After a conversation with Superman in Detective Comics No. 1092, Bruce decides to take an experimental drug named Sangraal that would make him younger physically. It helps that the person behind it is an old friend named Scarlett Scott. Bruce isn’t an idiot. He knows to test his blood and see how the serum is affecting his body. What he and Oracle learn makes Scarlett seem shady.
The analysis comes back and shows substances that aren’t his own. Among them are platelets belonging to someone in their mid-teens. Oracle also finds something more damning on Scarlett’s computer that connects Scarlett to the dead children. The kids targeted since the beginning of this run are from a juvenile detention center and Scarlett Scott is in business with them. One of the kids from the detention center was recently drained of their blood. We can guess where Sangraal is getting the mid-teen platelets.
The cover to our upcoming Detective Comics #1095. @mikeljanin is on another level. pic.twitter.com/CLVEVtlyjR
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) December 21, 2024
During Tom Taylor’s Nightwing, Dick Grayson fought someone from his past named Shelton Lyle who later became Heartless. It looks like Bruce Wayne could be fighting someone from his past too. The difference is their childhood. Shelton Lyle was always a rich, spoiled brat. Scarlett Scott seems to be a nice woman who grew up understanding the importance of hard work. If this writer is correct, they do share something in common. They both become new DC Comics villains. However, it’s too early to make that assumption.
Sure, the easy guess is that Scarlett is the masked villain killing teenagers and draining their blood. She’s only going after kids who were in the system (making her actions “justified”) and Scarlett's encounter with the random armed robbers shows that she can handle herself in a fight. It all works, but a little too well. This writer believes Tom Taylor is throwing everyone a curveball. Even if he isn’t the story is still a good one.
Lastly, one of the things I love about Tom Taylor’s writing is how he mentions real-life issues. Nightwing highlighted the homeless problem in America and the prison system. Detective Comics could be showing how juvenile detention systems do a poor job with kids and are sometimes all about money. It also points out how the rich would keep something like a youth serum for themselves instead of giving it to the world.
Detective Comics No. 1092 is written by Tom Taylor with art and colors by Mikel Janin
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