History ComicBook / PlagueDoctor

* AgentPeacock: [[spoiler: Sergey Razumovsky is ''very'' dramatic, with a camp wardrobe and theatrical, over-the-top mannerisms; he's also a serial murdering criminal mastermind who is so persuasive and charismatic that he manages to get most of the city on his side (to where a crowd of his fans turn and attack Grom without a second word).

In Saint Petersburg, the son of a city prosecutor is [[KillItWithFire burned alive]] in his sports car, a DirtyCop is found with his [[TongueTrauma tongue cut out]] and his body eaten by rats, and an [[DeadlyDoctor unethical doctor]] is hanged in front of his own clinic. The culprit behind these brutal crimes: a mysterious, terrifying figure who hides behind a PlagueDoctor's mask. The masked [[SerialKiller killer]] claims that Russia's cultural capital is infected by "the plague of unlawfulness and injustice" -- and the purification process has begun.

Unorthodox police investigator Igor Grom and his rookie partner, Dmitry Dubin, take up the case. Grom quickly realizes that the Plague Doctor is targeting high-profile criminals who had previously evaded justice. Unfortunately, the investigation turns up one dead end after another. Further complicating matters, the citizens of the city have embraced the masked vigilante: they're using the popular social network Vmeste[[note]]Together[[/note]] as his tribune--and are willing to do whatever it takes to assist their new "savior" and spread his message.

** Gennady Zilchneko's cancer treatment center causes the deaths of multiple patients by selling them placebos -- while selling the real drugs on the black market. His press statement, upon being exposed, is, "So what? More people died from medicine in the middle ages." The Plague Doctor hangs him from the flagpole in front of his cancer treatment center and disembowels him.

** In Issue #6, Igor believes that [[spoiler: Deputy Mayor Kamenny is The Citizen, and accuses him of such to his face. His logic is that each of The Citizen's victims had a personal connection to the man: Gretchkin and Sorokin were Kamenny's business partners in running a secret gambling parlor (and wanted out of the deal); Zilchenko ran the center where Kamenny unsuccessfully sought treatment for his son's cancer; and Bekhtiev's construction company was surpassing Kamenny's wife's company by beating them out for contracts and projects.]] Unfortunately, Grom is wrong.

** Zilchneko got rich selling drugs (stolen from his own treatment center) on the black market, while selling his cancer patients placebos. When his crimes were exposed, he scoffed that people have always died from medical treatments, and that more people used to die in the Middle Ages.

Unorthodox police investigator Igor Grom and his rookie partner, Dmitry Dubin, take up the case. Grom quickly realizes that the Plague Doctor is targeting high-profile criminals who had previously evaded justice. Unfortunately, the investigation turns up one dead end after another. Further complicating matters, the citizens of the city have embraced the masked vigilante: they're using the popular social network Vmeste[[note]]Together[[/note]] as his tribune, and are willing to do whatever it takes to assist their new "savior" and spread his message.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Promedol does not cause hallucinations, even in high doses. The drug normally causes mild intoxication, with all the associated symptoms: nausea, vomiting, dizziness, disorientation, and euphoria -- none of which Igor experiences in the comics.
* {{Backstory}}: [[spoiler: Sergey]] provides his to Igor in Issue #8: [[spoiler: he grew up in an orphanage, and was a loner and an outcast, finding serenity and solace in the beauty of classical art (which, as we further learn in the Issue #10 story "Metamorphosis", caused him to be bullied by his peers and teachers alike). He also realized that he cared little for the hedonistic activities (drugs, sex, drinking) in which most you people indulge;]] as such, he hates both the common folk, and those he deems "beneath" him -- particularly people who are a drain on society.

* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: During the ride to the police station, [[spoiler: Sergey]] points out that Igor has no solid evidence tying him to [[spoiler: the Plague Doctor's crimes or the many deaths at his mansion]], and states that he will frame Grom for his crimes. In response, Igor drags the man out of the car, puts his service weapon gun to [[spoiler: Sergey's]] head...[[spoiler: and opens the magazine, revealing Yulia's tape recorder. The gun was never loaded: Igor only carried it so he'd have a place to stash the recorder, so he could [[EngineeredPublicConfession get Sergey's confession on tape]].]]

