Bruce Wayne The Road Home Part II

Bruce Wayne continues down the road home in the last half of the one-shot series which concluded this week. Things switch into a higher gear with more focus on the Vicki Vale story as word leaks out that Vale has learned Batman's secret. Now the Gotham Underground want to get to her any way they can.

Catwoman
This seemed to be mostly a Gotham Vixen's one shot with Bruce still doing his assessment of his extended Bat-family.It was interesting to see Bruce's thoughts on how Selina has been operating (and with whom) during his absence as she and Poison Ivy (with Harley in tow) break up a black market auction. The art is good and the story moves along well giving us equal amounts of action and character insight. 3.5 out of 5 bullets.



Commissioner Gordon
This one-shot was an enjoyable issue. Vicki Vale is now in police protection and its up to Jim Gordon to keep her alive. The art was very sketchy and dark but it really fit the issue. The writing provided a solid lone cop against the odds story intermixed with Bruce's comments on his friend and confidante. The importance of Batman's relationship to Gordon is well spelled out and Bruce's obvious respect for him shines through.
4 out of 5 bullets.



Oracle
The Oracle one-shot took a bit of step back to more traditional tones of the early one shots. We learn who is trying to kill Vale and Bruce needs to call in Oracle and her network to protect her. Lots of solid action and Bruce is impressed with Oracle's deductive abilities as she realizes who he is. The art was serviceable and the story was okay but nothing special.
3.5 out of 5 bullets.




Ra's Al Ghul
Finally, the Ras al Ghul one-shot brings things to the grand finale. Bruce finds out why Ra's is involved in the whole plot to kill Vicki Vale. There were some attempts to give some character
insight on Ra's' personality but I found it rather ineffectual. The issue sort of just ended after he and Bruce had their confrontation without any real satisfaction. It all just leads into Batman Incorporated coming to you next month. Hopefully by then the last issue of Bruce Wayne the Return will be out so we know what started the whole thing!

Overall, the series of one-shots were passable. I think this could have been done in a big special issue a bit more tightly. I enjoyed the Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon issues the most out of the group. Still, Bruce is back and many fans will be happy to have him back in a Bat-suit.