By Mark Rodriguez
It turns out that Bruce's girlfriend throughout the Dollmaker story, Charlotte Rivers, turned out to have an evil twin sister named Jill Hudson. Jill murdered her way to Penguin's new Iceberg Casino for some sort of underhanded plot. Meanwhile Penguin is trying to recruit new up and coming villains. Last issue, Jill's partner, Snakeskin, stabbed Charlotte in the arm repeatedly. Batman came in to save her, but Snakeskin managed to trap them both in the room and eject them to the chilling ice outside of the Casino. What will happen now?
"The Snake and the Hawk" opens with Jill punching Jack's face into pulp, angry that he killed her sister. He tells her that she knew sooner or later one of them had to go and Jill yells that it was her call to make. Jill regains herself and remembers she has to be strong so they can both succeed in their plane. Jack and Jill kiss and get ready.
Batman is hanging on to a cable while holding Charlotte as a spinning propeller lays below them, ready to shred them up should they fall. He calls for Alfred to lock onto his signal and bring the Batsub post haste. Alfred smashes his way in, destroying the propeller in the process and saving Batman and Charlotte. Bats tells him to fill a life raft with lots of ice.
Jack feels the thud made when Alfred hit the Casino and sees police helicopters in the area. Jill tells him to grab his gun, which is plastic and won't set off any alarms. Due to Jill punching the hell out of his face earlier, Jack is now severely deformed and he can't use his abilities to change his face back. Jill says they can't complete the mission with Snakeskin exposed, but he takes the gun and said he'll go take the shot.
Elsewhere, Mr. Combustible felt the shock caused by Alfred. Lark arrives and will escort Penguin to his bunker since the police are arriving due to a bomb threat. Penguin asks if Charlotte had anything to do with it and Lark tells him she lost sight of her seven minutes ago. Hypnotic asks Penguin is they should also be invited to his bunker. Penguin tells them that his deal is to keep their money safe, but they can take care of themselves. Hypnotic says he doesn't trust his money with the Penguin anymore.
Alfred tells Batman that is was clever to phone in a bomb threat since the police arrived so quickly. Batman and Alfred cover Charlotte in ice and tell him he lost a lot of blood but by giving her hypothermia they slowed that down. Alfred will have the police airlift Charlotte to the E.R while Batman goes back inside to deal with Snakeskin and Jill. Alfred tells him Jill is a master of martial arts and is behind several crime sprees in Russia and China.
Batman finally figures out that Jill was the clown killer he faced at the park earlier, the one who dropped the chip with Jack's fingerprints on it, and the one that killed Nicholas Pog. He asks himself what she's doing with Snakeskin.
Jill uses a sensor in her hand to open up all of Penguin's vaults. Meanwhile everyone is being evacuated due to the bomb threat and Penguin claims he'll give everyone who was inconvenienced free admission. Penguin tells Lark, Jay and Raven that he wants the head of whoever called in the bomb threat. Just then, Snakeskin pushes his way through the crowd and aims a gun at the Penguin.
Snakeskin fires his weapon and it explodes in his face, killing him. Lark tells Penguin the man has an accomplice and she was seen near the vaults. Penguin tells her to bring the woman to him. Hypnotic tells Penguin that they are not impressed with the events of the evening and are backing out of their deal. Penguin tells them that if they break the deal, he'll break them with it.
Jill tells Batman to come out, since she knows he's hiding somewhere. Batman comes out and tells him her sister might live, no thanks to her and Snakeskin. She tells him she had it coming and they fight until he manages to grab her. He tells her he knows she is Charlotte's sister and that they're both Mayor Hady's daughters. Just then Penguin's villains grab Jill and tell Batman that she has a lot to answer for.
Batman fights the villains. Hypnotic tries to use his powers on Batman and the Dark Knight punches his glasses clean off. He tells him that radio control waves won't work on him. Batman tells the bad guys that the Penguin is tricking them into keeping their money safe for him, and they are his competition. Mr. Combustible says he does sense high explosives in the chamber they're in and Batman tells everyone to get out. Batman barely escapes as the chamber explodes.
Outside the Penguin's secret bunker, Jill calls out for the Penguin. Penguin says their plan almost worked perfectly. Jill tells him she planted the bombs so the other villains should now be dead and he gets to keep the money. Penguin says the villains managed to escape alive. Jill says with the failed assassination attempt, they'll be after her instead of him and with her cut of the money she'll be able to hide real well.
Just then Lark pulls a gun on her. Penguin tells Jill that he'll fulfill his promise to her, and make sure Mayor Hady's re-election campaign will run smoothly. Batman comes in and kicks Lark in the face, knocking her out. Jill pulls her sai, ready to attack the Penguin, but Batman shoves her out of the way of Penguin's flamethrower umbrella. The blast sends Penguin flying into a chunk of ice, also knocking him out. Batman tells Jill that she's done playing with the big boys and she tells him that he's not the police. Batman says that hasn't stopped him yet.