''Plague Doctor'' is a 2012-2013 story in Creator/BUBBLEComics' series ''ComicBook/MajorGrom'', written by Artëm Gabrelyanov and Evgeny Fedotov, with artwork by Konstantin Tasarov and Anastasia Kim. It is the debut story of the series, and marked the introduction of many of the main characters, including Igor Grom, Dmitry Dubin, Yulia Pchelkina, and Sergey Razumovsky. The story ran from issues #1-#10; it was later collected into two volumes.

In Saint Petersburg, the son of a city prosecutor is burned alive in his sports car; a DirtyCop is found with his [[TongueTrauma tongue cut out]] and his body eaten by rats; and an [[DeadlyDoctor unethical doctor]] is hanged in front of his own clinic. The culprit behind these brutal crimes: a mysterious, terrifying figure who hides behind a PlagueDoctor's mask. The masked [[SerialKiller killer]] claims that Russia's cultural capital is infected by "the plague of unlawfulness and injustice" -- and the purification process has begun.

** Averted with the Rainbow Orphanage fundraising gala: Grom attends as an invited guest after he's already been TakenOffTheCase. (He donated money to the cause six months earlier, which puts him on the guest list.) Ironically, he ends up identifying the Plague Doctor at the event purely by accident after [[spoiler: matching Razumovsky's body language to the Plague Doctor's]].
* CensorShadow: After his clothes are removed in the final act, Igor's nether regions are conveniently obscured by shadows as he navigates the Garden Of Sinners.
* CompromisingCall: Dima's mother calls him on his cell phone as he's trying to pass undetected through a neo-nazi boxing club -- [[FromBadToWorse right as Igor is in the middle of a bout with one of the club's members]]. Since it's his first night at the club, Dima is forced to fight a member of the group himself. (Fortunately, he's a skilled martial artist, and easily defeats his opponent.)
* ConstructionZoneCalamity: The Plague Doctor murders Bekhtiev at the construction site of the London Mall. When Igor catches them stringing up the body, the two face off, with Igor attacking the Plague Doctor with [[NailEm a nail gun]] (among other things).

** Kirill Gretchkin is burned alive in the sports car he was driving when he carelessly ran down two teenagers.
** Ivan Sorokin, who beat up protesters and called them "rats", has his throat cut, and his body is tied up and left to be eaten by rats.
** Gennady Zilchneko's cancer treatment center causes the deaths of multiple patients by selling them placebos -- while selling the real drugs on the black market. His press statement, upon being exposed, is, "So what? More people died from medicine in the middle ages." The Plague Doctor ties him up crucifixion-style in front of his cancer treatment center and disembowels him.
** Albert Bekhtiev's construction firm evicts low-income neighborhoods and buys up historical sites so he can build thigh-end retail establishments. He is stabbed and crucified at the site of his largest acquisition.
* LoyalAnimalCompanion: Razumovsky has a pet albino raven named Margo, whom he has trained to carry out various tasks (including switching on the lights). She sometimes [[ParrotPetPosition rides on his shoulder]].
* MalevolentMaskedMen: The Plague Doctor (naturally) wears a white, bird-like mask based on those worn by medieval plague doctors. His followers also wear white plague doctor masks in public.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In Issue #6, Igor (having sustained a head injury in the previous issue) dreams of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London Great Fire of London]]; he learns that The Bird [[spoiler: (i.e. Razumovsky's dark side)]] was the true culprit, having burned the city to the ground to give corrupt 17th century London society a fresh start --and that he intends to eradicate modern day St. Petersburg for the same reasons. It's never explained whether the dream is a head injury-induced nightmare, or a legitimate supernatural vision of the past -- possibly brought on by an equally supernatural being. While the dream does accurately reveal The Citizen's motivations and plans for St. Petersburg, as well as [[spoiler: Sergey Razumovsky's internal manifestation of his dark side]], most of the details can easily be handwaved as Grom's subconscious attempting to make sense of the case: Grom recently discovered that [[spoiler: Razumovsky]] is The Citizen, who has a fixation with the Middle Ages, likes to invoke the Black Plague and corvid-related imagery in his crimes, and recently burned a man at the site of the ''London City Mall''; it makes perfect sense for him to dream of the Great London Fire and [[spoiler: Razumovsky]] as a raven-like creature. However, given that other BUBBLE publications confirm the existence of the supernatural -- including MentalTimeTravel and the Great London Fire having a potentially supernatural cause -- it would be silly to completely dismiss an otherworldly explanation.

