On Remaining Questions from Scott Snyder's Run on "Batman"

Based on Snyder's comments about the upcoming "Dark Days:  Metal" event, we're lead to believe many of the questions I (and other people) had about Snyder's run on "Batman" were actually Easter eggs he intentionally left for this event.  I'm not entirely sure I buy that, but I'm also happy to have some of them answered, even if it's retroactively.  One of the advantages of keeping a blog on comics is it helps you remember what you've read.  Given my obsessive need to remember questions from previous stories, I went through my reviews of Snyder's 50-issue run and included the major questions here.  I skipped some issue-specific questions (notably, the ones I had in issue #34), focusing mostly on the most obvious plot holes (and thus most likely to be retroactive Easter eggs).  Notably, I couldn't force myself to re-read my reviews of "Batman Eternal" or (with less hesitation) "Batman and Robin Eternal."  If Easter eggs are there, I'm just going to have to go without noticing them.

1) from "the Court of Owls" arc:  How did the Court of Owls elude Bruce's notice for all that time?  In "Death of the Family," Joker claims the Court of Owls gave Bruce so much trouble because he was distracted by the Bat-family.  It's worth mentioning because Snyder is specifically acknowledging Bruce was off his game.  But, he never gives us an alternate explanation, so, at this point, I guess we have to believe he agrees with Joker.  Continuing on the theme, why did the Court emerge from the shadows for the Night of the Owls?  How did it successfully return to said shadows (if it did)?  Why did the Court turn against Lincoln March just as he was on the cusp of realizing the Court's investment in him by becoming Mayor?  Most pressingly, how did it turn crippled Thomas Wayne, Jr. into strapping Lincoln March?  (Dionesium definitely seems to play a role here, and I wouldn't be surprised if Owlman didn't appear in "Dark Days:  Metal.")  Why did the Court freeze former Talons, particularly since it didn't have the means of resurrecting them at the time?  Did the Court know Bruce's identity?

2) from "the Death of the Family" arc:  Why did Joker cut off his face?  Did Joker know the Bat-families' identities?  I don't want to rehash this argument too much, because it was already explored ad nauseum at the time.  But, as a reminder, the tie-in issues in "Death of the Family" made it pretty clear Joker knew their identities (particularly the back-up story in "Red Hood and the Outlaws" #0).  Joker kidnapped Barbara's mother, he destroyed Haly's circus, he knows what brand of soap Dick uses, he knew Jason's father was a deadbeat dad, etc.  But, Bruce insisted Joker didn't know, because he once revealed his identity to him and Joker refused to acknowledge it.  Snyder never has Bruce acknowledge the most plausible explanation for that:  Joker might've conveniently forgot that information at the time but "remembered" it now.  After all, at the start of the arc, Joker is shown as unhinged over the Bat-family dragging down Bruce.  It makes sense he'd allow himself to "remember" their identities if he was so upset.  (Issue #37 seems to confirm this point when Joker calls Batman "Bruce.")  Conversely, does Bruce really know Joker's identity, as implied at the end of issue #17?  Finally, what did Joker tell the members of the Bat-family when it came to what Bruce "really thought about them."  This part was particularly ridiculous, since Sndyer established Joker didn't find some sort of super-secret dossier on the Bat-family he could share with them.  But, in addition to the Bat-family's believing Joker did really know their identities, it's this information that helps drive the wedge between them and Bruce.  As such, it's obviously relevant. 

3) from the "Zero Year" arc:  In issue #21, Riddler had some sort of card arrangement with phrases that I predicted would return one day as significant.  Is that day now?  In issue #23, Bruce opens a gem his father willed him that turns rooms seemingly into caves.  It's so random, I have to assume it's one of the Easter eggs Snyder left on the way to "Dark Days."  How did Riddler meet Dr. Death?  Why was he using him to distract Batman?  So he could plan Zero Year?  In issue #29, Bruce tells Gordon he should've taken "the call" to avoid all the death that comes, but I wasn't sure what he meant; I didn't recall some call that could've avoided Riddler turning back the clock on Gotham or Dr. Death from doing whatever it was he was doing.  Also, it was never clear to me how Riddler got access to the Red Hood Gang's files; it's an important point, because he uses them to build the army that patrols Gotham.

