This is what happens when Techland goes to the comic book store: Douglas Wolk, Evan Narcisse, Mike Williams, Peter Ha and Lev Grossman end up talking about what we picked up. This week, we discuss the first issue of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne.
DOUGLAS: I enjoyed this, but I was surprised by how straightforward a story it was–this is as loose and airy an action story as Morrison has written in a while. One thing that always bugs me in these “familiar character in other eras” stories is the way the circumstances of the familiar character’s life always assume the same pattern we know already (Neil Gaiman’s “1602” was particularly egregious about this), and here of course we get a bat-costume, a Robin, a Joker, a bit of business involving a significant heirloom necklace…
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EVAN: Man, I thought it was only me that was surprised by how straight-ahead this first issue of The Return of Bruce Wayne was. I went in expecting all the Morrison-ian allusions to myth and meta-narrative structure. It was all pretty much Bruce acting on instinct. I did like how the mental impairment reduced Bruce to essentially a caveman himself; he didn’t have the benefit of communication and was essentially more savage than the cavemen. But, also the fact that he was able to use some of his Bat-trappings–giant cloak, use of fear and shadow, utility belt, above-average fighting skills–kinda drive home how deeply ingrained his Batman-ness is in him. I felt lost as to what was in the ship, though. I’m sure Wolk will explain all…
MIKE: I agree about the story. Very cut and dried. I guess I just don’t remember how Bruce got started on his journey. Wasn’t he zapped with the omega beams of Darkseid? Which everyone assumed killed him?
DOUGLAS: Right. He got zapped in Final Crisis #6; on the last two pages of Final Crisis #7, we see Anthro dying, and Bruce in the cave next to him (with the ship in the background). This issue, in fact, begins immediately after the end of that scene! Darkseid’s Omega Effect has various results in both the Kirby kanon and Morrison’s stories; it can send you through all your possible existences, or strand you in the past. (The body Superman was holding in FC was revealed in Batman & Robin to have been one of the Bat-clones Darkseid had been producing earlier in the story.)
As for what’s in the ship, I refer you to the last issue of Final Crisis again: as the universe is shutting down, the heroes fill the rocket with artifacts of their existence–the final Daily Planet, a Bat-Signal, Superman’s cape–and fire it off (“call it a message in a bottle”). Anthro (“Old Man”) is the one who drew the Metron-sigil in the cave before he died (and yes, he is indeed holding the necklace in FC); we see Bruce drawing the bat in the cave there, and I think we can assume that he also drew the Superman and Wonder Woman logos. (Which brings us back to the image on the cover of Final Crisis #1; now we know–!) It’s already been established over in Batman and Robin that Bruce is leaving messages at various points in the past (and in fact Superman et al. mention that they’ve seen the paintings in the cave).
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It may be that the rocket got there long before Bruce did; Superman’s cape is intact, of course, but the Bat-Signal got smashed, and I’m guessing the dust is all that’s left of the Daily Planet.
David Uzumeri points out in his annotations that this incident is where the Deer Tribe becomes the Bat Tribe from Jim Starlin’s The Cult, which Morrison mentioned in his interview here.
MIKE: Hmm, I guess I’m not up on my Crises as I thought. So is an after-effect of the beams that he now hops around time at will? As he does at the end of this issue?
PETER: I take it there was an eclipse of some sort at the end there that caused the time jump for Bruce, right? I guess we won’t know if that’s what will trigger the jumps until the next issue and that kind of bothers me. I was under the impression that Bruce had to find a way back to present day. He sort of just fell into the next time period.
DOUGLAS: Bruce seems to have some sense of what his escape route is–at the moment of the solar eclipse, he moves to the time period for the next issue. He doesn’t really seem to know what’s going on (and neither do we); he’s operating on instinct at this point. Actually, the jump/eclipse bit reminded me of the early Adam Strange stories more than anything else, where Adam had to be in the right place at the right moment to catch his zeta-beam–! But we don’t quite know what Bruce knows, or what the terrible thing that’s going to happen when he gets back is.
MIKE: Yes, the zeta beam is a good comparison. I was also confused by Bruce’s level of understanding of what was going on. I couldn’t tell if his speech was slurred or if it was supposed to represent how the cavemen were hearing him. Either way, he had the wherewithal to take some antibiotics.
