Scans_Daily

It ends the arc that started back in July 2022 with issue #1062 and ran for about two years, interrupted only by 2023's line-wide " Knight Terrors " crossover.

Issue #1088 had Batman fighting Dariah Orgham, impetus of the Orgham family's work to take physical and metaphysical control of Gotham City. He'd overpowered her in combat as those on his side had beaten her servants.

She wasn't beaten yet - the power that she wielded afforded her a monster form, which she took on and threw at Batman.

( Batman met her. )

The revolution's the puppet one the Orgham family put up in issue #1086 - Gothamites they'd worked up and infused with spirits, led by the figurehead Shadow Angel against Gotham City's " elites ".

Against it was Batman, most explicit of the challenges to the Orghams' total metaphysical control over Gotham, returned from the near-total defeat they'd dealt him.

With him was Nightwing, Azrael, and Batgirl - part of the response he'd been organizing.

( Against them was a possessed mob. )

The main story continues from issue #1084 - Batman's return to Gotham and fight against the Orgham family's Reality Engine-assisted control over the city.

In the course of that, he's reaching out to others - and he's not the only one doing so. Catwoman, remembering what the Orghams had done to Batman - what'd necessitated his leaving Gotham for a bit - was talking to the Joker.

The clown, sat in a warehouse, took the thief's psychology in stride.

" Tell me what's wrong with me! " he pantomimed. " Why can't I laugh at anything anymore? "

( She answered conventionally. )

#1082's main story had Batman midway through his - the doctor showing him a could-be if he continued on without giving in to the darkness of Barbatos, a too-mortal Bat who sustained his mythos with purposefully lethal tools.

Batman saw himself fighting crime with armament as raiment and leapt to stop it.

" I will never become you. " he said to his image.

( The image's counter-assertion wasn't verbal. )

Issue #1076'd teased his interest in Batman's current internal conflict (with " his darkness ", Barbatos).

In #1080, he'd set out in service of that interest. He knew that Talia al Ghul'd taken the Bat out of Gotham to save him from the Orgham family - he knew their destination.

He traveled, with Eduardo Flamingo in tow to take care of Talia and her minions, there - the desert called Aras.

He was there when Bruce Wayne awoke to his situation.

( The only thing familiar around Bruce was Hurt. )

Issue #1078'd been the plan to do so, carried out by the crew she'd recruited.

It'd climaxed in the Orghams being threatened to call off the public hanging of Batman - and their going ahead with it anyway.

#1079 had Batman swinging from a noose in the wind, the Orghams' forces pushing back against Selina's crew, and Catwoman with Prince Arzen and Queen Dariah Orgham.

( There were still events to play out. )

In issue #1076, she'd started gathering help.

Issue #1077 opened on the day of what she was trying to save him from - his public execution.

Batman was led to the gallows by the Orgham retainer Shavhod, who taunted him.

( She poured her words into his ears, his azmer-wracked body. )

Outside himself, he's being pursued by the Orgham family and Gotham police - inside his head, he's being pursued by one of the Orghams' Azmers.

The end of #1074 had him alighting into Crime Alley - #1075 had him there physically and mentally.

Physically, he was alone - mentally, he was with " [his] darkness " Barbatos (who'd popped in briefly at the start of this run, #1062) and a younger him.

( The mental scene was young Bruce Wayne kneeling amongst his dead parents. )

The explosion was the climax of #1072 - it was Batman's choice, his taking of a " sacrifice yourself to save Gotham City " offer.

The explosion was the detonation of Orgham Tower, to the shock of the crowd gathering around the opening of that symbol built on the grounds where Arkham Asylum'd stood until A-Day. It was also, to the expectation of Batman and the plan of the man who'd offered him the choice, nothing that affected the villain's lair directly under it.

The next step in the work that villain was shepherding unfolded - one of his associates, tied to the family Orgham of Svatrstal in a lesser degree than he was, came on the air.

( She showed the people of Gotham the choice of Batman. )