Batman Dark Patterns # 2

 By Mark Rodriguez

There is a serial killer loose in Gotham torturing people to death. Batman discovered the culprit to be who he calls the 'Wound Man'. Wound Man is covered in sharp objects set to mortally wound him if Batman were to lay a finger on him, yet he can't feel pain. After the killer escaped during their first encounter, Batman tries to figure out where he will strike next.

 

"We Are The Wounded" Part 2 opens with Batman showing Gordon the images of the Wounded Man. Batman doesn't know who he is, but he knows where he will strike next. Gordon says if there's a list, all of them would have to be placed on protective custody. Batman says that will prevent them from knowing what the Wound Man would do. They need to draw him out while they can still predict his actions.

Gordon says Dr. Sereika is examining is examining the bodies at the lab at his university and is sure he will find the clues to pinpoint the Wounded Man's identity. Batman doesn't trust his work and says even if he was any good, it will take too long. Gordon says his method won't endanger lives. Batman says his method won't risk lives since he'll be prepared this time. Gordon says that's not good enough. Batman asks if Gordon pulled the records he asked for.

 

Gordon says the private security that Batman thrashed over at the Smith and Oakley Law Firm are getting paid by Ace Chemicals. The law firm has represented them in several suits over the decades and are protecting their corporate interests. Batman says they might be covering something up. Batman swings off.

Batman is on the rooftops narrating all the different crimes happening in the city, including fires and people stealing animals from the Narrows. Batman contemplates that Wound Man's first victim, the lawyer Francis Oakley, helped convict Randall Jones for assault after he strangled a coworker during a stock exchange Christmas party. The woman survived, but Jones' wife and daughter were not waiting for him by the time he got out of prison. Jones currently lives alone where he lives between his apartment and the bar across the street. Batman knows this guy is next on Wounded Man's list, and he ponders he's the first one that properly deserves it. Dang Batman, that's kinda cold for a man that served his time.

The Wounded Man climbs up the side of the apartment as he sneaks into Jones' window. He says that Jones cries every night but the wounds never heal, so he will feel his pain with him.

This time Batman is right behind him. He tells the Wound Man that he knows what he thinks he's doing. Batman states that knows he thinks he's helping these men take away their loneliness. The Wounded Man thinks he's a healer, but he's not, and Batman says this ends now. Batman says they both know that the Wounded Man will die if he hits him, so he asks him not to make him hurt him.

The Wounded Man flips out and says he wants to be hurt. He takes a swing at Batman, yelling at him to hurt him. Batman dodges his strikes, knowing there's nowhere he can grab him without killing him. He takes out some knockout gas, as he narrates how risky it is. The knockout toxin has to be calibrated to match the subject's body weight and lung capacity. Batman says the slightest miscalculation could lead to death from a seizure or heart failure. Wound Man collapses and Batman is concerned since he had to estimate the dosage. Batman tells Wound Man that he'll take him to the hospital.

 

Jones shows up, unlocking the door to his apartment. Batman opens the door and tells Jones to move as he carries the Wounded Man off. Jones watched both men walk downstairs and he complains about Gotham City. 

Batman drives the Wounded Man to the hospital, telling him they are almost door. The Wounded Man laments that he still can't feel pain. Batman asks him if Ace Chemicals means anything to him. The serial killer continues to drone on about not feeling pain. Batman remembers the fire in the vicinity of the hospital and realizes that it is the hospital itself that is on fire. Batman needs to take him somewhere else, that is nearby and has medical equipment. Batman groans as he has no choice.

Batman brings the Wounded Man to Dr. Sereika, telling him to help save his life. Dr. Sereika says he usually deals with patients after they're dead. Sereika says the Wounded Man is suffering cardiac arrest and tells Batman to help massage his heart without touching any of the spikes already lodged into it. Sereika says they need to give him a shot of adrenaline and remarks at least they can count on him not having a problem with needles. 

Sereika says the Wounded Man's heart is beating so that's a start. He says that he must not be moved until he's stable. Batman prepares to head off and tells Sereika to call Gordon and tell him the details. The man must be questioned as soon as he wakes up. Sereika asks Batman where's going. The Dark Knight says he will find who made the Wounded Man and why.

Later on, we see a man named Nicky Harris heading back home, having drunk enough coffee to get to work (I can relate). As he enters his office, Batman is waiting for him. Nicky says it's been a minute since he's last seen him. Nicky once help Batman get info on 'the Killer Croc of the Sewers' and he's glad to hear that he caught him. Nicky asks if Batman had read his article on him. Batman says he claimed he was a vampire from Eastern Europe and says he is spreading fear. Nicky says the city is built on a foundation of myth. He says many people to America seeking the promised land of prosperity. However when they come to Gotham they don't find any jobs, they suffer high inflation and clown poisoning the water supply. He says the people pray to superstitions to save them.

