The issue kicks off with Alfred sitting down with his daughter, Julia. He’s not there for a nice family lunch, though. He tells her he’s taking a leave of absence and staying in Gotham indefinitely.
Why? Because he met a man who’s lost his way, and that man needs Alfred’s help. Alfred doesn’t say who this man is, but if you’ve been reading this series, you probably already have a guess (it’s Bruce).
Here’s where things get a little tense. Julia was actually enjoying their time together, and Alfred’s announcement stings. She points out that he’s staying for “him,” not for her. Her exact words: he’s treating this man like “the son he never had.”
Alfred tries to explain himself. He says the whole reason he got into this dangerous line of work in the first place was to protect his wife and Julia, and everyone else too. It’s a noble reason, sure, but Julia isn’t buying it. She tells him she’s heard this speech before, and she’s got her own thoughts on the matter. Does he want to hear them?
The Robins Are Falling Apart
We cut away from that tense conversation to Dick Grayson, who walks out in a towel asking if anyone’s hungry. Turns out the group has been looking at something called the “Gotham Favorite Robin,” basically a ranked list of who’s been the best Robin. Tim Drake comes out on top. Dick, somewhat surprisingly, lands last.
This isn’t just a fun bit of trivia, though. Dick is worried the team is getting distracted from what actually matters. He says this isn’t what any of them signed up for.
Jason wants to go back out and find Batman. Nobody else is on board. Everyone’s exhausted, and honestly, so are their suits (these are powered suits that need to recharge).
Tim jumps in and reminds Jason that they’re a team, so going out alone is a bad idea. Dick agrees, saying they should be focused on making Gotham a better place. Jason claps back that hunting down Batman is part of making Gotham better. Then he leaves. Dick tells the others to let him go.
This decision matters a lot later in the issue, so keep it in mind.
Julia’s Warning
Back with Julia and Alfred, she shared the first thing she’s learned: has all of Alfred’s work over the years actually made the world better? She calls the people they fight “phantom enemies,” which is pretty accurate.
Before she leaves (after paying for the meal), she leaves Alfred with one more thought. Sometimes, she says, when you swing at phantoms, you end up hitting the people closest to you instead.
Foreshadowing.
Barbara Gordon Hits a Wall
Meanwhile, Detective Harvey Bullock visits Barbara Gordon, giving her flowers. She was working out. Barbara asks him to put more officers on her father’s murder case. Bullock tells her he can’t. It’s an open and shut case. Batman did it.
Barbara isn’t having it. She asks him point blank: is it that he can’t, or that he won’t? Then she tells him to leave, because she’s tired of empty gestures. It’s a short scene, but it shows just how much trust has broken down between the people who are supposed to be protecting Gotham.
Harley’s Done With Batman
Quick scene here: Harley Quinn is building a new hammer to replace the one Batman broke. She has officially had it with Batman. It’s a small beat, but it adds to the growing sense that Batman is running out of allies.
Bruce’s Big Mystery
Bruce is down in the sewers, which function as his Batcave in this version of the story, trying to piece together what’s going on.
In a previous issue, Bruce discovered that his entire life was engineered by the Joker and the Scarecrow to turn him into Batman. Even more shocking, his father is still alive and being held captive somewhere. So Bruce is desperately trying to figure out what the master plan is.
That’s when Penguin, Riddler, Killer Croc, and Two-Face show up and offer to help. In this version of the universe, they’re all Bruce’s childhood friends, which is a pretty big twist if you’re used to the standard Batman mythos.
Bruce doesn’t trust it for a second. He thinks they’re being manipulated by Joker and Scarecrow, whether they realize it or not. He’s found evidence of shell companies named after clowns, which makes him even more suspicious that his old friends are being used as pawns. They insist it’s just a coincidence.
Here’s where it gets… weird. Bruce points out that where each of them was standing when his father supposedly died at the zoo lines up disturbingly well with who they became later. Croc was near the crocodile enclosure. Penguin was near the penguins, etc. Bruce sees it as basically a preview of what they’d each grow up to be. It’s more proof.
They tell him they just want to help him get his dad back. He refuses. He trusts no one at this point, and honestly, given everything he’s just learned, who could blame him?
