Trust is a must.
Tim Seeley does the story for #18-20 while Ray Fawkes
finishes an arc with #17. And it is great how Seeley has managed to include
some unusual pairings and used them so well.
Emanual Simeoni does wonderfully taking over the artwork
mantle from Dustin Nyugen at the end of #17.
SPOILERS FOLLOW………………..
We first get a flashback to Batman’s first encounter with
Deacon Blackfire. It seems like he has formed a cult and managed to imprison
Batman. But sadly for him, Batman isn’t that easy a prey and is able to turn
his cult against him.
In the present, we see a reincarnated Deacon Blackfire
attacking Batwing and Jim Corrigan, while in the city, Luke Fox’s best friend
Rory is awakened by a nightmare in which he sees Luke’s dismembered head in the
Joker’s daughter’s hands.
After finishing the gang war, a visit to the Narrows puts Jason Bard and Batman on a collision course
with Killer Croc. It’s a nice change to see Croc portrayed as sympathetic as we
see it’s the Ten-Eyed Man’s minions that have been capturing victims for a
sacrifice.
Batman concludes that the supernatural phenomenon at Arkham
is the work of inter-dimensional travel as the trio manages to stop the
Ten-Eyed Man and save the girl who was to be sacrificed.
In Brazil,
Batwoman, Batgirl and Red Hood follow the trail to a slum in Rio
where the children are being made to manufacture Batman like figures. Batgirl
manages to reach the head, Dr Falsario but is mind-controlled into attacking
Red Hood, while Batwoman manages to disarm Dr Falsario (who seems to use a
variant of Mad Hatter’s formula).
Jason is able to snap Batgirl out of the mind-control by
recalling a fond moment those two shared, but here efforts to capture Falsario
are for naught as she finds him murdered in the surrounding jungle. It is not all lost though as evidence is found in Falasario's lab that implicates him in Gordon's case.
Meanwhile in Blackgate, the Penguin-Falcone gang war has
reached a head as the Penguin’s men take over the Penitentiary, but thanks to
Gordon and the Lion (Rex Calabrese) revealed to be his room-mate, the situation
is brought under control.
I like how Batman has emerged into the supernatural
conflict, something he is inherently uncomfortable with, and in association
with Croc. But the flashback with Blackfire feels rushed and out-of-character
as we see Batman watch as the cult kills their ex-leader.
The three remaining plotlines crawled along – as Julia
continued her reproachful attitude towards her father, Red Robin and Harper
delved deeper into Sergei’s works and Stephanie decided to go in-costume with
the moniker Spoiler to stop her father’s plans.
Red Hood is someone who was greatly improved by this arc.
Especially memorable was how he managed to snap Barbara back using smarts and
love, and not his usual MO.
The Lion reveal was telegraphed from the start but didn’t
lessen the impact of the imagery of him shaving and putting on that terrifying
face. You could see why he was so feared.
All in all, this has continued the upward momentum of the
last arc, and with the ‘Gordon problem’ resolved at one end, and the mysterious
mastermind yet to be revealed, things are certainly heating up.
SPOILERS END……………..
We got more fleshing out of the supernatural story, while a
thread was resolved from the start, though not without leading to more
questions.
Some unusual pairings paid off, bringing with it both great
moments of action and emotion.
The artwork was a little problematic with its changing,
though the last two were consistent – but overall, the meshing is definitely
improving.
So, I give it 9.0 out of 10.
+Nice forward movement on the major plotlines
+Some great artwork
+Unusual pairings paid off
+Great balancing of the major arcs
-Changing in artists still creating some problems
-Juggling of the minor plotlines isn’t adequate
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