By Mark Rodriguez
Bruce Wayne is cleaning Gotham up with affordable new housing in the bad parts of town, but there are still problems in the area. Vandal Savage is currently the Commissioner and the Court of Owls seem to be backing a seemingly reformed Riddler. Mayor Nakano was found shot dead in his home, and as Batman want to investigate it turns out that Jim Gordon killed him in self defense. What will happen now?
"The Dying City" Part Three opens Thirteen weeks ago at Gordon and Bullock Private Investigators, as Gordon wraps up another case. Gordon feels depressed as all they seem to get are cases dealing with insurance scams or infidelity claims. Bullock says to prepare to get more depressed as he has a new case. This one concerns a woman using and alias and insisting on only speaking to Gordon. Bullock calls him 'Mr. Trustworthy' and forwards him the email.
Ten weeks ago, we see Gordon speaking with Ms. Koyuki Nakano over dinner. Gordon says he trailed her husbands for weeks and found no evidence of an affair, he's just a very busy man. Koyuki apologizes for wasting his time. Gordon explains their kinds of jobs take a lot out of them, only leaving them to think about the next job the following day. After all that, Gordon says he still misses being the police commissioner.
Koyuki says it's been rough and she feels like a single parent living with a roommate she used to be in love with. She just got out of a deep depression and feels alone. Gordon assures her that she is not alone.
Eight weeks ago, Gordon and Koyuki are strolling through the park. She mentions her son is old enough to run, which reminds Gordon when his son first did the same. Koyuki says this makes me feel like she can run too. Gordon says she doesn't have to stay. Koyuki says neither does Gordon. She knows Bullock went back to the police force and Gordon hates being a P.I. Gordon says his life is a mess, the only job he knows is being a police commissioner and the mayor isn't returning his calls. Koyuki says now they can both be ignored by him. Just then a large man steps up to them and asks then how to get to the mayor's office.
The man takes a swing at Gordon while another man grabs Koyuki. The second man tries to take Koyuki to their van while the first man is about to pull a gun on Gordon. Gordon pulls the man's arm upwards, making him shoot in the air, and then socks him across the jaw. Gordon takes that gun and shoots the one that was grabbing Koyuki.
Koyuki runs towards Gordon to make sure he's alright. Gordon says it's nothing an ice pack won't fix. As they hug, Koyuki says they can still run. They both sit on the ground and share a kiss.
Six weeks ago, Mayor Takano is given photos of his wife's affair with Gordon, and we see that Leonid Kull was the one to deliver them.
Five weeks ago, Gordon is upset to find out that Vandal Savage has been made commissioner when he just arrived in Gotham. Gordon feels the mayor did this on purpose and it's possible he knows about the affair. Koyuki says Gordon is being paranoid. She says soon they will get a fresh start in Metropolis alongside her son.
Three nights ago, Gordon heads towards Koyuki's house and she isn't responding to his text messages. Chase Nakano pours himself a drink and tells Gordon that his wife isn't home. They had a fight and she ran off, most likely with her sister. He knows she's not running away with Gordon, as he told her he would get full custody of their child.
Gordon says Koyuki doesn't love him anymore and their marriage is a sham. He tells Chase to let her be happy for once. Chase asks if he thinks ruining her life by having her run off with an old has-been will make her happy. Chase says his wife is clinically depressed and he has been helping her for years while Gordon is just a distraction. Gordon says it's his fault that his wife is depressed.
Gordon says that Chase has ignored his wife for months, and she was almost kidnapped by some two-bit crime family because he is the mayor. Chase says that Gordon is one to talk since his daughter was shot and his wife was killed because he was the commissioner. Chase punches Gordon in the face, saying that despite what happened he still wants to be the commissioner again. Gordon punches him back saying he doesn't know him. Chase says he knows he's death, and he won't allow the same thing to happen to his wife and kid. Chase grabs a trophy and is about to swing it at Gordon. Gordon pulls out his gun.
