Preface

The year is 1897 and Gotham is poised on the brink of a new century. Industry is booming and men are quickly becoming millionaires in this new age of commerce. The economy is booming and spirits re high. As more and more immigrants flock to this land of opportunity, however, they’re finding that there’s not quite as much opportunity to go around. And as Gotham’s buildings and smokestacks tower ever higher, they cast greater shadows over the city’s underbelly. The only thing doing better than Industry in 1899 is crime, and Gotham’s police force is hard-pressed to keep up with the surge in organized – and bizarre – crimes.

Eight years ago, a "merry widower" poisoned ten wealthy old women using Strychnine, and took a dose of his own medicine when he was about to be captured. He didn't die, but the poison paralyzed his face into a perpetual and eerie grin. The man was eventually apprehended and sent to the special psychotic ward at Arkham Asylum. Still, he was just the first in a series of bizarre criminals that began to appear. An arsonist fashioned a metal suit for himself and took credit for his crimes under the moniker “Fire Fly.” Not long after that, a botanist poisoned his wife and her lover with rare plant toxins when he learned of their affair. The lover died, but according to reports, the toxins gave the wife strange control over plants and used them to strangle her husband. She became another occupant of Arkham’s special ward, staying in a room next to a Hungarian Doctor named Freis who turned to grave robbing and unnatural experiments in an effort to revive his wife from her coma. There have been many theories as to the cause behind this rise in crime. Some claim that there’s something in Gotham’s drinking water – Doctor Freud theorizes that these criminals are merely a symptom of Gotham’s greater societal dysfunction.

Still, most of the men on Gotham’s city council tend to blame Bat-Man.

The Bat made his first appearance eight years ago, right around the same time that Jack the Ripper fled London and resumed killing in Gotham City. For weeks, panicked citizens thought Bat-Man and their Ripper were one in the same, and with evidence delivered anonymously to the Gotham Police, millionaire orphan Bruce Wayne was convicted of being the Ripper. Of course, the ruling was later repealed when the Bat-Man captured the real Ripper – all while Bruce Wayne was still locked up in Arkham.

Since stopping the Ripper, the Bat-Man has continued his nightly crusade, fighting Gotham’s ever-increasing criminal population night after night – striking terror into the hearts of men who terrorize others. The police do not condone such acts of vigilantism, of course, but Chief Inspector James Gordon (recently promoted following his pivotal role in breaking the Ripper case) has been rumored to consort with the Bat-Man on some of his more troublesome cases – and a mysterious beacon has been shone on these occasions, said to summon the Bat-Man to the roof of the police building in the heart of the city.

Recently, the Bat has been joined in his nightly crusade by another vigilante – this one calling himself Nite Wing. His origins and identity remain a mystery, but he has been known to be more human than his partner – while the Bat-Man went for months without formally identifying himself, Nite Wing seems to practically announce his presence, combating Gotham’s criminal element not with superstition and subterfuge but with showmanship and his exceptional fighting abilities. Though he’s only been on the scene for three years, he has already made quite an impression on Gotham’s criminal element – especially those involve in organized crime. Nite Wing seems to take a particular interest in gangsters and first came to the attention of police after single-handed apprehending five members of the gang responsible for an act of sabotage at the Haley Brothers Circus that resulted in three deaths and left a young acrobat orphaned.

But although this duo of crime fighters has already made its mark on the city’s crime rate, will it be enough? It seems that the closer the world gets to this new century, the more desperate criminals start making their bids for the city and the world beyond. Will they be able to stop the madness before it tears Gotham apart, or will the increase in vigilantes only encourage more lawlessness in an already chaotic time?