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BATMAN RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #6 (OF 6)

Grant Morrison and BATGIRL artist Lee Garbett deliver the final chapter of this time-spanning epic! With Bruce Wayne just steps away from returning to present day Gotham City, the timestream might have a few more surprises in store for The Dark Knight! Do not miss this issue, as it paves the way for the shocking future era of Batman!

Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art by LEE GARBETT, PERE PEREZ, ALEJANDRO SICAT & WALDEN WONG
Colors by GUY MAJOR
Letters by JARED K. FLETCHER
Cover by ANDY KUBERT
Variant cover by LEE GARBETT

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 3.9%

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Comments

  1. Avatar photo drakedangerz says:
    November 8, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    Blah blah blah

    this book is late

    blah blah blah

    Get over it. 

  2. Avatar photo wallythegreenmonster says:
    November 8, 2010 at 2:29 pm

    i’m glad its going to be over, and i’m pretty interested in seeing the details of how this plays out. 

  3. Avatar photo CaseyJustice says:
    November 8, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    Like Steve Rogers and Barry Allen before them, I’m just glad we’re getting to the end of this so that we can see all the awesome on the other side.

  4. Avatar photo misterckent says:
    November 8, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    I’ve liked this series for all the iterations of Bruce throughout time.  I’m looking forward to the closure and how that fits in with the Insider business and B&R.

  5. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    November 8, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    ROBW #5 was quite masterful, and was without a doubt the best chapter so far. Not only did it answer long standing question, but it showed WHY Bruce is the greatest detective ever.

    I’m curious to see how this story is wrapped up, since Batman and Robin was wrapped up with such skill without any loose ends. Bring it on!

  6. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    November 8, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    Also, let’s we should impose a ban on those who are going to bitch about this book being late for the false claim that “it ruins the story because it was released late”. Talk about the content of the book or get outta here!

  7. froggulper says:
    November 8, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    I’m loving all of this stuff. I loved the last Morrison/Garbett collaborations (the "Last Rites" issues of Batman). Apparently this issue is going to be a lot of Kirby-esque craziness. I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up. Garbett is a great artist who’s shown a lot of range. Hopefully this Walden Wong person is just the inker, because I’d really like a full issue illustrated by one artist for a change. Garbett should have had enough time by now to draw the whole thing, I would think.

    It doesn’t bother me that this is coming out after B&R 16. Each of the series has been its own story, for the most part. There’s some thematic overlap between the two, but not enough for anything to really be spoiled by B&R 16 shipping before RoBW 6. At least, that’s my impression.

    @mrckent: I wouldn’t expect anything Morrison writes to tie into the "Insider" business. I think that was just a way for Bat-editorial to allow other writers to do "tie-in" one-shots.

  8. Avatar photo stuclach says:
    November 8, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    If only the art had been more consistent in this series…

  9. Avatar photo drakedangerz says:
    November 8, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    @stuclach – you mean in terms of quality, or style? I have to say, the only artist that I felt didn’t do a brilliant job was Jeanty. But to be fair, he did the best he could with the situation and time he had to draw it.

  10. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    November 8, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    It’s a shame that Jeanty was rushed in that issue, since not only is he usually a talented artist, but that issue cleverly tackled many Western tropes.

  11. edward says:
    November 8, 2010 at 4:19 pm

    But, excuse me, do we know, erp! if i’m meant to read this, derp, comic book first, herp!!! Sorry, thank you

  12. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    November 8, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    I can’t wait to get this issue so I can finish it and never read it again.

    Batman INC can’t come quickly enough. (Also I am not a fan of Lee Garbett) 

  13. Avatar photo PraxJarvin says:
    November 8, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    Looking forward to this issue, since 5 changed my mind about this entire run. I actually like the idea that we’ve seen Bruce back already and now we find out how/why he came back. The how/why were not needed to explain Batman’s return. (Remember this entire storyline is premised on the ‘Given enough time to prepare, Batman could beat [a] god.’)

