Batman: Dark Patterns (2024-) #2: We are the Wounded Part Two

Batman: Dark Patterns

by Dan Watters, Hayden Sherman (artist)

Case 01: We Are Wounded – Part II As the mysterious Wound Man’s body count rises higher and higher, the Dark Knight Detective must descend into the festering depths of Gotham’s past to uncover the secret truth at the heart of Wound Man’s crimes.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Batman, Comic Book, Superheroes

Kindle Edition

Published January 8, 2025

About the author

Dan Watters is a UK based comic book writer. His first book, LIMBO, was released through Image Comics in 2016. He has since written THE SHADOW at Dynamite Comics, and ASSASSIN’S CREED and WOLFENSTEIN for Titan Comics.

Currently he is writing the relaunch of LUCIFER for Vertigo’s Sandman Universe, as well as DEEP ROOTS for Vault Comics. Deeply rooted in London Town, and firmly of the Devil's party.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Issue 2, Case 1. Batman doing Batman things, secret corporations trying to hide some dirty work. Better then issue 1. will keep reading this.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark Patterns continues to impress. We learn more about the man with the spikes coming out of him, who's behind it, and Batman walking in a town in daytime is hysterical yet somehow badass? Overall digging this a lot.

[Arianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this villain - he's scary, but it's very easy to emphatize with him even if I know so little about him.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah, this is the best Bat book on the shelves right now.

[James B · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read a comic with an interesting new villain. This one ticks that box.

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, so good! I’m enjoying the story and find the villain to be quite interesting.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the sense of relief you can feel when batman gets the killer successfully…only to have double the concern dumped on top of it because things just got so much bigger! One thing I neglected to mention about last issue, and something that continues this issue, is Batman’s comments about other crimes or risky behaviors throughout the city. The building fires, the kids playing chicken on the subway lines, the person putting razor blades under car door handles, etc. He can’t be everywhere at once but he tries to be aware of everything. The issue opens with batman showing Gordon the medical journal he believes applies to the wound man. Gordon of course wants to put all the people on the list batman acquired in protective custody, but batman knows how the killer is moving and they are at an advantage by predicting his targets. Batman assures Gordon he will be there, but Gordon isn’t sure that’s good enough. In other news, Gordon has setup the pathologist from last issue up with the victims bodies to try and draw out clues to their identity. Gordon also helped to get batman some info on the private security firm he fought last issue at the law firm. Turns out they are being paid for by ace chemicals. Batman isn’t sure of they are just protecting corporate interests, or they’re covering something up.

Batman leaves Gordon to carefully watch the next would be victim. The dead lawyer prosecuted him after he straggled a female colleague at a Christmas party. She survived but his family wasn’t waiting for him after he got out of black gate, and now he spends his days dragging his feet between his apartment and the bar nearby. And after seeing the last two victims and their current lives, you can start to see what the wound man is trying to do on their backwards thinking. They are trying to fill the pain in these peoples lives, use some backwards idea of healing but it doesn’t work and that’s exactly what batman tells the wound man as he sneaks up behind him and grabs him by an exposed part on his chin as the killer tried to sneak into the victims apartment. But batman still can’t hurt the wound man anywhere without killing him, unfortunately that is exactly what the wound man wants, he wants to be hurt. So batman is left with no other choice than to try and use a knockout gas. But knockout toxins aren’t like what you see in the movies. It’s not as easy as a rag over the mouth or a dart from a rifle, it’s far riskier and requires a carefully calibrated dose relative to the subjects weight and lung capacity…unfortunately batman had to eyeball it and miscalculated…leading to immediately heart failure in the wound man. Batman immediately picked him up and carried him down the stairs RK the Batmobile to rush him to the hospital. Unfortunately with this string of fires lately…the hospital was on fire. Batman needed a location nearby with medical supplies…which left him no other choice than to go to Dr Sereika, the pathologist. The doctor instructs batman to massage the heart without touching any of the objects trying to pierce it, as he prepared a shot of adrenaline. After a bit the heart appeared to be beating, but they can’t move him. That’s alright with batman, he handcuffs the wound man to the table and instructs the doctor to call Gordon. Batman has to leave to find out who made him…and why.

This leads batman to the reporter office of Nicky Harris. Turns out they had a run in before when batman got some info on the “killer croc” case from the reporter. But batman is here on business much more personal to this reporter. He’s stuck in a back office writing conspiracies for tabloids when he used to work for the Gazette…until he started an expose on ace chemicals and their lawyers ruined his life. But he still has a lot of information they can’t scrub, cold hard paper trails. Which includes files on a toxin called crioxin, which sounds like exactly the thing that could make a monster. There was never any confirmation on what happened to the chemical, but the reporter has a theory…ever heard of the town without screams?