* Igor puts Yulia's recording device in his service weapon and carries it with him to Razumovsky's mansion; he then allows himself to be captured, knowing that The Citizen will search him for weapons -- and, given the villain's personality, will start monologuing at some point, providing him with the confession he needs to convict him of both the Plague Doctor's crimes and the murders at the mansion.
* BatmanGambit: Igor masterfully executes a two-fold gambit in the final act: [[spoiler: having determined that The Citizen is a bombastic braggart, and that he frequently drugs his victims with Promedol, and Igor takes an antidote, then hides Yulia's recording device in his service weapon before he goes alone to Razumovsky's mansion, where he allows himself to be captured, knowing that The Citizen will search him for weapons, drug him, and (given the villain's [[LargeHam bombastic personality]]) and start to [[MotiveRant monologue]] at some point, providing Igor with the evidence he needs to convict him of both the Plague Doctor's crimes and the murders at the mansion.]]

* BatmanGambit: Igor puts Yulia's recording device in his service weapon and carries it with him to [[spoiler: Razumovsky's mansion]]; he then [[spoiler: allows himself to be captured, knowing that The Citizen will search him for weapons -- and, given the villain's [[LargeHam personality]], will start monologuing at some point, providing him with the confession he needs to convict him of both the Plague Doctor's crimes and the murders at the mansion]].

** Two issues later, he gets struck on the head with a liquor bottle hard enough to knock him unconscious, yet doesn't get a concussion, waking up in Yulia's apartment the following day with just some mild disorientation. The following issue, it happens again at [[spoiler: Razumovsky's mansion]] -- this time with a ''shovel'' -- with a similar end result.
** Deconstructed in the final issue: Igor seemingly survives being injected with a lethal dose of Premedol...but not under his own strength: he knew that [[spoiler: Razumovsky was using the drug on his victims, and took an antidote in advance]].

* NotWhatItLooksLike: When Dima and Yulia arrive at [[spoiler: Razumovsky's mansion]], Igor is completely naked and has [[spoiler:Sergey]] -- who is clad in nothing but a dressing gown -- pinned to the ground, straddling him and shouting, "YES! YES!" While Dima and Yulia look on in shock, Igor says this almost verbatim.

** Igor Grom himself is certainly not averse to roughing up suspects. However, unlike Sorokin, he only gets physical with people who truly deserve it.

* TakenOffTheCase: After Igor pursues multiple false leads and makes a fool of himself twice -- once by accidentally shoving the assistant mayor's face into his own birthday cake, once by barging into the mayor's office and accusing him of being The Citizen -- Prokopenko forces him to take a two-week mental health break (even offering to pay for his vacation out-of-pocket).

[[caption-width-right:260: The danse macabre has begun...]]

In Saint Petersburg, the son of a city prosecutor is burned alive in his sports car. A DirtyCop is found with his [[TongueTrauma tongue cut out]] and his body eaten by rats. And an [[DeadlyDoctor unethical doctor]] is crucified and gutted in front of his clinic. The culprit behind these brutal crimes: a mysterious, terrifying figure who hides behind a PlagueDoctor's mask. The masked [[SerialKiller killer]] claims that Russia's cultural capital is infected by "the plague of unlawfulness and injustice" -- and the purification process has begun.

