)Batman: Legacy (#53-54)Batman: Cataclysm (#73-74)Batman: Road To No Man's Land (#75-79)Batman: No Law and New Order (#83)Batman: No Man's LandVolume 1 (#83-86)Volume 2 (#87-88)Volume 3 (#89-92)Volume 4 (#93-94)DC One Million Omnibus (#1000000)

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