Now, Gordon is talking to Bullock. Bullock says there are precise shots and he has the motive of the wife and the commissioner job, which will be enough to charge him. Gordon says he didn't do it. He went to see Koyuki, Chase confronted him about the affair, things got heated, but he didn't shoot him. Bullock says he will try his best to clear him, but Savage is already foaming at the mouth for a conviction. He has his best men inside and outside of the station working this case. Gordon tells Bullock to tell Batman.
Later on, Batman says Gordon didn't do it. Bullock says he could have, since the bullets came from an old police revolver and Gordon hated Nakano and also wasn't in his right mind lately. There's been a lot of death, shootings and the Joker war from the previous year. Batman says Gordon didn't do it and he will prove it. The Dark Knight swings off.
Bruce dreams of being a child and going to see his parents after having a nightmare. His father tells him to join him in bed with his mother. Bruce doesn't know who the woman is and says that's not his mother. Bruce's father angrily says she is his mother if he says so. As Bruce leaves, his father yells out that he better respect him. Bruce sees someone in the darkness asking him 'how it feels'. Bruce asks 'how does what feel'. We see Gordon, his head covered in blood as he asks Bruce how it feels to be the only good man.
Bruce waked up and goes to shower as the news covers more of the recent protests against his attempts to fix low income housing. Commander Star has been there making sure the protests remain peaceful as he talks smack about Wayne on TV. He says Bruce must stand against these capitalist handouts and is embarrassed to have inherited money from his wealthy parents. Commander Star claims his family would be ashamed of his wealth distribution.
Elsewhere, Nygma meets with Ms. Birkemoe. She says she shouldn't be seen here, but Edward prefers to meet up with her face-to-face, She says the new mayor has already allowed all his permits. Edward says Mayor Horgan is very business-forward and says that Birkemoe might be wondering how this would affect their proposed merger. She says at this point he wouldn't need Wayne Enterprises anymore. Nygma tells her he plans to scoop up the upcoming shares from Wayne's new heir. He no longer plans to merge with Wayne Enterprises, rather he wants to acquire it, as NgymaTech goes global. Birkemoe is shocked and Nygma says there will be a whole new world for her as she entered early retirement.
Bruce goes to visit his supposed brother, and is confronted from Leonid Kull and his bodyguards. Leonid introduces himself and says he is helping Mr. Pureford get what is rightfully his. Bruce surely it's not much to ask to allow him to talk to the man that says is his brother. Leonid says they can have their family reunion after he gets his share of Wayne Enterprises. He warns if Bruce takes one more step, he will be stepping upon Mr. Pureford's property. Bruce takes a step forward and gets in Leonid's face.
Bruce is hit from behind by one of the bodyguards. Bruce falls on the ground and stealthily plants a homing device on the bottom of Leonid's shoe while the bodyguards continue to hit him. The men head back into the building with Leonid, leaving Bruce lying on the ground outside.
Later that night, Batman returns to Nakano's home, the scene of the crime, to see if he didn't miss something since Gordon disrupted his last attempt. Batman find a small sliver of something that was possibly part of some device. He puts the tiny object into a plastic bag as he ponders if the device recorded the murder. He states that the on-site cameras were wiped and he wonders if Gordon really did do it. Batman says he needs to see Gordon actually pull the trigger before he can believe it.
Later on Bullock takes Gordon to the interrogation room where Batman is waiting. Batman shows Gordon some photographs. He says the house drives were wiped but there are still cameras on the block from surrounding stores that capture everything around them. One of the reflections show Gordon walking down the block with a bag of evidence.
Gordon says he did it, but he can barely remember since it all feels like a dream. Batman asks why he had Bullock tell him to look deeper into this, since he knew he would this evidence. Gordon says he needed Batman to make this real to him and erase all doubt. He takes off his glasses and Batman noticed they're broken. Gordon says Chase landed a punch on him. Batman examines the glasses and says the piece he recovered is too thin and the arms on the frame are hollow. Just then an alarm goes off and Batman says Savage knows he's here.
Batman tells Gordon to block the door as he examines the glasses. He asks where he got them. Gordon says he got them from Wallace Optical. He says a kid banged up his old glasses and he got an email from his optometrist around that time. A police officer steps in and draws his gun. Batman kicks him back and Gordon puts him in a choke hold.
