Welcome Back, Mister Wayne

"Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne"
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Chris Sprouse, Frazer Irving, Tankc Paquette, Georges Jeanty, Ryan Sook, Lee Garbett, Kari Story, Michel Lacombe, Waldon Wong, Mick Gray, Pere Perez, Alejandro Sicat
Colorists: Guy Major, Nathan Fairbairn, Tony Avina, Jese Villarrubia
Letterers: Jared K Fletcher, Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: Andy Kubert
**Batman created by Bob Kane**

Aside from Green Lantern and the other heroes witnessing the fallout of "Blackest Night" and "Brightest Day", Batman is perhaps the only comic book character to have the most interesting stories written this past year as well as 2011.  With Grant Morrison penning his latest escapades followed by a new costume design, many ponder a simple question: "How did Batman come back from the dead?"  Last time we saw Bruce was his apparent demise at the hands of Darkseid in Morrison's "Final Crisis", not to mention Black Lantern Batman appearing in "Blackest Night"; how did Batman escape the thresholds of death?  Fortunately Morrison, master of the surreal plot devices, provides the answer in a collection of the six issue mini-series "Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne".

SYNOPSIS
The last we saw of Batman alive was in "Final Crisis" as he descended upon a dying Darkseid to stop his plan from creating an army of Batman clones to help in his conquest of the multiverse.  Deeming the tyrant to be too big of a threat to live, Batman breaks his vow of not using firearms for the first time in his life as he produces a gun armed with a radion bullet—the same bullet Darkseid used to kill his son Oriion—before firing the shot into Darkseid's black heart.  However, the evil god had the last laugh as his chaotic Omega Beams hit Batman, leaving behind what appears to be his charred, skeletal remains...

Bruce Wayne awakens in a cave, amnesiac and confused, in an era long forgotten in time.  He sees symbols painted on the wall, familiar yet unknown to his fractured mind.  Outside is a space pod filled with paraphernalia his instincts quickly know how to use as he defends himself from an unfamiliar enemy.  In his tattered state, Bruce knows one thing is certain—he must find a way back home.  However, it turns out that Darkseid plots his revenge on Batman from beyond the grave...
Morrison's key strength in his narratives is his ability to take bizarre plot devices and transition them smoothly into a story, and this feat proves true in "The Return of Bruce Wayne".  While Bruce is trapped in the past, his allies in the present have begun discovering clues all over the world—clues left behind by Bruce in the past.  This raises troubling concerns from the Justice League as well as Tim Drake (Red Robin), Dick Grayson (who took up Batman's mantle at the end of "Battle for the Cowl"), and Damian Wayne (the current Robin to Grayson's Batman as chronicled in Morrison's "Batman and Robin" run), as they have discovered the dark intentions from the deceased Darkseid—his Omega Beams have infected Bruce with deadly Omega radiation.  If he survives the trip through time and makes a return to the 21st century, their best friend will carry enough Omega radiation to usher in a deadly apocalypse on the human race.  To save the world, the League must make a hard decision: Batman must die to save millions.  They send a team led by Superman and Green Lantern Hal Jordan to try and stop him, but as stated by the Man of Steel, "He can survive anywhere.  Anytime.  Surviving is what he does."

Bruce's trip through the timeline is not only a physical trip, but rather a symbolic one as well.  Each era he travels to represents an aspect of Batman that makes him different from other superheroes, and given Bruce's amnesiac state, each experience he has throughout the ages serves to better himself as a hero while successfully restoring his memories piece by piece.  His trials begin in the fierce Stone Age as he fends off the dangers of the tribe of the immortal caveman Vandal Savage, as the mythical Man of Bats.  However, Bruce is not alone—someone, or SOMETHING, is tracking him through time in an attempt to force him back to the 21st century to issue Darkseid's grand apocalypse, apparent by a solar eclipse in each era and forcing Bruce to don a new identity to help recover his memories and unravel the mystery of what is chasing him.  His adventures take him from beyond the Stone Age to eras and locations like the Salem Witch Trials, the Wild West, the 18th century, and the 1930's, leaving behind clues and uncovering new ones to restore his fractured memories and to improve himself as Batman, while being stalked by the Justice League as they try to kill him and stop him.  Naturally time travel stories are often difficult to follow and readers often need to read them twice to catch the details, but Morrison is a crafty writer—his narrative ensures that readers pay very close attention to every detail as he leads up to a satisfying conclusion forever impacting the entire DC Universe and Batman as a whole...

What awaits Bruce Wayne now?  How will his allies take the news of his return to the present?  How does the truth Bruce realized impact the future of Batman?  Has the trip through time allowed Bruce to improve Batman in becoming a better hero?  Find out next time in a review of the follow up comic, "Bruce Wayne: The Road Home".

FINAL VERDICT
"The Return of Bruce Wayne" is a great and unique entry in the Batman mythos as well as a compelling and dynamic time travel tale that remains stable and keeps the reader's attention from beginning to end.  It's the perfect way to welcome back a hero thought dead into the comic-verse, to begin his new adventures with a renewed purpose...

BUY, BORROW OR IGNORE: If possible, this is a recommended must read.  Those who have the cash lying around should definitely buy a copy for their library; if not, borrowing it from a friend or your local library is another good option.

OVERALL GRADE: A-