The final issue of the Return of Bruce Wayne just BLEW ME AWAY. This whole run has been amazing, every part of it really, but a few issues really just knocked me off my feet. Much of RIP, a few choice issues of Batman and Robin, Batman 702, and this one have really redefined  what a great comic can be. This answers so many questions, and has so many really interesting thematic elements, I can’t resist doing a page by page. And, of course, it contains some heavy appearances by my absolute FAVORITE group of characters, the New Gods, and so I’m obliged to talk about it. Big. Time.

 

Okey dokey…

 

“Here at vanishing point…ultimate events…”. This whole idea that contact with the New Gods births mythology is something that Morrison has been playing with, subtly and overtly, for a while now. It was pretty well spelled out in issue 702, and continued to into Batman and Robin 16 as we find out that Darkseid’s actions have LITERALLY created a “Batgod” out of nothing (before this issue, as we understood it, Batman gets sent back in time and gets worshipped as a god, despite still being a man.

 

 But then, as Thomas Wayne tries to summon Barbatos based on the religion and myth that sprung up around Bruce, he inadvertently finds himself the target of Darkseid’s Hyper-Adapter, which IS in fact a god, or a weapon of the gods, and takes on the form of a Bat due to things that happen far in the future, namely the fact that it merges with Batman and becomes Cowl-formed (I’ll get to this later). Thomas Wayne’s expectations, a Bat God, are of course based on Bruce’s image...this sequence gets further modified this issue, which we’ll touch on later).

 

Anyway, so mythology, this idea that dealing with the Gods is dealing with ULTIMATE stakes. Taking on Darkseid isn’t just taking on an evil guy, it’s every story of implacable evil against seemingly outmatched good there has ever been. Being shot by a bullet of the New Gods isn’t merely being shot by a bullet, it’s every bullet that has EVER been shot, the ULTIMATE bullet.

 

That continues here. Bruce finds himself at Vanishing point, dealing with the ULTIMATE events of a dying universe. His is the last story, the ULTIMATE story, to be archived.  The defining images of Batman are recapitulated for us – The pearls, which represent the death of his parents and the death of Bruce’s childhood, the beginning of his road to Batman.  They, in a very real way, also represent family – notice the way they are curled and curved into an almost double helix like structure? DNA.

 

The bell which, for various thematic reasons, represents the beginning of the “Batman” identity (and therefore birth), most directly as it correlates to Bruce’s vision of the Batman in “Year One” (though, as we’ll discuss later, it more importantly fits into a statement about the nature of Batman that Morrison has been trying to make throughout his run, and which finds its ultimate expression in Batman Inc). Remember that Bruce and others have been hearing bells throughout his journey through time, before each movement – as each step brings him closer and closer to his rebirth as Batman.

 

The gun, which helped kill childhood Bruce (metaphorically speaking, obviously), helped put Bruce on his road to Batman, but is also an obsession of Batman himself, that which he forever denies himself (save, of course, for when he’s called upon to use one in the ultimate confrontation), that which he forever opposes. Eventually the bullet, the final piece. A representation of death, but one which Batman himself uses to great effect, which ties into another concept hinted at this issue – can good come from evil? The bullet helped in the creation of Batman, the ultimate bullet helped in the death of Darkseid, the ultimate opposition of Bruce (Hyper-Adapter/Hurt/Barbatos) was ultimately responsible for the creation of Bruce himself. There is no evil or good alone in Morrison’s universe (save for in platonic god form), no duality, no seperation…instead there is the UNION of opposites, as good and evil play off of each other. Which such ‘pure’ concepts try to enter the superhero DCU, they cause the death of time and space.

 

 

Ooph, I’m two pages in and I’m already long winded.

 

Nichols Time Box – The first I’ve heard Nichol’s time machine referred to in this way, we have seen so many references to boxes throughout this run I think there are a number of reasonable interpretations of this. We can assume that Nichol’s time machine is the first time machine invented (chronologically) capable of penetrating to Vanishing Point/End of the Universe, and it has been lost since Bruce made use of it last issue to take him to the end of time. Boxes represent a whole host of things, but here I think they represent possibility. Pandora’s box held evil but also hope, Darkseid’s box held the ultimate enemy but also that-which-created one of the ultimate forces of good, Nichol’s box holds Bruce Wayne Batman, who is both destruction (due to the Omega Energy) and salvation (due to…well, being Batman). Is Nichol’s time machine what has been propelling Batman through time, or was it just the Omega Energy? Who is to say.