Later on, Jill is in prison and is asking Mr. Mosiac for help, who is still angry that she stole his car and left him stranded in the middle of the road. Mosiac tells her that he knows her father knows shes in jail and he'll help her get out. As he walks out he says he heard the mayor hired the best attorney. The attorney, Mr. Weaver enters the room and says he's her criminal defense lawyer hired by her dad. Actually, it turns out to be Snakeskin, who pulls out a knife and tells her 'The Penguin says hello'.
My opinions
Well, this was an interesting little story with a few twists here and there. Jill was working for Penguin all along, to help kill off the other criminals and also take all their money. I wouldn't trust my money with the Penguin, but these guys were described as small fry and new to Gotham, so they didn't know any better.
I do find it funny that after all of this, Batman only faces Penguin in the very last pages... and Penguin basically knocks himself out by the recoil effect from firing off his own umbrella. I guess you can say we've seen Batman fight the Penguin a million times before, and more attention was focused on Jack and Jill, and Batman's fight with the new villains.
The new villains don't do too much that I can remember, but they do have several appearances throughout the new 53, I just don't know if they've made any appearance since then, unless someone decides to use them again. I don't know why, but when I first read this back then, I was excited to see new bad guys brought in along with the classics. I again say that Mr. Toxic is bad ass looking and I think he actually gets a story arc.
The ones that get the most attention or even names are Mr. Toxic, Mr. Combustible and Hypnotic. But... who are the other guys and what do they do? Hypnotic tries to hypnotize Batman and failed and Mr. Toxic uses lethal gas, but what about everyone else? Like who is this guy grabbing Jill? What's his name?
As for Jill, she is cold blooded and dangerous, and based on how she treats Jack, she is very abusive. There a moment where she started calling him a bottom feeder and what not and Jack told him she said she's quit talking like that. Jill is just full of rage and lacks remorse, except for possibly her sister, and it now seems her story ends here. I kinda wished Penguin and Lark did kill her themselves though, like I've seen Scarface kill so many people without Batman anywhere to save the day, but I guess we needed some sort of confrontation between Batman and the Penguin in this story I guess.
It was interesting to see that Charlotte had an evil twin sister which gave her a little more to do last issue than just be Bruce's girlfriend. It seems she will survive her fatal stabbing, but I wonder how much longer she'll stick around.
It turns out that Bruce's girlfriend throughout the Dollmaker story, Charlotte Rivers, turned out to have an evil twin sister named Jill Hudson. Jill murdered her way to Penguin's new Iceberg Casino for some sort of underhanded plot. Meanwhile Penguin is trying to recruit new up and coming villains. Last issue, Jill's partner, Snakeskin, stabbed Charlotte in the arm repeatedly. Batman came in to save her, but Snakeskin managed to trap them both in the room and eject them to the chilling ice outside of the Casino. What will happen now?
"The Snake and the Hawk" opens with Jill punching Jack's face into pulp, angry that he killed her sister. He tells her that she knew sooner or later one of them had to go and Jill yells that it was her call to make. Jill regains herself and remembers she has to be strong so they can both succeed in their plane. Jack and Jill kiss and get ready.
Batman is hanging on to a cable while holding Charlotte as a spinning propeller lays below them, ready to shred them up should they fall. He calls for Alfred to lock onto his signal and bring the Batsub post haste. Alfred smashes his way in, destroying the propeller in the process and saving Batman and Charlotte. Bats tells him to fill a life raft with lots of ice.
Jack feels the thud made when Alfred hit the Casino and sees police helicopters in the area. Jill tells him to grab his gun, which is plastic and won't set off any alarms. Due to Jill punching the hell out of his face earlier, Jack is now severely deformed and he can't use his abilities to change his face back. Jill says they can't complete the mission with Snakeskin exposed, but he takes the gun and said he'll go take the shot.
Elsewhere, Mr. Combustible felt the shock caused by Alfred. Lark arrives and will escort Penguin to his bunker since the police are arriving due to a bomb threat. Penguin asks if Charlotte had anything to do with it and Lark tells him she lost sight of her seven minutes ago. Hypnotic asks Penguin is they should also be invited to his bunker. Penguin tells them that his deal is to keep their money safe, but they can take care of themselves. Hypnotic says he doesn't trust his money with the Penguin anymore.
Alfred tells Batman that is was clever to phone in a bomb threat since the police arrived so quickly. Batman and Alfred cover Charlotte in ice and tell him he lost a lot of blood but by giving her hypothermia they slowed that down. Alfred will have the police airlift Charlotte to the E.R while Batman goes back inside to deal with Snakeskin and Jill. Alfred tells him Jill is a master of martial arts and is behind several crime sprees in Russia and China.
