Two things come out of this issue. First and foremost is the relationship between Batman and the Joker. Batman's up on the roof battling . . I don't know the guys name, the one with the circle on his face . . 'what's his name?'. He's used the Joker to lure him out. He also fakes his own death to catch him off guard. When he does, he starts taking him apart piece by piece. He knows that the Batman's about to beat him so he forces him to choose. He stabs the Joker in the heart. Now the Batman can either come after him, or take care of the Joker. Needless to say, we know what choice the Batman makes. But, Jim doesn't make it easy on him. "I'm not asking you to kill him. I'm just asking you not to save him! Do the right thing here, for Gotham's sake . . for your sake . . let him go." Next we flash forward 6 months and find Matches Malone visiting the recuperating Joker in the hospital. He tries to have a heart to heart with him. "Do you really want me dead? Do you really want to kill me?" The Joker surprises Bats with his reply . . "I do want to kill you. I don't hate you because I'm crazy . . I'm crazy because I hate you. And your death will mean an end to my reign of terror in Gotham." However, I think the Joker is still just messing with him. I think he's trying to get him to question his mission. The second thing is . . Batman has made a serious enemy out of 'what's his name?'. At the end of the issue we see him going back to his home life. It seems pretty mundane and boring . . 2 kids, a dog, a house in the suburbs, but in the basement he's got trophies of the masks of his kills. We see that he's got an empty case ready for the Batman's cowl. This was another great story by Kevin Smith. I wish we could see him on some more Batman stories. He's just got the right frame of mind for this. Walter Flanagan does the art. Overall I thought it was a pretty decent series.
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