OK, we all know that it's not Bruce Wayne, unless Snyder is telling a story where Bruce finally loses his shit and develops multiple personalities. (Even then, it'd be pretty damn impressive that he at some point manages to tie himself to that cross as he watches Gotham burn.) But, it seems to confirm that it was, in all likelihood, Hush. The interesting part of that revelation is that it seemingly demotes Spoiler in terms of importance. After all, we've already established that Hush is a middle man for the mastermind, and it makes sense that he would've been coordinating Cluemaster and his team on the mastermind's behalf. The raise in the bounty on Spoiler's head implies that the mastermind is really concerned about Spoiler revealing that information, but it's hard to see why he would be. How would Bruce getting distracted by having to clear his name be a bad thing? At the very least, it explains why Stephanie hasn't gone to Batman, since she knows that he gets his funding from Bruce Wayne.
So, we're left guessing. I know part of the goal of this issue is to get us to marvel how far we've come in terms of seeing the development of the world that we glimpsed in "Batman" #28. But, the problem is that the developments that we've seen have been haphazard and random. We haven't spent 42 issues watching Catwoman slowly but surely establish her control over the underworld; she just decided to become its queen a few issues ago and she suddenly was. Bluebird's development has been a little more nuanced, as we've seen her work with Red Robin. But, we still don't know why she choose the name Bluebird or really why she wants to continue to be a superhero now that they've saved her brother. After 43 issues, this world still seems as random as it did in issue #28.
All that said, it's still a more solid issue than we usually get in this series, particularly given that Snyder and Tynion have to connect the story to "Batman" #28. If anything, I'm getting excited that we can only have so many more of these fake-outs before, at some point, the mastermind has to be revealed.
*** (three of five stars)
Dont hold your breath hoping is the end of the fake outs..
ReplyDeleteI'm sure is Lincon March. He and Bruce look alike and we dont know if Steph saw him directly in plain light or shadowed. And also when batman went after Ridler for anwsers he said that the mastermind was Bruce's darker self or dark reflection I dont remember the exact words..
I agree on Lincoln. I mean, at this point, we've pretty much exhausted all other options. If it is him, though, I'm not sure I buy it. The guy was pretty unstable last time that we saw him; I'm not sure I believe that he could put together this intricate of a plot.
ReplyDelete