Detective Comics #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Although I originally dropped this title, I was inspired to get it again with the news that Tony Daniel had left, at least temporarily.  Plus, with the various cross-over events, it's pretty difficult to avoid "Detective Comics" when you're getting five other Bat-family titles.  I figured that I didn't miss many issues, so I might as well get the back issues and stay current.  Here we go:

As usual, Daniel is all full a promise in the beginning of this arc, setting a number of mysteries in motion.  We don't know who the clown-faced figure who steals a briefcase in an alleyway is and we don't know why he wants to get access to the Iceberg Casino.  Those questions are interesting ones and we'll see where Daniel goes with them over the course of the arc.

But, also as usual with Daniel, we have a number of other questions, the unfortunate ones, that don't really lead anywhere and make my head hurt.  For example, we're introduced to the guy originally handing over the briefcase as a low-level criminal trying to establish some street cred and the guy accepting the briefcase as the guy who stole a bunch of hazardous chemicals from the NIH.  But, we don't know why they're exchanging a briefcase, why Batman cares about said briefcase, and how the clown-faced thief knew about the exchange.  The thief apparently stole the briefcase to finish the deal, since we later see him hand it to a guy in a limo who's expecting it to contain $20,000.  But, the thief apparently skimmed a few thousand of it and, when he holds a gun to the head of the guy in the limo, the guy "forgives" him (smart) and randomly hands him a VIP ticket to the Iceberg Casino.  Was that what the low-level criminal was going to get in exchange for the briefcase?  A VIP ticket?  Otherwise, why would the guy in the limo think that the thief wants a VIP ticket?  The guy doesn't ask for one.  Plus, why would the criminal (or the thief, for that matter) engage in that sort of shady activity to get his hands on such a ticket, when it would probably be easier just to pay the Penguin $20,000 for one?  This whole sequence was seriously confusing.

Only eight more issues to read...