All Star Batman #5: Snyder not only takes the easy road here, but has the chutzpah to try to convince us it was the difficult one. By claiming Harvey's brain chemistry can never be altered, he shows the hubris of every author who thinks he can quickly but permanently change a character's status quo. It's only the slow changes that stick, like Cyclops' evolution into a villain over the course of years of storylines. For every "you're Two-Face forever now!" moment, I can point to dozens of similar ones: Otto Octavius as Spider-Man forever!, every permanent! Jean Gray death, Colossus as Juggernaut/Phoenix/Horseman of Apocalypse, etc. Snyder doesn't even really properly end the issue. We're never shown Harvey calling off the attacks on Batman. Batman believes the crowd won't attack him now that he's defeated Two-Face, but they don't really know that he has: they're just there for the money. The larger struggle is irrelevant to them. But, Bruce and Duke just waltz through the crowd, and we're done. I think I'm done with this series, too.
Batgirl #6: Son of the Penguin? Color me excited!
Detective Comics #947: Batman doesn't lose often, but Tynion lets him lose here. More importantly, he has him learn from that loss. Spoiler leaves the team, believing the team members' lives would be better if they left behind their costumes and Gotham's citizens' lives would be better if the police were the ones to protect them. Tynion clearly doesn't feel that way. He uses Luke to give the dissenting opinion: the heroes aren't perfect but they hold a line the police can't hold. But, Tynion also acknowledges Spoiler may have a point: Steph disables the Batsignal, and Bruce is shaken when he realizes no one got hurt in a gun fight between two gangs that the team missed as a result. It'll be interesting to see the role Spoiler will play in the next few months. After all, it'll be hard for her to "spoil" the team's activities without actually helping criminals. Does she help the cops instead? I guess we'll see. But, it's a reminder of how nuanced of a story Tynion is telling. It's no longer just black hats versus white hats. Stephanie has identified a gray area, and we'll see how she operates in it.
Also Read: Titans #6
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