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DOUGLAS: I’m pretty sure it was the latter–what he’s saying just sounds like gibberish to the cavemen, but we know that e.g. “wayrameye” means “where am I?” I thought that was a nice touch, actually!
MIKE: As far as the visual style I liked it much more than I thought I would. I found myself looking forward to the next issues of Pirate Batman and Old West Batman but these pages were beautiful. Even if cave-Robin made a shield in half a day.
DOUGLAS: Ha! I think Puritan witch-hunter Batman is being drawn by Frazer Irving (who’s also drawing the next Batman and Robin arc)–I can’t help but imagine that it will somehow connect to the Puritan witch village in Morrison & Irving’s Klarion. But I do really like the openness of Sprouse’s work: he’s not at all a flashy artist, but he’s terrific with visual continuity, facial expressions, etc.–which is essential if you’ve got a story where people don’t do a lot of significant talking.
I was also surprised to see the Rip Hunter/”search for Bruce Wayne” business already showing up: somehow I’d imagined that that was just going to be another ex post facto tie-in executed without the knowledge of the people doing the story it tied into…
LEV: Well, I’m just going to insert my reaction at this arbitrary point, which is that I found the whole ish surprisingly thin. You’re never far away from a cliche when you’re dealing with cavemen, and though Morrison labors mightily I got some unintentional laughs out of some of the LET US CALL HIM MAN OF BATS! dialogue. (It didn’t help that I voice-acted it internally in the style of Ringo Starr in CAVEMAN. But still.)
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Plus I can’t believe the fricking Blood Chief staked out the mysterious Star-Man and then just walked away and left him unattended. I’m embarrassed for you, man! And then I’m sorry, but is Blood Chief superpowered? I mean I know Bats is depleted and all, but when they duke it out Batmano a Cavemano, it’s actually a pretty even fight, and you get the impression Batman only wins because duh, he’s got an entire utility belt full of 21st century gadgets. What, did they have krav maga in the stone age?
That’s all I have to say. I like my Batman butch. If the Amish milkmaid beats him up, I’m done reading.
PETER: I, too, wonder about Chief Savage or Blood Sausage or whatever his name is and his fighting skills. And he didn’t have to club those cave babes over the head and drag them into his hut? Come on!
DOUGLAS: Yeah, the Blood Chief is a.k.a. Vandal Savage, who’s been kicking around DC since 1943; he’s immortal, very strong and very smart, and probably has millennia of combat experience even by this point. (He actually appeared in Final Crisis too, both as a modern-day member of Libra’s group and as the leader of the Cro-Magnon group who attacked the Deer Tribe and were fought off by Anthro and his newly discovered fire.)
LEV: WHAT? The Blood Chief is Vandal Savage? How do you know these things?
DOUGLAS: “The chief who scares death has returned! Conquering chief Savage brings gifts from the forbidden land!” He identifies himself by name!
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PETER: I’m intrigued by the cavemen’s vast knowledge of the “shining ones,” but that surely has something to do with Crisis, right?
DOUGLAS: Right. The first encounter with the “shining ones” is on the first page of Final Crisis, where Metron appears to Anthro, shows him the will/power sigil, and gives him fire. See also the business with Aurakles in Seven Soldiers #1; it’s possible that redheaded Boy/Young Man will eventually become him, and therefore be the ancestor of Bulleteer… if M.I.A. and her shock troops don’t kill him first!!! Wait, wrong continuity.
PETER: This may be a dumb question but why were Superman’s eyes red? And, again, I’m sorry if this is a Crisis thing but why did Supes say they’d all be dead if Bruce returned to the 21st century?
DOUGLAS: My guess is that Superman’s eyes are red because we’re seeing the time-traveling heroes as the locals see them: unknowable sky-gods. As for why it’s a bad thing if Bruce comes back–I think that’s meant to be a mystery right now.
PETER: I actually thought the introduction of cro-mag Joker was a bit much. I mean, is Jonah Hex going to appear in the western Batman issue as Two-Face?
DOUGLAS: Oh God. That can’t not happen.
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PETER: The image of Bruce standing over Blood Sausage on page 31 is magnificent.
One last thing: Bruce tends to have severe nightmares that always involve larger than life bats stirring him awake, which results in the story usually switching directions. I’ve seen this sort of thing before. Why is that? Or am I crazy?
DOUGLAS: I believe that this is what’s referred to as a “motif.” Or a “cliché.” Take your pick.
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