Reilly2040's Blog

I’ve been really getting behind on my blogging lately, but out of everything I’m reading at the moment, there’s one franchise that’s grabbing me like no other.  Batman.

Now, the Return of Bruce Wayne series really did suffer.  Its release schedule ended up all over the place, and it felt like every issue was a hodge podge of art.  I don’t really know what went on behind the scenes, but its a shame that this aspect of Grant Morrison’s run seemed to fall apart a bit.

But then we neared the final issue.  Bruce was returning back to the present, while over in Batman and Robin, Doctor Hurt (from the Batman RIP storyline) had resurfaced and was causing major problems for Dick and Damian, attempting to complete his satanic ritual, shooting Dick and attempting to open the box Bruce encountered during his time jumping.

The reveal though of the mysterious box’s contents were a fantastic punch-the-air moment.  At the height of Doctor Hurt’s success, the box is opened to reveal a simple note: “Gotcha”.  And then the scene shifts to show Bruce, back in his Batman costume, behind them ready to face Hurt.  Despite the delays that seemed to blight Bruce’s return, the brilliance of this moment shifted them into insignificance.

The conclusion to Return of Bruce Wayne was then a real treat, especially for those that had enjoyed Final Crisis, as everything is revealed that neatly pulls together Batman RIP, Final Crisis, the Return of Bruce Wayne and the entire Doctor Hurt saga.  Its a masterpiece of a comics run as far as I’m concerned, and one of the few that I’d love to own in its entirety in trade form just so I could read it all through properly and fully appreciate the detail.

Even the satellite tie-ins that turned up prior to the final issues, The Road Back, I found to be great reads.  Granted, I never picked up all of them (the Outsiders for instance held little interest to me), but I did buy the majority, and while they had the slight whiff of an editorial mandate to boost the interest and profit in Bruce’s return,  they were all really enjoyable books.

Featuring Bruce taking on a new identity, operating from the shadows while silently catching up with everything he’d missed while he was gone, evaluating Dick and Damian’s partnership, checking in on the new Batgirl (a character Bruce never had a brilliant relationship with, so his acceptance of her made for a nice scene) all while an underlying storyline of Vicki Vale’s attempts to expose the Bat-family’s identities ties everything together, these issues provided a great accompaniment to the main books.

The continuity with Grant Morrison’s books might’ve be a little shaky, but none-the-less it was a really enjoyable part of Bruce’s return and very well written, and these titles all showed off an aspect that’s a big part of Grant’s newly-returned Bruce Wayne.  He’s realised just how big a family he now has surrounding him.  How he’s not alone.  There’s a clear move away from the overly-brooding, anti-social Batman of the past, and while its been tried before (Bruce Wayne: Fugitive) there’s a real feeling that this time its going to stick.

And just when you think Grant Morrison would be saying “ok, I’ve told my giant Bat-epic, time to move on”, instead he’s thrown himself headlong into the next chapter of the Bat-family, launching Batman Incorporated, which features Bruce travelling the globe, training other heroes in his skills to take his war on crime global.  Its a really nice play on the usual part of Bruce’s backstory of him making a similar journey in the past to learn those skills.   Plus, much like with the return of Steve Rogers over at Marvel, it serves to make the status quo upon his return less predictable.  In the case of Captain America, Steve happily surrendered the role to Bucky who he’d seen as having earned it (Steve now heading the latest equivalent to S.H.I.E.L.D.).  In the case of Batman, this new direction has allowed DC to leave Dick and Damian as the Batman and Robin of Gotham, with Bruce pleased that his city is under their care.  Plus Grant is laying some elements for the future of the storyline, as its being hinted that during his time travel, Bruce has seen a specific threat that he’s quietly preparing for (so perhaps still that hint of the old secret-keeping Bruce is left after all).

All in all, I can’t praise this epic run more, and I really encourage people to check it out.  There’s various trades of the run available, starting with Batman and Son, that saw Talia Al Ghul reveal Damian’s existance to Bruce.

As it says in the solicits, “The Return of Bruce Wayne starts here!”.  And boy, does it.

I’ve not read all of Morrison’s previous run on Batman, but I’ve read enough of the trades, and RIP itself to appreciate exactly how good this issue is.   Here we start to see Morrison’s masterplan unfurling, bringing together various plot threads from throughout his run.   We also get some interesting tidbits on Bruce’s family history that sets up the Return of Bruce Wayne series itself to be very interesting, as the question of how involved Bruce actually was in his own family history is raised.

There’s also some tantalising hints about Doctor Hurt, who terrorised Bruce throughout Batman RIP and who claimed to be Thomas Wayne, as we learn that there was a black sheep in the Wayne family, also called Thomas Wayne, who claimed to have summoned a demon.  Again, this is something I strongly suspect will feature in the Return of Bruce Wayne mini-series.  I’d be surprised if a time-lost Bruce didn’t stumble across Thomas, perhaps setting in motion Doctor Hurt’s plan against him in RIP.

It was really nice to see Dick, Damian and Alfred all working together to try and unravel the mystery of Bruce’s disappearance, looking for clues Bruce may have left throughout history in Wayne Manor and the Batcave.  The only slightly strange note here is that everyone suddenly knows that Bruce is lost in time thanks to the Omega Effect.  Its not actually clear when anyone found this out.  Granted Tim found the cave painting Bruce left behind, but that’s still a heck of a logical jump.

Damian’s development also continues to be a real draw in the series.  Here we get to see that he’s actually developed a fondness for Grayson, and his new role as Robin, as he questions what will happen to him once Bruce is back as Batman.  Dick’s ill-timed joke about the situation only makes things worse, as he doesn’t realise how much impact taking Damian under his wing has actually had on the boy.  Things only getting worse when Damian realises he’s been programmed by Talia to kill Dick, as Talia’s patience with Damian’s stint as Robin is at an end.    You really feel for what Damian’s going through, and its a testament to what an interesting and enjoyable character Morrison’s created.

And throughout the book, with all this going on, we also have the mystery of Oberon Sexton.  Who Dick turned to for information about Doctor Hurt and the Black Hand, and who later turns up at Wayne Manor in time to keep Damian safe from a group about to attack.  Who he actually is is yet another mystery in this series.   This issue would certainly make me wonder if he’s actually Bruce (and if so, pairing him and Damian in the next issue should be interesting), but I also can’t help but wonder if that’s not a bit obvious for Grant Morrison.

As you can tell, there’s a heck of a lot going on in this single issue.  Its a real testament to the writing that none of this comes across as rushed, and all starts to tie together the last few years of Batman books so beautifully.  I’ve got high expectations for the rest of this story now, and I can’t wait for the Return of Bruce Wayne, even if I do think that DC could get another year out of Dick and Damian as Batman and Robin easily.  And that’s all down to the quality of the story being told here.