    @TNC I thought you told me this issue wasn’t coming out anytime soon. 😉 

  14. kcekada says:
    November 8, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    Lee Garbett?!  What — they ran out of fan fave artists for issue 6?!

  15. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    November 8, 2010 at 7:49 pm

    Look at the solict now! There’s four artists on this thing!

    If I see Pere Perez on a Bat-book one more time…

  16. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    November 8, 2010 at 8:29 pm

    @TNC: Two are inkers.

  17. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    November 8, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    @conor: Yeah, gobo on twitter just corrected me.

    Still that’s one pencillier and one inker too many. 

  18. Avatar photo robbydzwonar says:
    November 8, 2010 at 9:29 pm

    If I’m still lost after this reading this, I’m going to be very frustrated!!

  19. Avatar photo Meanmrmustid says:
    November 8, 2010 at 9:53 pm

    God I hate it when they put spoilers in the title.

  20. Avatar photo Franktiger says:
    November 8, 2010 at 10:15 pm

    Became a fan of Lee Garbett’s Batgirl stuff, looking forward to his work on this.  Has been difficult for me to understand some of Morrison’s cryptic writing, but I as well am hoping there’s some sorta tie-in or lead-in to The Road Home and ‘Insider’ storyline.

  21. Avatar photo NawidA says:
    November 9, 2010 at 1:51 am

    I like November being this Batman-fest. 

  22. Avatar photo Selfstyler says:
    November 9, 2010 at 5:01 am

    All shall become clear, have a little faith, there aren’t that many gaps left to fill anymore – plus, psycho cyborg Batman!

  23. Avatar photo mrmister says:
    November 9, 2010 at 6:14 am

    I find this whole backlash against people who get upset over late books to be hilarious. In what other medium or job is this type of lateness acceptable? 

  24. Rustyautoparts says:
    November 9, 2010 at 8:35 am

    @mrmister Video games, novels, music, and most forms of entertainment that aren’t live. Lateness has nothing to do with quality, it just pisses off the impatient. Watchmen came out late, and we can see how that one worked out.

  25. MisterJ says:
    November 9, 2010 at 10:51 am

    @mrmister-I find the feeling of entitlement that we are owed these books on a certain date as a form of divine right to be hilarious,

  26. Avatar photo ericmci says:
    November 9, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    So Batman/Bruce Wayne is Ironman/Tony Stark now with Inc. ?

  27. Avatar photo PraxJarvin says:
    November 9, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    @MrMister I suggest you look up Duke Nukem forever and/or Chinese Democracy. 😉

    @MisterJ At a certain point though, when you announce something as coming out on a certain date, it’s common courtesy to uphold it. :-p 

  28. Avatar photo mrmister says:
    November 9, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    @rustyautoparts @misterj: I have no sense of entitlement. I am not an impatient person otherwise I would not have become a Public School Teacher. Don’t solicit a book if you know the creative team can’t get the book done in a timely manner. I don’t really see what is wrong with being pissed off at something that is supposed to come out a certain time and then doesn’t. Yes I could "vote" with my dollar by not buying, but just because I am pissed off that it is late doesn’t mean I don’t want to read it it just means I want the company and creators to stick to the date that they set for its release. In the grand scheme of things it isn’t all that important but that doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying. In regards to movies or music, if a date is set for a big Hollywood blockbuster or highly anticipated album it almost always stays at that date [and if it doesn’t I am sure people get upset] the same can’t be said for comics and its big time titles. 

    @praxjarvin: anybody that cared about guns n roses past 1995 needs to get their head checked 😉 

     

  29. Avatar photo WheelHands says:
    November 9, 2010 at 6:28 pm

    Looking forward to this. There’s only one or two threads that I think need to be tied up. The rest of this issue should just be fun on top of fun.

  30. Elementaljj says:
    November 9, 2010 at 7:04 pm

    I really wanted this run to be great however I have to say I was minorly let down.  It was good, but there was much better BatmanHappening elsewhere at the same time.

