Batman: Gotham County Line

Plot

Batman, the Joker raises the issue of the existence of an afterlife, which Batman puts down, along with his nemesis. Jim Gordon summons Batman with a case in the suburbs of Gotham County, where entire families were killed in the same gray and ritualistic way, shortly after being robbed by a junkie. Batman investigates one of the crime scenes before being called to another murder in which he pursues the killer but is ambushed and knocked out. He is rescued by detectives Keith and Radmuller of the Gotham County Sheriff’s Department and questions the junkie thief at his residence. Batman again, but not before Batman procures a Sheriff’s badge from his person, that of Detective Radmuller. Batman arrives at Radmuller ‘ Radmuller has set up a trapman to drastically remove it by opening the door. The case is solved and Batman returns to Gotham, but Radmuller springs to life in the back of the ambulance transporting his corpse, killing those inside and reanimated their bodies back into town.

Bruce is haunted by dreams and visions of reanimated bodies and his parents blaming him for their deaths. He suspects Radmuller of poisoning him with something, though his tests for such come back negative. Detective Keith Contacts: Radmuller’s body is missing, along with those of the most recently murdered family. At the crime scene, Batman and Keith are accosted by the corpse of the murdered father, who shoots Keith with her own gun and flees. Deadmanemerges from Keith ‘s body and informs Batman that he is trapped in a world between the living and the dead, having been cursed by Radmuller before his death. Deadman tells Batman that he must know his Batman’s secret identity, before they are accosted by a horde of zombies by Radmuller and Deadman disappears.

Batman attempts to fight the zombies off, but they are immune to their struggles. Radmuller explains that they are the victims of crimes Batman failed to stop. Batman flees and is saved by Jason Todd , who thanks Batman for thinking of him. Batman takes shelter in a decrepit house, where he sees the corpses of Radmuller’s parents, who knows how their killed them just to watch them die. Deadman reappears with the Phantom Stranger, who destroys the attacking zombies. Batman goes to confront Radmuller, on the way to meet his parents, who wants to believe in their violent deaths Batman to confront Radmuller with his own dead parents. Radmuller’s power over the realm dissipates and Batman returns to the moment before the curse was enacted, stopping Radmuller’s hanging death and turning him over to the GCSD.

Collected editions

The limited series has been collected in a trade paperback :

• Batman: Gotham County Line (180 pages, October 2006, ISBN  140120905X )

Reception

The List called the comic “interesting but not essential”. ^[2]

Notes

References