4) from issue #35:  Bruce confronts the Justice League with a suit he built specifically for the occasion.  During his conflict with the Flash, Capullo very carefully shows us a lightning bolt striking a Batarang.  However, it doesn't have any impact on the battle; Batman wins by creating a frictionless surface to neutralize Barry.  But, given the events of "The Button" cross-over event in "Batman" and "The Flash," it seems retroactively significant.

5) from the "Endgame" arc:  We've never explicitly been told why Joker wanted to destroy the pool of dionesium under the Batcave.  At the time, I hypothesized it was because he wanted to be the only one with access to dionesium (given the amount of it in his spine), but Snyder never spells out that part explicitly.  Also, it's not entirely clear how Joker goes from battling Dick at the parade to arriving at the pool so quickly.  In terms of the final conflict, I noted at the time Bruce seemed to have plenty of other options beyond dying and taking Joker with him.  Snyder never really explained why he chose that route.  Moreover, Alfred's explanation of the note Bruce left for him after he died -- reading only "HA!" -- didn't really make sense.  He claims it was because Batman's story could've only ended in tragedy for people to believe in him (because he had to be mortal), but that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the word, "HA!"

6) from the "Superheavy" arc:  Snyder never states how the dionesium that seeped through Bruce's cracked cranium changed the pathways in his brain.  At the time, I just accepted it did.  But, given the importance of dionesium to "Dark Days," it's probably worth noting here.  Snyder also never explains how Peter Duggio survived the four gunshot wounds he received when the cop fired on him as he fled his burning bodega.  At the time, I figured whatever Mr. Bloom gave him to grow wings retroactively healed the wounds, but Snyder never actually said that.  After all, Peter went to his cousin Dylan before Dylan created Bloom, so I think we're supposed to believe Dylan also provided some sort of medical assistance.  It's also never really clear how Duke gets clued into Bloom's existence.  Gordon seems to learn of Bloom in issue #42 due to the Devil Pigs' connection to him, and Batman learns of him in issue #44 when he's investigating Peter's death.  Duke knows enough about him to bring the seed Gordon gave Bruce to Dylan to investigate, but we don't know how he recognizes seed as coming from Bloom.  Finally, almost everything about Geri Powers remains a mystery.  For example, it seemed like Geri Powers might've given the thief who confronted Gordon in issue #41 the technology he used to do so, but we never get that confirmed.  We also never learn why she was on her quest for an "island of stability" in the elements in the 200s.  What was the point of creating Batmanium?  Simply for science?  I'm also not entirely sure why she and the Powers That Be never wanted Gordon looking into the Bloom case.  After all, she never wound up having any connection to Bloom; in the end, he was just a homeless man who stole Dylan's seeds.  Wouldn't she want Gordon stopping the villain destroying the city she now functionally controls?  We're also not really sure what her plan was if Jim resigned as Batman as she wanted him to do, after he went rogue to investigate Bloom.  Moving to other questions, Julia uses the Bat-signal to save Gordon because the Bat-signal apparently "holds" Rookie with an "electro-magnet" and such a magnet could counter Bloom's seeds, which are also "electro-magnetic."  I never really understood why the robo suit was attached to the Bat-signal, but maybe Snyder had a reason.  Finally, is it meaningful we learn Julie Madison is covered with tattoos, including an owl one?

Batman #40 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

"Meh."

I want to be more upbeat about this issue than that word implies, but it's hard to be.  This issue is supposed to be remarkable because it's (allegedly) Bruce and the Joker's final confrontation.  Snyder certainly tries his best, but, for me, the inevitability of both of them returning makes it hard to accept it on its merits.

For the most part, Snyder does an OK (though not great) job of taking us through the paces here.  Bruce learns from the Court of Owls that a pool of diluted dionesium exists somewhere in the cave structure under Gotham and that the Joker gained access to it after Bruce dropped him off the cliff at the end of "Death of the Family."  (At least, I think that it was "Death of the Family."  It's possible that it could also have been when he dropped him into that vat at Ace Chemicals.  I'm not entirely sure.)  Bruce tells Julia that he knew that the Talon was lying when he told Bruce that the Joker was active during his era because Talons were trained to tell the truth.  He realizes that the Joker is going to try to destroy this pool, presumably so that he can be the only one with access to dionesium (the amount already in his spine).  (Honestly, though, I'm not 100 percent sure why he was going to destroy the pool.  I'm more or less guessing here.)  As such, Bruce sends Dick in his costume to confront the Joker to buy him time to go into the caves and get the dionesium so he can manufacture a cure for the Jokerized mobs.

