Mr. Bloom blossoms as things hit high stakes in Batman #45 written by Scott Snyder, pencils by Greg Capullo, Danny Miki on inks, FCO Plascencia on colors and Steve Wands on letters.
Things aren’t looking good for Jim as he’s subdued by a gang of horn enhanced gang the “Devil Pig’s” but his suite, remotely controlled by Daryl saves him. Mr. Bloom continues his plans, killing two guards at an undisclosed location. Jim later meets with Geri Powers and 
she shares her plans . She reveals a giant collider they had built, which far has created four new elements. She presents Jim with “Batmanium 206” (the name may or may not be a joke from Jim) and announces she’s firing him as Batman. It’s gotten all too big an they want something to match. Jim no longer fits the bill and disobeys orders, going off the grid. He’s become unreliable and that’s a problem. Jim keeps pushing the need to catch Bloom but Geri wants him to publicly step down at their next event.
Duke makes a cameo, making the street movement of “Robin” more known as he and Daryl talk. Duke tries to enlist Daryl, giving him a Robin icon (ohohohoho). Bruce meanwhile alongside Julie Madison deals with the wake of “Endgame” and of the Joker’s supposed Batcave spoils brought out into the open. He eventually converts what I assume is the famous T-Rex (cyborg) and the Joker card into a playground for children. It’s wildly fascinating to see Bruce operating on a smaller level. While I always defend Bruce’s philanthropy and this kind of stuff is really nothing new, it was still a heartwarming scene.
Later at the event where he is to resign, Julia Pennyworth tries to persuade Jim into refusing to really step down, but all plans are dashed when a zeppelin aims straight for Geri Powers.
POSITIVES
This was a quieter issue for exposition and sets the stage for more action to come. I like everything so far but as a exposition heavy issue with not a ton of new information makes it slow.
NEGATIVES
Mr. Bloom is appropriately terrifying though you add another “mindless killer” to the list of Gotham villains, something I’m tired of. Killer through harmful drug dealing and schemes? That’s good. Slaying people just to be an abomination? Eh. I’m wondering why they haven’t sought Poison Ivy out to help fight him or help in the process. She’s been sort on the anti-villain side of things (last I’ve checked) and you’d imagine she probably wouldn’t appreciate her shtick being meddled with a bit. Just a thought.
VERDICT
This was an okay issue. Everything is certainly brewing and Mr. Bloom is definitely scary. Nothing mind blowing however.
