SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Detective Comics #995, by Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, David Baron and Rob Leigh, on sale now.
The new creative team of Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke kicked off their Detective Comics run with a bang in Issue #994 by forcing the Dark Knight of Gotham to relive the greatest tragedy of his life: the death of his parents. However, the story took an unexpected twist when a massive creature attacked Dr. Leslie Thompkins while she was leaving the Park Row Clinic, which prompted the World’s Greatest Detective to put the case on the backburner so he could rescue his longtime ally.
Unfortunately, in Detective Comics #995, Batman discovers that saving Dr. Thompkins is a task that’s easier said than done.
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When we last saw Dr. Thompkins, she had narrowly escaped the wrath of the aforementioned creature, thanks to Batman’s intervention. In the process, though, she was somehow infected with The Joker’s laughing gas.
As Issue #995 begins, the Caped Crusader is doing everything in his power to get her to the Batcave while Alfred prepares a round of antitoxin.
“Synthesizing several different toxins as we speak,” Alfred tells Batman, attempting to reassure him. “They will be ready.”
Sadly, Batman and Alfred’s efforts are for naught.
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“Leslie is not responding,” Alfred says after injecting Dr. Thompkins with a third round of antitoxin. “She’s been infected with a mutated toxin variation… None of our antidotes are working.”
With tears in her eyes and a horrific red smile on her face, Dr. Thompkins tells Alfred to continue looking after Bruce, adding how proud she is of him. Bruce, refusing to believe this is the end, tries to revive her with the defibrillator, but it’s too late.
“She’s gone, Bruce,” Alfred says.
Bruce kisses Leslie on the forehead, closes her eyes and asks Alfred to give him a moment so he can mourn the loss of his surrogate mother figure silently. Alfred, meanwhile, sheds a few tears before finding himself in a predicament of his own.
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Several questions still remain, though. First and foremost, who was responsible for the attack on Dr. Thompkins? Was it the same person behind the double homicide of the couple made to resemble Thomas and Martha Wayne? And perhaps the most troubling question of all, how does The Joker factor into this?
Surely Batman’s trip to Arkham Asylum in the closing pages will yield some results when the story continues in Detective Comics #996, which goes on sale January 16.