Batman: Gotham By Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #5 – I Shot The Sherr

Batman: Gotham By Gaslight – The Kryptonian Age #5 introduces more of the Earth-19 heroes and tells Lex Luthor’s origin and nefarious plot and there are a page or two of Batman.

The issue begins where the last issue’s cliffhanger left off…with Victor Stone Luthor’s lab looking at a man incased and surging with lightning. Luthor explains how attempt to study the composition of the Sun lead him to witness a large solar flare which dislodged an object (Superman’s rocket) from it’s orbit eventually falling to Earth. The Superman’s ship in turn triggered a object he was studying entrapment his assistant, named Jay Garrick, in lightning. After learning this Victor, wanting no part of it leaves but his car explodes and he wakes up and Lex has turned him into a steampunk version of Cyborg.

Next, Batman goes off to investigate the train wreak that gave Alan Scott the ring in a Victorian version of the Bat-plane. Prior to leaving he and Julia have a moment and Julia tells Alfred that she wants him to train her so Gotham will have a protector in Bruce’s absence… leading to her probably becoming Bat-Woman. While a short scene, it does have an awesome shot of the Bat-Plane as a splash page.

Things delve into the magic and mystical side of this DCU with John Constantine being confronted by the Phantom Stranger. This is an interesting scene although it is unclear how this will play into the larger story.

The final scene shifts to Smallville where Alan Scott is up to his old huckster routine and is challenged by Lois. At the same this Earth’s Deadshot has a standoff with the Deputy before the Sheriff (Superman) shows up, puts on the clumsy oaf act before taking out Deadshot.

The issues does little to move the larger story forward but has some interesting moments as the world continues to expand and introduce more characters. It will be interesting to see how Diggle ties these threads together into explaining the mystery behind the Kryptonian Age and how Batman is involved.