“The Tower” begins! The 12-part weekly Detective Comics event starts here. Arkham Asylum has fallen, and in its place, Arkham Tower has risen in the heart of the city, a pitch made by the mysterious Dr. Wear. Backup: “House of Gotham” begins! For a long time two houses have overlooked Gotham City, beckoning its broken: Wayne Manor and Arkham Asylum.

It’s the landmark, oversize issue Detective Comics #1050, and some of the biggest names in comics are here to celebrate the Dark Knight! First up in “The Tower” part four, the villainous force keeping Arkham Tower’s patients sedated is at last revealed-and this villain’s return is guaranteed to catch you by surprise! It’s the dramatic conclusion to act one of Mariko Tamaki’s Arkham Tower epic, brought to life by the legendary Ivan Reis! Then, in “House of Gotham” part four, Matthew Rosenberg and Fernando Blanco take us into the seedy underbelly of Gotham’s criminal elite through the lens of the original Robin (Dick Grayson), and reveal what it takes for a young man to survive amongst the deadliest killers in the DCU. It’s a tour de force of Gotham’s vilest villains! Last but not least, making his grand return to the DCU, writer Mark Waid teams with Detective Comics uber-artist Dan Mora to bring you the start of a brand-new day for Batman…and Superman? It’s the world’s finest collaboration that you’ll need to read to believe!

The Tower under siege! With their grand scheme crumbling around them, Dr. Wear and the mysterious Dr. Ocean have lost control of Arkham Tower to the patients it houses...who just so happen to be some of the most violent, murderous villains Gotham City has ever seen. The Bat-Family on the inside are in shambles: Huntress is wounded, Nightwing is carrying 175 pounds of smarmy jerk on his shoulder, and Dr. Meridian is incapacitated. Who’s left to save the civilian hostages from this nightmare? Hmm...wasn’t there a patient who thought she was Harley Quinn? Then, in “House of Gotham” part 9, the boy is growing up...and growing into the man that Gotham City has made him. Through the trauma of his time with the Penguin to the terror wrought by Azrael, a new mission springs to mind for this lost son of Gotham...murder.

When Huntress elected to go undercover in Arkham Tower, it was to investigate a place of healing that seemed too good to be true. But what happens when Helena Bertinelli really does need some healing? With Nightwing and Batwoman also on the inside, what began as an undercover mission has turned into a rescue operation as the mysteries of Dr. Wear’s Arkham Tower begin to unravel! Then, in “House of Gotham” part three, the young boy rescued by Batman has begun his course of treatment at Arkham, so why are the only people showing him kindness those whom the law asserts are criminals? It’s a cycle of violence the Dark Knight has no answer for as Gotham’s most vulnerable struggle to keep their heads above water!

“Fear State” aftermath! Bloody, broken, and beaten…Batman had a mission after The Joker War. He would no longer look over Gotham City from Wayne Manor; he would move to the heart of the city, get closer to its people and its problems. The fight he pursued would be different, but after Fear State he finds himself disillusioned. He is no longer the protector the city needs, and definitely not the one it deserves. Batman’s last night in Gotham City before his international sojourn is here. Backup: Harley Quinn guest-stars in the culmination of “Foundations”! Must Gotham City have an Arkham facility, and if so…will it be any different, or is doom on its way?

“His hold is breaking!” That’s the message written in blood across the minds of Arkham Tower’s inhabitants, after a nightmare melee is unleashed! With Gotham’s deadliest criminals reverting to their former, murderous selves in one horrific night, Dr. Wear has a lot of explaining to do…and a lot of covering up to perform. Can Nightwing get to the bottom of this mystery before the people of Arkham Tower are put in peril again? Plus, Batman’s iron grip on Gotham is enough to drive the desperate to madness…and madness is on the mind of the Boy in part six of “House of Gotham.” When an average night at coat check at the Iceberg Lounge turns into a violent battle royal between the Dark Knight and the Penguin, lines are blurred, people are hurt, and the Boy’s descent into a life of crime deepens…

War in the streets! As Dr. Wear desperately tries to keep his plans for Arkham Tower from crumbling, a major drug deal gone bad puts the nervous doc in the sights of both the Party Crashers and the Penguin! The list of people very badly wanting to kill Dr. Wear grows, and Nightwing is on the precipice of cracking the whole scheme wide open! But with the maniacal Party Crashers waging war against the Bat-Family across Gotham, Dick must choose between helping a tower full of villains and helping his family! Then, it’s Knightfall in Gotham during part seven of “House of Gotham,” as the Boy (growing into a man before our eyes) runs afoul of an uber-violent, unhinged Azrael Batman! This latest conflict pushes Gotham’s most vulnerable into madness, and one man’s rogues gallery reveals itself as another man’s salvation.