We follow up with the aftermath of of Film Freak’s death.

Detective Comics #659

Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Norm Breyfogle
Colors by Adrienne Roy
Lettered by Tim Harkins
Edited by Scott Peterson & Denny O’Neil

We open on the breakout from Arkham, with some light comic relief as Maxie Zeus runs headlong into a tree and knocks himself out. In the midst of this, while turning a sock into a puppet, Ventriloquist runs into Amygdala, who he tentatively teams up with.

Batman & Robin find the aftermath of Bane’s fight with Film Freak. Bane has beaten Film Freak to death, and at the revelation, Robin may need to find a convenient garbage can to cast Color Spray into. The Dynamic Duo clears out before the police show up, and this time it’s not Montoya and Bullock responding, it’s Lieutenant Kitch who I don’t think we’ve met before. He takes a couple of unnamed squaddies to task for being cavalier about the dead.

We return to Dr. Flanders, and we get his first name – Simpson – where he continues his spiel about the escaped Arkham inmates, where we learn that he’s worked at Arkham. I’m not going to cover every subsequent appearance, but Flanders shows up for pretty much each of the next few issues, doing generally the same thing, until they don’t – so I’ll cover when things change.

The Ventriloquist goes into a tough guy bar looking for Scarface. He is laughed at, so Ventriloquist calls in Amygdala. After the bar is thoroughly annihilated. Ventriloquist realizes the sock puppet isn’t really working for him.

In the Bat Mobile, Robin is concerned about Batman’s health, and discusses Bane while listening to the Police Scanner looking for calls that are related to Arkham escapees – and they hear a call about a break in at a toy store.

At the store, Ventriloquist is really bummed by the puppet selection. Batman & Robin arrive, and Robin sees Bird’s falcon. Batman goes in and manages to get blindsided by Amygdala.

On the outside, Robin confronts Bird, with some great double “Oh, Shit!” looks. Batman manages to take down Amygdala, while Bird gets robin on the ropes, before Bane calls him off.

After the fight, Ventriloquist slips away, and Robin goes in pursuit of Bird. Batman has no time to catch his breath though, as Zsasz has holed up In the Bates School for Women – and he has hostages.

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