Batman: The Ultimate Evil the project, allowing Vachss to take some creative liberties. At a party, Bruce Wayne meets Debra Kane, a caseworker with Child Protective Services. He asks to join her while she visits clients. She agrees and shows him the varying degrees of child abuse she encounters in the course of her job. Wanting to understand the factors behind child abuse, Bruce, as Batman, breaks into Hellgate Prison and talks with an informant who points him to a child pornography and prostitution ring. Bruce's butler Alfred Pennyworth reveals that Bruce's mother, Martha Wayne, had been secretly investigating a similar child prostitution ring,
Batman: The Long Halloween that Bruce is loyal to the Falcones. Bruce's butler Alfred testifies that Thomas' report never came to light due to police corruption, embarrassing the prosecution and declaring Bruce innocent. Maroni, having been captured earlier, offers to testify against Falcone. During the trial, he throws a vial of acid, given to him by Vernon while in transit to the courtroom, at Dent, disfiguring half of Dent's face. Dent is rushed to a hospital, but stabs a doctor and escapes to the sewers, calming Solomon Grundy when he encounters him. Gordon deduces Dent may be Holiday, but Batman refuses to believe it