Return of Bruce Wayne 6
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Lee Garbett, Pere Perez, Alejandro Sicat
Date: December 2010
My Rating: Extremely Satisfying!
So, here we have our conclusion of Bruce Wayne’s journey through time to return to Gotham, his family and allies. Overall I enjoyed it, was surprised and intrigued, and appreciated the tying up of loose ends. But, it didn’t have the reunion moments I was hoping for – guess we’ll have to wait for the Batman: The Return one-shot I read about the other day.
This issue starts off at the end of time, with the Archivist showing us things that symbolize Bruce’s life. There are the pearls, a bell (which he rang to call Alfred when he decided to be Batman), and a gun. Kind of makes me wonder what things would symbolize my own life, you know? The crazy sea-monster is back, it seems to be like a physical representation of the curse that’s followed him through time (and is that curse responsible for his parents’ death? Is that the implication? Kind of means he’d always be Batman, no matter what.) I like how it looks like a good old vagina dentata, and also the face-hugger from Alien, anyone else find that?
When Superman and some other JLA type guys show up at the end of the universe to stop Batman, he takes their time machine and goes back to the ‘present’, leaving them there to escape right after in a different time machine that Batman left for them. He’s smart like that. Why don’t people trust Batman to always be himself, no matter what happens to him?
Batman shows up at wherever the Justice League is (the Tower?…), and Tim has to explain that he’s become a threat to existence. They have a really great moment:
So basically, everything comes together in a crazy way. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern save the day, reminding us that Batman needs his allies in order to ultimately succeed. The book closes with Batman rededicating himself to protecting Gotham city, and balance is returned to the universe.
One last thing I wanted to say was that the artwork in this book is excellent. I love how Bruce and the other people are drawn, they look like the ultimate versions of themselves. The bat-suit’s various incarnations throughout time are great, variations but always around that same theme and it works really well. If you didn’t follow Return of Bruce Wayne as the issues came out, it’s definitely a story I would recommend buying when it’s published in a compilation. OK, I’m off to read Red Robin 17. Have a great weekend! I am the night.
