‘Bruce Wayne – Fugitive’ comes to a startling conclusion in these chapters, mostly because I skipped 15 of the 18 chapters. And yet, I feel like I missed nothing. Funny how that is.
Cover by Sean Phillips
& Patrick MartinWritten by Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by Sean Phillips & Scott Mcdaniel
Inked by Sean Phillips & Andy Owens
Colored by Gregory Wright
Separated by Wildstorm FX
Lettered by John Costanza‘Bruce Wayne: Fugitive’ part 11, featuring guest artist Sean Phillips (SLEEPER, Criminal)! The Dark Knight is summoned to the bedside of a dying ex-cop, whose wish is to have Batman solve the one case the cop could never close: the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne! Guest appearance by Catwoman!
I know, I know. I’ve already snarked about this before. You want to know what I thought about the issues themselves. We’ll get to that in a second. First, I wanted to point out anguished ghost Batman in the back of Phillips’ cover. I’ve been laughing for 10 minutes after noticing him there. Second, I wanted to take a minute to praise the very things I complained about last time: I actually enjoyed the way ‘Fugitive’ was structured for these issues or, well, for the two issues that carried the banner.
It’s an opt-in kind of story. You don’t have to read every issue to know what was going on nor to follow the main book’s developments. Those who care about the actual mystery of who framed Bruce and how the Bat team figures it out can read the whole thing and “Batman” only readers can rest easy knowing their book isn’t going to be too derailed. In fact, Brubaker completes an arc for Bruce I didn’t even realize he was constructing for the six issues that occur while ‘Fugitive’ was going on.
What’s strange to realize, too, is the Bat books were technically operating in real-ish time for the event. Months pass between “Batman” #600, and “Batman” #605, a time frame I don’t think has been acknowledged in a Big 2 book for at least a decade, maybe more. When Bruce has to stay perpetually 35 or whatever yet is celebrating 80 years of comics and 50 years since “Crisis,” that’s what you get.
Anywho, back to my shock at realizing Brubaker was being more deliberate about Bruce’s pulling away than I initially gave him credit for.
Part of my problem was how sudden his turn felt. I don’t think Brubaker did a good job of selling Bruce’s slowly deteriorating sense of self as he had important pillars in his life – Gordon, Lucius, Vesper, and Sasha, even – shaken, nearly killed, or taken away from him. That instability is what drove him to think he needed to be alone and to then push away everyone who remained, to bury Bruce, who was all about being seen and having connections. Maybe I’d have a different idea if I had read “Officer Down” and the full scope of ‘Murderer’ and ‘Fugitive.’
Once we got to that point, however, the path Batman takes – first descending even farther and then having to crawl back out – is well done and richly supported even without any supplementary reading. Furthermore, the plots of “Batman” #600-605 are ultimately irrelevant because the important drama, Bruce’s fall and rise again, happens in the background of it. Yes, those plots facilitate those character beats but Nicodemus is an obstacle and who really cares about which gangster Bruce is forced to save. Still, the first half doesn’t compare to the second.
Acting as both the midpoint of the 6 issues of “Batman” that occur during this time and part 11 (of 18) of ‘Fugitive,’ “Batman” #603 starts to unpack Bruce’s abandoning of the Bruce Wayne identity and his retreat from his support network. It does so through one of my absolute favorite issues of the event and the run, though #604 is a strong contender for top few issues of this run.
It helps that Sean Phillips, of “Brubaker and Phillips,” drew #603 because McDaniel would not have captured the tone nearly as well.
Phillips’ scratchy, dark pencils & inks are at once ominous and soothing and Wright colors him with more restraint than the issues with McDaniel. There’re less bright colors, fewer light sources, and a slow progression from oppressive, claustrophobic darkness to an expansive, soothing one. Like going from a dank cave to a nighttime field.
Continued belowBy opening on Batman acting his worst, we see just how bad things have gotten for him and the comic gets to take him to task in a far more interesting way than having Alfred bemoan his loneliness or having Nightwing punch him. That’s not to say those weren’t effective beats, just that this one felt more suited to the story being told than the others. Specifically the story of the dying wish of the detective who first talked to Bruce after his parents’ murder.
After two decades of having Jim Gordon be that character in every adaptation, it was really nice to see a different one be that person. It also lets the story be more tragic, as Detective Sloan is on his deathbed when he asks Batman to help solve the Wayne murders for that kid while also letting his words about Bruce actually sink in. It gives Batman permission to take the first step of allowing Bruce to exist again and you can almost feel the weight of Brubaker’s writing change when he does this.
“Batman” #604 is a standard Batman superhero story but it’s made all the more meaningful by his upward trajectory, by the fun banter between Catwoman and Batman, and by the reaffirmation of his ethos after so many months of him clearly flailing about and struggling. It felt like a return to form, even if the events themselves are fairly inconsequential. But I mean, come on, Batman getting shot like 12 times to protect some mobster because it would violate his code is peak superhero bullshit and I love it.
The last issue, #605, is the weakest, even at the longest, solely because it is the “reveal” issue of the whole event. It’s still a good issue, with a great opening segment where Bruce doesn’t quite apologize but does so in the most Bruce way possible and it’s hilarious. After so much serious, we needed some more levity, especially when McDaniel really isn’t built for the kind of talky sequences that are found at the end of a mystery.
You can really see him struggle as he tries to add small panels or active posing to the pages in an effort to keep things exciting. It doesn’t really work and leads to the sequence falling flat. Brubaker talks about this mismatch between the two a little in an old Comics Alliance interview. It’s a good read.
Still, Brubaker gives McDaniel plenty of action when we find out that the mastermind was none other than President Lex Luthor (yeah, that was a thing that felt, at the time, ludicrous.) Or at least, he’s the red herring answer. The true mastermind was Dean Cain! Wait. Sorry. David Cain. There we go.
For the unfamiliar, David Cain is an important character in Cassandra Cain aka Batgirl’s story and has it out for the Bat-family. He was thought to be dead and I’m sure another issue will or did answer how he came back/didn’t die but for now, I don’t really care. He leads the Bat family on a wild goose chase throughout the city but of course, the newly focused Batman sees through it all. Good stuff all around.
Having the bookended issues of ‘Fugitive’ be in the pages of “Batman” certainly helps this feel like a closed and contained event here, rather than the more interruptive ‘Joker’s Last Laugh’ or ‘Officer Down.’ But we’re not done yet. There’re two more issues (or, technically, 6) of this saga, focusing on the aftermath of David Cain’s capture, and closing out Brubaker’s tenure on “Batman.” See ya there!