Unorthodox police investigator Igor Grom and his rookie partner, Dmitry Dubin, take up the case. Grom quickly realizes that the Plague Doctor is targeting high-profile criminals who previously evaded justice. Unfortunately, the investigation turns up one dead end after another. Further complicating matters, the citizens of the city have embraced the masked vigilante: they're using the popular social network Vmeste[[note]]Together[[/note]] as his tribune -- and are willing to do whatever it takes to assist their new "savior" and spread his message.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Amongst the main heroes of the story, Igor has dark brown hair, Dima has blonde hair, and Yulia has bright, apple-red hair.

* TheBlackDeath: The arc's BigBad (who is a medieval history aficionado) bases his public crime spree around Plague-related iconography: comparing the crime, corruption, and societal decay of Saint Petersburg to the Black Plague, himself to a Plague Doctor (even wearing a plague doctor's mask as part of his disguise), and his crimes to "purification"; his first victim is burned like a victim of Bubonic Plague (with a note left at the crime scene referencing the "Danse Macabre"), the second has his throat cut (a reference to the medieval medical practice of bloodletting) and his body eaten by rats (a major catalyst of the Plague), the third is hanged (a medieval execution method), and the fourth is stabbed crucifixion-style and burned at the future site of the London Mall (referencing both the role of the Church during the Plague and the 1666 London Fire[[note]]widely believed to have contributed to the Plague dying out in London[[/note]]). The "infected" civilians also have their homes marked with a black X (similar to how the homes of actual plague victims were marked).

* TheBlackDeath: The arc's BigBad (who is a medieval history aficionado) bases his public crime spree around Plague-related iconography: comparing the crime, corruption, and societal decay of Saint Petersburg to the Black Plague, himself to a Plague Doctor (even wearing a plague doctor's mask as part of his disguise), and his crimes to "purification". His methodology also references the Black Plague, with the first victim being burned like a victim of Bubonic Plague (with a note left at the crime scene referencing the "Danse Macabre"), the second having his throat cut (a reference to the medieval medical practice of bloodletting) and his body eaten by rats (a major catalyst of the Plague), the third hanged (a medieval execution method), and the fourth stabbed crucifixion-style and burned at the future site of the London Mall (referencing both the role of the Church during the Plague and the 1666 London Fire[[note]]widely believed to have contributed to the Plague dying out in London[[/note]]). The "infected" civilians also have their homes marked with a black X (similar to how the homes of actual plague victims were marked).

''Plague Doctor'' is a 2012-2013 story in Creator/BUBBLEComics' series ''ComicBook/MajorGrom''. Written by Artëm Gabrelyanov and Evgeny Fedotov, with artwork by Konstantin Tasarov and Anastasia Kim, it is the debut story of the series. It marked the introduction of many of the main characters, including Igor Grom, Dmitry Dubin, Yulia Pchelkina, and Sergey Razumovsky. The story ran from issues #1-#10; it was later collected into two volumes.

* BaitAndSwitch: At the start of Issue #5, Dima finds Grom's office trashed (with the Major nowhere in sight), and is confronted by an imposing figure wearing a plague doctor mask and spouting menacing catchphrases. It turns out the masked man ''is'' Igor: he was just trying to get inside the killer's head. Dima isn't amused. The alternate cover of the issue also plays with this, depicting Igor wearing the Plague Doctor's mask.
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: During the ride to the police station, [[spoiler: Sergey]] points out that Igor has no solid evidence [[spoiler: tying him to the Plague Doctor's crimes or the many deaths at his mansion]], and states that he will frame Grom for his crimes. Igor replies that he's left him no choice; he drags the man out of the car and puts his service weapon gun to [[spoiler: Sergey's]] head...[[spoiler: and then opens the magazine, revealing Yulia's tape recorder. The gun was never loaded: Igor only carried it so he'd have a place to stash the recorder, so he could [[EngineeredPublicConfession get Sergey's confession on tape]].]]
* BatmanGambit: Igor puts Yulia's recording device in his service weapon and carries it with him [[spoiler: to Razumovsky's mansion]]; he then allows himself to be captured, knowing that The Citizen will search him for weapons -- and, given the villain's [[LargeHam personality]], will start monologuing at some point, providing Igor with the confession he needs to convict him of both the Plague Doctor's crimes and [[spoiler: the murders at the mansion]].

