Things go more or less as expected in this issue, though that's not to say that it's not an exciting or interesting one. We learn that Dr. Death is tracking down the people who were hired at the same time as he was at Wayne Enterprises and that Lucius Fox seems to have been the reason why he was eventually fired. Moreover, not surprisingly, we learn that Lucius wasn't trying to kill Bruce, but instead injecting him with an antidote to Dr. Death's serum. Although it was predictable, the fact that I didn't see it coming is a testament to Snyder's skill, a skill that has felt dormant for a while but seems to be returning.
In truth, though, the developments with Dr. Death and Lucius are really much less fascinating (and portentous) than the one with Jim Gordon. We learn that Gordon and his partner caught Bruce playing hooky at the movie theaters on the day that his parents would eventually die. On the way to return Bruce to his parents, the pair makes several stops, something that Bruce realizes later involved Gordon's partner shaking down local businesses for bribes. Ingeniously, Snyder has Gordon's trademark "luxurious" trench-coat serve as the source of Bruce's epiphany, since he realized that Gordon's partner returned with two such raincoats from a tailor during Bruce's ride. (Who would've thought a trench coat would come to play such an important role in this story?)
It seems likely that Gordon is going to wind up being the respectable cop that we all know that he is; an explanation for the trench coat is probably forthcoming. The point of this interlude -- beyond setting up the amazing moment, captured perfectly by Capullo, where Bruce holds a gun to Gordon's face and tells him that it's the view that he remembers from that momentous day -- seems to be to show how young and naive Bruce is. Gordon is trying to warn him that Gotham is more complicated than he thinks that it is, but Bruce isn't listening. It's still black-and-white to him. To Bruce, since Gordon is a Gotham City police officer and Gotham City police officers are corrupt, Gordon is necessarily corrupt. The trench coat is almost unnecessary proof.
Of course, that said, Bruce's point isn't exactly undermined when he's later confronted by Commissioner Loeb and his men, given that Loeb pretends that Batman pulls a gun on them to justify ordering his men to open fire. Bruce might be acting irrationally in his sweeping denouncement of Gotham City police officers, but it's not like the evidence isn't on his side. But, Snyder seems to be setting up the story where it'll be Gordon that'll teach him that even when he's mostly right, he's not totally right. It'll be that 5% of the time that his instincts are wrong that he'll have to be careful and Gordon teaching him that seems likely to be the genesis of the relationship that they'll eventually have. To think it'll all come from a trench coat.
Despite these revelations, we're still no further in learning the secrets that both Dr. Death and Jim Gordon claim to know. Dr. Death says that his secret involves a "spoiled little rich boy with blood on his hands." It's easy to think that it means someone killed Bruce's parents to get to Bruce, perhaps to serve as his regent, of sorts, to control Wayne Enterprises...but, then again, it's probably too easy of a conclusion to be true. Moreover, the storm that seems likely to set up the scene that we saw at the beginning of "Zero Year" has yet to begin. Also, we get fast -- almost blink-and-you-miss-them -- images of Bruce's time in the pit in the desert, famously recounted in the "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" movie. In these scenes, he may or may not be getting a call from his father; it's probably Alfred, but, if it's not, we've got a pretty big mystery on our hands.
Increasingly, I'm willing to let the story unfold as it does. It's not feeling as rushed as the Court of Owls saga did in the wake of its "Night of the Owls" cross-over event, where it suddenly became about something else entirely (namely, Thomas Wayne, Jr.). I feel like we're going to get answers that unfurl naturally, rather than in a rushed confrontation that takes too many liberties. As I start to trust that, I'm enjoying this event more and more.
**** (four of five stars)
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