Batwoman and Batman face off against an army of Omacs, as Tim is slowly converted to an Omac in front of Cassandra and into the Dark side, corrupting him to entering the Dark Brother Eye Batman program.
Cover A
Cover B
DETECTIVE COMICS # 979
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Philippe Briones
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Cover Artist: Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez & Brad Anderson
Variant Cover: Rafael Albuquerque
Editors: Chris Conroy Asst. Editor: Dave Wielgosz
Publisher: DC Comics
What You Need to Know:
Tim and Cassandra are in the Batcave analyzing some Omac soldiers from the colony that went rogue and killed 18 People. Batman had agreed to meet with Batwoman, to discuss the Colony’s role in the incident. Tim has been meeting with the time traveling Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong in secret. He seems to share Tim’s vision for the future but seems a bit unhinged.
Cassandra is horrified, as she sees the Nano-tech of the Omac’s start to take over Tim, as he is slowly converted. The General as Ulysses is calling himself, is lurking around in Tim’s Brain.
Meanwhile, back at the Creepy Haunted House; Batman and the Cornel and Batwoman fend off the hordes of Omacs. They cannot defeat them the same way twice, as their adaptive programming will anticipate their movements. The day is briefly saved by Batwing and Azrael who disrupt the communication to Brother Eye with a sonic screech.
What You’ll Find Out:
Tim is able to see this displayed through the cameras in the Omacs and struggles to break free of their control. Tim is helpless to stop the fray, and Ulysses digs his claws deeper into Tim’s psyche. While Tim is formable, he is no match for the psychic attacks that he is accosted by, and in front of Cassandra’s eyes, he transforms into a Cyclopean Batman Omac.
Protocol Pax Batman
All of the Omac’s in the Batcave fly away, as do the ones formerly attacking Batman and Batwoman. As hard as it is to hear, they explain to Batman, that Tim may be at fault here. Batman is having none of this talk, but Tim from the future did turn out to be a villain after all. His personal future was clouded with good intentions and bad moral judgment Although it’s fair to say that Batmen from different Realms did just attack the DCU in Metal. Batman escapes to the Batcave to find Tim and Cassandra.
What Just Happened?
Batman confronts Cassandra about her stalking someone, she was keeping track of for Tim, and he says that may be the only person who can help them right now. They enter a room, with conspiracy theories on the walls connected by red strings, and the Spoiler ( Tim Drake’s until recent girlfriend) talks about how she can tell Batman needs her help, and she wants to know how bad it is that he is coming to her for help. He tells her that Tim is in trouble, and they get to work. 
As the Nanites take over the tower in back, erecting a Middle Earth Looking structure complete with large glowing eye, Tim (mind controlled by the Omac program and Brother Eye) and Ulysses survey the rooftops of Gotham. Until next time Detectives.
Rating: 8 / 10
Final Thought:
The plan was to separate the factions, and conquer. To enact the Belfry 2.0 strategy, and for Ulysses to be a 50/50 partner in shaping Tim Drake’s vision of the future. All that he needed was the push of the nano-technology to make Tim a mindless Omac slave. A good story that is finally getting to the heart of the conspiracy, involving the Colony, Cornel Kane and Brother Eye, whose strings were pulled by the villain from the future. This is honestly a pretty compelling story.
The art again is a consistent tome, although my pet peeve on a different penciler mid-story arc, but it maintains the same tone and feel.
I like this issue in general and think that this is a smoldering build to a pretty good story arc. It’s about time we see a Tim central story, as since Damien showed up as Robin, Tim has been thrust more into the Titans books than Detective issues. I am excited to see where this goes, and if the schism between Batman and Batwoman will be short-lived or not.
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