  31. Avatar photo robbydzwonar says:
    November 10, 2010 at 12:45 am

    I already made this my POTW because it’s like an 80 percent chance it definitely will be.

  32. Avatar photo MoodSmoothie says:
    November 10, 2010 at 9:29 am

    Lee Garbett is so boring to me. You’d think they could have gotten a better artist for the last issue. Hopefully story is much better.

  33. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    November 10, 2010 at 2:34 pm

    The art was really good in this shockingly. Again not a fan of Garbett but he did some nice stuff in here. Even when it transitioned to Perez it looked good. Although Perez still has a different style in terms of faces because it was fairly obvious when he came on. Still a better transition between the two artists then last issue’s with Sook and Perez.

    Story though? All I can say is that the ending was abrupt and the fact that you need to read Batman & Robin to get the real ending is a bit bullshit. Reading this all together it’s gonna be annoying how sudden this ends. I know that if you are reading this, then you must be reading Batman & Robin too. But you know what? This still was a chore to read and I’d like some sort of resolution in here. Also, some of the writing in this was laughably bad especially for Rip Hunter and Cyborg.

    2/5 

  34. Avatar photo jackietam says:
    November 10, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    I read the issue twice, and I still don’t understand what happen.

  35. Avatar photo WheelHands says:
    November 10, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    I thought this was awesome. The pacing was insane. The art looked fantastic. Complete package. This one was absolutely dripping with Morrisony goodness. It might be my favorite next to the pirate issue. There are just enough threads left dangling for Morrison (or someone else) to pick it up for future stories, but not enough to leave it unresolved. I thought it was a fitting finale. Good stuff. Bring on Inc!

  36. Avatar photo stuclach says:
    November 10, 2010 at 6:37 pm

    @drakedangerz – I agree. He did the best he could, but I’d have liked to see his work with enough time.

  37. Avatar photo stuclach says:
    November 10, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    Awesomely insane or insanely awesome? Both?

    I don’t know but I liked it.

  38. Avatar photo Jediaxle says:
    November 10, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    Well I feel dumb because this made no sense to me. Maybe it would have helped if I read the mini with Superman and gang.

  39. MisterJ says:
    November 10, 2010 at 10:29 pm

    This was pretty good.  Definitely a satisfying ending.  Too much talky-talk for the final issue of a mini-series for my tastes.  It felt to me that this should have been the penultimate issue, where they explain what the hero has to do to ‘escape the box’ and not the final issue. 

    @Prax-While I will not put up any argument as to whether the behavior is or is not curteous, I will argue that a business has no obligation to be curteous.

    @mrmister-You need to forget about the idea of the publishers holding up to solicit dates because that ship has sailed.  Your only option is to not buy the books and read up on the plotlines either on a site like this or a wiki.  Otherwise, you are just bitching about the weather.

    @TNC-Why do we have to read B&R to get the real ending?  This was about how Bruce got back and it delivered on the story.  I do not understand how you can see otherwise.  That much having been said, it was a chore to read.

  40. Avatar photo stasisbal says:
    November 10, 2010 at 11:29 pm

    This was awesome.  Tons of great payoff and craziness.  I loved all the themes running through this series.

    It’s a big week between this and Thanos Imperative.  Two big punctuation marks on long and epic stories.

  41. Avatar photo DarkKnightJared says:
    November 10, 2010 at 11:56 pm

    It took a bit more thinking then some of the other issues, but I freaking LOVED IT. Not only was it the best issue of the series, but it also pretty much exemplified everything that Batman is and delivered it in the most awesome way possible. 

  42. Avatar photo EAGLEBAUER says:
    November 11, 2010 at 8:14 am

    This was fantastic and a really satisfying ending to all of Morrison’s Batman work.

    I can understand how people find it confusing, but this style of storytelling has been Morrison’s M.O. since Final Crisis: he is telling the story thematically, not necessarily in a straight, linear narrative. I think David Uzumeri’s annotations over at Comics Alliance have been invaluable to not just understanding, but also enjoying all the complexity of this series: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/11/10/return-of-bruce-wayne-6-annotations/

  43. Avatar photo WheelHands says:
    November 11, 2010 at 11:11 am

    @EAGLEBAUER: Thanks for the link, man. Uzumeri does a nice job of lining up the pieces. He even pointed out a couple things that went way over my head.