Batman says that Nicky attempted an expose' on Ace Chemicals and then got fired from The Gazzette. Nicky said Ace's lawyers came down on him hard and ruin him in a matter of days. Nicky says they're also very good at scrubbing their prints from public record, which is why Batman came to him rather than the police. He asks who he's looking for.

Batman asks for anything regarding anesthetics or nerve agents. Nicky says there's nothing on modern files, but it's harder to scrub paper files that fell in unauthorized hands. Batman asks about Crioxin, Nicky says it's a liquid ache inhibitor Ace was developing on a government contract. It disappeared from all records without a trace a decade ago, and he has the last document that proves it ever existed. Batman says something went wrong and they made a monster. Nicky says it was probably so nasty it violated the Geneva Conventions. Batman asks what happened to the actual chemical. Nicky says nobody knows, but he has a theory. He asks Batman if he has ever heard of the Town Without Screams.

 

Meanwhile, the Wound Man wakes up. Sereika says that Batman told him to call the police, but he can tell that he's a doctor based on the wounds he inflicts. Sereika wants to take this chance to speak to him doctor to doctor. Sereika is impressed by what he's done to himself. He guess it was a way to channel the pain he no longer feels, but it didn't work. Sereika says doctors make the worse patients since they get so busy with solving symptoms that they forget to get to the root cause.

Batman calls Gordon and asks if the Wound Man is awake. Gordon had no idea that Batman found him. Batman is angry that Sereika didn't call Gordon, and Gordon is angry that Batman left the Wound Man with him. Batman says he is cuffed and unconscious. Gordon says he's about to walk into an emergency meeting with mayor, so he can at least tell him the good news. Gordon will send some police to get the killer. Batman says Ace Chemicals created the Wounded Man and there might be more. Gordon asks where he is and Batman says he is heading out of town.

Gordon meets with the Mayor and says they apprehended the suspect and is currently in the Pathology Lab in Gotham University. The Mayor says he's glad to hear it and was currently discussing how they wanted this case closed quickly and clean with a concerned citizen and old associate. The Mayor introduces Gordon to Christopher Sionis, the CEO and Senior Partner at Axis Corp. He says that Gordon must have heard of their subsidiaries. Gordon named Ace Chemicals as one of them. 

 

Batman walks down the the town of Green Fields, which was called the Town Without Screams by the tabloids. He finds a couple of boards with graffiti reading 'Wound Man heal us', as the people have taken to superstition to save them, since no one else has.

Back to Sereika, he is watching over the Wound Man as it sounds like someone else has entered his lab. Two masked gunmen come in and one of them knocks Sereika out with a baton. The other tells his partner to 'take him' as he points a fun at the Wound Man.

My Thoughts-

I have to say with all the modern changes in Batman's lore, it's great to return to classic Batman with Alfred and Commissioner Gordon. Also from what I can tell, this series will indeed be about Batman solving four cases, it's just that each case will in several parts. I also like seeing the back and forth arguing between Batman and Gordon since this when their partnership was new-ish and Gordon doesn't have his complete faith in the Caped Crusader yet. At this point Gordon is still treating Batman as a possible loose cannon, which would make sense from his perspective.

So Batman captured the Wound Man, and now the story shifts from finding and catching him to finding out his origins. I'm still surprised Batman thought that Randall Jones deserved a possible fate with the Wounded Man. We don't know the degree of assault Jones committed against his co-worker, but considering the fact that the Wounded Man tortures his victims to death, Jones must have been real terrible.

The villains of the story are the guys at Ace Chemicals with Christopher Sionis as our figurehead. I'm assuming he'll try to make sure that Gordon keeps his mouth shut. It's clear that Ace Chemicals created the Wounded Man, but I'm wondering if they are personally sending him after all these victims to tie up loose ends. I wonder if these guys worked with or for any of Axis Corp's other subsidiaries. 

 

Nicky Harris was fun with how casual he acts around Batman. I checked and it seems he was created for this story, It's cool, though convenient, for Batman to have a 'man with all the answers' he can go to due to his long history in journalism. I like how Batman still plays up the 'creature of the night' act to people that he's already associated with and know he's just a man in a bat costume, like Gordon and Nicky Harris. I mean, geez, sometimes Batman plays it off towards Alfred, where the tired butler can easily just say 'not today Master Bruce, please'.

I really thought that Sereika was going to set Wound Man free, either intentionally or accidentally in his over-enthusiasm to find out what makes him tick. Instead these random men came in to snatch him away. Goons working for Ace Chemicals? I guess we'll find out. Though with a last name like Sionis, this guy might be connected to Black Mask.

So far I have to say, I'm honestly glad I decided to take the jump with this series. It went from being 'just another Batman comic out every month for an already packed pull box' to possibly the most fun to read when it comes to classic Batman. For anyone not liking the weirdness of the current book, or the 'multiverse' version of Absolute Batman, this one is a fun read for anyone that grew up on Batman's late 80's/early 90's run.