Batman Dark Patterns # 3

By Mark Rodriguez

Batman has found and taken down the Wound Man, a man that tortures people to death because he can't feel pain himself. Now Batman is after the people that created him, and possibly others similar to like him. His  investigation takes him to the town of Green Fields. What will happen now?

We flashback to the Wound Man torturing Francis Oakley, as the lawyer is tied to a chair with spikes impaling all over his body. Francis begs him to stop since he's in horrible pain. The Wound man asks him to describe it since he can barely remember what pain feels like thanks to him. Francis says he's just the lawyer. The Wound Man says he had the cease and desists and gag orders that contained what was done to him. He says Francis let this happen to him. 

Francis says every file in his cabinet is full of human misery and misfortune. He says it's not his fault and he doesn't deserve this. The Wound Man says he will help them too. He then prepares to stick a sharp object in the lawyer's eye.

Batman is in Green Fields as he ponders how this all started with Francis Oakley being the first victim. Dr. Jessup Hartnel has been reaching out to anyone he could, including the city, law firms, and other doctors. Oakley blocked him at every turn on behalf of his clients. His clients were the ones that poisoned him, as well as the rest of the time. They drove him to become a monster. Batman contacts Gordon and says he found out what happened and knows who the Wound Man is.

Batman explains that decades ago, Ace Chemicals bought an acre of land upstate to use as a dumping site for a nerve agent called Crioxin. They then sold the land to the Gotham City Council for cheap and they built a town there. The Crioxin never went away, it's in the drinking water and swimming pools. Batman asks if Gordon can hear him as the connection is poor. Gordon says that the Wound Man was taken and he's sure that Ace is behind it.

Batman will return to Gotham and plans to reveal what Ace had hidden. Several townsfolk are crowded around the Batmobile and plan to stop him. Batman explains he's there to help. One of the men says Batman is trying to ruin everything just like Hartnel once did. Batman notes the man's leg is crooked and never healed properly. He shouldn't be able to stand on it. He notices another man is missing some fingers.

 

Batman says the whole town can't feel pain anymore. One of the townsfolk says they're blessed, they no longer feel sick or tired. Another says before he moved to Green Fields, he used to live in the Narrows and had to push his kid's stroller past unconscious junkies on his way to his building's elevator. The man explains if Batman exposes everything, they'll either force them back to the city or they'll get experimented on. Batman says they don't know what happened to them and what the Crioxin is still doing to their bodies. The townsfolk surround Batman and say they don't feel pain, but they bet he still can.

Batman monologues that the townsfolk can't fight but it doesn't matter. They soon overpower him and even though they don't want to kill him, they don't know when to stop. They knock Batman down and stomp and kick him until he blacks out for a moment. When he comes to, everything changed.

A woman named Alice stands between Batman and the mob. She tells one of the men, Paul, that he's a kindergarten teacher and asks what he's doing. Paul says Batman was going to expose him like Dr. Hartnel tried to. Alice tells him to remember what happened to Hartnel after everyone refused to back him up. She reminds them what happened to his wife. She says it's too much as asks if they're going to beat her half to death as well. The men looked ashamed and walk away. Alice helps Batman back to his feet and walks him to the Batmobile.

Batman figures that Alice was the one that painted 'Wound Man Heal Us' on the side of the surgery. She says she's a good man and they failed him. She says wherever he's gone, he's doing what he can to help. Batman says he's in Gotham and most likely headed towards Arkham since he had murdered three people. Alice is shocked to hear this and asks why. Batman says pain is one's warning system and tells us when we've gone too far. Batman says Alice mentioned Hartnel's wife and asks what happened to her. Alice looks down. Batman drives back towards Gotham.

Elsewhere, Wound Man wakes up as he was tied to a chair.  He sees Christopher Sionis, his bodyguards flanking him, as he comments how difficult it was to tie him to the chair. Christopher remembers Dr. Hartnel as he once was. He says he was a headache and his accusations cost them a fortune in Oakley's fees. Christopher says he doesn't know what turned Dr. Hartnel into his current state but all the studs and spikes made things easier for them. They're all adjacent to major organs. All Christopher has to do is remove one and he'll bleed out. 

Hartnel says  that Christopher is the root cause of the malady. He breaks free from his restraints. Christopher tells his men to shoot him but he gets away. The men are shocked.