However, the Joker discovers the ploy in time to magically race to the cave and fight Bruce.  The best part of their confrontation is the Joker's explanation for why he decided to end their dance.  Originally, he wanted to prove to Batman that the world was meaningless, but then he realized that his struggle with Batman actually gave the world meaning.  ("Fighting for meaningless but giving meaning by virtue of the fight!")  Now, it's time to end it.  In their struggle, Batman is mortally wounded, and a falling stalactite paralyzes the Joker.

It's here where it gets odd.  Early, Bruce had injected a serum (of course he did) into the Joker that blocked his access to the dionesium in his spine.  With his back broken, the Joker crawls to get to the pool, on some level confirming Bruce's hunch that he wasn't really exposed to the pure form centuries ago (since the serum wouldn't have limited the pure form of dionesium).  But, Bruce tells the Joker that he finally believes that he's the Pale Man, and asks him to stay with him while he dies but the Joker heals (presumably from the pure dionesium).  Snyder plays Bruce's motivations here close to the chest.  It's clear that he's not delusional in a conversation that he has later with Julia about drawing up the sample of dionesium that he took to manufacture the cure.  As such, is he just screwing with the Joker here?  It's really unclear.

The epilogue is also odd.  Julia gives Alfred a letter that Bruce left, and it only says, "HA!"  Alfred gives a long speech about how it means that Batman could only end in tragedy, because, at the end of the day, he had to be mortal for people to believe in him.  (A theme of the issue is that Bruce never sampled all these miracle chemicals that he encountered to make himself more powerful.)  But, I honestly don't understand how Alfred drew that conclusion from that note.  It has something to do with greeting danger with a smile, but I'm unsure.

In other words, the issue itself is a mixed bag.  Snyder mostly sells the conclusion, even if we have some bumps on the way.  But, does anyone even remotely believe that Bruce and the Joker won't return?  I mean, we just killed Bruce five years ago.  No one at this point just rolls their eyes and says, "He'll be back in time for Labor Day?"  Also, we just resurrected a dead Damian in "Batman and Robin."  I know that it's not Snyder's fault that other writers have gone to this well so often and recently, but he had to know that a significant number of us are going to roll our eyes at this one.  It also seems like terrible timing, given that "Batman Eternal" just ended.  We never really got a sense of Bruce's status quo, operating from an apartment, losing all his money.  Now, suddenly, he's dead, and we're going right onto the next guy.

In other words?  "Meh."

** (two of five stars)

Batgirl: Endgame #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

If you're a fan of wordless issues, this one is a pretty solid entry in the genre.  I mean, I can't say that it's essential reading for Batgirl fans or "Endgame" readers.  But, it does show Barbara Gordon doing what she does best, somehow saving a bus full of refugees (including Lucius Fox and his family) from the Jokerized zombies.  (Lucius' daughter, of course, gets lost in the shuttle, resulting in a pretty awesome moment where I honestly wasn't sure how Babs was going to save her.  Let's just say, I was pleasantly surprised when it involved driving a bus off a bridge and deploying glider wings.)  The only interesting part from an Endgame perspective is that we seem to be evacuating Gotham.  Honestly, it seems like forever since I've read a "Batman" issue, so I really can't remember where we are in the main story.  In that way, it probably didn't hurt to have this issue at least keep the story fresh for me.  But, again, it doesn't really forward the plot of "Endgame," so you can skip it if you're not totally inspired.

*** (three of five stars)

Detective Comics: Endgame #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue isn't terrible, but it's certainly not great.

Buccellato tells us the story of Lonnie (a.k.a. Moneyspider) trying to get to his mother, a stripper working at a club besieged by both Jokerized citizens and mob hit-men.  Miraculously, along the way, he meets a trio of teens who just so happen to be superheroes in training (or something like that) and gets the help of Spoiler in infiltrating the club.  Lucky, right?  In fact, it's so wish fulfillment-y that I figured, at the end, it was going to be a dream that Lonnie had while he was in a coma after getting shot in "Detective Comics" #38.  But, no, it apparently actually happened.  (Whether this story happened before or after issue #38 is still unclear to me.)

