BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #2 Author:Jett May 27, 2010
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: The most anticipated series of 2010 is here! Superstar writer Grant Morrison tackles his most ambitious project to date with THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, a special six-part series that chronicles the return of the original man behind Batman's cape and cowl! Each issue spans a different era of time and features the dynamic artwork of one of today's artistic juggernauts.
I guess I’m dumb.
When it comes to DC Comics’ crossovers and the intricacies of the DC Universe, that is.
Having not read FINAL CRISIS and not being an expert of the inner workings of the DCU (or should it be the DC Multiverse now?), there’s a bit of this BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE that’s just WAY over my head.
Case in point, Superman, Booster Gold, Green Lantern, and Rip Hunter traveling through time in a bubble in search of Bruce Wayne. It’s not just that part of it that I don’t get, but now there’s this weird time-keeper dude running this funky show who is apparently being manipulated by Darksied.
I’ll admit that I’m annoyed by the fact that -- as a Batman-only comic book follower -- I’m having to endure the infusion of Grant Morrison’s FINAL CRISIS into the Bat-Comics. Sorry DCU fans, it’s tremendously irritating for the many of folks who just want to read about Batman. I still think that this “great” crossover didn’t have to involved what was going on the Bat-monthlies, but that’s just me. Anyway…
BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #2 was an enjoyable read -- sans all the greater DCU stuff. Frankly, I liked it much better than the previous issue that featured Caveman Batman.
In this issue, Bruce -- now called “Brother Mordecai" -- finds himself in Puritan-era Gotham investigating the death of one of its citizens. Being Puritans, the Gothamites are blaming the Devil and witches for the murder. Being the great detective that he is, Bruce -- well, “Mordecai” -- quickly dismisses this idea of Satan and witches being at fault and quickly deduces that that a man -- or woman for that matter -- is the true murderer.
If B:TROBW #2 had simply focused on “Puritan Bruce Wayne,” I think I might have enjoyed it more than I actually did. If you like “Detective Batman” -- like me -- you’ll probably get quite a kick out of this issue. Grant Morrison really nailed that aspect of Bruce/Batman despite the fact that it took place about 400 years in the past. Also, lots there are many references to things that we’ve seen previously during Morrison’s run on both BATMAN and BATMAN AND ROBIN are starting to come into play. As one who has read all of these Morrison Bat-stories, the thought that all of it is finally coming together is quite exciting. On the other hand…
The inclusion of the greater DCU and FINAL CRISIS is still rather troublesome for those of us who passed on the aforementioned DC crossover event. For that reason, I still can’t recommend this miniseries to the “Batman Only” crowd -- especially those who bailed out after the infamous Bat-Omega Sanction.
Up next, Bruce continues his journey through time as "Pirate Batman" takes on Blackbeard.
Wow.
GRADE: Incomplete
A life-long Batman fan, "Jett" is the founder of BATMAN-ON-FILm.COM and resides in the great state of Texas.
