Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Ryan Sook
1. Morrison and Sook continue their trip to bring back Bruce Wayne, the Batman, as Bruce becomes a detective in the era right after his parents murder and we get a ton of information about the Black Glove.
2. Tim Drake, apparently the longest partner of Batman of anyone… not that I buy him being around longer than Grayson… tells the JLA of Darkseid’s plan and that Superman has lost contact.
3. Martha’s best friend then hires Bruce to find Martha’s killer. Bruce, without his memory, but with his 0ld-west journal, knows what’s happening to him, but not the significance of who Martha is.
4. This is where the Black Glove sets up all of the misinformation about Bruce’s father and Alfred that appears in RIP.
5. The betrayal of the girl in this echoes that of Jezebel Jett in RIP as well, and the poison lipstick is a great callback to both Poison Ivy and the Joker’s poison fingernails in current Batman and Robin.
6. The scene with Martha’s mother, echoing classic film “The Big Sleep” is ridiculously creepy, especially with the prevalence of the wasps.
7. There is a minimalist noir feel to the art here that really helps the issue come together.
8. Batman deciding to let himself die before he can be teleported as a means of getting back to the present makes perfect sense, and that it is his decision really helps all the survivalist stuff that’s been in the series thus far. Better still, the conscience of a good man helps save him, but for once, Batman will not be saved. This sends a strange looking Batman to the present and now we’ll see the results of Darkseid’s plans.
9. The evil Wayne here is really establishing himself as the current hole in things, the way that was Darkseid before. He’s a normal man, albeit immortal, with plans to rival those of the Batman himself. If Darkseid was the hole in things to counter Superman’s light, then this is the perfect next step.
10. <b>Rating: 9/10</b> This is probably the best issue in the series, but as a part of a larger universe, it is annoying that Bruce is already back in other books. Having the characters living happily ever after before the bomb is even defused lessens the impact of this otherwise stellar book.
