Generic dark vigilante stories set in a generic dark scenario of a generic dark Gotham taken over by generic dark forces by very generic writers and artists.

It's a few years in the future and Gotham City is a sci-fi dystopia, a surveillance state patrolled by anti-vigilante armored thugs, drones, and robots. But the Batman Family is still pretty much the same, fighting back against the evil group, corporation, organization, cult -- or whatever the Magistrate is supposed to be -- that has teamed up with Gotham's mayor to institute this police state.

Batman and Bruce Wayne are both thought to be dead -- but he isn't, he's just hiding from his friends and enemies. But of course he still runs around dressed up as Batman -- but nobody notices? Until they do? He's supposed to be broke -- but he still has all his toys, equipment, and the material to make whatever inventions he needs?

Grouped together in one volume like this, it is easy to notice that the editors aren't doing too good a job of keeping the continuity straight, perhaps because it is the leftover scraps of an aborted boondoggle and they figure no one really cares. There is a big, dumb change for Tim Drake, but it probably doesn't count in the regular continuity, so . . . who cares?

I have several more of these collections checked out from and on hold at the library, and I'm really starting to wonder if I should even bother with them. ( )