Finally! Some decent art! Thanks, Meghan Hetrick! I hope you stay a while.
Even if it was a bit clichéd, I thought that the rat-nest story was clever. Bats tells Penny-two the story of the time that Alfred tied a bell around the neck of a rat so that it would lead him to its nest. Bruce does the same with the Flamingo to find Hush. It doesn't exactly go to plan, but it at least makes the appearance of the Flamingo last issue serve some sort of purpose. Moreover, it sets up probably the most important development of the last few issues. Bruce follows Flamingo and discovers a broken Catwoman. Bruce immediately blames Selina for the scene that he confronts -- of a devastated Croc craddling a dead Jade, killed accidently as her uncle was trying to kill Catwoman. Although he eventually realizes that she's not responsible, it makes you understand why she concludes that she's alone at the end of the issue. It also sets up her decision to accept her father's offer to take over Gotham's crime families, deciding to impose order to the chaos so innocents like Jade are saved. This series rarely shows us events that flow organically from the character's emotions, but Seeley really delivers here.
"I'll never be Dick Grayson." Ugh. That line hurt in my heart. But, it's true. I never fully bought Barbara and Jason as a couple, but I bought it enough -- dark and light, ying and yang -- to find myself hoping for it to happen, at least for a while. It would give Barbara someone with whom she could discuss the dark events of her recent past and it would give Jason someone to show him that it's possibly to go through life without waiting to be hurt. But, Jason knew that he would be hurt, at some point, because he'll never be Dick Grayson. So many people want him to be, but he finally knows that he can't. It's a big moment for Jason, but it can't feel good. (Though, under Hetrick, he may be prettier than Dick, so he can at least console himself with that.)
My only real complaint about this issue is that I'm still not sure what we're supposed to believe Babs was doing with Bard. I had assume that she was trying to scare him into confessing that he set up her father, but we never really discover that. In the end, she and Jason just let him free. Isn't that a pretty big loose end? It's also weird that Bard apologizes to Gotham as he plummets to his supposed death, given that he's actively trying to destroy it.
But, given how terrible this series is, those complaints are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.
*** (three of five stars)
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