Well.....That was unexpected...

It is very rare for me to get shocked at an ending of a comic. I mean, you really need to do a swerve on me to make my jaw drop. Morrison was able to do this last issue because he introduced Deathstroke as a surprise party to the fray. With this issue, not only does Morrison resolve the issues the Damien and Dick has gone threw this arc but he also dishes out another shocker. More on the latter in a second.

I really did like how Morrison handled the plot threads in this. Dick was able to overcome Damien's mind control and give Deathstroke an out of body beatdown. The stuff with Talia and Damien was also handled quite nicely. To put the cherry on the obvious ice cream, we now see the bastard child a completely different animal. He finally respects the job that was given to him and now we're going to see him try to become a full fledge hero. It took a long time, but ever so slowly Morrison was able to make this kid from totally unlikeable to a 'Dennis the Menace' type of figure. Sure he might be bad, but he's so loveable! Also more revelations on the Return of Bruce Wayne and I am sure we're going to see all of these mysteries unfold in the titled mini-series. Still when I saw exactly what the outline of Wayne Manor looked like, you even gotta admit that is badass and scary at the same time. Bruce had waaaay too much attention to detail there.

Then we have Dustin Nguyen doing the art and....wait, come again? Why yes, if you look closely on the credits page, Dustin Nguyen is doing some of the art in this. Why? Beats the hell out of me. But like I was saying with Brightest Day, the art was so consistant you couldn't even notice. If you look close at the beginning (with Clarke on pencils) to the end (with Nguyen doing layouts and Hanna finishing), you can see somewhat of a different. The jaw line for Dick at the end definitely proved to me that was a Nguyen page. So while it is a bit of a shame that Clarke, for whatever reason, couldn't finish the arc, it is handled professionable well and Scott Hanna should be commended for making it work. It is a gorgeous book from begining to end and I will miss Clarke once Irving comes on board.

Let's get to the end shall we? So the man under the mask is none other then the Joker......First off, (warning! being unprofessional here) HOLY SHIT! Is that not a fucking awesome reveal or what!? Second, (back to professional) seriously? Did anyone see this coming? I mean I had a vague idea it could've been Joker but.....That was like a 1% chance of it me believing it was going to happen. Now with the Joker, front and center, as the villain for the next arc, this is going to be a lot of fun. Why did the Joker pretend to be Sexton? Why would he help Batman and Robin when he could've easily killed them both? All I know is this.....Black Hand is also back in Gotham and he wants nothing more then to finish off the Dynamic Duo. These next couple of issues are going to be mighty interesting indeed.