Then Alfred shows up with someone unexpected: Bruce’s mother, Martha. She was a highly trained assassin known as a Talon, from a secret organization called the Court of Owls. If you’re not familiar, the Court of Owls is a shadowy group that’s secretly controlled Gotham for generations in various Batman stories. Talons are their trained enforcer.
Bruce demands she tell him what she knows. He gets violent, striking out around her head. Alfred has to stun him just to get him to stop, which lets Batman escape.
Batman’s notes look like Scarecrow.
Flashback: Working Off a Debt
We jump back in time to when Bruce was working for the crime boss Carmine Falcone to pay off a debt. Falcone wants him to use “the bat,” on a man who’s wronged everyone in his life.
Right before this, Bruce’s mother, Martha, left him a note that says, “Be more than this, love Mom.” It’s a short line, but it clearly sticks with him. Bruce starts realizing there are lines he isn’t willing to cross, even under pressure from Falcone.
Jason Finds Batman (Sort Of)
Back in the present, Jason is out in his mech suit hunting for Batman on his own, exactly like Dick warned against earlier. He actually finds him. Batman tells Jason he’s not there to fight.
Jason doesn’t care. He uses a device that ropes Batman up so he can’t move. Tim Drake shows up too, not wanting Jason to be out alone. Jason climbs out of his mech to gloat a little, and Tim does the same.
That’s when things go wrong. Crows start swarming, and a strange substance starts appearing on both of their mech suits. It’s Clayface, the shapeshifting villain, in this universe’s version of the character.
Batman screams for Clayface to take him instead, but it’s too late. Clayface morphs into a massive, spiked version of Batman himself, and Tim Drake gets impaled by one of the spikes, killing him. Jason ends up pinned to the ground, covered in clay. Batman breaks free of the rope and prepares to fight Clayface, who is notoriously difficult to beat because of his shapeshifting.
Flashback: The Line He Won’t Cross
Back in the flashback, we learn who Bruce was supposed to attack for Falcone: a man named Matches Malone. Bruce is wearing a mask at the time. Bruce has quick flashbacks of honorable moments in his life. He can’t go through with the hit.
The Fallout
Back in the present, Batman and Clayface keep fighting until Clayface finally escapes through a drain. Scarecrow was watching the whole thing, gloating that this was bound to happen eventually.
Batman is holding Tim’s body when Jason wakes up. Jason assumes Batman killed Tim, the exact same way Scarecrow framed Batman for Commissioner Gordon’s death earlier in the series. Batman runs off just as the police show up.
The issue ends back in the flashback, where Bruce refuses to let anyone hurt Matches Malone. He manages to escape with the man’s life intact.
So What Does It All Mean?
This issue is really about consequences catching up to people. Alfred chose Bruce over his own family, and Julia’s warning about hitting the people closest to you instead of your real enemies lands hard by the end of the issue, especially once Tim gets hurt because Jason went off on his own. Bruce’s flashbacks show us exactly where his moral code came from, while the present day shows that code being tested from every direction: his rogues, his family, and now his own adopted sons.
My Thoughts
Another packed issue! Okay, the Julia and Alfred bits make sense and were expected. It was doubtful they would straighten things out that quickly and smoothly.
Barbara’s scene is also predictable. She’s prepping to be Batgirl. This is the “something” that pushes her to do it. The mishandling of her father’s murder feels like a natural transition.
Tim Drake’s murder, from a historical perspective, makes sense. Last time, Jason died and Tim had to work through it. This time, Tim died and Jason will have to work through it. Keep in mind, if Jason hadn’t insisted on hunting for Batman, Tim would be alive. And Dick will have to live with his words, “Let him go”.
Where to start with Bruce? He’s understandably paranoid. Scarecrow is a master manipulator to deal with alone but paired with Joker? That’s hell. Here’s my “theory”.
In #23, when Clayface appeared with Scarecrow, first the crows appeared then we could see the clay on the mechs.
Where did we see that before?
I think the empty coffin was Clayface and the “dirt” we see on Batman’s hands as he watched his “father” naked in a cage, alive, was Clayface’s “clay”.
Which would mean Martha (and everyone else) was right: Bruce’s father is dead. His coffin is probably lower in the ground under Clayface. Who is being held captive?
And… Bruce was right about not trusting anything. But, the people in his life he could trust because they love him. He was fighting empty phantoms and hit the people he cared about the most instead (almost literally). Good quote Julia.
