Detective Comics #4

I think a quick summary of this one will do. Sure it's the last one in the story. But that just means there is a lot of fighting and knocking down bad guys!

Batman beats up the fake Joker thugs. Batman escapes from the cables around his wrists. Batman beats up Sampson (the Monkey) and Bentley (the big one that choked him) and finds Gordon already freed by Olivia. Batman chases after Dollmaker and Matilda (Sexy Nurse) who are escaping in a car. He lands on the car which explodes. The car only had mannequins in it.

The car only had mannequins in it because Dollmaker and Matilda made their escape in a police chopper.



The note Batman received from Gordon was found at headquarters. So Harvey sent the police to Mercy Hospitable. Which tipped off whoever set this whole plan in motion. Probably Mayor Hady.

The plan? Here's what I pieced together although I don't think the whole plan is ever made plain. The Unnamed Puppet Master (again, probably Mayor Hady) seems to have set this up so that Dollmaker would kill Jim Gordon. Probably because Gordon is pro-Batman and Hady hates having Batman in his city. But the Puppet Master does not kill Gordon immediately because he needs Gordon's liver to save someone's life. That life is probably his daughter Olivia.



Meanwhile, the Puppet Master decides to auction off Batman when he realizes he has Gordon as bait to capture him. This ends up being his undoing as well as Harvey sending the police to Mercy Hospital. So the Unnamed Villain flies in to rescue Dollmaker and Matilda. Olivia ends up getting shipped to Arkham for study.

Oh yeah, Olivia kills Orifice to save Jim's life because Jim expresses to her that the only thing he cares about is getting her away from the Dollmaker. So she breaks down and apologizes and murders Orifice! Too bad. I liked having a villain named Orifice.

Also, the Joker's face is still in police headquarters in some sort of see through cryotank. Of course it's see through because who wouldn't want that creepy ass face staring at them whenever they walk by.

I liked how the whole thing resolved without blatantly answering all the questions. The whole thing was well told even if some of the dialogue and metaphors were cliche or crap or didn't make a whole lot of sense.