Batman Dark Patterns # 1

By Mark Rodriguez

With this mini series we go back to a more basic Batman before he had all his fancy tech and years of crime fighting experience as he solves several incredible mysteries. There were previews for this one in several DC comics last month. I guess they did their job since I decided to pick it up.

The story opens with Batman narrates that three kids were apprehended playing chicken with the train tracks in Central Station. The oldest was twelve, and they'll be most likely to try it again the following night. Two dozen kids have died playing this game since the station was built.

Elsewhere, six dogs were re-released onto the streets of the Bowery. They were retrieved from the pound by locals claiming they were their pets. The dogs are vicious and run wild, killing cats and attacking people. The Bowery has always had problems with wild dogs.

A building burns on Cherry Hill, which could be insurance fraud or some kids causing trouble. As Batman suits up, he states that there are more heinous things in Gotham that van do nothing about. He can't save people from themselves. Batman gets in the Batmobile and drives off.

 

"We are the Wounded Part 1" opens with a forensic pathologist telling Lt. Gordon about a crime scene. The killer wanted to make the victim suffer, he made sure he hit every nerve without spilling a drop of blood. He kept the victim alive the whole time he was being tortured. The doctor says they need something new that will link this victim to the previous two victims. The corpse is shown to have the worst case of acupuncture ever seen. Batman arrives and asks Gordon who his partner is.

Gordon introduces Batman to Dr. Sereika. Sereika just opened a lab recently in Gotham University and he assumed he would eventually run into the Batman on one of these cases. Gordon says Sereika has been a big help in ID-ing causes of death for bodies in the worst conditions, and figured he could be of use in this case.

Sereika says that corpses tell a story, the wear and tear of life and wound patterns. He says based on what he's heard of Batman's lifestyle he doesn't hope to see him on a slab any time soon. He imagines Batman's bones and flesh would tell several interesting tales by now. Batman determines from the state of the apartment that this victim is the same as the other two. The victims were all live alone and single. 

 

Gordon says other than that fact, the victims couldn't be more different. Francis Oakley was a high-flying lawyer while Kenneth Armitage was retired, living in near poverty. Sereika says their current victim, Mr Choi, fell somewhere in between. Sereika mentions that the killer removed their tongues and teeth first so they couldn't scream. He says whoever this is has had plenty of medical training. Batman wishes to see Gordon outside.

Batman tells Gordon he doesn't trust him. Gordon says Sereika is odd but he's good at what he does. Batman says the way he drools and his eyes dart around the room suggests he abuses substances. Gordon says the last coroner quit over a year ago when he got a card from the Joker sent him a bouquet of flowers with a card that read 'to my favorite collaborator'. Gordon says Sereika is from old Gotham, though he did leave Florida for unclear conditions, he's what they got. Batman head off saying there have been three victims, which enough to make a pattern. It should help him find something to lead him to the next target before the killer.

As Batman searches throughout the city, he narrates that serial killers usually know their first victim. He states that the lawyer named Oakley that was tortured and killed at his desk two nights ago is the key to all of this. 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.

 

Later on, Bruce is in the Batcave, nursing his wounds. Alfred offers to help stitch up the bullet wound and Bruce says it hurts less when he does it himself. Bruce checks the Batcomputer and says that Francis Oakley has been recently taking pro bono cases. Before that he had been taking cases from clients like Ace Chemicals, The Iceberg Lounge and some Lexcorp subsidiaries. Alfred says it sounds like he got fat representing the fattest of the fat cats and is trying work off his guilt. 

 

The latest victim  was prosecuted a few years ago and was accused of the deaths of his elderly parents, but Oakley cleared him. Alfred wonders if these were revenge killings. Bruce says Choi didn't commit the crime, his parents died due to faulty wiring in the carbon monoxide alarm. The man who died the night before lost a lawsuit against the city after a bridge collapsed while his daughter was driving along it. In this case Oakley was representing the city.

Bruce says these men died one night at a time, and they were men that lost their families and were left alone due to tragedies. Alfred informs him that there is still a bullet shard where he's stitching, so he will finish it. Bruce says there are half a dozen men in those files that match that criteria. Alfred asks how he knows who will be next. With the victims being Armitage and Choi, it seems he's going through them alphabetically.