 

“unstoppable conclusion of the thermodynamic process” – the ULTIMATE thermodynamic process.

 

“Deadline time” – Surely a reference to his own frustration/amusement/situation with deadlines.

 

Cardinal Configuration – Astrological concept, “This configuration brings conflicting energies into our awareness, thereby motivating growth. There is also a tendency for the opposing energies to become polarized, creating a stalemate situation.

The opposition connections create a tension where the two opposing planets see each other across the circle, yet must learn to understand and talk to one another in order to get along. Eventually, there is a meeting in the middle, a balance point, where the energies from both planets are equally utilized, similar to learning two new talents at once.”

 

Keep this in mind, thematically.

 

“Apokaliptan Hunter-Killer Curse Machine” – the final issue of Batman and Robin clarified quite nicely exactly what “Dr. Hurt” was, but since I didn’t comment on that issue, I’ll go ahead and spell it out here.

 

Darkseid’s final attack against Bruce Wayne was insane in it’s multi-faceted nature. The “Omega Sanction” seemed to have trapped Bruce in an endless succession of lives, each more soul eroding than the last, as in Mister Miracle, glimpsed in “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” – killed by his true love, his life a meaningless hoax orchestrated by his most trusted confident, etc (referenced in Batman 702). Normally this should have worn Batman down, but of course didn’t. Presumably he’s then ‘deposited’ in the past, his memory fading, as he loses himself, constantly putting into more and more dire situations. But even THIS is really something that Darkseid expects him to overcome, as he places what seems to be a piece of himself in Batman via Omega Energy, making him a warhead to destroy the universe itself, banking on his own ingenuity to make him the ultimate destroyer.

 

In addition, Darkseid opens up the “Ancestor Box” and releases his “Hyper-Adapter”, which hounds Batman throughout time as the hyper-fauna cthuthlu creature. It picks up Batman’s ‘trail’ in puritan times, it’s next chronological appearance after Batman 702/Final Crisis being issue 2 of Return of Bruce Wayne. The Hyper-Adapter is just what it says, a weapon meant to adapt to whatever situation and whatever prey it has and become the perfect opposite, perfect antithesis necessary to destroy it, whatever that may be. It very literally hounds Batman to the end of time, to Vanishing Point, stopping periodically to attack Bruce as a monster (in pirate times, later).

 

Later, during its travels through time, it finds (for whatever reason) Thomas Wayne performing a ritual to trap and gain power from the god Barbatos (which is, again, at this point just Batman’s legend). The Hyper-Adapter “adapts”  the form of a Batman from the events of issue 6 of Return of Bruce Wayne and ‘becomes’ a truly godly Barbatos, takes over Thomas Wayne and because the Magus “Dr. Hurt”. They go from there, consistently a thorn in Batman’s side, his entire existence an effort to destroy Batman. Keep this in your head, though, because I don’t think that the next chronological appearance of the Hyper Adapter from issue 2 is necessarily what we see in issue 16 of Batman and Robin. Due to a lot of time goes on, I’m pretty sure that it is only after issue 6 of Return of Bruce Wayne that he goes back in time and infects Thomas Wayne.

 

Now what is Hurt himself? What is this “The hole in things”? It’s not Darkseid – it’s distinct, and Morrison draws that line multiple times. The hole in things is what Darkseid’s CREATES by his actions, the ripples and after effects of Ultimate Evil. Darkseid falls into the physical multiverse, and leaves a hole in things, and the anti-thesis of life is released from his tomb (Mandrakk). Darkseid turns time in his hands, and molds from it Batman’s implacable opposite, Dr. Hurt. Even as things begin to unravel around Darkseid’s plots, as Batman escapes and one ups gods and monsters – even that is the hole in things, even that is the cause of Darkseid’s actions, of his arrival, of his presence.

