Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne Deluxe
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.10
Trade in Batman - The Return of Bruce Wayne for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.10, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A time-spanning graphic novel featuring Bruce Waynes return to Gotham City to take back the mantle of Batman, written by award-winning writer Grant Morrison and illustrated by a stable of todays hottest artists including Chris Sprouse, Frazer Irving and Yannick Paquette.
About the Author
Frazer Irving is a British artist known for the 2000 AD series Necronauts. He also worked on DCs The Authority: Scorched Earth and Marvels Inhuman.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It's been coming for a while, and now it is finally here - the Return of Bruce Wayne.
This has been an absolutely epic series of books that began way back with Final Crisis with the death of Batman/Bruce Wayne at the hands of Darkseid. Since then, there have been many books dealing with what has happened to the characters in the Batman universe, and how they are dealing with the loss of the talismanic Dark Knight. And i have to say these spin off titles are well worth investing in! Mainly because they give you an idea of the importance of the role of Batman in Gotham, and the Justice League, but also the impact he has had on the lives of those people around him.
These books include;
Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn (Batman & Robin)
Batman vs. Robin (Batman & Robin)
Batman & Robin Vol. 3: Batman Must Die! Deluxe Edition (due out later in 2011)
In a separate run;
Batman: Streets of Gotham: Hush Money
ASIN:1848569793 Batman: The Streets of Gotham: Leviathan v. 2]]
Batman: Streets of Gotham 3: The House of Hush due out later in 2011
On it's own;
Batgirl: Batgirl Rising
And then,
Robin: Search for a Hero
Red Robin: Grail
Red Robin: Collision v. 2 (Red Robin 2)
The above aren't in an order you should read them in - but i would really recommend the Batman and Robin series by Grant Morrison, and the Robin trilogy. These are absolutely excellent and give some insight into this book. They are well worth reading for entertainment value (they have excellent plots, pacing, storylines, artwork etc...) but they also give snippets of information that tie into this book.
So, onto this book. How does it fare? The first thing to comment on is that we have known for a long time that Batman would return (let's face it - DC aren't going to kill off one of their best money-earning creations are they?!), and the important thing isn't this knowledge, but HOW he was going to return. Cue, Grant Morrison - an obvious choice really when you think about it. He is an expert in delivering some absolutely awesome books. He can do lighter, and more entertaining work like the superb All Star Superman, Volume 1 (All Star Superman (Quality Paper)) and All Star Superman: v. 2 or he can do the clever, machiavellian works like Final Crisis.
This book is definitely along the lines of the latter. If you hated the style and content of Final Crisis, then this will do little to convert you to Grant Morrison writing Batman. If, however, you enjoyed Final Crisis, then this book is definitely for you!
The Return of Bruce Wayne is written in the same style as Final Crisis and a lot of Morrison's titles. It can be hard to get your head around what is going on to start with, but once you get into the book then the rewards are great. Morrison is one of those writers who lets the reader put the pieces of the puzzles together - he doesn't just telegraph his intentions to you!
So how does this plot hold up. Well, without giving too many spoilers away ( as i am sure you will want to uncover all the twists and turns yourself!) Bruce Wayne is travelling back through time - from the early days of Neanderthal man, through the age of pirates, and the cowboys and then into the time of Private Eyes and 'dames'.
But something sinister is going on - there is a plot to pervert the return of the great hero and bring about a great disaster. Who is behind this? And what is their ultimate aim? Well, you are going to have read this to find out for yourself because i am not going to spoil it!
If you take a chance and buy this book you will be rewarded with some excellent ideas brought to you by Morrison and the last third moves on at such a pace that the revelations come thick and fast and calls for a second reading to make sure you got everything.
There are some nice cameos too from the Jla and other characters from the Batman universe, but these don't detract from the main character or the plot - they add some spice to the story which is what i want from a cameo!
But this book isn't perfect in my opinion. Firstly, the pacing seems a little bit off to me. The early parts of the book take a little bit too long, and didn't engage me as much as i would have liked. When things got going though, i would say that the writing is as good as anything as Grant Morrison has ever done (and that is saying something!!). I would have liked the good stuff to have been expanded upon a little bit, and the earlier stuff cut down a little bit. Maybe i just enjoyed the later bits too much! My other slight criticism is the artwork. There are different artists used, and some is really top-drawer, but some is just average so the book feels a little bit inconsistent visually.
These two points stop this book from being a five star title, in my opinion (you may feel differently). It is really close to five stars, even with these couple of quibbles - i would score it 4.5.
This is well worth buying though, particularly if you have kept up to date with all the other Batman Reborn titles (mentioned earlier), or if you are a Grant Morrison fan. Definitely one to add to your collection, and one to get your brain working too! Enjoy!
