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Read "Return of Bruce Wayne" #2 and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's just so Morrison-weird that I can't help but gobble it up.

The entire "Bruce / Puritan" concept is so off-beat that it works so well. It also amuses me to no end that someone might buy this thinking its a Batman-related 'Event Comic' and end up thinking "WTF?".

#2 answered a bunch of questions from Morrison's Batman run regarding Wayne's ancestors. So this is more than just a 'Bruce returning to the future' story but some very important information regarding Batman: RIP.

And its also just awesome to see Bruce Wayne in action again.

I also got around to part 2 of David Hine's story in Detective about Jeremiah Arkham. I thought it was a really good, solid story!

This is one of the better Dick-as-Batman stories so far, IMO.

Meanwhile, the Question back-up was a waste. I skipped to the end just to see if anything noteworthy happened--even then, it was hard to understand. Renee might be scarred now? I bet someone forgets in a few months.

I'm also noticing the preview for Neal Adam's Batman: Odyssey mini. I'm a fan of Adam's work in a big way but what I saw leaves me uncertain if I'll buy. It's a little unfair because its only pencils and inks (final inked version?) so it looks overly scratchy and that might not be the final product. Seeing Batman with a gun didn't really win me over.

I've already decided to let the Adams mini go for now and get the inevitable trade if it turns out to be good.

Return of Bruce Wayne #2 was much better than #1 (which was OK but not great) and renews my faith that Morrison is going somewhere with this story.

Finally read The Return of Brace Wayne #2 and LOVED IT!!!!!

Grant Morrison's epic, long-form Batman tale that he began what feels like years ago now is easily my favourite Batman story ever (and despite my not really liking the character in the past, I have read A LOT - my brother bought every Batman/Detective comic from about 1986 to about 1995) and this issue propels it into another dimension - almost literally!

Batman as a Puritan Wich-Hunter/Detective? What an awesome concept! I'd love to see future flashbacks to his life as Mordecai Wayne. And the Time-Masters involvement (which I was initially very sceptical of) just took an extremely interesting turn with the revelation that...


<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Darkseid has turned Bruce into a living time-bomb that will destroy the world when he returns to the 21st Century! (And that page where Bruce revealed himself to be the data-keeper thing was one of the biggest jaw-droppers I've read in a comic this year!)</span></span>


Makes his whole quest to return to the present that much more interesting.

And what can I say about the art?!? STUNNING! Frazier Irving blew me away on Seven Soldiers: Klarion but if it were even possible, his art looks even better here. What a phenomenal talent.

I feel sorry for all those people who a) aren't understanding or b) aren't enjoying this book.

Frazier Irving definitely is a talent to watch. He has such a creepy, moody feel to his artwork and there are a few things he does that highlight that. Foremost is the way he draws people's eyes and how they look at other people in the middle of a conversation. That's some pretty creepy stuff! He seems to really get Grant too and his artwork provides Grant the atmospheric backdrop needed for the weird & bizarre.

I'd kill for a Bruce Wayne: Puritan Detective back-up in Detective Comics following this! Moreso than the Question or Manhunter or Two-Face or whatever Bat-title back-ups there have been.

Batman #700 - a cross time caper involving 4 (5?) different Batmen and a number of Robins. And what a pretty book to look at. Grant again does a great job of telling stories encapsulating all the different eras/tones/moods/ of Batman.

Each era is drawn by a different artist, and they all manage to make it their own. The pin up series in the back was nice, and normally I prefer more story. But there were a couple that just blew me away. Such a great piece of collaborative work.

I agree on Batman #700: what a great "cross-time caper" (to borrow your phrase Ceej) with some incredible artwork. Particularly Tony Daniel, who I wish would do more artwork than writing.

Also love seeing Catwoman in that costume (which I disliked when I was a kid).

Like most of us huge longtime Batman fans, I knew it was only a matter of time that Grant got around to Professor Carter Nichols and I'm glad he did. He also wrote it in such a way that I felt like it left it open for further Carter Nichols stories (he should be 60 and was 80 so that's at least 20 years of time travel he was elsewhere, not to mention other easy outs).

I also have to say that Damien-as-Batman scenes from the would-be future only made Damien even more annoying to me. Did they confirm when they're killing him yet?

And Ceej, good call on the art gallery. I agree, it was fantastic and moreso than the usual art galleries in milestone issues. Dustin Nguyen is incredibly creative in his pin-ups which were gorgeous. My favorite was probably the gorgeous Tim Sale one.

I read issue 12 with the conclusion of the "Batman vs. Robin" arc and the reveal of Sexton. I'd say that's easily B&R's best arc and probably the first to really click with me. I found Sexton's reveal surprising and enjoyed the apparent growth in Damien's character as he stood up to Talia. (I'm definitely less ready for him to be killed than Cobie is! )

Question: does Talia's reveal of another Damien in the works mean that Damien wasn't conceived the old-fashioned way between Bruce and Talia?

Looks like the BATMAN AND ROBIN title is sticking around, but with a new creative team .

DETECTIVE COMICS is getting a new writer , who will be familiar to some of you.

Tony Daniel is continuing on as writer/artist of BATMAN.

For those who missed it, the announcement of the new Bat-book from David Finch

A lot of this sounds really great to me. Tomasi has really won me over in recent years on GLC and elsewhere and Snyder is fantastic on American Vampire as Lardy and I (and now Dev--yay) have said several times in the Vertigo thread.

Finch's artwork I find really appealing so I'll give it a chance.

