PLOT:
The opening sequence for this issue, starts off with Batman's inner monologue narrating to us what we see in each panel, what we see is a madman with a gun. "Big Tommy A.” is yet another baddie from Gotham's mob scene. In the first page we see Tommy firing his weapon all over the place, with a crazed look on his face. The next page shows us what he's going ballistic about. We see Tommy frightened to death as he is surrounded by what appear to be demons and goblins and the like, it is as if he landed smack dab in the middle of hell. Batman tells us they are not just ghouls however; they are also the many victims of Tommy. What is perhaps the most frightening of all creatures that Tommy encounters is a giant bat. It asks him about what he's seeing, but Tommy only replies with a panic stricken, "Get away!"
If you think all of this seems a bit weird and creepy, you're right, which is why we are suddenly brought back to reality, as we see the familiar face of our caped crusader. Batman struggles with Tommy for quite sometime, taking notice of his unusual levels of speed and strength. Finally in the midst of all the frenzy Tommy launches himself right out of a window and falls to his death upon a random street in Gotham.
Meanwhile, at Gotham General Hospital, we find a female med student named Caroline Hill being asked for a date by another med student. Soon after we see that the she is actually a he, and that he is Robin. Robin communicates to Alfred back at the cave and they exchange some comedic banter about how Alfred designed robin's costume to have rather large breasts. After some lighthearted moments robin finds Big Tommy's body in the morgue and retrieves blood and tissue samples.
A short while later we find Batman in a similar situation as at the start of this issue, in which he's battling a strangely enraged mobster. This time around the fight is a bit grittier, but the end result is the same as before, Ruben desoto dies. rather than jumping out of a window, its his heart which finishes him. Whatever is in his system, which is likely to be the same as what was in Big Tommy's system, has ran his heart out.
Finally to conclude the issue, we find ourselves at the home of Oswald Cobblepot. The Penguin is none too pleased with three of his random thugs. They try their best to provide excuses but he'll have none of that. Finally everything is tied together and makes sense to the reader as they explain that they put on glove and applied some sort of substance with which they touched both big Tommy and Ruben, just as they were told. We find that both mobsters went into frenzies due to this. However, someone quickly asks if the thugs bothered to wet their gloves before applying the powder. When the thugs answer that they didn't, we see the Scarecrow explain to them and us, that the substance was a scare toxin of some kind. Because the gloves were not made wet, the dosage was too concentrated and thereby killed the mobsters, rather than simply scare them. Penguin and Scarecrow then end the issue by deciding to do better next time.
|
Home
