Detective 788 – the rage of the innocent, and the Dog Catcher ends
Paul Bolles, Michael Lilly, Sean Parsons and Dan Davis begin an odd two-part tale in Detective 788 (Jan. 04).
A violent and destructive man breaks out of prison, seeking to kill those who testified against him for murdering his wife.
His strength is super-human, and the most Batman is able to do is slow him down, while Oracle does her best to arrange having the surviving witness spirited away to safety.
The brutal battle between the two men reminds me of fights between Batman and the original Blockbuster. But as the story progresses, despite the man’s violence, Batman begins to believe he must have been innocent of the original murder, to hate those who blamed him for it.
This chapter climaxes in the sanitarium where one woman, who did not testify because the murder scene had sent her into severe shock, is on the verge of being attacked. But the killer winds up dissolving into nothing, leaving only a curiously carved stone behind. And the woman herself seems to know much more than she should.
The story concludes next issue.
Rick Spears and Rob G bring the Dog Catcher story to a conclusion in this issue.
The Dog Catcher turns over the Joker’s dead dog, and in a Monty Python-esque moment, tries to convince the Joker that the dog is just sleeping. The Joker is amused, but not so amused that he forgets to shoot the Dog Catcher point blank.
Remarkably, the man survives, as the bullet hit his cigarette lighter. Knowing he has pushed his luck as far as it can go, the Dog Catcher leaves his job,and Gotham.
Somewhat low-key, but darkly funny.