This has been an absolutely epic series of books that began way back with Final Crisis with the death of Batman/Bruce Wayne at the hands of Darkseid. Since then, there have been many books dealing with what has happened to the characters in the Batman universe, and how they are dealing with the loss of the talismanic Dark Knight. And i have to say these spin off titles are well worth investing in! Mainly because they give you an idea of the importance of the role of Batman in Gotham, and the Justice League, but also the impact he has had on the lives of those people around him.
These books include;
Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn (Batman & Robin)
Batman vs. Robin (Batman & Robin)
Batman & Robin Vol. 3: Batman Must Die! Deluxe Edition (due out later in 2011)
In a separate run;
Batman: Streets of Gotham: Hush Money
ASIN:1848569793 Batman: The Streets of Gotham: Leviathan v. 2]]
Batman: Streets of Gotham 3: The House of Hush due out later in 2011
On it's own;
Batgirl: Batgirl Rising
And then,
Robin: Search for a Hero
Red Robin: Grail
Red Robin: Collision v. 2 (Red Robin 2)
The above aren't in an order you should read them in - but i would really recommend the Batman and Robin series by Grant Morrison, and the Robin trilogy. These are absolutely excellent and give some insight into this book. They are well worth reading for entertainment value (they have excellent plots, pacing, storylines, artwork etc...) but they also give snippets of information that tie into this book.
So, onto this book. How does it fare? The first thing to comment on is that we have known for a long time that Batman would return (let's face it - DC aren't going to kill off one of their best money-earning creations are they?!), and the important thing isn't this knowledge, but HOW he was going to return. Cue, Grant Morrison - an obvious choice really when you think about it. He is an expert in delivering some absolutely awesome books. He can do lighter, and more entertaining work like the superb All Star Superman, Volume 1 (All Star Superman (Quality Paper)) and All Star Superman: v. 2 or he can do the clever, machiavellian works like Final Crisis.
This book is definitely along the lines of the latter. If you hated the style and content of Final Crisis, then this will do little to convert you to Grant Morrison writing Batman. If, however, you enjoyed Final Crisis, then this book is definitely for you!
The Return of Bruce Wayne is written in the same style as Final Crisis and a lot of Morrison's titles. It can be hard to get your head around what is going on to start with, but once you get into the book then the rewards are great. Morrison is one of those writers who lets the reader put the pieces of the puzzles together - he doesn't just telegraph his intentions to you!
So how does this plot hold up. Well, without giving too many spoilers away ( as i am sure you will want to uncover all the twists and turns yourself!) Bruce Wayne is travelling back through time - from the early days of Neanderthal man, through the age of pirates, and the cowboys and then into the time of Private Eyes and 'dames'.
But something sinister is going on - there is a plot to pervert the return of the great hero and bring about a great disaster. Who is behind this? And what is their ultimate aim? Well, you are going to have read this to find out for yourself because i am not going to spoil it!
If you take a chance and buy this book you will be rewarded with some excellent ideas brought to you by Morrison and the last third moves on at such a pace that the revelations come thick and fast and calls for a second reading to make sure you got everything.
There are some nice cameos too from the Jla and other characters from the Batman universe, but these don't detract from the main character or the plot - they add some spice to the story which is what i want from a cameo!
But this book isn't perfect in my opinion. Firstly, the pacing seems a little bit off to me. The early parts of the book take a little bit too long, and didn't engage me as much as i would have liked. When things got going though, i would say that the writing is as good as anything as Grant Morrison has ever done (and that is saying something!!). I would have liked the good stuff to have been expanded upon a little bit, and the earlier stuff cut down a little bit. Maybe i just enjoyed the later bits too much! My other slight criticism is the artwork. There are different artists used, and some is really top-drawer, but some is just average so the book feels a little bit inconsistent visually.
These two points stop this book from being a five star title, in my opinion (you may feel differently). It is really close to five stars, even with these couple of quibbles - i would score it 4.5.
This is well worth buying though, particularly if you have kept up to date with all the other Batman Reborn titles (mentioned earlier), or if you are a Grant Morrison fan. Definitely one to add to your collection, and one to get your brain working too! Enjoy!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
38 reviews
104 of 119 people found the following review helpful
Batman's Bewildering Journey Through Time
17 Feb 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Grant Morrison is the most frustrating comic book writer I have ever read. On the one hand he is CLEARLY capable of writing some of the most fabulous stories ever. Problem is he is also capable of producing some unholy messes but with the way the professional reviewers have gushed over The Return of Bruce Wayne it surely falls in the category of Morrison's masterpieces. "Ain't it Cool News" is quoted on the back cover saying, "If you don't pick up this book, you hate comics". Um, ok. If you haven't figured it out by now I was not bowled over by The Return of Bruce Wayne.
