Review: Return of Bruce Wayne #1

Return of Bruce Wayne #1

By Grant Morrison
Art by Chris Sprouse

Rating: 5/10

As the first issue of a miniseries, I'm going to cut this issue a little slack, especially since its probably hard to make a coherent story out of Batman-fights-cavemen.

Unfortunately, once the coolness-factor wears off (about page three) that's what we're left with: a semi-mute tale about an amnesiac Batman fighting a caveman. It's okay, I guess but there's a lot of mindless punching with not very much motivation or plot. Morrison can do a lot better than this.

Also, why is Batman the only character in the story not speaking English as we know it? I guess its supposed to be because of his screwed-up mental state, but I think its just because Grant Morrison enjoys writing that sort of dialogue, as seen in RIP and issues 8-9 of Batman & Robin.

All in all, this issue did what it was meant to do (set up the miniseries) but apparently not much more. The high point was the last three pages, where we get Bruce saving a small boy, getting thrust into the next time, and then a group of time travelers showing up minutes too late. But these last pages weren't enough to save the issue.

The only thing keeping this from a below-average rating is the fact that it's the first issue, and the art by Chris Sprouse. The art is very good: clean and almost silver-age in tone (although still not excellent). I expect more from this miniseries, and hopefully we'll get it in the next issue.