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Hmm, I was thinking of giving up Cat-Tails for Lent. Reading this opening chapter makes me glad I didn't. Let's see; We begin with humor. Tim's "To the Batcave," made me laugh out loud, and the Ivy-Roxy thing is really neat.

I'm looking forward to the next cave scene: Tim walking in on Selina, with the intend to commti acts she would find less than praise-worthy? I've always liked the Selina-Tim interactions in Cat-Tales (there are far too few), and this one should be interesting.

But, of course, the reason why Selina's in the Cave might put a damper on things. For all her explanation, though, she never really says why she's down there. True, Bruce may not exactly be a jolly fellow at the moment, but Selina likes to help him out of these things, and I would expect her to be within reach if he suddenly required/was willing to acept any support she might be able to give. This could be key.

And, of course, the whole thing turns dark. What do we end up with? Two of our greatest caped heros, perhaps the two greatest, down in the dumps. And not just your average, garden variety slump, but a fairly major change in attitude. Bruce is facing various demons he despises, demons that are at once intimately familiar and totally froiegn to him; Magic, he's seen but hates ( I suspect because he can't quite get his head around it). Murder... very fmiliar with, but can not imagine committing himself (at least with an un-altered mind). And madness... he's seen enough of that, and felt it creep at his own mind from time to time, and wihout anything helping, either. But, in the end, Batman is almost pure rationalsim, the anithesis of madness. To have these things all enter his body and his mind in that short a time span must make him question everything.

And as for Superman, interestingly enough, he's seeing things he's familiar and unfamiliar with, as well. He himself is fine, and would have been fine standing at the very epicenter of the quake. But this is hardly the first time he's seen person after person after person after person who who could not. He's got to be pondering his own mortality, and wondering if his powers are any use at all. He might look a bit better than Bruce at the moment, but add in a healthy dose of survivor's guilt and a trip to J'onn might not be out of order.

And, to top ot all off, major portents (sp?) are making it known that Something Wicked This Way Comes... with enough power to affect what is probably the whole globe. We know from Highland Games that Ivy's powers are somewhat tied to the mystical realm, but is she really that powerful? I doubt it. This seems much more sinsiter.

But wait! These two unfortunate superheros are going to be together soon, and there's a trouble brewin' in Gotham, whether it's the epicenter of the portents or not. Since they can't get ech other down much more, I think things can only go up from here... er well, at least from whenever things get really bad. As it stands, things can get worse, and probably will...

Anyway, a truly great opener. A balance of exposition and forshadowing, with enough pull to make almost grumpy there's not more. But, I will patiently await the next isntallment, knowing it will be well worth it.