Bruce Wayne is at a turning point, haunted by dreams of a dark future, while Gotham City billionaires are being gruesomely murdered. So he was a chemist and had a freak accident, which completely upset his life—we’ve seen this kind of stuff a million times already. The thing I don't like about this book is, recently, I have just read too many books of Batman bring on the back foot or getting to put it another way, getting his butt kicked.

With people (and Failsafe) thinking than Batman killed the Penguin, Failsafe gets activated and he tries whatever he can to kill him. The writing is really great, with Chip Zdarsky's characteristic narration and Leonardo Romero's beautiful artwork. The current run on Batman has done a lot to dissect how Bruce Wayne's oath to protect Gotham City has slowly worn him down over the years. It was his argument with Bruce in the Cave about why there was no anti-Batman protocol and how saying 'the League will stop me' is ill-thought-out. Not only do they tie into the main narrative wonderfully, but they also delve into some of the characters’ motives and actually add something useful and consequential to ongoing events.

The absence of Batman serves as a narrative catalyst, driving the plot forward and infusing the story with a sense of mystery and anticipation.

The plot occasionally stutters as it transitions between action-packed sequences and more contemplative moments. Chip Zdarsky’s narrative prowess shines through, accompanied by Jorge Jiménez’s evocative artwork that breathes life into the city’s grim and captivating landscape. At first, it seemed like Zdarsky was introducing a new character in Red Mask, with his own hidden agenda. Bruce fails to control his emotions and plans to leave Daniel Captio when Daniel shows Bruce a picture of Alfred and Dana shot in the head, enraging Bruce. By murdering Alfred in the climax of Tom King's run, Bane and the Flashpoint Thomas Wayne unwittingly removed that safeguard and are thus indirectly responsible for Failsafe's activation in the here and now.The Penguin seemingly kills himself after being poisoned with mercury and frames Batman for it, which in turn leads to the activation of the Failsafe robot.

Having always been a die-hard fan of his artistic style, artist Jorge Jiménez achieves once more a gorgeous portrayal of Batman’s universe. Bruce Wayne and Anton explain they want to find Avery Oblonsky to understand the art of espionage and disguise. One last thing before I talk about the art: Batman confronts an alternate universe, hostile Superman. While Zdarsky does touch on that in the early issues of this story arc, he downplays it in favor of the action story. By integrating all of Batman's continuities, Morrison created a character who has all that experience to fall back on.He could have disabled Failsafe, but instead chose to fight an android he designed knowing he could not win, injuring Batman further.