 

Batman and Gordon are at the hospital with Dr, Sereika. Sereika has a nasty concussion and his arm is broken in two places. Batman says it sounds like the same type of security he encountered in Oakley's office. Batman asks why Gordon told them where the Wound Man was. Gordon says the mayor is working with Christopher Sionis. Gordon explains he's the CEO of a conglomerate in which Ace Chemicals is the cornerstone. Batman says the mayor doesn't want a scandal regarding Green Field either. The mayor was the head of the Gotham City Council when the deal was made. Batman says Wound Man was never in official custody so they'll play this off as an escape or a rescue.

Gordon says he won't allow that but Batman says he won't be able to prove it in a way that will hold up in court. Gordon asks Batman if he's going after Sionis, and he calls for back up. Batman is already gone at this point. 

Batman swings through the city as he heard of certain crimes. The one that gets his interest are two gunshots being reported in Cherry Hill. Cherry Hill is where rich people like Sionis keeps second homes  away from midtown.

Batman finds the place and sees the two henchmen dead. He also finds Hartnel, slumped over and bleeding out. Hartnel says the root cause is almost cured. Sionis arrives and tells Batman that Hartnel broke in and tried to tie him and kill him. His bodyguards sacrificed their lives to stop him and during the struggle one of Wound Man's spikes came lose. Sionis locked himself in a room until he heard Batman's voice.

Batman doesn't believe any of his lies. Sionis says everyone will believe him since now five people are dead. Batman asks if he knew about his wife. Batman says Hartnel's wife was named Amber. While Hartnel was working on the Green Fields allegations, Amber fell asleep watching TV. She could no longer feel the cold but had the fireplace going out of habit. An ember fell out of the grate and the rug caught fire. Amber wouldn't have been able to feel the heat. She probably slept through the whole thing as her body was being burnt alive.

Hartnel came home to find his house burnt down and his wife dead. He tried desperately to feel something, anything, as he started to drive poles and spikes through his skin. He soon became the Wounded Man. Batman explains this is what Ace Chemicals did to him, and by extension what Sionis did to him.

 

Christopher explains that there isn't any proof of that and soon it will all be forgotten. Terrible things happen in Gotham every day and people don't like toe dwell on the pain and unpleasantness too long. Batman grabs onto his shoulder. Batman explains how complex shoulders are and how they contain a nerve network connecting the arm to the neck and spine. He says this is why shoulder injuries never heal right. Batman tightens his grip on Sioni's shoulder as he screams in pain.

Batman heads out and calls Gordon, telling him that were two men were killed in action. They also need two ambulances for the survivors. Batman monologues that another fire burns in Gotham tonight. The fire burns in Sionis' shoulder and it will burn for the rest of his life. Every time it hurts, he will remember why.

 My Thoughts- 

This was a cool story that took some twists I didn't expect. Rather than it being about the Wound Man doing clever kills with Batman catching him in the third act, he is caught mid-way through and we begin to dig into what made him his way and the villains responsible.

So there is an entire town full of people that doesn't feel anything. Not just pain, but heat, cold, when they're sick or when they're tired. I can imagine the town being full of sudden deaths like random heart attacks or dropping dead of sheer exhaustion because their bodies won't let them know when enough is enough. And on top of that, the townsfolk have grown so accustomed to it, they're willing to fight to maintain their lifestyle. 

We get to see Hartnel's back story and the final straw that broke him. I like how the earlier clues drops hints what he was a doctor. It makes sense in a way. He can't feel pain but I guess as a doctor he would know how deep he can push those spikes and stubs before they would hit anything fatal. I'm still curious how that would work. One trip down the stairs or a person hitting him with a chair or something in a panic would do him in. His spikes are set in a way that any sort of attack would kill him. An experienced fighter like Batman would know that. But some random person trying desperately to get away from him wouldn't.  I suppose the sight of a guy covered in nails, spikes and stubs would be enough to prettify someone where they wouldn't have time to defend themselves.

The artwork is pretty cool, and while it's consistent in all 3 issues so far, I noticed more in this one that Batman has sort of an Adam West look to him. I don't know. Something about the cheekbones and how his lips are drawn. He kinda looks like an Adam West Batman if he were to solve violent murder cases and wasn't afraid to permanently damage someone's shoulders. 

As for Batman thinking he made a point with Sionis, I doubt he cares. Sionis doesn't seem the type to take accountability for his actions and will always remember his shoulder pains as 'the one night Batman was a jerk' and not anything to do with his hand in Dr. Hartnel's misery.

The next issue starts a new mystery. I wonder if it will continue off of this story, like say, a week later, or if it will jump and forth between different points of Batman's career, similar to Legends of the Dark Knight. I did like how Batman butted heads with Dr. Sereika, though it was one sided on Batman's part. Sereika wasn't the bad guy after all, just very weird. I would like to see him come back if the next mystery takes place around this timeline.