Still Just Average
I kinda like this cover. The energy is really nice despite the lackluster design sense. The slightly off perspective adds a nice little touch to it as well. But it's far too inaccurate. The Penguin isn't at all the villain for this arc thus far, he simply facilitates gang money that the villain is trying to steal. If anything, Batman and Penguin should be allies in this story, but we don't even get THAT far yet.
Most of this issue is a ton of detective work, and while that works for the title of the series, a lot of it was unnecessary. Batman had the next step set as 'The Iceberg Longue.' why did he have to go all around town to figure out every little detail so he could point out to the readers why every single piece of evidence proves what he needs to do five times over. It's like Daniel either had to force redundant detective work to justify the series title, or he wanted to make sure slower readers fully understood every detail. Either way it's annoying.
Oh and by the way, don't name a blonde action girl 'Chase' in the DC Universe, we've already got a great one with rising prominence. Or wait, she's not named Chase? Why the hell does Snakeskin call her Chase? And speaking of Snakeskin, his backstory mentions he's "able to change his face," yet the panel with that quote shows four mugshots of him that appear to have the same basic face with only minor differences. Wouldn't you want to highlight a face changing ability with a wide variety of faces? Or his his ability just pathetically limited?
Basically it comes down to this, Tony Daniel isn't making good new villains. He draws and writes an excellent Penguin, but none of the villains he sets up in this issue are particularly intriguing. They're all part of a new wave of Gotham Crime Lords, but all of them are just trying way too hard. They're TOO colorful and TOO out there to seem interesting. It's a smart concept, to bring in a bunch of new villains in a new wave, ones who straddle the line between Colorful Supervillain and cold Mafia Lord; and allying them with Penguin makes sense as well since that idea is similar to him. But they're all too colorful and yet too bland to explore this concept properly. But this could change.
Mentioning the I, Vampire thing was a very awkward attempt to demonstrate cohesion in the New 52. There was no reason to mention that so offhandedly. I felt so forced, basically a 'Batman's also in I, Vampire right now! Buy it!' For shame.
Speaking of things that are stiff and forced, Batman's feelings for Charlotte. Ignoring the bad sex pun there, Batman angsts heavily over his emotional outburst and the slip up it caused; but it all hinged on him having strong feelings for Charlotte, and I have yet to see any strong evidence of a real connection between the two. Their relationship is barely more shallow than most 'Bruce Wayne' cover girls, and certainly hasn't reached anything close to the intimacy depth that other girls he 'truly loved' had.
In Conclusion: 3/5
This really isn't a bad issue, and not truly a bad series. What it is is mediocre. It's better than The Dark Knight which is truly BAD, but it isn't all that good. Tony Daniel seems to have a lot of the right ideas, but seems to lack the ability to pull them off properly, and to break conventions.