Friday, November 12, 2010

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6 (of 6)

This issue brings us to the end of the story of the death of Batman, and as you'd expect from writer Grant Morrison, he throws in much more than just the Return of Bruce Wayne.

Here's a story that takes us through time to see the ripple effects of this story, which touches on events across Bruce's journey through time from the distant past to the end of time. We see the plot by Darkseid revealed (and we get some hints about his true nature), and we see how this story affects Batman's origin in a surprising way.

Be warned, it's difficult to follow in places - Morrison is playing with some heavy concepts here - and the reader would be well advised to sit down and read the entire run of the mini-series (or the collected version).

And while this story won't please everyone (it gets deep into the pseudo-science of the New Gods, right down to using Kirbyeque terminology), it does provide a thoughtful wrap-up to the story and brings some new realizations to Batman that will no doubt echo through stories in the years ahead.

The art by Lee Garbett and Pere Perez is quite good (though some of the jumps back and forth between artists are a bit jarring), with a style that's offbeat and futuristic.

It'll be interesting to see where Batman goes from here. This adventure took the character about as far out of his usual realm as possible, and it'll be good to have him back in Gotham - and in the present - where he belongs.

Grade: A-

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