This volume went back to blah. On one hand, it’s interesting for the way it gives a backstory to a relatively minor character. On the other, it falls into the same trap of wanting to give series villains gruesome backstories as some sort of Freudian excuse.

Truth be told, I preferred the minor character as just that. I don’t know that this backstory was consistent with his original portrayal, and it didn’t help me appreciate him any more.

This volume also had a weird obsession with Batman that didn’t quite pay off—the visual references to Batman: The Animated Series were jarring and—along with a reference to The Dark Knight—made the series chronology less consistent than it already was.

• XIII
• Billy Stockton
• Laurent-Frédéric Bollée
• Steve Cuzor
• Batman
• Batman: The Animated Series
• The Dark Knight