Back with the good pathologist, he is being very bad by not calling Gordon and waiting for the wound man to wake up so he can try and talk to him…Doctor to doctor. Or at least he thinks the wound man is a doctor based on the skill it took to do that to his body. Sereika immediately begins fanboying over the wound man as he believes what he has done to be remarkable, and sees it as an attempt to channel pain he no longer feels. Sereika can relate as he is of the mindset that doctors make the worst patients because they aren’t always objective and they panic just like everyone else, grasping onto anything they might think will help…but forgetting to get to the root cause. The first time the wound man speaks to Sereika is when he asks about the root cause. Oh no…did Sereika just point this killer in a new unpredictable direction?

Batman is heading out of town, to follow up on the lead from the reporter, and called Gordon on his way. Of course batman was pissed to find that Gordon is not with Sereika, but Gordon hearing the wound man is in custody is good news…as he is about to walk into a meeting with the mayor about this situation. Right before they drop the call, batman mentions that he was right and ace chemicals created the wound man…and now all he needs is proof. But wouldn’t you know it, as Gordon walks into the meeting with the mayor he is happy to inform him that the suspect has been apprehended at the pathology lab. But this conversation was also overheard from a “concerned citizen” the mayor would like to introduce to Gordon…one Christopher Sionis (any relation to Roman?), the CEO of Axis Corp, with subsidiaries such as Janus Cosmetics (clay face reference?) and…you guessed it, Ace Chemicals. It seems this fat cat wants this case wrapped up clean and quiet. Can’t wait for batman to dump a whole load of acid on that idea. We see as batman drove to upstate Gotham in one of the suburbs known as Green Fields. It’s hilarious seeing everyone step out of their houses and just stare as batman parks the Batmobile and walks down their street. But this is no normal suburb, as last year the tabloids dubbed it the town without screams. A few pages of abnormalities which were refuted and died on the vine. Calls for help that went ignored…and based on the graffiti at one of the abandoned houses…they are looking for others to save them…namely the wound man, begging him to heal them. As the issue comes to an end we once again check on Sereika and the wound man…only for two armed men in ski masks bust in, knock down Sereika and take the wound ma with them. Hmmm based on the bandages on their bodies, are they private security for ace chemicals by any chance?

[Aron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! It's a great time to be a Batman fan, as usual, DC has multiple Batman titles running at the same time, the unusual thing is that several of them are actually really great. This book, in particular, is my favorite though. This is more of a Batman as the world's greatest detective book, and Watters is killing it! Hayden Sherman is doing a fantastic job as well on the artwork that really fits the story well. This has the potential to be one of the best Batman stories in the long history of the character.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving this series so far.

Batman doing *only* detective work is something you don’t read in many issues nowadays. It’s dark and damned interesting. Batman apprehended the Wounded Man and has him with a doctor friend to help heal and question him.
While the wounded man is apprehended, Batman learns that Ace chemicals is involved in his creation and that the ‘wounded man’ is a myth to aspire to in the outskirts of Gotham.

[Chris Loan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first issue set up a nice mystery, where this second issue started I was a little concerned it might not play out too long, but Watters is doing a good job in setting up a really nice mystery that has hands in a lot of the Batman mythos. This Batman is calculating, and his inner monologue carries the issue, along with the fantastic art

[alejandro galvez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good and mysterious

I love the fact that Batman is doing actual Detective work. It gets lost sometimes through the years. I have to say I am digging this story a lot. The art is wonderful too. The art is like Ed Brubaker and Tim Sale had a love child. Pick it up. It's worth a read!

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one resonated more with me than issue one. A lot of good moments as Batman confronts the Wound Man and his compassion shines through. I also like how this adventure seems like it’s going outside of the usual Gotham city, with Batman walking around a suburban neighborhood in broad daylight.

The mystery is unfolding gradually and I can’t help but be curious where it’s going from here.

[Nick LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff! The second in a series is the one that has to hook you and this successfully has. My favorite kind of Batman story, the detective noir that the Batman series is the best at delivering. Again, cool art and I love a deep conspiracy!

Read as a single issue.

[Annemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still interesting, delving more into the mystery. More excited about the next one than this one, which means it's a good setup book.

[Jacob Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This creative team is spectacular! The first two issues already make Dark Patterns one of the best Bat-books of the last 15 years!

[Shazne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is some top tier detective story, art and antagonist.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A return to what batman does best. Be a detective! Great art.

[Mark Cubillos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part 2 of Case 1 in the early days of the Batman. I love the old cases and return to the street level.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot thickens