The New 52- Arkham War # 4

By Mark Rodriguez

Due to the Crime Syndicate killing off the Justice League, all the villains of the DC universe run wild,  and the ones from Arkham and Blackgate have taken over Gotham. Bane has come to take over and tries to release the Talon, but even so, the other villains don't fear him. He decides to wear the symbol that does strike fear in their hearts. He becomes the new Batman.

The issue opens with Bane awakening the only Talon that wasn't stolen by the Man-Bats, William Cobb, who happens to be the same Talon defeated by Nightwing during the Night of the Talons story. Bane explains they're very similar and convinces him to help him 'make Gotham right again'. William suits up and they both head out to rescue the other captured Talons.

 Meanwhile in Union Circle, the insane fighting among the Bat-Villains continue as Firefly fries the Reaper. The Mad Hatter gets attacked by some of the Blackgate prisoners and Firefly complains that he has to waste time protecting him. Reaper wasn't defeated just yet and starts attacking Firefly. Before Reaper can finish him off, Sumo lands on him and crushes his bones.

It's really not clear who is on whose side during these riots. These guys are fighting against each other as well as alongside each other every few seconds

Bane arrived and sends Cobb to kill anyone from Arkham, and he starts a fight with Sumo. Cobb grabs Firefly and uses him to roast Sumo. One of the Backgate thugs is punching out one of the Man-Bats and is about to face Zsasz. Mr. Combustible is facing off against Ferdie, the deadly living doll working alongside Shauna Belzer, the new Ventriloquist. The doll jumps on Combustible and uses his drill hands to kill him, exposing glowing goop. Zsaz tackle the Blackgate inmate down and says he was just happy killing people in Chicago before Nightwing brought him in, so he's glad to hear that the hero is currently dead (The Crime Syndicate has captured him). He then cuts the guy's head off and states real strength from patience and killing as many as you can. Just then Bane grabs him by the head.
Cobb states that Arkham Asylum was never a good idea, and the Court knew it. He says lunacy can never be cured, it needs to be extinguished. Bane says he got what he came for and tells Cobb to follow him so he can know the rest of the story.

 Elsewhere a kid is running with some bread he stole, when he's grabbed by a random guy with a gun. The boy's mother is homeless just several feet away, and begs for him not to hurt the boy. The man takes the loaf of bread and says the kid has to pay the piper. Bat-Bane arrives and brutally kills the man (back-breaker included) while Cobb tells the family to avert their eyes from the violence. Bane considers himself the family's savior. He tells them they can be safe at Bane Tower and any family and friends they know can go there to be safe. They will be fed and cared for and trained to protect themselves. 

Later on, Bane is attacking Zsasz, mocking that someone that cuts himself every time he kills someone should have a higher threshold for pain. Cobb tells him that if he plans to save Gotham just so that he can rule it for himself, there will be a lot of people against him. Bane will have Zsasz tell them where the Talons are being kept, and then he'll let the Court of Owls rule Gotham as they see fit. In exchange he wants an army of Venom-charged Talons at his disposal. Cobb asks what Bane really wants if this wasn't about controlling Gotham. He says Gotham is his stepping stone for all that lies beyond. 

As another family runs off with food, underground in the sewers we see that Mr. Freeze and Scarecrow are using a mixture of his fear toxin and Mad Hatter's mind control to make sure the Talons will obey them when they awaken. Vortex hopes this will work since he wants the Tweedles out of his sector (even though Clayface is doing a good job of kicking their asses already as we've seen). Scarecrow is excited and explains that with their own army of Talons they can finally put things in their favor despite whatever plans the Penguin and Bane may have. They'll take the army of Talons and point them at the Bane, and take back their city. 

As another family runs off with food, underground in the sewers we see that Mr. Freeze and Scarecrow are using a mixture of his fear toxin and Mad Hatter's mind control to make sure the Talons will obey them when they awaken. Vortex hopes this will work since he wants the Tweedles out of his sector (even though Clayface is doing a good job of kicking their asses already as we've seen). Scarecrow is excited and explains that with their own army of Talons they can finally put things in their favor despite whatever plans the Penguin and Bane may have. They'll take the army of Talons and point them at the Bane, and take back their city. 

My Opinions-

This issue was interesting, particularly with all the villains we got to see, especially the obscure ones. In fact I kinda had to go back to see who Sumo and Mr. Combustible were. And wow, looking back I remembered that Mr. Combustible was one rookie villains that was working with the Penguin in an early Detective comics tale (the next story after the Dollmaker arc). And here he is getting killed by a living doll with drills that come out of his hands named Ferdie. Um... well his criminal career sure didn't last long...

Ferdie is in fact a living doll, working alongside fellow psycho Shauna Belzer who can move things with her mind, and is calling herself the new Ventriloquist. She's a Batgirl villain and also got her own issue during the Villains Month deal. I lost track of Batgirl shortly when the Death of the Family started, so I might have to pick up the trades of those issues. But wow. That's just all kinds of freaky... and it makes the past Ventriloquist just seem boring and tame in comparison.

It's cool to see Cobb again, who as you remember cause Batman a lot of trouble in the original Court of Owls story, as well as Nightwing. I assume he will be the key of how Bane can gain command of the Talons.