The only one I'm not thrilled with is Tony Daniel. I really love his art (I mean really) but I've found his writing on Batman thus far to be rather dissapointing.

Also, should Damien remain Robin (and it's lookin like he will) I'm going to keep complaining and feverishly asking for his death in perpetuity.

I also saw Paul Cornell is doing a Knight and Squire mini which sounds awesome!

I'm intrigued by the different approaches the books are going to take.

If they can maintain the differences, I'm all for it.

Today at SDCC, DC announced another Bat-Book, BATMAN INC., by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette. Looks to be a team-up styled book.

No real hints about what the future holds for Dick Grayson yet.

I'd just like to say that halfway into it, Morrison's Return of Bruce Wayne mini has been a very welcome surprise. I was on the fence about getting it before it came out, but I'm glad I did so far. Morrison's Batman stories have run the gamut for me as far as whether I've enjoyed them or not and to what degree, but Return has really delivered in terms of telling terrific standalones winthin a larger framework of Bruce Wayne being lost in time.

This is SO much more entertaining than the non-story that was Captain America Reborn! If Morrison can nail the landing here and with the recently-improving Batman & Robin, this may indeed turn out to all have been worthwhile.

I'm optimistic!

I'm also enjoying the hell out of the Return of Bruce Wayne. I read #3 tonight, the pirate issue and it was one of the best stories I've read all year! Grant is able to combine a larger, incredibly grand scale story of Batman through time with a small scale awesome pirate adventure with Blackbeard.

The best part, and most fun, is watching how Bruce's life through time has affected the entire history of Gotham and helped shape the Bat as a huge symbol for both the Wayne family and Gotham as a city. The idea of the ancient cave people from Anthro's time mixing with the Native people and living in the caves (the "Bat-people") and worshiping Bruce's costume is extraordinary; the fact that it's the Bat-cave is just beyond cool. The Puritan story brought the Wayne family into the mix in an incredibly cool way. When all is said and done, I'll probably be rereading for clues here and in Grant's other stories, as well as checking online for theories and things I might have missed, just like I did with RIP.

Grant has created this mythos of Gotham where the specter of Batman has hung over the city and the Wayne family since the dawn of time, and reading Bruce's journey through time is like having a layer pulled back every issue to see how it got that way.

Screwed again. After a multiple month delay and a $5 price tag for the final issue, "Batman: Widening Gyre" ended in a horrible fashion.

I caught up on Morrison's other Batman stories in B&R and Batman, the latter of which has an awesome 'hidden chapter' of RIP connecting RIP to Final Crisis. I'm totally digging Morrison's Batman stories again now that he's getting back to the RIP / Dr. Hurt / Black Glove mystery.

Loved seeing Bruce & Alfred working together and being so frank with one another about how close things came in RIP.

Love going over every minor detail and throway piece of dialogue for the exact nature of the Black Glove.

I'm hoping we get some real resolution of this larger storyline within the next few months as I'm getting totally engrossed in it again.

I'm loving Batman and Robin. especially Damien (blanking on the name?)

and frazier irving gets a big happy welcome from me as the artist.

and i don't even like Batman, i got like two issues from the 80s when i was a kid and that's it!

I started reading this cause of Quitely's art.

the latest issue was good <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">joker: 'you sound just like him' and then our new lil badass robin cracks him over the head with a crowbar ...and the joker is crying for help, bwahahaha</span></span>

Love the new Robin. and Dick as Batman.

I'm a bit behind in my Batman reading but just had to echo CK's praise of The Return of Bruce Wayne #3. What an awesome issue!

And I *loved* seeing the Black Pirate in there too. I always loved that Jerry Ordway image of him in the old Who's Who book.

Other than the ho-hum Oberon Sexton = Joker revelation, Grant Morrison has not put a foot wrong in his crafting of this epic, long-form story so far, and I am constantly blown away that Batman, a character that I formerly had very little time for (especially under Grant Morrison in JLA), is now one of my favourite books on the stands - and is a strong contender for my favourite book of the last few years.

Those who just jumped on board with Batman & Robin (i.e. you, Power Boy ) should really do themselves a favour and go out and buy all the trades of Morrison's work on this story until now - especially the mind-blowingly awesome Club of Heroes, Black Glove and R.I.P arcs. This whole thing has been one continuous storyline since his very first issue and I cannot wait to one day do a re-read of the whole thing and look for all the little clues and hints about what was coming up along the way.

Like CK, I also especially love the feeling of... I was going to call it "world-building" and compare it with Geoff Johns' work on the Green Lantern franchise (and all the new characters and concepts and corps he's added to that title over the last few years)... but that's probably not the best analogy since there haven't been that many more new chracters or concepts added here by Morrison.

A better term might be "myth-building" since it's more the character of Batman himself (and what he represents and stands for and comes from) that is being crafted and developed here. And that is no mean feat for a character as storied and showcased as this one is.

This is stellar stuff. Truly.

And then on the other side of the spectrum you have... this -

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/29/worst-of-the-worst-batman-the-widening-gyre-6/3#comments

I really liked Kevin Smith's Green Arrow run but don't think I've bothered with anything else he's done and am certainly glad I avoided this one now. Looks like his comic book writing has become as bad as his movie writing/making.

They can't all be Grant Morrison I guess.

Pretty horrible, isn't it? What the heck was he thinking? Glad I'm not a Batman fan or I'd be... well, pissed.

For the love of all that is holy. Kevin Smith should be banned from comics.

In all honesty, I was wondering what Silver meant by Deedee.

Smith should be banned from Batman.

'dee dee'. now that's just tacky.