At this point in this series, I've given up hope that we're going to follow one story for any stretch of issues. We're essentially just cycling through the four or five sub-plots that Snyder and Tynion have going at a regular pace. It was Catwoman and Killer Croc the last two issues, Bard and Hush in the two issues before those issues, and Spoiler before them. I'm pretty sure that we haven't really seen Batwing since issue #16.
The challenge to this approach is that it's hard to remember where you last left the characters of any given sub-plot. As I said, we haven't had an issue dedicated to the Arkham story for a while. I have no clue about the identity of the person that Joker's Daughter is keeping in some sort of box (or why he's in a box in the first place) or who could possibly be leaving notes for her. I'm also confused why Batman doesn't know about Deacon Blackfire, since I was pretty sure that Batwing had managed to tell him that he had returned. But, we haven't seen Blackfire since something like issue #17, so maybe I'm wrong.
But, I've realized that you just have to put aside having a good grip on the plot of the series at any given time. It's just not going to be possible. At this point, you just have to consider yourself lucky if you have down the basics. Moreover, the authors essentially acknowledge the situation and tell you the details that you need to know. Here, Fawkes makes sure to highlight the mystery at the heart of this issue, using Batman to question Hush's connection to Blackfire. Corrigan also stresses that he doesn't think Blackfire is capable of doing what he does here, suggesting that someone is pulling his strings. In fact, Batman has the epiphany that everything in Gotham -- from riots in the streets to Hell under Arkham to the nano-virus in the Narrows -- is connected. Julia is skeptical, but given that I'm still not 100 percent sure why she's even involved, I'm just giving it a pass.
In other words, Snyder and Tynion are relieving us of our need to think. They'll tell us what we need to know. It's a good thing, too, because thinking isn't really an asset when it comes to reading this series.
*** (three of five stars)
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