The epic team-up (or tear-apart) continues as Batman and the Flash fight off a horde of Gotham and Gotham Girl clones. Can they defeat them in time to save Central City from the real Gotham Girl’s next attack? And, will this crisis bring Bruce and Barry back together…or split them apart for good? Wanna know more? Follow us after the jump!

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Claire Clover, aka Gotham Girl, has completely lost it. The death of her brother pushed her over the edge…but there is a lot more to her story than we have known so far. While she attempts to create an “origin story” of her own, we are left to wonder just who was behind Claire and her brother from the beginning. More than that, we still don’t know who has been behind this “resurrection” now.

Bruce and Barry successfully fight off the zombie clones, arguing with each other the whole time. Barry runs to Central City at full speed afterward, trying to save the CCPD from certain death. Batman pushes his Batwing past its limits to get there in time to save Barry. Bruce isn’t “going to have the death of two Flashes on my hands.”

A lot happens in the time between Barry’s instantaneous arrival at the CCPD and the appearance of the Dark Knight Detective.

Specifically, we see the reappearance of…Claire’s brother Hank! The serum Claire was given has revived Hank for a time. But, it couldn’t last for long. This goes back to the fact that their powers eventually will kill them…and it does so once again for the former hero known as Gotham. It’s fortunate for Barry, as a momentary distraction left him open to a vicious attack by Hank. Still, he has to contend with Claire, who is more than ready to kill at this point.

Batman tries to talk her down, but without success. Claire takes a dose of the same serum she gave to her brother, amping up her power for one final attack…and that’s where we leave the story until next week!

NOTES:

• I am truly enjoying this crossover. The emotions for both Barry and Bruce come across as genuine, fitting their characters and the reactions that they would have in this situation. Bruce is trying to make amends in his own somewhat off-putting way, but Barry isn’t having any of it. The pain of losing Wally is just too real, too fresh to go back to the way things were just yet. Whether that happens at all is something we’ll have to find out (possibly next week?). At any rate, a stellar script once again from Joshua Williamson.  This is SO good, my one regret is that we only have one more issue of this arc.
• Is Bane really behind this? Is there someone else using Bane’s Venom to make all this happen? Can’t wait to confirm just who is behind all this…
• I’m still bummed by the storyline of HEROES IN CRISIS…but the way this crossover plays off that storyline is brilliant.
• One side story is that Iris West was at the CCPD to go through Barry’s stuff – to find a picture of both of them with Wally. She is writing a secret obituary for Wally, her own way of dealing with that loss.
• The artwork is simply spectacular! From the action to the displays of emotion, this was astounding! The page layouts were spot-on – and those splash pages left me speechless! That’s thanks to Guillem March (with Tomeu Morey’s colors).
• One last note…I’ve neglected to mention the very cool BatFlash (or is it FlashBat?) logo that goes along with this crossover…here it is, and I really like it!

SUMMARY: I think I’ve already gushed enough over this issue – so I’ll just say this one was a 10/10 for me. Of course, that’s just my opinion – what do YOU think? Leave your comments below!

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