The main point of the story seems to be a launching pad for Lonnie and these three teens becoming some sort of team.  I guess we'll see where that goes.  But, unless you really, really love Lonnie, this issue is easily skippable, since it doesn't even do a great job of giving us any insight into "Endgame" itself.

** (two of five stars)

Batman #39 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Snyder takes a bit of a break here, so I don't really have too much to say.  OK, sure, Joker invades the Batcave, cuts off Alfred's hand, and steals trophies to use in a grim parade through Gotham celebrating its imminent destruction.  But, other than that, it's pretty slow.

It's not necessarily a bad thing.  Snyder has been rushing us headlong into a wall for the last few issues, so it was time to hit the brakes before we hit it.  Bruce gets the Court of Owls to admit that it used a corrupted version of dionesium to create the electrum that brings back Talons, but its leader says that the Joker has the "pure" version.  Bruce engages the older Talon, asking if the Joker was alive when he was first operating, but we don't see the answer to that question.  Instead, Bruce decides to take the fight to the Joker in order to get a sample of the dionesium from his spine.  Essentially, it's the opposite of "Batman Eternal:"  whereas he's skulked in the shadows for almost 50 issues in that series, in this one, Bruce just grabs the bull by the horns here and goes with his hunch that the Joker is the key to curing the virus infecting Gotham.

To accomplish this goal, he calls in his allies and his enemies.  I thought that this part was clever, if somewhat flawed.  First, Batman calls his enemies through an upside-down Bat-signal; it's apparently part of a secret pact that the super-villains made to commemorate Batman if one of them manages to kill him.  Second, it's essentially the same group of villains that we've seen in "Batman Eternal:"  Bane, Clayface, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, the Penguin, Poison Ivy, and Scarecrow.  It's the first time that we've really seen a connection to that series in this one, other than the appearance of Bluebird.  It's nice to know all that suffering paid some sort of dividend.  Finally, it addresses a certain truth, that even the villains don't stand to benefit if the Joker takes out Gotham entirely.

Of course, that said, I'm not sure if this assertion is true across the board.  Of the group, Croc and the Penguin are the ones most directly connected to Gotham, and I guess that Ivy would be upset if the plants died.  But, I do find it hard to believe that Bane, Clayface, Mr. Freeze, or Scarecrow feel like Gotham needs to survive for them to continue operating as super-villains.  In other words, I've never got a sense that they were necessarily Gotham-specific operators, and it's not like taking on the Joker doesn't involve some risk.  Snyder keeps treating this weird little group as a monolithic one, and it's not helping the stories that he's trying to tell.  We really could've used a few pages here to flesh out the motivations of this latter group.

In the end, though, this issue really just sets up the denouement, the final assault on the Joker.  We know that the Joker has something up his sleeve, and he seemingly expected Bats to go to his enemies.  Whatever it is, it can't be good.

*** (three of five stars)

Batman #38 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

First things first, Snyder isn't drawing draw out the mystery at the heart of this arc.  All those hints about Joker existing throughout time last issue aren't just going to linger in the background for a half-dozen issues while we try to guess where Snyder's going with them.  Instead, he gets right to the point:  the Joker appears to be an immortal being, and he has Paul Dekker, a former lab partner of Dr. Death, use his blood to synthesize a virus that decays bodies as quickly as his body heals.  Lest you say, "But, Batman has sampled his blood umpteen times!" Dekker informs us that the substance -- called "dionesium" -- appears only when the body suffers catastrophic damage.  (Snyder is definitely winking at us here.  We now know how the Joker survived that helicopter crash at the end of "Batman:  A Death in the Family" and, well, every death ever.)  Everyone in Gotham suddenly has less than 24 hours to live, and Bruce has to seek out the Court of Owls to, as he says, "talk about history."  (Also, Bruce knows now that the Joker knows his identity.  We sort of just move past that point, because we really already have all four burners working.)

The fact that Snyder gets the mystery itself on the table so early implies that he has a lot planned for this arc.  It's not like "Death of the Family," where we had to spend countless issues just trying to guess whether the Joker knew his identities; in other words, we were trying to guess whether the mystery was actually a mystery.  This time, we've got everything on the table, and it's exciting.  Now, it's entirely possible that Joker isn't an immortal being.  It's not like Dekker is playing with a full deck; the Joker could've synthesized the compound on his own, injected himself with it, and then convinced Dekker that his delusional belief that this compound existed in nature was actually true.  Moreover, it's possible that he found some clever way to Photoshop himself into generations worth of photos; I mean, if he can create an immortality serum, he can probably use Photoshop well.  But, Snyder definitely seems to be staking out the territory that the Joker may actually be immortal.  I really didn't see that coming.

