Detective Comics #43 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

The plot definitely thickens in this issue, in part because Buccellato adds a number of new layers.

We learn that the three "brothers" that comprise La Morte are a team of operatives that only take on big jobs.  They're in Gotham to fulfill contracts for two clients.  The first is to steal the power core from the Batsuit and deliver it to Joker's Daughter.  The second is to assassinate someone at the circus event (presumably) for the Falcone family.  Harvey and Montoya have a hunch that someone may be pulling the strings despite the fact that the two contracts seem unrelated.

As usual, when we get more answers, we also get more questions.  It's not clear to me how Joker's Daughter learned about the power core in the Batsuit.  It seems like she'd have to have someone pretty deep in the system to get that information.  It could be Yip, but it seems more like she's working for the Falcones, since Monotoya's investigation of her call history reveals that she sent someone the seating chart for the circus event.  So, we still need to learn how Joker's Daughter discovered the secret, if you will, of the Batsuit's power.  We also learn that La Morte goaded Gordon into leaving the suit at the end of the issue specifically to steal the core.  The bad news for them is that Gordon managed to take down two of them, leaving only one operational.  He negotiates with Joker's Daughter to help, and it seems like she debuts the Jokerbot that we see at the end of this issue (presumably using the stolen core) to distract Gordon.  I'm not entirely sure why she's acting now, though, since I feel like the circus event is still a few days in the future.  I guess we'll see.

We also still don't know Yip's motivations.  Harvey approaches her here, but she merely tells him that she's already dead, something he'll understand when he sees who the target of the assassination is.  Although Buccellato tries to make it seem like Harvey is trying to convince Jim to help him kill Yip, it seems pretty clear that he wants to fake her death so she can escape.  Again, it reminds to be seen how it's going to go.

Buccellato is on his own this issue, in the writing department, and it may be why we get such a direct line from Point A to Point B.  Regardless, the team continues to do a better job in advancing these mysteries issue by issue, and I'm intrigued to see where we go from here.

*** (three of five stars)