* TheBlackDeath: The arc's BigBad (who is a medieval history aficionado) bases his public crime spree around Plague-related iconography: comparing the crime, corruption, and societal decay of Saint Petersburg to the Black Plague, himself to a Plague Doctor (even wearing a plague doctor's mask as part of his disguise), and his crimes to "purification". His methodology also references the Black Plague, with the first victim being burned like a victim of Bubonic Plague (with a note left at the crime scene referencing the "Danse Macabre"), the second eaten by rats (a major catalyst of the Plague), the third disemboweled (a medieval execution method), and the fourth stabbed crucifixion-style and burned at the future site of the London Mall (referencing both the role of the Church during the Plague and the 1666 London Fire[[note]]widely believed to have contributed to the Plague dying out in London[[/note]]). The "infected" civilians also have their homes marked with a black X (similar to how the homes of actual plague victims were marked).
* BlackTieInfiltration: Igor Grom and Dima Dubin attend Deputy Mayor Kamenny's birthday party, believing that The Citizen will crash the event. Much to their surprise, they discover that Yulia has infiltrated the same event (as part of her investigation into Kamenny's alleged criminal activities).
** Averted with the Rainbow Orphanage fundraising gala: Grom attends as an invited guest after he's already been TakenOffTheCase. (He donated money to the cause six months earlier, which puts him on the guest list). Ironically, he ends up identifying the Plague Doctor at the event purely by accident after [[spoiler: matching Razumovsky's body language to the Plague Doctor's]].

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Albert Bekhtiev is a construction mogul, and one of the wealthiest men in Russia; he made his fortune building shopping malls on historical sites (which he acquires by [[BribingYourWayToVictory bribing public officials]]) and gentrifying low-income neighborhoods. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that [[spoiler:Sergey Razumovsky]] helped grease the wheels for Bekhtiev with his power and influence; Bekhtiev thanked him by [[spoiler:selling him the land to build his mansion, and constructing the house itself — and the Garden of Sinners. This is the reason why Razumovsky [[HeKnowsTooMuch murders him]].]]
** [[spoiler: Razumovsky]] himself also qualifies, as he's both [[spoiler:the founder and CEO of Vmeste and a deranged, elitist SerialKiller]].

* DeathTrap: Aside from murdering people as the Plague Doctor, [[spoiler: Razumovsky]] kills the people he deems the "dregs" of society in the Garden of Sinners: a giant garden [[spoiler: behind his mansion]], laden with death traps. In order to escape, the prisoner -- while drugged with Premedol -- must survive both standard booby traps (such as pits full of spikes and bladed pendulums) and [[SecretTestOfCharacter tests of character]] (thus proving that they are fit, intelligent, and aren't enslaved to the vices that plague most of society).

* NervousWreck: The little boy who

* TheBlackDeath: The arc's BigBad (who is a medieval history aficionado) bases his public crime spree around Plague-related iconography: comparing the crime, corruption, and societal decay of Saint Petersburg to the Black Plague, himself to a Plague Doctor (even wearing a plague doctor's mask as part of his disguise), and his crimes to "purification". His methodology also references the Black Plague, with the first victim being burned like a victim of Bubonic Plague (with a note left at the crime scene referencing the "Danse Macabre"), the second eaten by rats (a major catalyst of the Plague), the third disemboweled (a medieval execution method), and the fourth stabbed crucifixion-style and burned at the future site of the London Mall (referencing both the role of the Church during the Plague and the 1666 London Fire[[note]]widely believed to have contributed to the Plague dying out in London[[/note]]).

