Drop the Smoke

Gotham's underworld gets its biggest shakeup in years with the debut of the Minotaur, a new villain who operates like a corporate CEO with a bull-shaped digital helmet and a missing finger on each hand. He's not interested in theatrical schemes—he controls the money. The issue opens with overnight chaos across Gotham: firefights at the Port, a four-alarm blaze in the Slabs, three businessmen executed in Wolf Hill. It's all connected.

The Minotaur has organized Gotham's disparate crime families into the Torus, a consortium of seven criminal enterprises functioning as an algorithm of illegal efficiency. The Penguin's Thieves Guild, La Mano Nera, the Bezna family's transport network, Tozuki's tech operation, Fáng Hēi's weapons supply, La Penitenta's drugs and manpower, and the Minotaur himself as their banker. He's frozen everyone's accounts and holds family members hostage to ensure cooperation. His goal: within twenty years, the Torus will control every revenue stream on Earth.

Batman learns all this the hard way, chasing down a terrified Anarky who'd rather take a beating than name his new boss. Lonnie Machin's fear tells Batman everything—if the criminals are this scared, the Minotaur is something new. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne pursues Dr. Zeller romantically, their gym encounter providing levity before the issue's brutal climax where the Minotaur executes representatives from each family to demonstrate his commitment. The Calculator appears as the man in the chair, suggesting the conspiracy runs deep into Gotham's information networks.