Randori Stone: I'll say this for Bolles's script: it's accessible, even though it's the second part of the story. Unfortunately, the plot premise itself just doesn't work with the Batman... at least, not with the grim-and-gritty, urban warrior vision of the character. Furthermore, the visual storytelling, while capable, doesn't really grab me. Lately, these main stories have proven to be more of a liability for the book, and the shorter backup features just aren't long enough to completely sustain a reader's interest on their own.
The Batman is on a rampage through Gotham, following a small-time crook to his underworld boss. The Dark Knight is empowered like never before. Nothing can stop him now, as he's a juggernaut, driven by rage and power. It's the result of his possession of a stone with supernatural properties, and the power threatens to consume him, to transform him into a monster... not a literal monster, but the kind of monster he's dedicated his life to opposing.
Lilly's name is a new one to me, and working on Detective is something of a coup for a new artist. He has the storytelling basics down quite well, but his characters are rendered somewhat inconsistently. There's an appropriately dark and gritty tone at play in the art, but again, there aren't any moments that really pack a punch. There doesn't seem to be a definable style that says Mike Lilly either. Jason Wright's colors are quite strong, though, maintaining a dark mood, even when the art is dominated by bright orange flames.
The Batman as some sort of supernatural Hulk creature? It just doesn't work here. Perhaps in one of the more conventional, less grim Batman stories of the 1970s, it could have worked as a light, entertaining story, but in the context of the Batman today, it just doesn't hold up. That's the core premise at play here, and since the foundation is flawed, what's constructed on top of it falls apart as well as a result.
The Tailor: This backup story has a wonderful premise, that there's a specialist that designs all of the Batman Family's special costumes... one who might also work for the other side. I've actually seen such a notion touched upon before, but in a prose short story for a Batman paperback collection years ago. The setup for the story here, though, is far more conventional than it needs to be. I really don't like the idea of this peripheral character becoming involved in the Batman's world so directly, and it takes away from the tailor's mystique.
Again, I'm confronted by a new name in comic art. Dzialowski also offers up competent storytelling, but he gets my attention by developing an unconventional but realistic design for the grounded character who makes his living design togs for costumed vigilantes. I also enjoyed the decision to immerse the "bad" suit in shadows, as it offers a chance for a dramatic reveal in the next chapter. That decision may have been made in the script, but Dzialowski carries it out nicely.