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Amongst the heroes of the story, Igor has dark brown hair, Dima has blonde hair, and Yulia has bright, apple-red hair.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Issue #6 repeatedly states that the Great London Fire occurred in the 16th century, and that the loss of human life was incalculable. The Great London Fire actually happened in 1666, (i.e. the ''17th'' century), and the number of deaths is widely believed to have been rather small.[[note]]While the exact number is disputed, most current historians believe that the body count was no higher than six.[[/note]] These are particularly odd mistakes, as the same issue gets many facts about the event right (such as that the fire burned for four days, that St. Paul's Cathedral was destroyed, and that the conflagration is credited with ending the Bubonic Plague).

* EmbarrassingNickname: [[spoiler: Razumovsky]] dislikes being called "The Citizen" (the nickname that the public created for him) and states that he finds it ridiculous

* FanDisservice: Igor Grom, a handsome, extremely fit young man, spends three issues in the nude! ...Except he's being forced to navigate a dark, shadowy death maze, where he's dodging giant swinging blades, explosions, and pits of spikes, being sprayed with chemicals, dipping in pools of dirty water, and getting swarmed by crazed birds. Outside. In winter.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In Issue #6, Igor -- having sustained a head injury in the previous issue -- dreams of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London Great Fire of London]], and learns that The Bird [[spoiler: Razumovsky's dark side)]] was responsible -- and intends to eradicate modern St. Petersburg for the same reasons (i.e. to give society a fresh start). The dream seems to accurately reveal Sergey's internal manifestation of his dark side and The Citizen's motivations and plans for St. Petersburg -- neither of which were known to him at the time. Grom is a highly detail-oriented investigator, and he already knew that The Citizen had a fixation with the Middle Ages (and had recently burned the "London City Mall"), so it's entirely possible that he made the connections on his own and inferred [[spoiler:Razumovsky]]'s intentions and mindset whilst in a deep sleep. However, given that other BUBBLE publications confirm the existence of the supernatural -- TimeTravel included -- it seems silly to discount a supernatural explanation.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: This appears to be the Plague Doctor's M.O., as they only target people who have wronged society through their actions. [[spoiler: (However, this turns out to be a smokescreen to allow him to eliminate his accomplices.)]]

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Most the Plague Doctor's victims lived by this motto (with Sorokin, a police officer, being the only exception):

** [[spoiler: Razumovsky]] himself believes that he's entitled to "improve" Russia through socially unacceptable means (including murdering the dregs of society) simply because he happens to be a wealthy, powerful sophisticate.

* SnobsVersusSlobs: There is an element of this in the final act of the story, with [[spoiler: wealthy, sophisticated businessman Razumovsky]] pitted against blue collar bruiser police detective Igor Grom. It's downplayed, however, as [[spoiler: Razumovsky is NouveauRiche (and overestimates his own sophistication)]], while Igor himself is a sharp intellect and highly educated in his own right.

* StabTheSalad: Averted at Kemenny's birthday party: Grom sees a man with a large knife advancing on the Deputy Mayor, and tackles him...preventing the waiter from slicing Kemenny's birthday cake.

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Issue #4 contains two self-contained stories -- both of them flashbacks. The first story, "All In All", follows Igor Grom on a sting operation at a casino a year earlier; the second, "Butterflies In the Stomach", follows Dima Dubin on that same evening as he attempts to help contain a riot.

* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: During the ride to the police station, [[spoiler: Sergey]] points out that Igor has no solid evidence tying him to [[spoiler: the Plague Doctor's crimes or the many deaths at his mansion -- and states that he will frame Grom for his crimes]]. Igor replies that he's left him no choice; he drags [[spoiler: Sergey]] out of the car, puts his service weapon gun to [[spoiler: Sergey's]] head...[[spoiler: and opens the magazine, revealing Yulia's tape recorder. The gun was never loaded: Igor only carried it so he'd have a place to stash the recorder, so he could [[EngineeredPublicConfession get Sergey's confession on tape]].]]

** Albert Bekhtiev's construction firm evicts low-income families and buys up historical sites so they can build high-end retail establishments. He is stabbed and crucified at the site of his largest acquisition.

* MistakenForMurderer: Happens several times during the arc:
** Grom himself is briefly mistaken for The Citizen at the start of Issue #5, when Dima finds him in his trashed office, wearing a plague doctor mask and spouting menacing catchphrases. It turns out Igor was just trying to get inside the killer's head. Dima isn't amused.