Moreover, we see Bruce isolated here, not because he's isolating his allies, but because they're losing hope.  Snyder's run on "Batman" has been all about his incompetence, but we see a glimmer here of the man that inspires his allies, not one that disappoints them.  Dick and Julia are overwhelmed by the power of the Joker's position.  As Dick says, Gotham has a deadly virus, the Joker is immortal, and he knows Bruce's identity.  It's not a great hand.  Sure, Bruce admits that he doesn't yet have a plan.  But, we finally have the hope that he may have one soon, because he's willing to do the unthinkable -- consult with the Court -- to get one.  That's the man that may inspire the Family to re-form (particularly if he eventually apologizes for being wrong about the Joker knowing his identity).  That's just as exciting as the mystery of the Joker's "immortality."  I'd be pretty happy if we end this arc with a competent Bruce and intact family...assuming, you know, everyone survives.

**** (four of five stars)

Batman Annual #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

The cover says that this issue is an "Endgame" tie-in, and it's not joking.  Whoa.  Tynion summons the same sense that the Joker is an almost demonic figure that Snyder has been striking in the regular issues.  His ability to seep within the cracks of a brash reporter's life is awesome (in the awe-inspiring sense), and Tynion uses it to remind us why someone could confuse him as a supernatural force.  In fact, the reporter comes to the Joker's attention because of his impudence for even questioning that power -- "What is so scary about a clown?" -- and it makes his eventual breaking all the more awful.  It reminds me of the "Batman:  The Animated Series" episode, "Joker's Favor," where the Joker similarly spends years tormenting his prey for a perceived slight.  It was scary then, and it's scary now.

**** (four of five stars)

Batman #37 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Whoa.

Before we get to the big reveal, let's talk about the road leading to it, that started with "Death of the Family."  The problem with "Death of the Family" is that it had a seemingly unintentionally split narrative.  If you read only "Batman," you were left with the impression that the Joker didn't know Batman's identity.  Bruce asserted that the Joker wasn't really interested in him as a man, so his identity was essentially irrelevant; he only cared about Bruce as Batman.  However, if you read the tie-in issues, you were sure that the Joker clearly knew his identity.  He burned down Haly's Circus to torture Nightwing, he kidnapped Batgirl's mother, he essentially created Jason Todd:  he had to have known, to inflict the damage that he does against the Bat-family.  In fact, the schism that happens between Batman and the family comes from Bruce's assertion that the Joker didn't know (something that Snyder more or less presented as the "right" point of view) and the family's assertion that he did.

Snyder pulls back the curtain on this debate, confirming that the Joker did know.  It more or less retroactively changes the message of "Death of the Family," showing Bruce to be so deeply afraid of admitting to making a mistake (that he failed to notice that the Joker had hitched a ride into the Batcave) that he's willing to inflict damage on everyone around him to keep it hidden.  It continues the theme of Snyder's run, of Batman as an unreasonably arrogant and incompetent actor.  Moreover, the premise of "Death of the Family" was that the Joker felt that Batman was losing his edge because of his emotional connections to the family.  If you follow that line of thought, Bruce's refusal to let the Joker kill them in that event essentially sets up the possibility that the Joker no longer sees him as a worthy adversary.  The Joker essentially said as much last issue, telling Bats that he was in town to tie up some loose ends.  Snyder seems to be implying here that the Joker can therefore allow himself to acknowledge Bruce's identity, because he no longer views him as some sort of demi-god.  Batman has become Bruce.  He's just one more human whose life he can ruin now.