The following night, Batman is watching over the next victim. He sees that the Bat Signal has been up since sundown. He guesses that Gordon wants to know what he was doing in the law office the night prior, but he can't afford to leave his post. The next victim is Michael Gallo, a petty thief until he made the mistake of trying to rob the home of a made man tied to the Falcones. No police report was filed as the crime family make their own investigations. A week later Michael's wife was found floating in the Gotham Bay. Michael worked as a janitor ever since and refused to get involved in a class action case against the Falcones. 

 

Batman bugged Michael's apartment when he was at work. The inside of the apartment is like a shrine to his wife, and he has been sobbing since he returned home. Batman hears footsteps and a voice addressing Mr. Gallo. Michael is surprised that there's someone in his apartment. The mystery man says that Michael cries every day but the wounds never close. The man says he will give Michael what he could never have and has been taken from him. Micheal yells for the man to get away from him. Batman can't wait anymore and leaps through the window. Some shards of glass are stuck in Batman's boot, and the man asks him if that hurt.

The man turns out to be completely covered in nails and tacks and has pipes and other pointy objects driven into his back and arms. Batman figures the man isn't much of a fighter and takes aim for his solar plexus. He holds back because he realizes that if he punches him, the nails on his body would be driven through his throat. If Batman strikes his chest, the spikes will rupture his heart or lungs. Batman realizes that even his arms has spikes and things that will hit his major arteries. Batman sees that there's no way for him to strike the man without killing him... but the man can hit him.

The man pins Batman down and starts to choke him. Batman thinks the man shouldn't be this strong and he should be in agony. He realizes the man doesn't feel the pain. He tries to go for his belt, thinking there has be something he can use in this situation. Just then Michael fires off a gun. The shotgun blast is loud, and by the time Batman regains his hearing, the mystery man is gone. Batman thinks this man shouldn't be that fast. Michael asks what that thing wanted. Batman says the killer was going to torture him to death.

 

 

Dawn falls upon the Wayne Manor as Bruce is looking for something in his father's old medical books. Bruce says this thing first appeared in medieval manuscripts going back to the 14th century. It was meant to be a map that shows every type of agony that can be inflicted on a person. Alfred says it sounds abominable. Bruce says it was meant to be an index to cure people of suffering. 

Bruce finds the picture and tells Alfred this was what attacked him. He shows a drawing of a man with all sorts of sharp objects stuck all over his body. Bruce says this is the Wound Man. In some way he thinks he's healing his victims, and he will kill again the following night. 

My thoughts-

The funny part of this series was I wasn't going to pick it up since I figured the last thing I needed was yet another Batman series in my pullbox. The previews did their job since the overall premise of going back to Batman's earlier career (as well as his classic 80's/90's blue outfit with the yellow oval which is the Batman I grew up with) made me decide to get it. I was so into the story that I forgot about the preview pages until I ran into them. I guess the area where Batman sneaks into the lawyer's office was the only place that would work for a preview to get people to decide to check it out.

I am confused with the story in terms of the solicits for this. Apparently we're supposed to get four mysteries in this series, but this one is just beginning. Maybe the series will be longer than I thought and it will be four multi-part mysteries. 

Batman does seem more fallible since this is earlier in his career. Alfred is still around and Gordon isn't the Commissioner yet. The part that confused me was the mention of the Iceberg Lounge. I guess they want to retcon the Penguin always having owned the nightclub even earlier on in Batman's career. Those kinds of changes always bug me.

I did like seeing Batman being the Dark Knight Detective and trying to solve this mystery. The reveal of who we'll call the Wound Man is quite morbid. It sounds like 'what they took from him' is the ability to feel pain, which shows how he can move around completely ignoring all the things that are impaled all over his body. I guess in his sick mind, he feels he's helping his victims by making them feel every sort of pain possible. Someone should tell him that regular people already do feel pain.

It proves to be a difficult fight for Batman, since he can't hit him without killing him. I do wonder how the Wound Man can even move around and do anything if he has so many things in him that are inches away from killing him. If Batman can't even punch him, wouldn't the Wound Man stab his own arteries whenever he himself tries to throw a punch?

The other character that stands out if Doctor Sereika who seems to delight a little too much into studying all these victims and their injuries. I thought it was too obvious he would be the killer. The Wound Man is definitely not Sereika, but that doesn't mean they might not be working together.

We'll see how this one goes. It also looks like we're ending 2024 with this review. Here's to many more. Oh, also the comic gave a very clever shout to the Adam West series by using that Shakespeare bust with the hidden button to the Batcave that was seen in almost every episode.