** Later during the ''same event'', the lights abruptly go out, and Igor sees a man advancing on the Deputy Mayor with a knife. He dive-bombs the man--only for him to reveal himself as a waiter carrying a cake slicer (which he was about to use on the deputy mayor's birthday cake).
** In Issue #6, Igor bursts into the Deputy Mayor's office and loudly accuses him of being The Citizen. His logic is that each of The Citizen's victims had a personal connection to the man (namely, Kemenny's son died of cancer after seeking treatment at It turns out he's wrong.
** Shortly after Zilchneko's murder, one of The Citizen's masked followers is arrested; Prokopenko believes the man is The Citizen, and proclaims that they have captured the criminal mastermind.

* PieInTheFace: At Deputy Mayor Kamenny's birthday gala, Igor (believing The Citizen will make his move at the party) mistakes a waiter with a cake knife for an attacker and jumps the table to apprehend him, accidentally shoving Kamenny's face into his own birthday cake.

Unorthodox police Major Igor Grom and his rookie partner, Dmitry Dubin, take up the case. Grom quickly realizes that the Plague Doctor is targeting high-profile criminals who previously evaded justice. Unfortunately, the investigation turns up one dead end after another; to further complicate matters, the citizens of the city have embraced the masked vigilante: they're using the popular social network Vmeste[[note]]Together[[/note]] as his tribune -- and are willing to do whatever it takes to assist their new "savior" and spread his message.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: For the third test of character in the Garden of Sinners, the prisoner is seemingly forced to tear open live mice with their bare hands in order to retrieve the last key needed to access the antidote. The point of the exercise is to prove that the prisoner is inherently cruel, because he would be willing to inflict a horrible death on cute, innocent animals to save his own life. Grom, who is both clever and ''not'' cruel, realizes that the key is actually hidden in a hole ''shaped'' like a mouse, and spares the animals.

* AllAreEqualInDeath: The Plague Doctor's notes suggest this philosophy, with allusions to the Danse Macabre. This is supported by his modus operandi, which targets wealthy and powerful individuals who are seemingly untouchable. This is ultimately revealed to be a smokescreen, as [[spoiler:he only really cares about the sins of the wealthy and powerful inasmuch as they relate to his own criminal activities]].

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Was Igor's dream in Issue #6 an actual supernatural vision, or just a stress (and head injury)-induced nightmare? The dream does correctly spell out The Citizen's motivations and plans for St. Petersburg (which Grom had only partially guessed), and reveals [[spoiler: the imagined appearance of Razumovsky's dark side (which is known only to Sergey himself)]]. Furthermore, other BUBBLE publications (as well as future issues of the series itself) confirm the existence of the supernatural. On the other hand, Grom is a highly detail-oriented investigator, and he already knew that The Citizen had a fixation with the Middle Ages (and that he had recently burned the "London City Mall"), so it's entirely possible that he made the connections on his own and inferred [[spoiler:Razumovsky]]'s intentions and mindset whilst in a deep sleep. However, this still doesn't explain how Grom was able to see what The Bird (as imagined by [[spoiler: Sergey]]) looked like...

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Was Igor's dream in Issue #6 a supernatural vision, or just a stress (and head injury)-induced nightmare? The dream does reveal [[spoiler: the imagined appearance of Razumovsky dark side (which only he should have known) and correctly spells out [[spoiler:Razumovsky]]'s motivations and plans for St. Petersburg (which Grom had only partially guessed), and other BUBBLE publications (as well as future issues of the series itself) confirm the existence of the supernatural. However, Grom is a highly detail-oriented investigator, and already knew that the Plague Doctor had a fixation with the Middle Ages (and that he had recently burned the "London City Mall"), so it's entirely possible that he made the connections on his own and inferred [[spoiler:Razumovsky]]'s intentions and mindset whilst in a deep sleep.

