The Return of Bruce Wayne!

[prez]

Newsarama story

Morrison's THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE in April 2010

By Lucas Siegel

The week of DC 2010 announcements continued this morning with one fans have quite simply been waiting for. On the official DCU Blog The Source (dcu.blog.dccomics.com) and in USA Today, the anticipated Return of Bruce Wayne was made official.

Written by current Batman and Robin scribe, and now long-established helmsman of Batman's flagship comics Grant Morrison, the story will see where Bruce Wayne has been since being hit with Darkseid's Omega Sanction eyebeams in Final Crisis #6 (also by Morrison). The character was pronounced dead by the characters of the DCU, with only his protegé and adopted son Tim Drake Wayne, now Red Robin, believing him to still be alive, searching for clues to lead to his return.

The six issue mini-series, beginning in April 2010, will follow Bruce Wayne in a journey through time, trying to find his way back to the present-day Gotham City he calls home. Each issue will feature art by a different art team, with Chris Sprouse handling

the first issue (featuring Caveman/Viking Batman), and Frazer Irving handling the second (featuring Witch-hunter Batman). Superstar artist Andy Kubert is doing character designs on the series, as shown here.

In an interview with USA Today (USAToday.com), Morrison said of the series, "[it's] the latest chapter in the long-running, "definitive" Batman epic I've been trying to pull off since 2005, [but] Return has been structured and written to read as a complete story on its own." So readers who haven't been reading Morrison's run with the character for the last several years should still be able to keep up with this series.

He also revealed some of the settings of the series, including the Late-Paleolithic Era (Caveman/Viking Batman), a Pilgrim-era Gotham (Witch-hunter Batman), a Pirate Batman, a "western" style Gotham with Cowboy Batman, and a Noir Private Investigator Batman. Morrison, agian to USAToday.com, calls this story " Bruce Wayne's ultimate challenge — Batman vs. history itself!"

The other artists on the series will be announced soon.

Honestly? Fuck Grant Morrison.

[Dread]

Wow. Finally Pirate Batman! He was on that Infinite Crisis poster.

[Missy]

I think it sounds interesting. Sure, I'd rather Tim travel back in time to save him, setting Red Robin up as a major hero, but we'll see how this plays out.

[Dread]

Same here. Could be really cool. Plus, Viking Batman?

[Dread]

It is quite funny how this and the Cap saga have really paralleled each other since they were written at the same time.

[SuaveStar]

I don't know whether to think this is awesome, or fucking awful.

So, Batman is going to be Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap?

[KnightWing]

So, Batman is going to be Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap?

Maybe Sam Beckett will show up in The Brave and the Bold.

[Missy]

I can see it now: Sam leaps into the body of Batman just as a Viking comes at him with a sword. "Oh, boy!"

[prez]

I don't see how you can honestly think of it as anything but fucking awful. To me, the only acceptable thing was what Yoda said, Tim traveling back to save him.

[dc20willsave]

I don't see how you can honestly think of it as anything but fucking awful. To me, the only acceptable thing was what Yoda said, Tim traveling back to save him.

It's Morrison so I'm used to things being kinda bat-shit (no pun intended) insane. Actually, this seems vaguely straight forward or backwards depending on one's choice. Personally, I got to say that I am heavily intrigued as to how time-traveling Bruce Wayne is going to work out or the aftermath.

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http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2009-12-09-morrison-bruce-wayne-st_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Where in the world is Bruce Wayne? Or, to be more accurate, when in the world is Bruce Wayne?

It has been nearly a year since comic book readers last saw Wayne, better known to most as the original Batman. While battling a god-like villain named Darkseid during DC Comics' Final Crisis series, Batman was hit by an energy beam that sent him hurling out of control to an unknown place in time. Bruce Wayne hasn't been seen or heard from since. Until now.

In 2010, DC Comics will launch a new series created and written by legendary comic book scribe Grant Morrison. Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne finds the original Batman trying to reclaim his memory, his identity and his proper place in time and space. The series marks the return of one of comic book's most iconic characters and, Morrison says, begins an important new chapter in a complex series of Batman stories that the author has been developing and intertwining over the past five years.

Morrison recently took time with USA TODAY's John Geddes to answer questions about the upcoming series and provide some insight and hints about where the story will lead.