    This is the magic of Morrison (particularly his Batman work); if you really want to understand it, you need to invest in it fully. You need to dig like a crazed wolverine. He does not make it easy for you. That’s the challenge. The fact that he has crafted his story about the greatest detective, the optimal man, into a non-linear mystery for the readers to "solve" as they gather the pieces may be frustrating to many, but I find it to be one of the most rewarding experiences in the last few years. He’s using the medium to his advantage. Nowhere but comics can you tell a story in this way.

    I can respect the complaints from the intelligent individuals who simply do not enjoy Morrison style of storytelling. If you get GMo, but he’s just not for you, you pretty much can’t read any Batman in the last 5 years. And that kinda blows. What I cannot tolerate is the readers who slam the book, go online and whine "I didn’t get it!", but then get butthurt when they get told "You just didn’t get it". There’s a difference between understanding something but not prefering it and deciding that something is "bad" because it did not reach you. If you can walk and talk, you can understand this story if you really try.

  44. Avatar photo RolandofGilead says:
    November 11, 2010 at 12:10 pm

    Rikdad’s Comic Thoughts (a blog) along with Uzumeri at Comic Alliance (to a lesser degree) are not what I would call required reading. However, without question, they make reading a Morrison Batman comic so much more enjoyable. This is especially the case with Rikdad’s blog. Rhetorics aside, these observations/thoughts clearly show that a Morrison Batman comic is at least a 20 minute read. Otherwise, you’ll just miss too much. Why not have a nice glass of wine (this blog) with your steak (this issue).

  45. Avatar photo JaqueNargg says:
    November 11, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    @Roland…couldn’t agree more, even if I tried to.

    I always check out Rikdad after reading a Morrison Batman issue. It’s impossible for me to keep all those details in my head the way he does on that blog.

    Couldnt make it to LCS last night. Really excited about this issue.

  46. Avatar photo TheTaken says:
    November 11, 2010 at 7:39 pm

    This was awesome!  Simply brilliant.  More, please.  I say, "MORE!".  Good day, sir.

  47. Avatar photo WadeWilson says:
    November 12, 2010 at 3:00 am

    One time my dog did a burp that made more sense than this did.

  48. Avatar photo JaqueNargg says:
    November 12, 2010 at 9:50 am

    I feel no shame in saying I simply did not understand this comic. The art was good, and it seemed like a good story from what I could gather. But damn…

  49. Avatar photo cutty says:
    November 12, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    Way too over the top for me. 

  50. Avatar photo srh1son says:
    November 12, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    I picked this up cold, didn’t get a lot of what was going on, which is okay.  Now that Bruce is back, I want to give the books a shot.  Any ideas which ones are must pick-ups as we head into "Batman, Inc?" "Batman and Robin"?  "Batman"?  "Detective Comics"? 

    I also sampled and liked the issues of "Red Robin" and "Batgirl" this week.

     I tried to read "Batman R.I.P." and couldn’t make sense of it.  I read the first hardcover of "Batman and Robin" and it didn’t hook me either.  I have liked Grant Morrison’s work on "All-Star Superman" and "New X-Men", so I don’t know if it’s a really a matter of taste. 

     

  51. patch11001 says:
    November 12, 2010 at 6:23 pm

    Ok, I’ll say it. . .WHAT THE F**K WAS THAT???

  52. Avatar photo cutty says:
    November 12, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    @srh1son – you really have to read the bulk of Morrison’s BATMAN run to make sense of RIP.  It’s actually very well put together and understandable if you read the year or two’s worth of issues leading up to it.

    This one though….  This reminds me of FINAL CRISIS, I was having a great time and right there with it until the final issue came along and went too far over my head.  I didn’t enjoy this at all, and it wasn’t just because I was confused.  2/5

  53. Avatar photo PraxJarvin says:
    November 13, 2010 at 12:03 am

    For those who didn’t like it, go back and re-read the miniseries. It’s really well put together.

