Last week's Batman #156 marked the penultimate chapter of writer Chip Zdarsky's ongoing run penning the Caped Crusader. 'The Dying City' arc has piled on the mysteries and shock reveals, introducing a supposedly long-lost brother for Bruce Wayne, revisiting the resurgent Court of Owls, and placing a mysterious new masked hero on the streets of Gotham in the form of Commander Star. It also flirted with the idea of making Jim Gordon a murderer – something that was thankfully revealed last issue to be part of a sinister plot by the Riddler who, to the surprise of absolutely no one, is still a bad guy after all.
Batman #156 builds on this reveal by largely focusing on the Riddler's plot (and Mad Hatter's involvement in it). In its final pages, however, it returns to the issue of Commander Star – a b-plot that has felt a little irrelevant up to this point. Well, after this issue it's clear that both Star and the Court of Owls have bigger and more deadly plans than even Edward Nygma realised.