It’s not pure, unadulterated evil. It’s duality, enemies, dissonance – those things that evil CREATES. This, again, ties into Morrison’s whole idea of the inseperable nature of ‘opposites’, the unification of everything, and plays out in the Hyper-Adapter’s ultimate role (there’s that word again – ultimate!) in the creation of that which it was made to destroy!

 

“Haunted house on the road of out town” – Vanishing point, sure, but also Wayne Manor – Where Batman was originally born, and where Batman will be REBORN. This is the ULTIMATE version of that EARTHLY place, where ‘EVERYTHING is almost too late’ just as Bruce was almost too late in ringing the bell and ‘there is always SOMETHING prowling out there’ – here there is the hyperadapter prowling outside Vanishing point, just as there was a BAT prowling out there in Wayne Manor – A bat that we later find out was Barbatos too! Again, ‘ultimate’, this is the birth of Batman taken to MYTHOLOGICAL proportions.

 

“everything approaches it’s ultimate condition here…everything that happens for the last and most significant time” – more of the same underscoring the nature of this mythological rebirth of Batman.

 

“The Nichols engine…a hole…a gap in the archive” – “the hole in things” wasn’t just Hurt – it was BRUCE too, the ULTIMATE hole in the universe, the last missing part. No one and nothing is immune to ‘the hole’ – not Darkseid, not Hurt, not anyone. And just as Darkseid caused all the OTHER holes, so to did he cause this one (directly and indirectly).

 

“his new beginning”…more of what I was talking about above. His rebirth.

 

“The sound of ancient, rusty locks unlatching. Bells and thunder.” – Bells = Beginnings. Boxes opening = possibility, hope.

 

“He can stop the bleeding. The bleeding in time.” – Nice little play on words, but here we see WHY the bell is significant, and why it represents beginnings. As he gets closer and closer to becoming Batman again, he hears bells (each time he moves through time). 

 

“There you are” – That’s Darkseid talking. Found him, there at his birth. It’s the ‘scent’ he gives to Hurt/Hyper-Adapter with which to follow Bruce through time, which is why he has to get rid of all of that? I don’t know.

 

“Whats all that stuff crawling all over you bruce?” – Significant. Certainly it’s the Bush robot/Archivist, but what does it visually remind you of? How about Bruce wearing the giant Bat Carcass from issue one of Return of Bruce Wayne? And what do we find out that Bat-Carcass really is? Yup, you guessed it, the Hyper-Adapter. What is that stuff crawling all over bruce? Well what do you know…

 

It’s also worth noting the one eye motif that has been prevalent throughout Morrison’s run on Batman, especially lately. Here it undoubtedly is a reference to Odin, and the gaining of Wisdom. Batman is trying to solve everything, after having re-found himself and been reborn at the end of time. As a Bat he is, by his nature, ‘hanging’ (upside down, the classic image of a Bat), just as Odin was hanging from the tree.

 

Hal Jordan – as my second favorite character in comics, I gotta say…hahaha, this is a pretty bad take on Hal. Huge dick, pretty stupid, totally ineffectual.

 

The Ultimate Time Sphere – Hurrah! Batman saved them. He saved ‘everybody’, just stealing Hunter’s time machine so he didn’t have to wait around for this one to be created – he has work to do, after all. And again, “ultimate”, everything Batman does now is in the realm of mythology, thanks to his contact with the New Gods. He is, in every way that is important, his own Bat-God. At least for the moment.

 

“Using the black hole to loop the timeline’s end to it’s beginning” – what’s that? The ultimate unification of opposites, of the end and the beginning of the universe itself?

 

“mother of all rides” – I know, I’m belabouring a point here, but when Morrison does…

 

“The big all over” – okay, so this has been something said a lot during the last act of Morrison’s big bat story (and yes, this FEELS like an ending to the story, and I have a feeling that Inc is going to feel more like a sequel). So what does it mean? Does it mean the end of the universe? The triumph of evil?

 

Nope.

 

It’s “All over” for EVIL, baby. But we’ll get to that.

