- Title: Batman #86
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Tony S. Daniel
- Artist: Danny Miki
A new creative team takes over following the events of City of Bane. Batman has taken back Gotham City, but in his absence things have gotten worse. The Dark Knight Detective is also down a few allies given the death of Alfred no appearance from any of the other members of the Bat-Family here (other than Catwoman).
The main theme to this opening arc appears to be that Batman has become reckless without Alfred in place to pull him back from the edge. The comic features Deathstroke returning to Gotham with a gang of C-list villains in tow. Most aren’t worth mentioning, but I was happy to see the underutilized Cheshire get an appearance here.
The fight between Batman and Deathstroke is truncated as much of it takes place off-panel and comes to a quicker conclusion than expected. Catwoman’s own crime-fighting foreshadows more about what brought Deathstroke to town (suggesting it has ties to the cat burglar’s past). Worth a look.
[DC, $3.99]