Following a blast from Darkseid's Omega beam near the end of Final Crisis, Batman is thrown back through time to the dawn of mankind. Now he needs to fight his way to the present transporting forward every time there is an eclipse while losing much of his memory with each jump. Wayne meets prehistoric man, pirates, puritans and 1940's cultists all the while his body is filling with "Omega-Charge" that will unleash a universe smashing cataclysm when Wayne returns to present day. This is Darkseid's final revenge. It actually sounds pretty neat but it's in the execution where things go all wonky.
There are at least three things that Grant Morrison does in his writing that annoy me. The first problem is that he has difficulty creating believable dialogue. Instead of feeling like I'm reading actual human interaction it feels like actors in a play reading from a script. At one point Wonder Woman says, "Gods and New Gods like Darkseid are self aware ideas. They use concept-weapons, anti-life equations, hunter-killer metaphors". That is most definitely NOT Wonder Woman speaking, it's Grant Morrison speaking THROUGH Wonder Woman and he does this stuff all the time and I don't enjoy it.
The second problem is that Morrison sometimes has difficulty with general storytelling and Final Crisis was evidence `A' in sloppy storytelling. I read the series three times and still find it a confusing mess. The Return is not on the bewildering level of Final Crisis but it's definitely in the same vein. There was a pretty sharp split between fans who LOVED Final Crisis and those who hated it. I was not a fan... at all. So if you loved Final Crisis this is probably right up your alley but otherwise be forewarned. This story is not like Batman and Robin which I enjoyed or Batman R.I.P. and the Black Glove which I loved. It really felt like a homework assignment trying to follow the story.
The third and perhaps most annoying thing Morrison does is when he has some character start spewing pseudo intellectual gobbledygook such as this gem from a fuzzy robot at the "Vanishing Point", "...and so plane time--- space b... an immense cosmic loom of converging and separating timelines... each track a new vibration, a separate universe, a superstring on a mighty fretboard" and this just goes on and on and on. I find myself zoning out. At other times Morrison seems to be trying to channel Jack Kirby who used to hyphenate two words to create a new word but when Morrison starts using phrases like Omega-Charge, Darkseid's Hyper-Adapter and The "All-Over" it has none of the charm of Kirby and just makes the whole reading experience bloody tedious.
Morrison has charmed the professional reviewers and enjoys very generous reviews. The problem for readers is that often his work is quite spectacular and by and large I've enjoyed his Batman stories although I think the Batman and Robin series is overrated. This makes it difficult, at least for me to determine if Morrison really has scored a hit when reviewers slobber over EVERYTHING he produces. It's like the whole comic industry is composed of enablers praising Morrison when he starts engaging in self indulgence. The final nail in the coffin for me was the Final Crisisesque ending. In Final Crisis the "Crisis" was resolved when Superman built a ridiculous wish machine and wished the problems away and then I think he sang a song or something. It was so confusing it's hard to explain. The ending here isn't as bad but it's still way too simple and very disappointing. Clearly a lot of people love this series and I'm going to give it a second go through but only to try and figure out what the heck is going on. By the way, it IS possible to create a complex, multilayered story without making it nearly incomprehensible without an in depth study.
Following a blast from Darkseid's Omega beam near the end of Final Crisis, Batman is thrown back through time to the dawn of mankind. Now he needs to fight his way to the present transporting forward every time there is an eclipse while losing much of his memory with each jump. Wayne meets prehistoric man, pirates, puritans and 1940's cultists all the while his body is filling with "Omega-Charge" that will unleash a universe smashing cataclysm when Wayne returns to present day. This is Darkseid's final revenge. It actually sounds pretty neat but it's in the execution where things go all wonky.
There are at least three things that Grant Morrison does in his writing that annoy me. The first problem is that he has difficulty creating believable dialogue. Instead of feeling like I'm reading actual human interaction it feels like actors in a play reading from a script. At one point Wonder Woman says, "Gods and New Gods like Darkseid are self aware ideas. They use concept-weapons, anti-life equations, hunter-killer metaphors". That is most definitely NOT Wonder Woman speaking, it's Grant Morrison speaking THROUGH Wonder Woman and he does this stuff all the time and I don't enjoy it.
The second problem is that Morrison sometimes has difficulty with general storytelling and Final Crisis was evidence `A' in sloppy storytelling. I read the series three times and still find it a confusing mess. The Return is not on the bewildering level of Final Crisis but it's definitely in the same vein. There was a pretty sharp split between fans who LOVED Final Crisis and those who hated it. I was not a fan... at all. So if you loved Final Crisis this is probably right up your alley but otherwise be forewarned. This story is not like Batman and Robin which I enjoyed or Batman R.I.P. and the Black Glove which I loved. It really felt like a homework assignment trying to follow the story.