Snyder doesn't stop there, though.  An interesting background theme so far is this idea of the Joker as a malevolent spirit.  Snyder puts him out there as an analogue to the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining," a spirit that's been haunting Gotham all along.  Jim discovers his presence in the background of a number of photos at Gotham Presbyterian (the one where his arm appears in a doorway in the photo of a young Babs and James, Jr. is particularly creepy), and one of the escaped convicts in the back-up story presents him as a malevolent spirit that has haunted Gotham since its earliest days and lives off laughter.  Snyder also hints that Gotham "Pres" has some sort of special meaning, and it might mean that Snyder may intend to give us some information about the Joker's past through clarifying this meaning.  But, the mystical aspects of the Joker don't stop with the possibly doctored photos or an insane convict's story.  One of the more interesting moments in this issue is Jim getting up the courage to kill the Joker and feeling incredible relief after pulling the trigger.  The problem is that the Joker has somehow magically survived a slug to the chest.  Body double?  Bullet-proof vest?  Magical resurrection?  I guess we'll see.

**** (four of five stars)

Batman #36 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Holy fucking crap, Batman.

This issue is chilling.  It starts with the conclusion of last issue's fan-wank battle between Bruce and the Justice League, with Bruce employing over-the-top tools like gauntlets tipped with miniaturized red suns and "Kryptonite gum" to take down a Jokerized Superman.  But, it ends with the most terrifying encounter with the Joker that I've ever read.

The revelation that the Joker was Eric Border, the orderly that started working at Arkham Asylum in "Batman" Annual #2, is nothing short of brilliant.  It's a reminder of how amazing Scott Snyder can be.  Every once in a while, we need a display of how good the Joker is to remember why he's Batman's archnemesis.  Snyder achieves that here.  Bruce underestimates Border, just one in a long line of orderlies or other people that want to help Gotham.  Snyder implies that Bruce does so because he believes that he's the only one that really can help Gotham; as a result, he takes everyone else less seriously.  Moreover, he implies that the Joker knows that, because he knows Bruce so well; it's why he's the only one that could've successfully laid the trap that we see here.

But, Snyder also lets us know that we don't just have our usual Joker story here.  It's not just the Joker setting a trap and Batman finding a way to disarm it.  Just as Bruce's relationship with the family broke in "Death of the Family," his relationship with the Joker did as well.  The Joker has gone from a "friend" helping Bruce to be the best Batman that he can be to an enemy looking to "close up shop."  He's bored with Batman.  Snyder really lets that idea wash over you, allowing you to contemplate the horror that the Joker could unleash on Gotham with no self-imposed restrictions on his behavior.  Moreover, Snyder implies that he's bored with Batman because he's better than Batman is.  Better than Batman.  That takes a lot to ponder.  It's been a theme of Snyder's run on this title since the re-launch, but it's never really been stated as clearly as it is here.  Looking at Bruce trapped in the Joker's former cell at Arkham, you have to wonder if he isn't right.

Capullo is amazing as always.  The images of flies caught in the spider's web is brilliant, a perfect metaphor for Bruce finding himself unexpectedly trapped.  But, it's the revelation of the Joker's new face that stops you in your tracks and makes you realize that we're playing a totally different ball game here.  Whoever the Joker was the last time that we saw him, he is no longer.

All the Bat-series at this point are promising a new future once Batman defeats the various challenges that he faces, like the Joker here or Hush in "Batman Eternal" (if it is Hush behind all the events there).  But, you have to start wondering if that's even possible.  Although he clearly makes his way through the events of "Batman Eternal," Snyder successfully sets up the possibility that he has a false confidence, because it's "Endgame" that could actually break him.

***** (five of five stars)

Batman #35 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is fine, though I feel like I've read it a hundred times already.  The only unique twist on Batman fighting the Justice League that appears in this issue is that Joker is responsible for it happening this time.  But, the fight itself goes pretty much the same way that it always does, with Bruce revealing that he's spent years (and more than the military budgets of most small countries) putting together a suit of armor that can fend off the League.

My only real complaint is that it was somewhat hard to follow Bruce's fight with Flash.  Capullo focuses in the camera, if you will, on a tumbling batarang struck by a lightning bolt.  However, it's unclear what the point of focusing on the batarang is, since Flash is actually defeated when Bruce uses the suit to cover the street with a frictionless surface.  But, otherwise, the fights are pretty easy to follow, if boring.

The big reveal of this issue should be related to the fact that it happens after "Batman Eternal," but, honestly, we don't learn much.  Alfred survives, as expected, and Bruce moves into an apartment in the heart of Gotham.  It appears to have some connection to the Court of Owls, so it seems possible that the Court or Owlman might yet make an appearance in "Batman Eternal."  I guess that's supposed to keep us going.

** (two of five stars)