Q: In Final Crisis, the original Batman, Bruce Wayne, is hit by the Omega Beam during a battle with the villain Darkseid. This beam sends Wayne spinning into the unknown, cast off into the time stream. He is thought to be dead by both friends and enemies. In the aftermath, the role of Batman is assumed by the original Robin, Dick Grayson, and the role of Robin is assumed by Bruce Wayne's son, Damian. What else should readers know as a lead-in to The Return of Bruce Wayne?

A: Could there possibly be anything else to know after that masterful summing-up?

To be honest, I don't think readers need to know even that much in order to enjoy Return. Although it's also the latest chapter in the long-running, "definitive" Batman epic I've been trying to pull off since 2005, Return has been structured and written to read as a complete story on its own — everything a new reader needs to know will be in the pages of the book itself. Read all the graphic novel collections together, however, and a much bigger, more complex and involving story will emerge.

Return is a fairly intricate time-travel story in which the world's greatest hero, the optimum man, is up against the supreme challenge to his ingenuity and skill. How does Batman get out of the ultimate trap? It has a mystery and an apocalyptic countdown going on, there are some major twists and reveals, and it sets up big changes to the Batman universe status quo.

Q: It's my understanding that Return will follow Bruce Wayne through different eras as he makes his way — presumably — back to the modern day. Any hints on which eras we might see Bruce exploring in his quest to find his proper place in time?

A: The first episode is set in the Late-Paleolithic Era, the second is in Pilgrim-era Gotham Village, and we also get to see Gotham in Western or noir style.

Each of the stories is a twist on a different "pulp hero" genre — so there's the caveman story, the witchhunter/Puritan adventurer thing, the pirate Batman, the cowboy, the P.I. — as a nod toward those mad old 1950s comics with Caveman Batman and Viking Batman adventures. It's Bruce Wayne's ultimate challenge — Batman vs. history itself!

I've tried to thoroughly research each time period so that the stories work not only as at least fairly plausible reconstructions of life in the real 17th or 19th centuries but also as romanticized "pulp" versions too, while at the same time referencing the more extravagant history of the fictional DC Comics Universe in the background.

Q: How many issues are planned for The Return of Bruce Wayne series?

A: There are six issues of Return. The first one's 38 pages long, the rest are 30.

Q: Without giving away any spoilers, how will/would the return of Bruce Wayne to the present day affect the dynamic of the current Batman & Robin duo? Might we see Damian Wayne develop into a new character?

A: As I mentioned above, the status quo of the Batman universe will be changed completely after this book. This is the beginning of a new and different take on the idea of Batman as we approach the 010s — the latest of these ever more fleeting and flimsy modern decades!

Q: There are certain readers out there who will undoubtedly complain about yet another rebirth or reincarnation of a famous comic book character. What about Return is going to be different from these past stories in which iconic characters have been brought back to life?

A: As we saw at the end of the Final Crisis book, Bruce Wayne was never dead, only AWOL, so this was never a literal "back to life" story. And I like to think the series will have a wider general appeal than some of the continuity driven "death and rebirth"-type stories we've seen before.

This is more for me about putting Batman/Bruce Wayne through my own, and my collaborators' version, of the ultimate test of who and what he is. So far I've had him overcome the Devil, Madness and Death; now we see him, truly lost, amnesiac, and stripped down to basic human survival mode in some extremely hostile environments and unfamiliar situations. He's the best fighter in his world, he's one of the smartest and most driven men who ever lived, but we've seen him outwit the Joker 10,000 times. This was a way of taking the character off the grid, as they say, and reminding readers what kind of man he is and what he's capable of. If you wonder why Batman is so cool — here's why Batman is so cool.

This is an attempt to look at a very familiar character from some unusual angles. And it's about Bruce and who he is — I want to remind people how the man and the mask are inseparable parts of a terrifying whole.

Q: You're a writer who has never been afraid to experiment with storylines involving major characters. What are some of the challenges you face when developing stories specific to such a high-profile character as Batman/Bruce Wayne?

A. The challenge is to keep everything familiar while making what appear to be far-reaching changes and having characters react as if those changes are permanent!

Batman needs to be eternally young, renewed like some pagan Fertility King to suit the changing tastes of his audience in each fresh generation. Batman can never grow old or die — and stories, no matter how good, which depict these events cannot be considered "canon." Batman was born in 1939 and would now be a sprightly 70-year-old if he aged like the rest of us. The "real" Batman, however, enjoys godlike immortality and must always be 30-ish moneyed orphan, Bruce Wayne, who dresses as a bat to fight crime. The trick is to tell stories which expand the limits of how far you can go and still maintain the integrity of the basic idea. And everything has to be done with the knowledge and understanding that I — as the current writer — am only a tiny link in a long chain of all the people who already have or will one day tell stories about Batman.

