Batman #434

Part two of the "Many Deaths of the Batman" trilogy arrives with one of 1989's most unsettling Batman covers, penciled and inked by John Byrne: a morgue drawer is pulled open to reveal not one but multiple Batman corpses laid out under a clinical spotlight, while a grim-faced older man in a green coat looks on from above. The sheer multiplication of costumed bodies — each bearing the familiar bat-symbol — makes for a deeply arresting image that raises far more questions than it answers. With Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo handling the interior art, this mid-story chapter promises the same sharp craftsmanship as the striking cover that precedes it.