With all the setting up done and left in our wake (See ‘Batman: The Return’), Grant Morrison’s new status quo for Batman is upon us. Instead of being the same old Batman, Bruce Wayne has decided to go global in the fight against crime. Our first stop is the major city of Tokyo, where Bruce is going to pick his first new Batman in his new clique. Just how well is this gonna go for the Dark Knight?

I gotta admit, the transition from a psychological look into the mind of Batman to now a more brisk, action packed Batman was weird to read. Grant Morrison has been in such a groove with this character for so many years, that seeing Bruce be all full on life and an endless source of quips took a while to get used to. But getting used to this new status quo, I gotta say that I really like Morrison’s handle on this new view on Bruce. Having him team up with Catwoman the entire issue brings about a lot of good humor and action sequences in this. It’s almost reading a hybrid of Paul Dini’s Animated Series and the current vein of Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise. Then you get to the best thing about this issue all together: Lord Death Man.

Now I read the Chip Kidd collection of Bat-Manga when I used to work at my book store. (The same book that Morrison frequently says where he found out about the character) It’s such a crazy idea for a character and if there is anyone that could handle him it had to be Morrison. Now obviously this is nothing like the character first introduced in the Manga series. But the way Morrison updates him is so amazing. From the opening pages I just knew that I was in for a treat with Morrison writing this. It’s not everyday you see the opening of a comic book with someone screaming: “Where aremy hands!!??” Also, the fact that Morrison is going to live up to Lord Death Man’s ‘superpower’ is going to be hilarious in the long run.

With Return of Bruce Wayne #3, I did like Yanick Paquette’s work. Here it looks a bit different, not in a bad way mind you, just not what I thought I was going to see. Batman’s face tends to morph sometimes from panel to panel and the coloring is a bit too heavy in some places. Plus I think Michel Lacombe might not be the best person to ink a style like Paquette’s. I’ve seen Lacombe’s work (both inks and pencils) in other books and I don’t think it meshes well here with Paquette’s. But for the majority of the book I do love the attention to detail in the panels and he handles the fights here very well. I think this is just the case that I need to get used to the style of both the pencils and inks working together. In the end it still is a pretty good looking book; just that it could’ve used some tweeks to make it look a bit better.

All in all I am definitely excited about this new chapter in Grant Morrison’s Batsaga. It’s full of action packed moments and the bringing about of Lord Death Man in the mainstream is something I can fully endorsed. If Paquette and Lacombe styles can mesh a bit better in the future issues, then I can definitely say this is gonna be one hell of a series to read……Oh hell I guess it’s okay to say it: This is gonna be one hell of a series to read.