We finally start getting somewhere in this issue. Snyder and Tynion don't give away the farm, but we at least get a better sense of what's happening in Gotham and that Bruce isn't completely disconnected from it. I'm not sure it makes sense, but, at this point, I'm so desperate for anything that I'll take it.
First, Falcone lets it slip to Catwoman (who passes on the information to Batman) that someone let him know about the events occurring in Gotham. It's presumably this tip that resulted in him leaving his gang war in Hong Kong to return to Gotham, once again making me wonder why Batman had to go to Hong Kong last issue if Snyder and Tynion planned on revealing Falcone's motivations in this issue. But, I'm just going to drop that line of complaint, since I know the answer is that they wanted to introduce Julia Pennyworth (for reasons that remain unclear). It's been pretty clear from the start that someone other than Falcone is plotting behind the scenes in Gotham. The only problem is that the train incident is (potentially) the only one that Falcone hasn't directly engineered; the hit on the Iceberg Casino and Pyg's lab were both clearly him. So, we still don't really know a lot about the goals of this mysterious figure that led Falcone to Gotham; we essentially just know that he exists.
The other big event is the arrival of Jason Todd. He seems to have regained his memory and at least partially forgiven Batman, since he responds to his call for help. Bruce assigns him the responsibility of making sure that Batgirl doesn't hurt herself in South America while searching for clues about her father's predicament. This revelation at least shows us that Bruce is somewhat engaged on the Gordon front, essentially allowing Barbara to do the work for him. I'm obviously thrilled to see Jason return and working with Bruce, though I'm still confused about how they buried the hatchet and how Jason regained his memory. One of the challenges of this series is that Snyder and Tynion have to make some effort not to assume that we're all reading every Bat-family series. Jason simply saying, "You called, I came," doesn't really clear up matters.
It's not much, but at least both developments get us somewhere. Obviously, we could really use an issue soon where Bruce walks through the information that he was with Alfred or Tim, making it a little clearer what questions we've got on the table and how Bruce plans on answering them. At this point, it's hard to remember all the loose ends, particularly with characters like Julia Pennyworth appearing for no obvious reason. I guess the best thing that I can say about this issue is that it at least didn't add any new plot developments. Weak, but true. (Also, did I mention the art was terrible? Because the art was terrible.)
** (two of five stars)
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