Past and present.
The second wave of antagonists have arrived, and with it new
allies and some excellent moments from the Bat-family.
A few B-plots take a total backseat here, and that is good
cause most of the stuff is intense and ‘checking in’ would only break the
momentum here.
The artwork is excellent, though I do get a Fabok withdrawal
syndrome every time he goes off the book.
SPOILERS FOLLOW……………
Carmine Falcone, using his connections, is able to worm his
way out of prison, but sadly the Bats not on his payroll. After an entertaining
yet unproductive interrogation, Batman pays a visit to the new kid on the block
– Jason Bard.
It seems Bard may be up for promotion after his recent
activities put an end to the gang war, and although Bruce still doesn’t trust
him, he delivers the evidence gathered in Brazil, clearing Jim Gordon of the
train massacre.
At Wayne Manor, Alfred considers telling Julia about Batman,
but before he can do so, an alarm rings and she is ushered into a safe room, and
then knocked out. Alfred’s keen sense of danger is overridden by seeing a
familiar face (or should I say visage?) as Hush gets the drop on him, sending a
potent and high dose of fear toxin straight into his brain.
I loved how assertive Alfred was in that situation, bringing
up a criminally underused backstory of him being in the army. And the Shakespeare
bust was a nice nod to the Batman ’66 series!
About Hush, I’m more ambivalent. Dini used him very well,
but Loeb did him no favors. Now the interesting thing is….who is under the
bandages? Is it Tommy Elliot, the common suspect? Or someone else?
A little on Hush. A gifted surgeon, Tommy Elliot planned his
parents’ death but Thomas Wayne saved his mother. His resentment grew when he
learned of the Wayne
murder (how Bruce had been freed, while he was still in a domestic cage) and he
returned to enact revenge by destroying Batman, but failed.
Meanwhile at Blackgate, Jason tips his hand that there may
be more to him than what we’ve see so far as he frees Zachary Gate, better
known as the Architect (and coldly brushing past a haunted Jim Gordon). Once
outside, he destroy the pen drive containing the evidence and reveals that he’s
playing for the other side – as he talks to ‘mother’ Hush.
Back at the Manor, Julia stumbles onto the Batcave after
clues from a barely conscious Alfred.
Now here’s where things get troublesome. If you haven’t read
the pre-New 52 Gates of Gotham by Kyle Higgins/ Scott Snyder, you may be left
in the cold here.
Basically, the founding fathers of Gotham commissioned a
Nicholas Gate to build Gotham, but the builder
and his brother went mad while using a special gear. His descendant Zachary was
also afflicted and decided that Gotham was
built on lies, and decided to raze it to the ground. Tommy Elliot, as a
descendant of one of the founding fathers, was also forced into the game and
had to be saved by Batman.
Zachary, after his release, continues his plan to destroy
Gotham under the patronage of Hush and Bard, and despite Batman’s intervention,
manages to destroy the partially built Beacon Tower
and with an assist from Hush, kills the architect Andrew Trondsen.
In the midst of all this, Julia becomes Alfred’s stand-in
after a heated argument.
Meanwhile, at the East End
train yard, Selina rescues an endangered lion cub from the hands of Tiger Shark
and a Mr. Ibanescu before meeting up with her ‘father’ – Rex ‘The Lion’ (yes,
Jim’s roommate). He tries to tell her to take over the Gotham
underworld that has become vacant since Falcone left, and appears to get her to
think over it.
Batman’s successful attempts to save the Tower results in
Gates escaping and also causes a side-effect in the form of earthquakes all
around the city. Bard thus gets the perfect opportunity to make a suggestion to
Mayor Hady – declare martial law.
Hush goes to meet Cluemaster, who has been tasked with
spreading pandemonium around the streets, but the villain gets taken out of the game (arrested by police outside Gotham and Bard's influence) by his
masked daughter Stephanie.
This was an okay collection. The Architect and Hush both
represent the historical side of the Gotham,
complete with warts and all while Selina and Stephanie are trying to forge new
ground. History is the theme here, as we see Julia stepping up to the plate as
well.
And the ‘Bard is a villain thing’ is a wait and watch. Even
pre-New 52, Bard was shady but never a villain. So, here’s hoping we get to see
his actual reasoning soon enough.
SPOILERS END……………..
An okay quarter of issues, with Stephanie’s success being
the highlight, after a solid Architect story and a below par Catwoman one. The
artwork has been excellent, though Nyugen is still a little problematic for me.
Overall, this is shaping up well and I hope the twists and
characters keep improving as it has so far.
So, I give it 7.5 out of 10.
+Introduction of some excellently used rogues
+Some great Batfamily moments
+The artwork is above average
-Villains are not new-reader friendly (and no attempt is
made to address that)
-Catwoman’s issue was bland
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