 

Bat-suit – kind of the ultimate Bat-suit, we see it manifest as a bunch of bats, which is how the Hyper-Adapter tends to manifest. It’s clear now that Bruce is wearing (or being worn by) the Hyper Adapter. Nice little reference to situate this issue chronologically during the last arc of Batman and Robin.

 

“Out of my way! There’s danger! Ultimate Danger!” – you know why I’m singling it out! But also this page has tons of great Tim/Batman interaction.

 

“You’re Bruce Wayne” – This is, of course, what Morrison has been trying to tell the audience for a while now, and has been trying to build his Batman to fit this interpretation. All the trials and tribulations are finally leading to this, and it sets a nice tone for Batman Inc.

 

“Partners…Batman…Batman and Robin…” – Morrison’s run has really been about the collaborative nature of the concept of Batman. Batman is often viewed to be the ultimate loaner, but he has one of the most elucidated supporting casts in all of comics, a slew of dependents and confidants that to whom he has given purpose and love, and who have given him both of those in return. If all the various iterations of Batman Morrison has been playing with indicate that the mantle is  more than just one man, and if Batman and Robin show that it’s a group effort, a true team, this is Bruce finally coming to realize that himself (or, rather, realize it again, since he erased his memories…since as we’ll later find out, the whole point of bringing the Hyper Adapter to this time and place was because of his collaborative spirit) – it’s not just him, it’s EVERYONE who has been a part of his life, and even people who haven’t been. Again, that ties in nicely with Batman Inc, but it goes back FURTHER to the bell being the REAL birth of Batman, the point at which he ASKED FOR HELP from Alfred coinciding with his decision to ‘become a bat’ (and hey, isn’t that something Morrison has been saying for a while anyway? “The real mystery behind Batman was a classic whodunit…but it wasn’t about who killed him, rather about who kept him alive”…I paraphrase, but this is what Bruce said about Alfred in Last Rites). We’ll go a little more into this later.

 

“Did the fury that hound you take its scent from your cape and cowl? I wonder…” – The fury being the Hyper-Adapter, who recognizes Bruce via his status AS Batman. That’s why Darkseid says “THERE YOU ARE” only AFTER Bruce makes the conscious decision to become Batman – that’s when the hyper adapter RECOGNIZES him.

 

“Did Darkseid release anything from any kind of box?” – Wonder Woman is used to bewilderingly great affect her, her expertise in dealing with the divine coming in extremely handy.

 

“I tricked it into coming to this time…I need your help Diana…”  - He’s asking for help. He came here to get help from his friends. Also…lol at the way he circumvents the persuasion of the Hyper-Adapter who tells him to say nothing but LITERALLY saying the word “nothing”. Batman, you scamp.

 

Love the way the panels are becoming fragmented as time becomes fragmented. This is, again, reflective of what was going on in Final Crisis, Darkseid is again destroying time, this time via his Omega Energies.

 

• Hangman card – I mentioned this a bit ago, in regards to Odin hanging from the tree, but also the card here represents…

 

•  Sacrifice ----- Letting go ----- Surrendering ----- Passivity

• Suspension ----- Acceptance ----- Renunciation ----- Patience

• New point of view ----- Contemplation ----- Inner harmony

And Batman is a literal hangman since he is hanging. Again, change in perspective/learning/sacrifice/inner harmony. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but was he at times shown to be hanging upside down during that isolation experiment?

 

Lots of other important images – Orion’s belt, juxtaposed (arguably) with his mother’s necklace, which we already said about represents family, the strength of his ‘building blocks’ so to speak, and perhaps his metaphoric relationship to Orion, the eternal enemy of Darkseid defender of the good.

 

The Superman/Batman – his two best friends, arguably, his support, and those who he trusted to save him.  The knight (his role), the black glove (so much), etc.

 

“In the age of superheroes…you’re just another monster…” – He’s fully learned to rely on others again, relying on his friends, knowing that invincibility is just a matter of perspective. At the end of time, where everything has taken on ULTIMATE meaning, the hyper-adapter is ULTIMATELY undefeatable. But in the height of the superheroic age? Where the box is full of possibilities and the bells sound the beginning of the 5^th age? Where Batman has support? He’s just another evil monster.