    Concept weapons. Fantastic. 5/5

  54. invincible15 says:
    November 13, 2010 at 6:01 am

    how do you read the book

  55. Avatar photo JedeyeSniv says:
    November 13, 2010 at 9:41 am

    lol @ invincible15, I like your style brother!

    I just read this and my head is totally spinning (in the very best way). Wow wow wow. There were two specific points in the issue where it all just totally clicked for me and the feeling was incredible. They key to this series is how Morrison has looped Batman history back in on itself in the most satisfying way. In a very large way, Derkseid created Batman by trying to destory him, and Batman uses all the elements of his origin in order to not only save himself but to bring himself into being, it’s absolutely fucking amazing. He managed to tie his whole 4+ year run up in two issues and have it make absolute sense. There are very very few actual plot holes and Morrison manages to convey the confusing nature of non-linear time in a very straight forward way IMO.

    I’m going to be accused of being elitest here and I really don’t care, I probably am. If you did not understand this story then you simply did not read it properly. Whether that’s because you’re not smart enough or because you simply didn’t read close enough I don’t know, but *everything* is on the page, if you don’t understand it, it is your own fault. If you didn’t understand it it’s because it’s *not for you*, go read the other 99% of comics and have fun, I hear Deadpool is great.

    Anotations etc are fun to pick up on small details and symbolism that you may have missed or not understood but the actual story is very clear in the end.

  56. Avatar photo JedeyeSniv says:
    November 13, 2010 at 9:41 am

    lol I wrote Derkseid. See, I’m dumb too 🙂

  57. Cedric says:
    November 13, 2010 at 9:44 am

    Really great issue. I really liked that the bat from Year One, Dr. Hurt/Barbatps and that giant bat from issue 1 were one and the same.

  58. Thechangingman says:
    November 13, 2010 at 8:27 pm

    I think I am going to have to re-read this mini again as a whole. I did that with Final Crisis and ended up really enjoying it.

  59. Avatar photo midnight138 says:
    November 14, 2010 at 8:07 am

    This was awesome and it proves Batman as a concept can be plugged into ANY genre or style of storytelling and work. There were elements from Morrison’s "headier" work (Invisibles, Animal Man, ect), classic mythology, various forms of magick and shamanism, and just tons of other references for people with a broad set of interests outside of comics. At the same time it tells a great story on it’s own. I think sometimes people get used to being handfed the story and this one requires the reader to be observant and recognize some themes and think about what they’re reading.

  60. Avatar photo wallythegreenmonster says:
    November 14, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    i’m very indifferent on this final issue. I know that i’ll need to go back and read them all in one sitting to fully get all the nuance, but i felt a bit let down by this series. Some of Morrison’s "jump cut" panels were bordering on pretentious. Sometimes Morrison can be fun, but sometimes like this he can pull a David Lynch dropping in things that only he understands and everyone else just pretends to get. 

    @cutty—if thats true then therein lies a GIANT problem. Having to read 2 years worth of comics to understand one story is insane, and part of the reason why comic readership is dwindling. 

  61. Avatar photo Franktiger says:
    November 15, 2010 at 9:57 am

    Wish Bruce kept his Bush robot, Nichols Engine, Hyper-Adapter suit as his bi-organic configuration for his hyperfauna.  What, you don’t get it?  What’s wrong with you!

  62. Avatar photo midnight138 says:
    November 15, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    @wallythegreenmonster

    Just because you don’t get someting doesn’t mean that someone else is "just pretending" to get it. Granted, you have to have an interest in some outside material to understand some of the references he throws in at times, or at least have read the same books, but it’s all there and accesible on several levels. You don’t need all of the knowledge of magick and shamanism or astral planes and quantum theory or whatever to enjoy the book. But having those interesersts definitely enhances the understanding of some of the stuff that may appear in a Grant Morrison penned book.

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