The Dark Knight Rides
Finally, an issue of the Return of Bruce Wayne feels like it delivers. By no means has the series been bad thus far, but it has been underwhelming as every issue up until now hasn't quite lived up to the expectations given by the cover and the solicitation. Our prehistoric Batman was a brief and shallow affair that left a lot to be desired. The Puritan-age Batman was more like it but lost itself somewhat in Lovecraftian weirdness. The promise of a pirate Batman was left unfulfilled when we didn't even get a pirate Batman in the issue. This issue promised a cowboy Batman, and what we get is cowboy Batman in all his glory.
This issue also sees the plot finally coming together and becoming a little more than just Batman bouncing forward through time. Familiar names and faces show up in this issue as Batman's actions in previous time periods have ramifications that begin to catch up with him. This gives the series momentum that it has been lacking up until this point.
At first, the appearance of Jonah Hex in the story feels forced and unnecessary, but Morrison makes good use of Hex as the story goes on. His presence isn't overbearing and distracting. He is simply present to bear witness and play a good role in the end. It is ridiculous that no one seems to be able to visit this time period without meeting Jonah Hex, but it is totally forgivable in this case.
This is the first issue of the series that really feels like we're reading about Batman in another time period rather than a man who does not quite remember he is Batman. It works much better and leaves me wishing we could have ditched the amnesia subplot and had this from the start. Having Batman confused and struggling to figure out who he was honestly took a lot of the fun out of previous issues. It becomes a much more satisfying read when we seem to have more of a full-on Batman in action in a foreign time period.
A necessary evil to tell this story of a cowboy Batman is to depict Gotham, a city on the eastern coast of the United States, as a typical wild west town. It's jarring to see Gotham being depicted as basically Deadwood, when by all rights it should be a much more developed settlement by this point in history. It's a shame the story has to take liberties like this to work, because it is a little distracting.
The one constant of this series is the amazing covers being the best part of every issue. Each one shows an incredible version of Batman from various time periods that the interior story doesn't quite live up to or fails to even deliver on at all. This issue at least makes a good effort on living up to a wild west version of Batman and is only held back by the limitations of the series' overall plot.
