Published on May 28th, 2003
Tommy Elliot's funeral opens this issue. As usual, since this storyline is basically Batman's greatest hits, The Riddler shows up. The Riddler's riddle is this: "What is it that has four wheels, costs eleven million dollars, and flies?" The answer is a solid gold garbage truck. First off, that's not a riddle. There's no such thing as a solid gold garbage truck. Also, the way it's written makes it seem like the object is flying, not that it has flies around it. Not that I care, since it's just a stupid comic book, but isn't The Riddler supposed to be the master of riddles? Anyway, the end of this issue also makes little sense. Hush, who's had his head wrapped in bandages throughout the storyline, shows up in The Joker's cell at Arkham (The Joker was arrested for Tommy Elliot's murder). Hush takes off his bandages to reveal that he's Two-Face, but that he's had plastic surgery and is back to just being Harvey Dent. Huh? The big reveal is that Hush is Two-Face? I'm guessing the final issue is going to have Hush just laying out an entire bad-guy revelation while Batman just stands there. The end of the issue also has Batman revealing to Catwoman that he's Bruce Wayne. That seems like it should be a big deal. Is it, though? I kind of thought Tom King's big Bat/Cat deal was something novel at the time, but it turns out it was just another re-hash of bygones. The big takeaway from this issue and this storyline is that, while it's not exactly great, it is entertaining. While I love Scott Snyder's Absolute Batman, which is one of the best comic books being published these days, the actual main Batman book hasn't been very entertaining in a long time. Jim Lee's art in this issue is great as usual but the last three pages look rushed and sloppy. **1/2
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