I think it’s fascinating when good writers seemingly have the same idea at the same time. In comics’ past we have Man-Thing/Swamp Thing and X-Men/Doom Patrol being developed and published almost at the same time with the creative teams having no idea that the other one was following the same road.
For the past few years, Steve Rogers and Bruce Wayne have been having very similar experiences thanks to the great plotting and writing of Brubaker and Morrison. Both have been “killed”, both traveled through time, and both let their former sidekicks take their heroic mantle. Now that they’re back, Bucky and Dick continue in those roles and Steve and Bruce have become the heads of SHIELD-type organizations to protect the world.
What’s different for Bruce is that he saw the ENTIRETY of human history and something is coming in the future that has disturbed him enough that he’s a changed man. Or should I say, he’s more the man he was in the 70s. This Batman-crisis Morrison has put Bruce through has really moved him beyond the Frank Miller rut he’s been in since 1986 and moves him into more Christopher Nolan territory which was a continuation of the work Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams did years ago. Bruce ain’t going alone anymore…he knows that there are things too big for just him. And Batman isn’t hiding in the shadows; being an urban legend…those days are over.
In Batman: The Return one-shot, Bruce gathers the Batman family in the cave to give the new direction in which they’ll be going. Dick and Damian will continue as the Batman and Robin of North America. Bruce finds it difficult to work with Damian…he’s too close as his father and he doesn’t have the patience that Dick has…so he’s giving training responsibility to Dick. Bruce states that Gordon, Alfred, and the Gotham police love Dick as Batman and he sees no reason to alter that. He says that the days of “I am the Batman” are over…they’re going to need all the Batmen they can get. Barbara will be in charge of Internet 3.0 and it seems that Bruce has some ideas on getting Babs back into action as Batgirl again, too. He wants Stephanie to leave Gotham and start a finishing school program in England…maybe being a part of the Knight/Squire team. Tim is there, but we don’t yet know his given assignment. Lucius Fox is in charge of converting the Wayne “G.I. Robot” program into an army of robot Batmen. Alfred is to prepare the multiple Wayne properties around the world into satellite bat HQs. Bruce then calls Selina, who he says is the first person he thought of upon returning from the “dead”, and asks her help in stealing a weapon from Dr. Sivana’s lab. That goes into the first issue of Batman, Inc.
This first issue may be the most reader-friendly comic Morrison has ever written…and it’s tons of fun. You don’t have to have read the recent Bat-Manga book reprinting Jiro Kuwata's Japanese Batman comics from the 1960s, but it might help with a couple of things…especially an in-joke. Bruce and Selina head to Japan to recruit Mr. Unknown, a Japanese crime fighter who has his base of operations in the basement of a comic/toy store. A villain from those 60s stories, Lord Death Man, has already killed Mr. Unknown before Bruce and Selina arrive. LDM has also set up a trap for Mr. Unknown’s sidekick using the boy’s girlfriend. The trap is also a cool joke about hentai – a type of porn manga using certain sea creatures – which Selina has referenced earlier in the story, citing her discomfort and confusion about its appeal. On the final page, Selina looks out at the reader with an expression that says “really?”. The 60s comics also used to have comments about the story in the gutters and Morrison uses that at the end of the issue. Very cool and very fun.
I can’t wait for issue two!
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Yeah, although it does effectively give him two personal names and no family name.
Batman #704 - The start of the Tony Daniel/Dick Grayson as the Batman of Gotham post the return of Bruce
The best thing about being a superhero in the Wayne family? Unlike Peter Parker who has to wear his costume under his clothes or keep it in a webbed-up gym bag...Dick Grayson just calls Alfred and a Bat-drone plane flys a costume-pack to your location and drops it right to you. That's awesome.