Q: Your writing for Batman over the years has seen you interpret the character through a variety of lenses (a Zen-warrior, a darkly philosophical detective, the traditional hero, etc.) With Return, what type of Bruce Wayne are we going to see?

A: All the elements that make up this great pop icon will be upfront — his intellect, his detective skills, his martial arts abilities, his heroism and compassion and grit. His chiseled cheekbones! In this series, in particular, he represents us, humanity, at our very best and most resourceful. And, in the first issue, we get to see the many advantages ninja training has over the traditional caveman grunt-and-lunge technique.

Batman's story begins with Bruce Wayne, kneeling by the bodies of his murdered mom and dad. To me, at the most basic root of Batman is the story of the ultimate survivor. The Return of Bruce Wayne— a title that becomes increasingly ominous as the story progresses — puts that aspect of Batman under the microscope.

Q: Themes play such a huge role in most, if not all, of your writing. Is there an overarching theme running throughout the story of Return?

A: Survival. Not only the physical survival of our hero but the survival through time of memories, grudges, artifacts, ideas. What persists? What endures?

Q: Over the years, you've been involved with some of the most well-known and beloved characters out there — Batman, Superman, JLA, X-Men and Fantastic Four, just to name a few. Are there other iconic comic characters you'd like to reinterpret or for whom you'd like to develop storylines?

A. I'm very happy with the take on the Captain Marvel/Shazam universe that appears as part of the upcoming Multiversity series of books, but that's it for the moment. Along with Geoff Johns and Marv Wolfman, I'm part of the consulting team at DC Entertainment involved in rethinking some of DC's big characters for the screen. So between that and the comics, I think I've had my say on just about every comic book character I've ever had any interest in.

Q: Who else comprises the creative team attached to Return? Can you speak about how it's been to work with this team?

A: I haven't seen any of the art yet. The book launches in the summer and each issue is drawn by a different artist, so that side of it has barely got underway. I know Chris Sprouse is penciling the first one, so I'm fairly confident it'll be the best comic set in the Late Paleolithic Era that you'll have seen for a very long time. I'm a huge fan of Chris' work, so I'm keen to see what he's done. I think Frazer Irving might do the second one, cementing his reputation as the comic world's most prominent Puritan Goth Adventure artist.

Q: Aside from Return, what new work can readers look forward to from Grant Morrison in 2010?

A: Mostly Batman work — I'm doing at least another year of stories with Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne in the Batman and Robin book before that book starts to dovetail with Return and we rush headlong and screaming into the next big, earth-shattering, game-changing twist in the life of Batman.

I'm slowly working my way through the Multiversity sequence of books and loving it. I've set myself the task of making each issue the best superhero story I've ever written, so I'm growing them patiently and all together before I hand the scripts out to artists.

There's also the Joe the Barbarian book with Sean Murphy, which starts in January at Vertigo and is my first new, creator-owned comic for a while.

[Koete]

I don't see how you can honestly think of it as anything but fucking awful. To me, the only acceptable thing was what Yoda said, Tim traveling back to save him.

Or you could be like me and think that Viking Batman and Witch-Hunter Batman sound fucking awesome. And to me, Tim traveling back in time sounds uninteresting and more like "The Terrible Time Travels of Tim Drake" than "The Return of Batman."

[Guest]

I know that death is meaningless in comics but fuck, gimme some time to miss the guy first. Same goes with Cap.

[Missy]

Or you could be like me and think that Viking Batman and Witch-Hunter Batman sound fucking awesome. And to me, Tim traveling back in time sounds uninteresting and more like "The Terrible Time Travels of Tim Drake" than "The Return of Batman."

But then you get Batman and Robin in time... fighting Vikings!

[TDK_theBatmaN]

"So readers who haven't been reading Morrison's run with the character for the last several years should still be able to keep up with this series."

ha <sarcasm>

[TDK_theBatmaN]

I've been enjoying Morrison's run on Batman & Robin, but after reading RIP, I can't help but have low expectations for this.

[Dread]

I know that death is meaningless in comics but fuck, gimme some time to miss the guy first. Same goes with Cap.

