[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: James Robinson
Artist: Stephen Segovia
Colors: Ivan Plascencia
Letters: Rob Leigh
Summary
Fighting off Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum and two versions of the pyro-maniac Firefly shouldn’t be too difficult for Batman…but the real threat comes from the fact that they’re pairs! For some reason, Two-Face doesn’t want Batman to discover the truth behind the murder he’s investigating…but what’s his angle?
Positives
The first few panels of this particular issue finds Batman and Alfred having a meeting of the minds. We not only get to marvel at how intelligent Bruce Wayne/Batman is, but also at just how astute Alfred Pennyworth is, as through most of his canon, he has served as the Wayne family butler, but in this particular scene, the character is more of brain trust, someone both Batman and Bruce Wayne can bounce ideas off of and to bring new ideas to the table.
In the second scene, we find out that Firefly has a protégé, which, for the first time in a while, takes Batman off his game. He has always dealt with one Firefly, but two of them definitely has him thinking both offensively and defensively, as this is what makes Batman’s intelligence so appealing to other characters and readers alike. We get to see how his brain works, as he never tends to act emotionally but logically in almost all his actions, even when villains try to get a rise out of him, like the many times the Joker has attempted this.
In a moment of levity in the book, during a typical meeting between Commissioner James Gordon and Batman near the Bat Signal, Gordon is both astounded and riled up at the fact that Batman has found out more about a crime than the police have, as he makes a rare musical reference, something I have never seen in this book until Robinson took over, as we are reminded that Gotham is still part of the larger world.
In the final scene, we see Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum have a hostage tied up, one that Batman manages to free, only to find out that the person behind all of this is actually Two-Face, which is something that readers get to unpack in the next issue.
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Negatives
There are no negatives worth mentioning in this issue.
Verdict
This issue continues the arc set by Robinson and Segovia, which looks to be part of a bigger scheme that Two-Face has setup. The story by Robinson definitely feels like a crime procedural, one that can almost be an episode of Law & Order, as the story grind at the details like most procedural dramas until you get a breakthrough like most crime TV shows do. The art by Segovia continues to be stellar, which is more than enough reason to re-read this book more than once. Overall, an engaging second installment in what looks to be a very interesting story.