* BatmanGambit: Igor puts Yulia's recording device in his service weapon and carries it with him to Razumovsky's mansion; he then allows himself to be captured, knowing that Razumovsky will search him for weapons -- and, given the villain's [[LargeHam personality]], that he will start monologuing at some point, providing Igor with the confession he needs to convict him of both the Plague Doctor's crimes and the murders at the mansion.

* BirdPeople: Sergei Razumovsky's dark alter ego (aptly named "The Bird") appears as a humanoid bird with Sergei's face.
* TheBlackDeath: The arc's BigBad (who is a medieval history aficionado) bases his public crime spree around Plague-related symbology: they compare the crime, corruption, and societal decay of Saint Petersburg to the Black Plague, themself to a Plague Doctor (even wearing a plague doctor's mask as part of their disguise), and their crimes to "purification". Their methodology also references the Black Plague, with the first victim being burned like a victim of Bubonic Plague (with a note left at the crime scene referencing the "Danse Macabre"), the second eaten by rats (a major catalyst of the Plague), the third disemboweled (a medieval execution method), and the fourth stabbed crucifixion-style and burned at the future site of the London Mall (referencing both the role of the Church during the Plague and the 1666 London Fire[[note]]widely believed to have contributed to the Plague dying out in London[[/note]]).

In Saint Petersburg, the son of a city prosecutor is burned alive in his sports car. A DirtyCop is found with his [[TongueTrauma tongue cut out]] and his body eaten by rats. And an [[DeadlyDoctor unethical doctor]] is crucified and gutted in front of his clinic. The culprit behind these brutal crimes: a mysterious, cold-blooded SerialKiller who hides under a PlagueDoctor’s mask. The masked killer claims that Russia’s cultural capital is infected by “the plague of unlawfulness and injustice” -- and the purification process has begun.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Albert Bekhtiev is a construction mogul, and one of the wealthiest men in Russia; he made his fortune building shopping malls on historical sites (which he acquires by [[BribingYourWayToVictory bribing public officials]]) and gentrifying low-income neighborhoods. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that [[spoiler:Sergey Razumovsky]] helped grease the wheels for Bekhtiev with his power and influence; Bekhtiev thanked him by [[spoiler:selling him the land to build his mansion, and constructing the house itself — and the Garden of Sinners. This is why Razumovsky [[HeKnowsTooMuch murders him]].]]

* EvilPlan: [[spoiler:Razumovsky]] intends to rally his supporters to overthrow the current government, then vote him into power in a snap election; once he's secured the presidency, he will reshape society according to his whims -- starting with rounding up all the dissidents and dregs of society and tossing them into prison camps.
* ExposedToTheElements:[[spoiler:Razumovsky]]'s prisoners are stripped naked, depriving them of any potential weapons and tools before they're forced to navigate the Garden of Sinners -- in the middle of winter. This is intended to test their resourcefulness as well as prevent them from cheating. To enforce the lesson, one of the booby traps in the Garden is an open room stocked with supplies and weapons; attempting to take any one item causes an explosion.
* FanDisservice: Igor Grom, a handsome, extremely fit young man, spends three issues completely nude! ...Except he's being forced to navigate a dark, shadowy death maze, where he's dodging giant swinging blades, explosions, pits of spikes, and swarms of crazed birds. Outside. In winter.
* FightClubbing: In one issue, Dubin trails Grom to an underground bare-knuckle boxing club run by Neo-Nazis. It turns out he was infiltrating the group for leads.

* FullFrontalAssault: After surviving the Garden of Sinners, Igor attacks [[spoiler: Sergey head-on]], throwing him to the ground and pumelling him... while still completely naked.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: While Igor, Dima, and Yulia are escorting Sergey back to the police station, the latter begins gloating that Igor has no way of proving his guilt, and that he will frame Igor for his own crimes. Igor orders Dima to pull over, and he drags Sergey out of the car, putting his gun to the killer's head. Yulia and Dima are horrified, and remind him of his personal oath against killing criminals. However, it turns out to be a fake out: Igor was actually just revealing the recording he made of Razumovsky. with the bug hidden in his (empty) firearm.