WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Batman #110 by James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey, Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Batman has certainly been experiencing some major upheavals in his life as of late. His fortune is gone, the city is turning on him, and he's been letting in some highly unconventional allies. But one of those allies, Ghost-Maker, might be pushing him to take increasingly reckless actions that might be too much for Gotham City to handle at the moment.
Things have changed drastically for Batman since the events of "Joker War." His resources are limited, resulting in a more pragmatic approach to crimefighting that also comes with the caveat of not being as efficient as he once was. Previously, Batman could be virtually anywhere at any time, but he now has to delegate in order to adequately protect Gotham, and this has led him to recruit a few rather unique allies.
The first among these new allies is Harley Quinn. Once the girlfriend of Batman's arch nemesis, Harley is now becoming something akin to Batman's new sidekick or even partner. But despite her less than stable mental state, Harley is genuinely trying to do good and has been for some time now, working toward earning Batman's full trust. But the Dark Knight has other allies who have motives that are far less certain.
Ghost-Maker was one of Batman's oldest friends, before an ideological difference placed them on separate paths. However, the ghostly vigilante has reformed his old partnership with Batman, but is doing so mostly to prove that he is better than the Dark Knight. It is that competitive streak that might be goading the Dark Knight to take dangerous risks to compensate.
A good example is Batman's recent effort to infiltrate the Unsanity Collective and learn more about them. When his cover was blown by Miracle Molly, he didn't even try to deny it. Instead, he heard her out, listening to see what the strange organization was really all about. The Unsanity Collective up until that point had been portrayed as highly dangerous and Batman agreed to be taken on a tour through their facility by one it's most dangerous members.
That particular decision pales in comparison to one of his most recent acts. In Batman #110, he was trapped inside the Saint Industries building with Peacekeeper-01. With no grappling gun and his cape torn, Batman was stuck in a skyscraper with the murderous cyborg gunning for him, with no foreseeable way of escaping. In dire need of help, the Dark Knight signaled Ghost-Maker by triggering precision based explosives across the floor and detonating them to send a message in Morse code, so that Ghost-Maker could save him from a plummet from the building that would have been fatal.
If Batman had timed things incorrectly or overestimated Ghost-Maker's ability to pick up and decipher the code, his actions would have been fatal. The Caped Crusader has been operating recklessly more and more lately, in the midst of Gotham currently being in a vulnerable state. If Batman's new recklessness causes him injury or even death, the city he loves will be left without its greatest protector at a time when the city needs him the most.
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