This issue reads exactly how a "Detective Comics" issue is supposed to read. It forces you to read it again to get the nuance and, when you do, you appreciate the story that the author is telling all the more. It's exactly the type of story that Tony Daniel didn't tell over the last 12 issues.
The story centers around a contract that Penguin places on Bruce Wayne, hoping to assassinate him and clear the way for Penguin to become Gotham's premier philanthropist. Although it ostensibly seems like a weird reason to assassinate someone, Layman really sells it, making it feel like the sort of thing Penguin would do. To accomplish this goal, Penguin orders his men to create a series of diversions for Batman. The plan itself took a second reading to understand fully, but it's a pretty clever plan. Penguin's men con a bunch of low-level hoods to break into places with a certain type of alarm system for which they've stolen a back-door code to activate remotely; by activating the alarms during the robberies, they attract Batman's attention, sending him all around town while the gunman lays in wait for Bruce Wayne outside the Neville Community Center, where he's going to help inaugurate the Martha Wayne Children's Center. It's a pretty great plan.
However, Layman doesn't exactly succeed in explaining how the plan was going to achieve Penguin's goals. At first, it seems that Penguin wants Bruce dead before the inauguration of the Children's Center, telling the assassin that "Bruce Wayne is to be nowhere near the [Center] for the announcement of the new Children's Wing." You were left wondering why Penguin would want it to happen before the event. But, the plot thickened (in a bad way) when it became clear that Penguin wanted the assassination to occur at the event itself, particularly after we learn that his whole goal was to trump Bruce's donation and have the wing dedicated to his mother, instead of Martha Wayne. Bruce Wayne getting shot in the middle of the event seems like the type of thing that would upstage Penguin and his donation just a little. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. Penguin himself says that he doesn't want "a snooty rich brat to interfere with tonight's festivities." But, again, how could Bruce getting shot in the middle of said festivities NOT interfere with them? What did Penguin think was going to happen? Some society maven would just wipe Bruce's brains off her gown and congratulate Penguin for his generosity? Plus, I'm just not sure why Penguin didn't make his donation before the event. After all, the way it happens, it's pretty clear that he acted merely to upstage Bruce, given the fact that the wing is already emblazoned with "Martha Wayne Children's Center." Wouldn't it have been better not to be seen as motivated by competition, particularly if he really does want to be seen as a man of the people? Penguin himself seems to realize that when he orders his bodyman to cancel the contract, but I feel like Penguin is a smarter guy than that. The best approach seems like it would've been to secure the naming rights in the first place and have Bruce quietly killed several weeks later. I'm pretty sure Penguin would know that.
Turning to the back-up story, Layman really seems to get Gotham. If Snyder had a real knack in writing Gotham as a living, breathing character, Layman does a better job of almost anyone I've ever read of showing us what it's like to be a low-level thug in Gotham. We learn how crooks in Gotham have to be smart, knowing how not to get on Batman's radar but also accepting the inevitability that it's bound to happen at some point. Layman gives us this perspective in the form of a Gothamite explaining how it all works to a new guy from Miami and the ending -- where we learn what happens to guys who are too smart -- feels like the essence of a Gotham story.
However, even with the criticism I have for Penguin's plan, it was still a joy to read this issue after so many issues written by Tony Daniel. This series finally feels like it's supposed to feel and I have hope that Layman will grow into the role of writing it. I'm at least willing to give him a chance based on some real flashes of greatness here.
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