Sweet dreams, Batman...become bitter nightmare...when the goddess of sleep and death must be appeased...and your life becomes hers. 
- — The Sleeper
Batman #516 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1995.
Synopsis for "Sleeper, Part One: Nightmares"
Batman roams the streets stopping regular crimes when a call from the police radio catches his attention. There has been a series of mysterious murders, and Batman decides to investigate the matter further.
He visits one of the crime scenes before calling the GCPD forensic doctor Mortimer Gunt and interrogates him while pretending to be Commissioner Gordon, who has frozen him out since Knightfall.
At Mercy Hospital, Mackenzie Bock pays Harvey Bullock a visit as he recovers from his coma.
Batman finds Gordon sleeping in his office due to estrangement from his wife Sarah Essen. Batman tells Gordon they have to work together before there's a fourth victim, and Gordon tells Batman to go to Hell. But he also gives Batman his case files.
Elsewhere in the city, a mysterious woman known only as the Sleeper performs a ritual to a sleep and death goddess, and in a vision she finds her next victim. Her ally Remmy Sturgis promises her that he'd kill for her.
Batman deduces who the next victim will be. All three of the prior victims were hypnotherapists involved in a secret government project, and the three survivors of the project reside in Gotham City. One of them is out of town, but the other two are at home, giving him a fifty-fifty chance of finding the next victim before the killer does.
Batman sets out to stop the crime, but he arrives too late. Angela Shane is already dying from an induced heart attack. Her last words are "The horror, Remmy... It's wrong. So wrong."
Batman follows the fleeing killer to the roof of the building, but he isn't careful enough and he ends up inhaling some of the same gas the Sleeper used to kill the victim. Batman starts to feel dizzy, and nightmarish visions come to him gradually as he finds himself at mercy of the Sleeper.
Appearing in "Sleeper, Part One: Nightmares"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Sleeper
- Remmy Sturgis
Other Characters:
- Gotham City Police Department
- Mortimer Gunt (First appearance)
- Harvey Bullock
- Mackenzie Bock
- Renee Montoya (Mentioned only)
- Sarah Essen (Mentioned only)
- Azrael (In a vision)
- Angela Shane (Single appearance; dies)
Locations:
- Gotham City
- Batcave
- GCPD Headquarters
- Mercy Hospital
- 523 Hibbs Street
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is the first one that is not part of a crossover storyline since Batman #492.
- This issue is reprinted in Batman by Doug Moench & Kelley Jones Volume 1.
Trivia
- Harvey Bullock gives Mackenzie Bock his nickname "Hardback" in this issue in honor of Bock's habit of reading hardback books.
See Also