Batman has never been dead. The world in DC Comics is moving on as we speak because they believe him to be dead. But Bruce has been out of the spotlight for a long time in comic book years. Not as long as Cap but seriously DW, Cap's been dead for two years! I can see complaining about Batman (of which it's been a year) but really? Two years!

And Morrison's mission to retell the Golden and Silver Age of the character with modern sensibilities is brilliant. I can't wait for this incarnation. I think that Dick will remain Batman after Bruce returns. I have that feeling. Perhaps a new Oracle/behind the scenes taskmaster is in Bruce's future kind of pointing us towards his role in Kingdom Come?

What bugged me about the interview is that the interviewer seemed to think that Dick was Robin up until a year ago.

And since Bruce is gone, Tim has lost all interest for me.

[SuaveStar]

I've been enjoying Morrison's run on Batman & Robin, but after reading the strong start was thrown away by a dull story and terrible art, my expectations are low.

Well, I fixed it for me.

I'll get the first issue, but this will make Batman look unstoppable, if Bruce can beat the Omega Sanction from the ultimate evil in the DCU, then that means, Bruce Wayne, could actually be a god and that is way to powerful to make the character interesting to care about when he faces second rate villains like the new ventriloquist and others like her.

[Guest]

I know that death is meaningless in comics but fuck, gimme some time to miss the guy first. Same goes with Cap.

Batman has never been dead. The world in DC Comics is moving on as we speak because they believe him to be dead. But Bruce has been out of the spotlight for a long time in comic book years. Not as long as Cap but seriously DW, Cap's been dead for two years! I can see complaining about Batman (of which it's been a year) but really? Two years!

And Morrison's mission to retell the Golden and Silver Age of the character with modern sensibilities is brilliant. I can't wait for this incarnation. I think that Dick will remain Batman after Bruce returns. I have that feeling. Perhaps a new Oracle/behind the scenes taskmaster is in Bruce's future kind of pointing us towards his role in Kingdom Come?

What bugged me about the interview is that the interviewer seemed to think that Dick was Robin up until a year ago.

And since Bruce is gone, Tim has lost all interest for me.

It's not about the actual length of time they've been gone, but the perceived time. No one in Marvel nor DC has been able to shut up about Bruce or Cap long enough for it to feel like they've been gone at all.

Technically, Cap was never dead either, just "lost in time" like Bruce. I never liked it in either case because it just comes off as a staggering lack of balls on the part of editorial. It's pretty much the exact same story, anyway. Iconic hero is "killed", replaced with much more interesting sidekick.

If Bruce goes all Batman Beyond and Dick gets to stay Batman, then great, but I really don't see that happening.

[Dread]

But it's a point of fact that I think everyone who reads comics should just understand, that death means nothing. Especially on money characters like Batman. Cap it could have been if there was never an announcement of a film.

[dc20willsave]

I've been enjoying Morrison's run on Batman & Robin, but after reading the strong start was thrown away by a dull story and terrible art, my expectations are low.

Well, I fixed it for me.

I'll get the first issue, but this will make Batman look unstoppable, if Bruce can beat the Omega Sanction from the ultimate evil in the DCU, then that means, Bruce Wayne, could actually be a god and that is way to powerful to make the character interesting to care about when he faces second rate villains like the new ventriloquist and others like her.

Shiloh Norman beat the Omega Sanction as well. Besides, as Morrison had established before in Seven Soldiers, the Omega Sanction kills by trapping the person in a series of progressively worse alternate realities. Well, now that I typed that, the time travel aspect is explained. Really, Bruce beating the Omega Sanction just means he has that strong of a will.

[Guest]

But it's a point of fact that I think everyone who reads comics should just understand, that death means nothing. Especially on money characters like Batman. Cap it could have been if there was never an announcement of a film.

Which is why there is no way this is ending without Bruce back in the suit.

And of course death means nothing, but I would at least like the returns to mean something, and neither does.

[prez]

Nicely said, Dubs.

I didn't want Bruce dead forever. Hell, I didn't want him dead at all. But if you're going to do it, actually fucking do it.

Honestly, I'm sick of the Batman universe being Grant Morrison jerking off about how clever he is.

[Guest]

Honestly, I'm sick of the Batman universe being Grant Morrison jerking off about how clever he is.

[Koete]

Honestly, I'm sick of people bitching about Morrison's Batman run.