 

“Have to get this out my way” – Well, hey, he’s still BATMAN after all. J A little help from his friends, but ultimately it has to come from within as well.

 

“Never tires…never stops”….which is why it BEGINS again. Unfortunately, sending it back in time this way arguably caused the birth of Dr. Hurt (again, Bruce’s ultimate victory also causes the creation of a villain that will cause him serious trouble...nothing is PURE here, outside the realm of the gods)…

 

And now the send through time, as he goes back…and appears to Dick Grayson in Batman vs Robin…and ultimately becomes the big Bat that Vandal Savage kills in Return of Bruce Wayne One.

 

“Gotcha…what I told Valor to right…” – Nice, as he continues to use this line to thumb at his ‘utlimate’ enemies, he plans THIS particular joke across centuries.

 

“Batman must die” – AND SO HE DOES, just as he’s died before…in the Cave, during the isolation experiments, against the Seven men and finally on the watchtower..maybe even when he knelt, steeped in the blood of his freshly murdered parents…THIS IS WHAT HE SAW EVERY TIME,  this vision on the metaphysical plane…he stands on the ruins of Apokolips, talking to what’s left of Darkseid (the omega energy building within him the last remnants of Darkseid, perhaps a piece of the hyper adapter left in his mind)…a comment on the art, I like the way he used the JH Williams “Box” concept to indicate higher dimensions/levels of reality…

 

Metron – Excellent stuff here. So the fifth world is his ‘experiment’, which fits very nicely with what we saw in Final Crisis. In this new, 5^th World the experiment is to see if man can stand against ultimate evil and win. “Turn it upside down and end it” – the Hanged Man, Batman upside down as a Bat, the ‘upside down’ imagery continues, and Batman is the man to do it. That’s what “The All Over” is, as well, as we’ll see in a moment.

 

 Living ideas, just like the New Gods themselves, surround Bruce. Worth noting just for consistency’s sake. Metron himself is apparently unable to interact with the 5^th world in an unbroken aspect as he’s still part of the 4^th world, unchanged as any good scientist would be unchanged by the experiment he is observing.

 

“Tell me the first truth of Batman. Summon the All Over”.  – Batman can only “summon the all over” of EVIL by admitting to himself his ultimate truth. He can only win by admitting that Batman is about collaboration, which is just how he wins in this issue, by collaborating with his friends, and is just how he got his start, by calling Alfred for help. This, to reiterate what I said above, is what this entire big mega arc has been about, all the iterations and stand ins, and it’s going to be taken to the next level in Batman Inc now that Batman himself has fully embraced the idea of it. The remainder of the issue is just reiterating that point, that the truth is that Batman always had help.

 

Final point, the Batarang in the box, a tracking device for Bruce to find Hurt in the future? Not exactly sure there, though that seems likely.  

 

 

Finally, just to clarify since I’ve strewn it about my analysis, the path of the Hyper-Adapter seems to have been…

 

 Darkseid unleashes it in Final Crisis/Batman 702, it hounds Batman through time, finding him in issue 2 of Return of Bruce Wayne, following him to issue 3, hounding him in the background until issue 7, where it is captured and defeated and sent backwards in time…

 

..which leads to it’s second track, which is where it confronts Dick Grayson in Batman vs Robin, manifests in Year One as seen in this issue, confronts and infects Thomas Wayne as seen in Batman and Robin 16, and then manifests in stone age times to be killed by Vandal Savage, it’s pelt ultimately to be worn by Bruce to help give rise to the Barbatos myth which in turn gives rise to it’s final form, as seen in Return of Bruce Wayne 1. THIS is why the Hyper-Adapter changes form from the monster sea creature in one track to a Bat-thing in another. The Bat-creature is based off of Bruce’s own BAT costume! Again, Bruce has literally created his own god, as well as his own origin.

LONG STORY SHORT - This issue was so good, it actually made everything else I picked up this week worse for the comparison. Nothing lives up to the insanely high standard of this issue. God help us when Morrison leaves comics, because he is really a dozen levels beyond anyone else working regularly today.