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CHAPTER 34

August 13, 2022 / Dave Heilker

“I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.”
Albert EinStein • WHY SOCIALISM?

League Of Shadows

Periods of quiet never lasted very long in Gotham City, and Black Mask knew it well.

The Peter Pan trial had burned brightly, and burned out. What was expected to be the trial of a depraved child killer was a terrifyingly whimsical prance through the mind of a man who nervously fiddled with his cap in the courtroom, and gave to cartoonesque theatrics in the courthouse halls.

Jeremy Tetch was found not guilty, by reason of insanity, and was committed to the Arkham Psychiatric Hospital.

CHAPTER 33

June 13, 2022 / Dave Heilker

♪ ♫ People let me tell you ’bout my best friend,
He’s a warm hearted person who’ll love me till the end.
People let me tell you bout my best friend,
He’s a one boy cuddly toy,
My up, my down, my pride and joy. ♪ ♫
Harry Nilsson • “Best Friend”

Bravo Foxtrot Foxtrot

A technology that seemed poised to explode into ubiquity had somehow completely failed to register as remarkable to Lex Luthor until it was “too late,” so Lex was doing calculations in his head.

In all, Lex thought of himself as a man who believed that ideas of “missed opportunity” and woulda, coulda, and shoulda were marks of low character.

ORIGIN STORIES: THE GRAY GHOST

June 4, 2022 / Dave Heilker

“THE GRAY GHOST AND THE MYSTERY OF THE DAME WITH NO NAME”

ORIGINAL AIR DATE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1932

WRITTEN BY DAVID HEALER & WALT SEYMOUR

CHAPTER 32

May 28, 2022 / Dave Heilker

“Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness. Science fiction is already happening to some extent in our own society. Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed society gives them drugs. In effect drugs are a means of modifying an individual’s internal state in such a way as to enable him to tolerate social conditions that he would otherwise find intolerable.”
Theodore KACZYNSKI, UNABOMBER

New Jersey Estate Planning and Probate Continuing Legal Education

Over the past month, things had become suspiciously quiet in Gotham.

The mob had coalesced around someone, and Johnny Gelio, commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, had no leads. There weren’t enough hours in a day, and he found himself more irritable.

He wasn’t getting the sleep he needed. He’d fallen asleep at his desk last night, and almost missed this appointment with his physician. Sitting in the waiting room, he considered recent developments.

CHAPTER 31

May 19, 2022 / Dave Heilker

“This place has gone to hell in a ham sandwich since they eighty-sixed the dress code!”
Col. Hunter Gathers

The Invisible Hand Of Fate

A barrage of faster-than-a-blink punches to a heavy bag.

Fury.

A strand of pearls bouncing across the street and into the gutter.

Panic.

“You can stay over if you’d like, it’s jus–”

“No, no, Bruce! You’re going through so much. I totally, well I wish there was something else I could do. If you need to talk, will you call me?”

Mourning.

“It’s at least dislocated, maybe worse. Can you move it?”

“…”

“If you’re still insisting on not drinking, then you’d better bite down on this.”

Pain.

CHAPTER 30

May 5, 2022 / Dave Heilker

“The truth is you can be orphaned again and again and again.
“The truth is you will be.
“And the secret is, this will hurt less and less each time until you can’t feel a thing.”
Tender branson, survivor

This Must Be The Place

Greathorn Diner, Ashburton 5:58 a.m.

“You two can follow me in if you don’t mind sittin’ in the dark for a minute, hon,” the waitress said, her breath hanging in clouds in the November morning air.

Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth did just that, removing their hats and coats in such synchronicity that George Gershwin would’ve had half a mind to consult the duo for choreography.

CHAPTER 29

April 21, 2022 / Dave Heilker

All his life, Klaus had believed that if you read enough books, you could solve any problem, but now he wasn’t so sure.
Lemony snicket • “The Bad Beginning”

Jellyfish

A funeral certainly makes for a curious date, thought Jeremy Tetch, Lead Policy Advisor for the Project ALICE initiative. And while his suit was secondhand, it had been tailored and pressed, and soon enough he would be able to afford a new one.

His date was as disarming as ever. Even in the muted felt of her black cloche hat and simple dress, Jeremy found Harriet to have otherworldly appeal.

CHAPTER 28

April 7, 2022 / Dave Heilker

“I would say ‘it’s nice to meet you,’ but I don’t believe in time as a concept, so I’ll just say ‘we always met.'”
Darius epps • Atlanta

Funeral For A Friend

Alfred Pennyworth cleared his throat.

“When I was 22 years old, my life changed forever, and it hasn’t stopped changing since. If you had asked me on that day if I was ready to be a father to a teenager who had just lost his mother and father, I would’ve said ‘Hell no!’ and that would’ve been that.”

Behind Alfred, Bruce Wayne cracked a smile. Alfred knew this because nervous lips throughout the gathered mourners began to twitch into cautious smiles.

It was a brisk, but clear Sunday in November, and Alfred pressed on with glassy eyes.

CHAPTER 27

March 31, 2022 / Dave Heilker

CONTENT WARNING
graphic violence • gun violence • violent death

“The wretches will suffer punishment and will shortly meet the end which they deserve“
Nero Claudius Caesar

Oedipus In Exile

It was unseasonably warm for November, and thunder crashed in the night sky of Gotham City.

Votes were cast amid gunfire and the violent competition for territory by a fractured mob family.

Mayor Basil Karlo was re-elected in a curious (but only if you had the luxury of thinking about it for more than five minutes) landslide.

ORIGIN STORIES: THE FLYING GRAYSONS

January 9, 2022 / Dave Heilker

The Very Edge of Sherwood Forest, Nottingham, England 1322

(Oak Point Park, Midway City, Michigan, 1922)

The Sheriff of Nottingham was right behind him.

“I’m right behind you, scoundrel!”

And he would stop at nothing to make his arrest.

“I’ll stop at nothing to make my arrest, you fiendish outlaw!”

And so it was that the outlaw was running for his life.

The Gothamite