BATMAN #654:
REVIEW:
Story: Harvey is now Two Face again and he has taken control of Gotham Zoo. The hostages includes the people who work there at night and animals. Batman & Robin head on to stop him, while feeling guilt, Batman knows he's innocent. After some beat downs, Batman finally confronts the real man who framed Harvey and tells his proposal to Tim.
The finale is here. Its hard to do finales to storylines in comics. This is a final confronation tied to an epilogue of the story. What Robinson decided to do with this arc was tell a true detective, mystery story featuring Batman. The ending has a sherlock holmes/Law & Order: Criminal Intent feel when he confronts the real killer. Now I could be saying this because of this arc and this may have happened before and I just don't remember so bear with me.
Now I know what peole want to know first from this finale so I'll do that first. What is Bruce's plan for Tim: well its what everyone thought it would be. Bruce wants to adopt Tim as his ward since he has no family anymore, and while Bruce himself converted a stable to be Tim's new home , since they are a family and a team, he wants to adopt him so he won't be alone forever. But he can't do that if he wants, he wants to hear if Tim wants to be a ward and asks him. Tim's answer...its a yes. Is this a problem? I don't think so. Bruce Wayne after Infinite Crisis is a changed man. Not a dick anymore. Having Tim Drake as a ward is a good idea since Bruce knows he die this to Dick Grayson, worked out well but the darker times were kicking in and seperated the connection. He probably wants to fix that, number one. And two: he wants to help Tim to have a family again after he loss his father and his friend due to the Crisis.
Him being a changed man has been shown throughout this arc and other OYLs (ex. Robin). Before IC, if he thought Havey did these crimes, he would've stayed on that to the very end, not even for a second thinking otherwise. And then be pisted off that he was wrong. Now; he knew Harvey didn't do it and just what: he was right. Yet, he has some guilt if he had done it which he didn't (pointed out by Robin, another reason why he needs him).
And who was the real culprit? At first we all thought it was Two Face doing the crimes to force Harvey back, thought I did, but it wasn't the case. It was someone else and we didn't have ANY clue whatsoever that it was this guy. The real culprit was Warren White aka The Great White Shark. Reason? He was one of those guys who would ruin people's lives. But he didn't have anythign against Dent at first. He has been setting up to be Gotham's new Crime Boss from Arkham. Something that even made Penguin leave. He had business with the villians that apepared in this arc but Dent was in their way as he was stopping them from moving. To counter this, Warren White hired Tally Man to kill and frame Dent. Thus making Dent believe he was the killer and losing trust with Batman that made him become Two Face.
THAT was unexpected. And I'am sorry if that spoiled you.
Overall; this was a good issue. A new villian, return of an old one, and finally a new beginning for Tim Drake's life as this is a new beginning for Batman & Robin. With this issue, Batman OYL is over and its time to move on from that. This was a great start for new readers and it worked out well.
For those who didn't get these issues, then get the TPB.
RATING: 9/10
