The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 and #2

Essentials:
Written by Grant Morrison
Issue #1:
Pencils by Chris Sprouse
Ink by Karl Story
Colors by Guy Major
Letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Cover by Andy Kubert and Chris Sprouse

Issue #2:

Art by Frazer Irving
Letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Cover by Andy Kubert and Frazer Irving

Verdict: Four bats out of five

In these first two installments of the long-awaited Return of Bruce Wayne event, the amnesiac Bruce Wayne travels first to Gotham's prehistoric past, then to its early days as a Puritan colony, while a quartet of time-traveling heroes try to stop him from inadvertently destroying the world. Most of the story makes very little sense, and yet that doesn't detract from the sheer fun of the miniseries.

The entirety of The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 can be summed up in a four-word sentence: Batman is a caveman. The entirety of The Return of Bruce Wayne #2 can be summed up in a three-word phrase: Batman with witches. Rather than developing the character of Bruce Wayne further, Grant Morrison relies on the sheer "cool factor" to keep the reader interested.

Usually, that doesn't work.

It worked.

Return of Bruce Wayne is ostensibly the explanation for what happened to Bruce Wayne after Final Crisis. Every issue, there is a brief scene with the four heroes who are following Bruce Wayne (Superman, Green Lantern, Booster Gold, and Rip Hunter), which attempts to provide exposition. It's pretty boring. The problem is that the scenes are too short to actually give these characters any attention, which is a shame, because the heroes themselves are quite interesting. And all the relevant exposition can be boiled down to a single fact: for reasons related to Final Crisis, if Bruce Wayne returns to the twenty-first century unaided, it will destroy the world.

"Good to know," says the audience, "Now give us more cavemen."

While all the technobabble and exposition is of course important for the purpose of the overarching story, it's not nearly as interesting as the reality-bending romp through time that is the main point of the miniseries. Return of Bruce Wayne #1 features an amnesiac Bruce Wayne joining forces with a tribe of cavemen to fight against Vandal Savage, and even features a young caveman who fills the role of Robin. It mostly consists of a lot of fighting, without much complexity. But because it's Bruce Wayne wearing a giant bat-skin fighting cavemen, it's awesome. Also, there's a nice scene in which he growls at the mention of the name "Joker," indicating that he may not have completely lost his memories.

Return of Bruce Wayne #2 is a bit less interesting than the first issue. It suffers from a lot of the cliches common in stories set in colonial times: there's a mysterious magical woman in the woods, there are unthinking, prejudiced witch-hunters who want to kill her, and there is a singular, intelligent man who is an unheeded voice of reason (in this case, Bruce Wayne). Bruce spends a lot less time being Batman, although he does get a chance to show off his detective skills. On the plus side, this issue has the first hint of Bruce Wayne leaving clues for his twenty-first century allies to find.

Artwork
The art of Return of Bruce Wayne #1 is fairly standard. There isn't anything particularly innovative or interesting about it, but it isn't bad. The second issue has a much more surreal art style that is a bit evocative of DC's Vertigo imprint, and it fits well with the almost Lovecraftian overtones of the story. The only women so far portrayed in the series have been in Puritan garb, so there hasn't been much opportunity for sexual exploitation. The next issue, due out on June 16, will no doubt involve some pirate wenches, so there may be more to discuss when that comes out.

Review: Batman 698

Essentials:
Published April 14, 2010
Written by Tony S. Daniel
Art by Guillem March
Colors by Tomeu Morey
Letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Story Title: "Riddle Me This, Part 1"


Verdict: 3.5 bats out of 5


After almost a year following a single storyline, this month's installment begins a new and shorter episode in Dick Grayson's tenure as the Batman. As the cover implies, this issue also continues DC's recent focus on the supposedly reformed Riddler, who has not yet returned to a life of crime, but has been showing some darker tendencies in his recent appearances. Here he assists in the investigation of a serial killer, much to Batman's chagrin. "Riddle Me This" will conclude in Batman #699 next month, just in time for the momentous anniversary of Batman #700 in June.


With all the attention the Riddler has received in multiple DC titles over the last few months, one wonders why DC doesn't give him his own series, so that he can stop stealing the spotlight from the title characters. Since the loss of his memory last year, the Riddler--as a private detective--seems to have integrated himself into every case of interest that goes through the Gotham City Police Department. While the Riddler is a fascinating character, and deserves more attention than he's received in the past, his frequent guest roles overshadow the actual protagonists.

Many of the best moments in this issue come not from the actual mystery, but from the interaction between the "reformed" Riddler and a skeptical Batman. Even when he's talking his way into a police investigation, Riddler--who insists on using his civilian name, Edward Nigma--loses none of his smugness, and Batman's every expression shows just how much he detests having to rely on a former criminal.

The ostensible villain of this piece is a new one: Sebastian Blackspell, a magic-themed villain whose appearance would not be out of place in a silent film melodrama. There is, however, something suspicious about this new criminal: with a prominent hat, glasses, and a substantial mustache, very little can be seen of Blackspell's actual face, and he never once speaks. This suggests that there may be something more to Blackspell's identity than meets the eye, although there is of course the possibility that the writer was too focused on the banter between Batman and the Riddler to write dialogue for this almost-incidental villain.

The first scene of Batman on his own is a surreal dream sequence, starring a young Dick Grayson as he swings on a circus trapeze. He begins the dream accompanied by his long-dead parents, but before he wakes up, he has encountered almost every major figure in his life, including a skeletal Bruce Wayne. The imagery is fairly unoriginal, but well-executed. The rest of the Batman-centric scenes feel more like filler, taking up the space between dramatic appearances of the Riddler. Every breakthrough in the case comes not from Batman, the World's Greatest Detective, but from the timely arrival of the Riddler. Even if the Riddler is somehow behind these murders, which seems distinctly possible, it wouldn't have hurt for Batman to find at least one clue on his own.

Artwork
Guillem March is less anatomically inaccurate than usual, perhaps because most of the prominent characters are male. (Some of his work on Gotham City Sirens' female protagonists is almost painful to look at.)