Warning: contains a preview of Batman #108!
Gotham City has always had an unusual relationship with Batman, its dark protector. Whether considering the nocturnal vigilante an urban myth, treating him as the unacknowledged backbone of the police department or, as of recently, regarding him as just another chaotic costume putting innocents at risk, Bruce Wayne's tumultuous relationship with the city he loves is one of the defining features of his quest, with the Dark Knight never expecting the near-universal adoration Superman gets from Metropolis, let alone anything close to the honor of Central City's Flash Museum.
But the recent Future State: The Dark Detective showed that Batman's city is on the brink of becoming something darker than ever before - a brutal police state in which citizens are watched constantly by an organization known as the Magistrate, whose fascistic Peacekeeper agents roam the streets, gunning down anyone in a mask. Occurring in a likely and not-too-distant future, Future State saw Bruce Wayne "killed" and the Batman name passed to a worthy successor, with the former Dark Knight left scrabbling for resources, ultimately facing the mysterious Peacekeeper-01 in an explosive finale that seemed to kill hero and villain alike, all while Batman's allies fought to save Gotham.
Since Batman's stories returned to the modern day, the threat of the Magistrate has continued to bubble. Industrialist Simon Saint is working behind the scenes, employing villains like Scarecrow and Hugo Strange to scare the city into embracing his vision of a new peacekeeping force. And with Joker's A-Day atrocity and Bane's occupation of the city having turned the tide of opinion against anyone in a mask, Simon Saint has found the perfect face for his new project: Sean Mahoney, a man who by all indications will become the Peacekeeper-01 of Future State's dystopian Gotham. Now, in a comic preview from Comic Watch, Batman #108 reveals that the fall of Batman is already underway, as the city celebrates Mahoney as "a real hero of Gotham City," and Simon Saint begins to plot his endgame.
Rejected by Commissioner Gordon's police department, Sean Mahoney instead found work at Arkham Asylum, where he was one of the few survivors of A-Day, even getting other employees to safety before Batman could arrive. There have only been a few hints of Mahoney's unsuitability to lead so far, but Future State revealed a man unfit for power, and one who had allowed his hatred of masked heroes to poison the city over which he'd been given control. Now, Batman #108 - from James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez - reveals that much of Mahoney's backstory was fabricated by Simon Saint, who used the loss of personnel files in the Arkham attack to craft a hero more suitable to his narrative. With Scarecrow pushing the city into paranoia and a fresh-faced hero to replace Batman, Saint's plan to introduce the Magistrate is shaping up at alarming speed.
If that wasn't enough, the issue also promises to introduce Miracle Molly - a new Gotham villain connected to the mysterious Unsanity Collective - and continues the flashback that began in Batman #106, which suggested Batman is a prisoner of Scarecrow, being forced to relive recent events to unknown ends. Recently stripped of his fortune and abandoned by his son, Bruce Wayne is starting again with fewer resources than ever, but the forces that will bring about his Future State ruin are moving ahead with their plans, and the chance to stop them before it's too late is already slipping through the Dark Knight's fingers. Batman #108 hits physical and digital retailers May 4, 2021.
Source: Comic Watch