Batman finally figures out that Jill was the clown killer he faced at the park earlier, the one who dropped the chip with Jack's fingerprints on it, and the one that killed Nicholas Pog. He asks himself what she's doing with Snakeskin.
Jill uses a sensor in her hand to open up all of Penguin's vaults. Meanwhile everyone is being evacuated due to the bomb threat and Penguin claims he'll give everyone who was inconvenienced free admission. Penguin tells Lark, Jay and Raven that he wants the head of whoever called in the bomb threat. Just then, Snakeskin pushes his way through the crowd and aims a gun at the Penguin.
Snakeskin fires his weapon and it explodes in his face, killing him. Lark tells Penguin the man has an accomplice and she was seen near the vaults. Penguin tells her to bring the woman to him. Hypnotic tells Penguin that they are not impressed with the events of the evening and are backing out of their deal. Penguin tells them that if they break the deal, he'll break them with it.
Jill tells Batman to come out, since she knows he's hiding somewhere. Batman comes out and tells him her sister might live, no thanks to her and Snakeskin. She tells him she had it coming and they fight until he manages to grab her. He tells her he knows she is Charlotte's sister and that they're both Mayor Hady's daughters. Just then Penguin's villains grab Jill and tell Batman that she has a lot to answer for.
Batman fights the villains. Hypnotic tries to use his powers on Batman and the Dark Knight punches his glasses clean off. He tells him that radio control waves won't work on him. Batman tells the bad guys that the Penguin is tricking them into keeping their money safe for him, and they are his competition. Mr. Combustible says he does sense high explosives in the chamber they're in and Batman tells everyone to get out. Batman barely escapes as the chamber explodes.
Outside the Penguin's secret bunker, Jill calls out for the Penguin. Penguin says their plan almost worked perfectly. Jill tells him she planted the bombs so the other villains should now be dead and he gets to keep the money. Penguin says the villains managed to escape alive. Jill says with the failed assassination attempt, they'll be after her instead of him and with her cut of the money she'll be able to hide real well.
Just then Lark pulls a gun on her. Penguin tells Jill that he'll fulfill his promise to her, and make sure Mayor Hady's re-election campaign will run smoothly. Batman comes in and kicks Lark in the face, knocking her out. Jill pulls her sai, ready to attack the Penguin, but Batman shoves her out of the way of Penguin's flamethrower umbrella. The blast sends Penguin flying into a chunk of ice, also knocking him out. Batman tells Jill that she's done playing with the big boys and she tells him that he's not the police. Batman says that hasn't stopped him yet.
Later on, Jill is in prison and is asking Mr. Mosiac for help, who is still angry that she stole his car and left him stranded in the middle of the road. Mosiac tells her that he knows her father knows shes in jail and he'll help her get out. As he walks out he says he heard the mayor hired the best attorney. The attorney, Mr. Weaver enters the room and says he's her criminal defense lawyer hired by her dad. Actually, it turns out to be Snakeskin, who pulls out a knife and tells her 'The Penguin says hello'.
My opinions
Well, this was an interesting little story with a few twists here and there. Jill was working for Penguin all along, to help kill off the other criminals and also take all their money. I wouldn't trust my money with the Penguin, but these guys were described as small fry and new to Gotham, so they didn't know any better.
I do find it funny that after all of this, Batman only faces Penguin in the very last pages... and Penguin basically knocks himself out by the recoil effect from firing off his own umbrella. I guess you can say we've seen Batman fight the Penguin a million times before, and more attention was focused on Jack and Jill, and Batman's fight with the new villains.
The new villains don't do too much that I can remember, but they do have several appearances throughout the new 53, I just don't know if they've made any appearance since then, unless someone decides to use them again. I don't know why, but when I first read this back then, I was excited to see new bad guys brought in along with the classics. I again say that Mr. Toxic is bad ass looking and I think he actually gets a story arc.
The ones that get the most attention or even names are Mr. Toxic, Mr. Combustible and Hypnotic. But... who are the other guys and what do they do? Hypnotic tries to hypnotize Batman and failed and Mr. Toxic uses lethal gas, but what about everyone else? Like who is this guy grabbing Jill? What's his name?
As for Jill, she is cold blooded and dangerous, and based on how she treats Jack, she is very abusive. There a moment where she started calling him a bottom feeder and what not and Jack told him she said she's quit talking like that. Jill is just full of rage and lacks remorse, except for possibly her sister, and it now seems her story ends here. I kinda wished Penguin and Lark did kill her themselves though, like I've seen Scarface kill so many people without Batman anywhere to save the day, but I guess we needed some sort of confrontation between Batman and the Penguin in this story I guess.
It was interesting to see that Charlotte had an evil twin sister which gave her a little more to do last issue than just be Bruce's girlfriend. It seems she will survive her fatal stabbing, but I wonder how much longer she'll stick around.
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