The last three years have been a letdown for Bat-fans. Batman never left. The media just moved its lens elsewhere. The artwork on the cover portrayed a Gotham City in broken disarray from a long shot across the Gotham River. Once the roadways into the city are destroyed, it will be a federal crime to attempt to go into the city.
Citizens have a limited amount of time to leave the city before transportation links are destroyed.
After this time frame, people will be stuck in the city to fend for themselves. Batman is nowhere to be found in Gotham at the beginning of the story. Commissioner Gordon, along with his wife and a small Gotham police force, decide to stay behind to keep the broken city together in some form. When the Joker shot her in the spine, which confined her to a wheelchair, she changed her alter ego to Oracle. Infighting amid Batman's former and current sidekicks ensues when Barbara Gordon finds out that another Batgirl has been recruited.