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There's something I've been wondering about when it comes to this Battle for the Cowl thing. Writers and editors have been talking about how (and I'm paraphrasing here) "when criminals discover Batman is gone things go to hell."

Basically I think they're saying that Batman serves as a deterrent to crime more than anything. There are plenty of costumed heroes running around Gotham, but it's Batman that really makes the baddies stay in at night.

The question then becomes: what about the year of 52? Batman was gone for a whole year. Heck, not only Batman but Nightwing and Robin. And I don't think Batgirl was around either. Basically the only people there were Batwoman and Harvey Dent.

But as far as I can tell the crime rate didn't shoot entirely through the roof. At least no more than usual. Apparently Harvey Dent (Harvey Dent?) did a decent enough job of keeping things running smoothly with the help of Kathy Kane.

What I'm asking is: do they really expect us to buy the fact that everything is going to fall apart now? Or is this different? Is it a matter of the 52 period being "Batman's gone but watch yourself because he's coming back" while Battle for the Cowl is "Batman's dead, feel free to go crazy"?