Bruce Wayne the Road Home: Ra's al Ghul #1

              I've wanted Bruce Wayne to come back since the moment he was gone, I will admit that I've been a little biased against Dick Grayson being Batman, but that's because He's Not Batman. There are a couple things in the comics world that should never change, the secret identity of Superman, getting rid of the Guardians, and killing (kind of) Batman. I'm happy that when Dick Grayson was Batman, the writers didn't try to make him like Bruce Wayne, they made him his own Batman, but sometimes they tried a little to hard, like getting rid of the Bat-Cave, and instead having a Bat-Bunker, and also changing the Bat-Mobil, things like that, which are harmless, sometimes seem like DC is trying to hard to make Dick Grayson his own person. Although, I do like the new Robin, as I said in my review of "Superman/Batman #77" I really think that Damian Wayne is a good Robin, and in the direction that the writers are going. Damien Wayne is the perfect way to give a new Batman a new Robin, and still have both of the characters have Bruce Wayne lurking the back of there minds.
            In this issue Ra's al Ghul sends the new Gray Ghost out to kill Vicki Vale, but he's stopped by some robotic Batman. When Vale finds some cops, she also finds that they've also been paid by Ra's to kill her, but they are also stopped by the robotic Batman. When Vicki Vale finally gets back to her apartment Ra's al Ghul is waiting for her, with a sword in his hand. The robotic Batman gets there and steps in front of Ra's, and takes off his helmet revealing that he's Bruce Wayne, Ra's goes away for reasons I can't fathom, and then there is a whole shtick with Bruce and Vicki.
            This issue has been titled wrong, it should not be Bruce Wayne the Road Home: Ra's al Ghul, it should be Bruce Wayne the Road Home:Vicki Vale. To be honest I had no idea that Bruce Wayne was actually going to be in the Road Home one shots, so I only bought Ra's al Ghul because I like his character, especially his sophistication, I got no Ra's, but I did get Bruce, which is better. I thought DC was waiting for the new Dark Knight series to really bring Wayne back, but I guess not. I don't think Scott McDaniel was the right choice for the art in this issue. He does work in the most recent Detective comics arc because it reflected what happened in the story, but for this issue I would have picked, someone more like David Finch, who has a darker drawing style.
             Even though I thought the reason Ra's left was (to be perfectly frank) bogus, Nicieza really did a good job with the character, he was just smart, tough, and "gentlemanly" enough to be a good Ra's al Ghul. Several times writers will make him too much of an action hero, or too much of a wise guy, but this was a happy medium.






Grade: 7/10
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