#679: Hoo boy.
The story's coming together, and Morrison wasn't kidding when he said it would combine everything he'd done so far: this issue has the Club of Heroes, Zur en Arrh, and the Joker with the black-and-red theme. The only major pieces who are still conspicuous in their absence are Talia and Damian -- and the latter was teased last ish ("Boy Wonder vs. Son of Batman!"). Well, and Nightwing sits this issue out too; presumably still drugged and imprisoned in Arkham.
Dr. Hurt finally gives himself a name; Alfred isn't buying it. My "Alfred is the big bad" theory seems to be taking a beating here, but I'm still not going to rule out a tie-in to the split-personality villain Alfred stories from the 1950's. Morrison HAS teased that the big bad is a character who everybody knows.
Speaking of stories from the 1950's, I found an LJ page with scans of
The Batman of Zur en Arrh.
It's still unclear whether the Black Glove is an individual or an organization. Hurt seems to be self-applying the name at one point, but it's uncertain.
Looking forward to the next one.