Batman examines the glasses and finds that they have technology in them. he recognizes this as the work of Jervis Tech, the Mad Hatter, who specializes in mind control. As more police come in, Batman wonders what Jervis has to gain from this.
Even more police arrive and Batman figures it out as he fights them off. He thinks that the one responsible had a path all laid out away from his old life, but he didn't take it. He couldn't help signing his work. Batman knows the Riddler is responsible and he's coming for him.
Dark Patterns # 1 Review
Batman is on the case, trying to track down a serial killer. He says serial killers usually know their first victim, which leads him to a a lawyer named Oakley that was tortured and killed at his desk two nights ago. Oakley's office refused to make his private files available to the police, so Batman will get them himself. As Batman sneaks inside and looks for files, several police officers come in. Batman is soon overwhelmed by a lot of security guards, as he wonders who would hire this much security to protect a lawyer that is already dead.
Batman fights his way past security but gets shot on his side. Batman leaps out of the building while the private security continue to shoot at him. Moments later, Batman is in an alley, holding the files he found and nursing his side, injured from the gunshot.
My Thoughts-
There's a bit of irony in Gordon working for a P.I company that deals with cases of infidelity while he started how own. Likewise, Koyuki started things out wanting her find out if her husband was cheating on her, and she then started to cheat. While the story shows us ten weeks to see how this affair came to be, I just can't see Jim Gordon doing that, regardless of if he felt sorry for Koyuki's situation or not. Of course no one is fallible, but Gordon? It just felt like it came out of nowhere. As Wendy told me when I told her about this issue, "that's not the Gordon I respected".
We also see that Vandal Savage became commissioner five weeks ago. So all that Failsafe/Dark Prisons stuff was happening five weeks ago?
The issue focuses mostly on the Gordon case, though we still hear about the protests against Wayne and we still see Commander Star and Leonid Kull to remind us that they're still in the story. One thing that does get me is that once again it seems that Bruce Wayne lives alone when he opened his new home to all of the Bat-Family to come and go. I know the set up was that they'll come and go as they please, so it makes sense to not see Steph or Cass loitering around at all times, but just a short scene with either Catwoman or Nightwing asking Bruce if he really thinks Gordon killed Nakano would suffice. Where does Damian live because it sure doesn't look like he lives there. I know they're not a particular part of the story, but if you read this as a standalone, you would no idea they were all supposed to live there.
One thing I did like was the clever discovery of how the Mad Hatter's tech led Batman to know that the Riddler is responsible. While I was also wonder what the hell Jarvis would have to do with anything, I remember that Nygma did say he was using technologies from other villains to his advantage, even it it's without their knowledge or permission. He was using Mr. Freeze's tech to keep his servers cooled down, without Mr. Freeze himself being involved. It stands to reason that he would also be using Jarvis' mind control tech without the Mad Hatter himself being a part of this. While it's possible that Batman might explain it in the next issue through internal monologue, I do like how it was left for the reader to consider without a flashback or anything.
The mind control in his glasses makes sense, when you consider that Nakano was just swinging a blunt object at Gordon. He didn't pull out a gun or anything. It's unlike Gordon to just fire upon someone who wasn't at least trying to pull out a gun first. Those glasses gave him the extra push.
The story is interesting and there are a lot of twists and turns. The Riddler is causing trouble and we still have to issue of Bruce's mysterious brother who is trying to get the Wayne family shares, obviously to the benefit of the Court of Owls.... The art shift was kind of jarring. Everything now looks a lot darker and I guess... more simplistic than in the previous issues, even though this is still part of the same story arc. I'd imagine the eventual trade 'The Dying City' paperback will look weird when you turn from issue's 154 last page to page one of this issue.
As for the preview of the Dark Patterns, it looks interesting. Upon looking it up, it will be about four mystery cases taking place early into Batman's career, hence his 90's blue outfit. That's what makes Batman so cool and iconic. He can be chasing down the Joker with his fancy tech, or he could be down to basics just trying to solve a good murder mystery. I might check it out if my pullbox isn't filled to the brim already.
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