The third and perhaps most annoying thing Morrison does is when he has some character start spewing pseudo intellectual gobbledygook such as this gem from a fuzzy robot at the "Vanishing Point", "...and so plane time--- space b... an immense cosmic loom of converging and separating timelines... each track a new vibration, a separate universe, a superstring on a mighty fretboard" and this just goes on and on and on. I find myself zoning out. At other times Morrison seems to be trying to channel Jack Kirby who used to hyphenate two words to create a new word but when Morrison starts using phrases like Omega-Charge, Darkseid's Hyper-Adapter and The "All-Over" it has none of the charm of Kirby and just makes the whole reading experience bloody tedious.
Morrison has charmed the professional reviewers and enjoys very generous reviews. The problem for readers is that often his work is quite spectacular and by and large I've enjoyed his Batman stories although I think the Batman and Robin series is overrated. This makes it difficult, at least for me to determine if Morrison really has scored a hit when reviewers slobber over EVERYTHING he produces. It's like the whole comic industry is composed of enablers praising Morrison when he starts engaging in self indulgence. The final nail in the coffin for me was the Final Crisisesque ending. In Final Crisis the "Crisis" was resolved when Superman built a ridiculous wish machine and wished the problems away and then I think he sang a song or something. It was so confusing it's hard to explain. The ending here isn't as bad but it's still way too simple and very disappointing. Clearly a lot of people love this series and I'm going to give it a second go through but only to try and figure out what the heck is going on. By the way, it IS possible to create a complex, multilayered story without making it nearly incomprehensible without an in depth study.
19 of 24 people found the following review helpful
A Masterpiece within a Masterpeice
27 Feb 2011
Format:Hardcover
If you were going to teach a class about comics as fine art than this would be on the required reading list. I guess I can understand if some people don't want to take the details of a comic so seriously and just want an fun quick read, but I personally like to take time and soak up any art-form that I love. Especially when in the hand of such a genius collaboration of minds and styles. I think everything Grant Morrison has done with Batman has been one of the most important works in any art-form to come into my life. The Return of Bruce is maybe not the best place to start from, but if you have read everything leading up to this it is one hell of a ride. The amount of plot threads that come together during these six issues is uncountable and the feeling of off payoff for loyal readership is no more apparent than it is here. Each issue shows grant writing in a different style to accompany the story archetypes that each time period dictates and creates rich dialogue and narration for each one. Each issue is done by a different artist allowing for even more diversity for each piece and allowing some really great people to show off. The only problem i really had was that i felt that the art for the cowboy issue, which seemed a result of a rushed replacement for I believe cameron stewart, was a little lackluster when compared to the other issues. However it is still pretty good and the writing is probably the best of any issue at that point in the story. The artwork of the other five issues is really insane. I can't even pick one as my favorite. The last issue was some of the craziest revelations I've ever read in any work of fiction and I was really surprised that morrison was still paving new ground after all he's done. All I can say is that it really frustrates me that somebody could not like this book but I am glad that I can say my piece give my solid 5 out of 5.
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
The End comes Full Circle
10 Feb 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
So what is this book? It is basically the aftermath of an event that took place in a limited series (Final Crisis) that was foreshadowed in previous batman books, that were the conclusion of a saga that was written back in the 70's. Confusing? Yeah- kinda. Although it really isn't as bad as it sounds. This book is one of two conclusion books to Grant Morrison's current Batman epic (the other being "Batman and Robin vol. 3" coming out in May), but it easily stands on its own. As far as art is concerned, there are many different artists, and while in most comics it may be a little jarring, it makes sense in this particular instance, and contributes to the story. The story is told in a brisk and enjoyable manner. Now, here's the thing: as said before, this is the cumulation of an ENTIRE run on the batman books, as well as a follow up from Final Crisis. For Final Crisis, I found that those who praised it did the extra back-reading, while those who just read it without knowing history of the current DC universe didn't like it. Now this book is much more accessible than Final Crisis, but to get the whole story, one should read "Batman: R.I.P" and "Final Crisis". Once again, you will be able to enjoy this story without the extra reading, but this book really is a part of a larger epic. So, in conclusion: this book is for: Grant Morrison fans, Batman fans, people who like good art, and people who don't mind digging into a little extra thought in order to get the most out of the story. WHo is it not for: People looking for a brisk read, people who believe that Batman should be 'down to Earth' and not really have supernatural adventure. For me though, I loved this book, found the story to be very engaging, and can't wait to see what the next chapter is for the Dark Knight.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
